Shamcrock.

We hosted our second crock pot party on Saturday. (The first one was just before the birth of this blog.) We called this one Shamcrock because, well, it was 2 days after St. Patrick's day and people were encouraged to be creative and crock (or not) something Irish or something green. I took forever for me to decide what to make. As the hostess, I wanted to make something awesome. AND I didn't want it to be corned beef and cabbage or Irish stew because I figured SOMEONE else would come bearing them. (Turns out, I figured right. Ha.)

I chose this because it was green, different, and easy.

"Spinach Gorgonzola Cornbread" (6 quart pot)

~2 boxes (8.5 ounces each) corn bread mix
~3 eggs
~1/2 cup cream
~1 box (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
~1 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese
~1 t ground black pepper

Coat crock pot with cooking spray.
Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl.
Pour batter into crock pot.
Cover and cook high for 1 1/2 hours.
Cool completely before inverting onto serving plate.

It was good, but not what I was expecting. I liked it, but I didn't LOVE it. I think if I make it again, I'd try a different cheese. I'm not entirely sure gorgonzola was the right one. I dunno. My other half liked it, so maybe it was just me. Although, there was a bit left after Shamcrock, so maybe the Shamcrockers could give me some insight because I KNOW they loved the other thing I made...

Cheesecake fans? You're going to want to make this. Whether you have a crock pot or not.

First, the full disclosure:

I'd never made a cheesecake before. (But I LOVE cheesecake.)

Or caramel. (But I LOVE caramel)

Or whipped cream. (But I LOVE whipped cream)

AND this was not a crock pot recipe. (But I LOVE my crock pot)

The gluten free crocker loves cheesecakes as much as I do and she experimented with a handful of crocked cheesecakes during her resolution challenge. I stole the HOW to cook a cheesecake in a crock pot from her, but I got this cheesecake recipe from a different site. I was so anxious to try this, it was kind of ridiculous...

"Bailey's Irish Cream Cheesecake with Bushmills Whiskey Caramel and Coffee Whipped Cream" (6 quart pot)

Cheesecake
~1 stick of butter
~2/3 package of Oreos
~16 ounces of Philly Cream Cheese
~1 cup sour cream
~1 1/3 cup Bailey's Irish Cream
~4 eggs
~1 cup sugar

Caramel
~1 cup sugar
~1/2 cup water
~1/2 cup heavy cream
~4 T Bushmills Irish Whiskey

Coffee whipped cream
~1 cup heavy cream
~1 t instant coffee
~1/4 cup sugar

How to make the crust:

Mash Oreos into tiny tiny pieces using whatever means possible. (I put them in a ziplock bag and mashed them. Then, I decided they weren't getting small enough and used a mortar and pestle)
Melt butter.
Mix Oreos and butter. (This is your crust. I like crust, so I lined the bottom AND sides. If you feel a "real cheesecake" has crust on the bottom only, you can use 10 Oreos and 3 T butter for your crust.
Form your crust in a stoneware baking dish that will fit inside of your crock pot (I used a 1.5 quart round Corningware)

How to make the cheesecake:

Mix cream cheese, sour cream, and sugar with a hand mixer until smooth.
Add Bailey's and mix.
Add eggs one by one, mixing after each one.
Pour into baking dish.
Add 3/4 cup of water to crock pot.
Carefully place baking dish into crock pot.
Cover and cook on high for 2-3 hours. (It's done when you can touch the center with your finger and it doesn't get gunk on it.)
It will rise and look like you messed up. You didn't. It might overflow into your crock pot (like mine did). It doesn't matter.
Allow to cool for an hour before removing the baking dish from crock pot.
Place cheesecake in fridge for several hours or overnight.

How to make the caramel:

Mix water and sugar and place in large pan.
Occasionally shake pan around, but do not stir.
It splatters A LOT, so be careful.
When browned, add cream and whisk until smooth. (It took me 3 tries to get this right. I burned the sugar the first time and didn't cook it enough the second time. Brown is brown. Brown is not yellow.)
Add Bushmills and whisk.
Pour into bowl and chill in fridge.
Pour over cheesecake once cool.

How to make the whipped cream:

Warm cream in microwave.
Add coffee and sugar.
Whisk (by hand or using a stand mixer) until whip cream forms. (I did it by hand with the help of 2 other people. A KitchenAid is on my Christmas list. )
Top cheesecake with whipped cream.

This was the most delicious experiment ever. I don't think there's a word in the English language that can accurately describe it.  It took so much effort to make (even more than my awesome steamed pumpkin cake), but it was so crazy good and even with all of the mistakes I made, I'd make it again. Especially now that I know what to expect. There will be more crocked cheesecakes in the future. Most definitely. I promise.

This picture doesn't really do it justice. I'd forgotten to get a picture of it until after the masses had inhaled most of it.

Yum. I wish there was more of it. I wish it wasn't so difficult to make. Although, my waistline is probably thankful.

A big thanks to everyone who came to Shamcrock. My other half and our spawn, my mother, Forrest, Molly, Nicole, Laura, Chris, Josh, Jung, Heather, Dan, Sophia, Brad, Amanda, Landon, BJ, and Noelle.