Two Kitchens, One Passion

Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE pumpkin??  It really does work in almost any kind of recipe.  These savory cakes had a nice subtle flavor of pumpkin that tasted great with a hint of garlic and basil.  I also had some left over beets from the Christmas "cheese"cake that I decided to roast with a balsamic glaze and use as a topping for the cakes.  The flavors all worked great together, and I even got my dad (who hates beets!) to enjoy them.  :) Paleo Pumpkin Cakes  Adapted from  Against All Grain Yield: About 10 small cakes

On the outside, persimmons look a lot like an orange tomato: Not exactly what I would anticipate to be a very sweet fruit.  However, when I tried this fruit for the first time at home over Christmas I was amazed by how unique it was!  The consistency of the fruit inside is almost like a jam and it has the perfect level of sweetness.  I could easily eat this fruit plain, but the consistency worked perfect for use as a pudding as well. There are 2 common kinds of persimmons that you are most likely to find in the grocery store, fuyu and hachiya.  For this recipe, I used hachiya persimmons.  The interesting thing about this kind is that you can't eat it until it feels like it is extremely overripe.  Trust me, even though it will feel like it is rotting, it most definitely is not.  I don't know from experience, but everything I read on the hachiya persimmons warns that if you try eating one before it has become fully soft, it will taste extremely bitter.

I hope everyone is having a very Merry Christmas! Now that I'm finally finished with grad school I can use my extra time to start posting more recipes again. Hopefully this "cheese"cake will make up for the recipes I've been neglecting to post! Being dairy-free, I used Enjoy Life brand chocolate chips as a topping. Even though I used to love regular chocolate, these chocolate chips taste even better! This recipe does require some prep work with the cashews. In order to get that creamy cheesecake texture, they must be soaked in water before blending. I soaked them overnight, but at least 4 hours should work just as well. After they are done soaking, rinse them before blending with your other ingredients.