Best of the Month April 2014

A recap of my most popular recipes from last month (April 2014)

I've found out that any recipe containing chocolate will get almost three times the views of other posts.  April is my husbands birthday month so I made his usual chocolate cheese cake with some alterations.  As expected it received the most views and +1s this month.

Overall I think my blog is doing well.  I have some regular viewers and my google plus page is doing well with almost 1,000 followers.  My twitter, facebook, pinterest, and tumbler accounts are steadily gaining more followers (I'm starting to feel like a cult leader with all these followers ;-) ) too.

I installed rich pins for my blog so when my recipes are pinned you see my favicon and site name with each pin as well as the ingredients and web page.  I love the look of these pins and I'm slowly going through older posts and marking them up.  I'm also gradually updating some of my older posts.  I'm still co hosting Great Idea Thursdays every Wednesday to Sunday and we have more linkers than ever and that also contributes to my recipe views.  Still linking to other link parties weekly and trying to comment on other posts.  So things are looking good and I'm slowly but steadily being seen.  I don't expect fame but I love when my recipes inspire others.

My best of April:

Dark Mocha Cheese Cake

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A dark chocolate cheesecake with coffee flavor.  425 views and 100 +1s.

Garlic Shrimp Stir Fry

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A healthy stir fry made with shrimp, vegetables, and lots of garlic (update 4/7/14 from original 1/21/13).  182 views and 33 +1s.

Mushroom Spinach Tomato Pasta

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Linguine noodles in a light white wine and garlic sauce tossed with mushrooms, spinach and grape tomatoes.  151 views and 18 +1s.

Clam Linguine

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Clams cooked in white wine sauce then tossed with linguine.  A delicious dinner that may look fancy but is really quite simple.  140 views and 113 +1s.

Veal Scalopini

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Thin veal cutlets served with tomatoes, mushrooms, and spinach in a white wine sauce.  139 views and 16 +1s.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Enjoy.

Linked to:  See Ya in the Gumbo, Much Ado, Merry Monday, Two Cup, Teach Me, LouLou Girls, Tasty Tuesday, Brag About it, Whimsy Wednesday, Wednesday Roundup, Eat Create Party, Freedom Friday, Pretty Pintastic, Best of the Weekend, Saturday Night Fever, Share it Sunday

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Dark Mocha Cheesecake

A dark chocolate cheesecake with coffee flavor.

Every year for my husband's birthday I make him the same cake, Chocolate Cheesecake.  It's his favorite and he always requests it so I make the birthday boy happy.

Making the birthday boy happy often leaves me bored.  I like to try new and different recipes and I also need new recipes for my blog so making the same thing all the time is boring.  Granted this cake is only a once a year treat so I'm not making it all the time but I still like to experiment.

I was very pleased and excited when my husband liked my idea of adding coffee to the cheesecake for a mocha flavor.  He likes coffee so why not add some to the cheesecake.  My original plan was to add some espresso powder to the batter but he suggested I use finely ground coffee because the Maui Mocha that we have on hand tastes so much better.  I'm not one to disappoint the birthday boy so that's what I did.

I also found these great local graham crackers that were Kona coffee flavored (Kona is Hawaiian coffee and it tastes great) so I made a coffee graham cracker crust.  To finish off this Mocha Cheesecake I used a dark chocolate drizzle and tossed on some Maui Mocha coffee beans (they are so cute and tiny).  The coffee beans added more coffee punch and a little bit of crunch in every slice.

Dark Mocha Cheesecake

Ingredients:

*Graham cracker crust
3 8oz packs of cream cheese, softened
1-1/4 cups sugar
8 oz sour cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup cocoa (I use hershey's special dark)
1 tsp finely ground coffee or instant espresso powder
2 Tbsp flour
3 eggs
*Dark chocolate drizzle
Coffee beans for garnish, optional

* Graham cracker crust:  Mix together 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs and 3/4 of a stick of butter (melted).  Press into the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan and heat in a 450F oven for 5 minutes.

* Dark chocolate drizzle:  melt together 1/2 cup of dark chocolate pieces and 2 tsp shortening.

In a very large bowl (I use my stand mixer) beat together cream cheese and sugar until smooth.

Add the sour cream and vanilla mixing well to thoroughly combine.  Then add cocoa powder, coffee, and four.  Mix until combined (make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl).

Lastly add the eggs, one at a time, and stir gently until just blended (do not over mix after adding the eggs).

Pour over *crumb crust and bake at 450F for 10 minutes then reduce the heat to 250F and continue baking for about 40 minutes.  Cake is done when set but for a 3 inch jiggly bit at the center.

Remove from the oven and gently loosen the cake sides from the pan using a knife.  Allow to cool completely before removing the pan sides.

Drizzle on the *chocolate drizzle, add some coffee beans, and refrigerate overnight.

Makes about 12 servings.

Enjoy.

Linked to:  Best of the Weekend, Show Stopper, Saturday Night Fever, Much Ado, The Yuck Stops Here, Two Cup Tuesday, See Ya in the Gumbo, Tasty Tuesday, LouLou Girls, Brag About It, Whimsy Wednesday, Wednesday Roundup, Full Plate, Freedom Fridays, Eat Create Party

Featured on:  See Ya in the Gumbo

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