I think it's safe to say that if it involves cheese, I'm into it. What is "it"? Anything, so long as "it" involves cheese, of course.

I also am a big fan of pasta, and lately you may have noticed I am into experimenting with my Instant Pot. So a marriage of cheese, pasta, and my IP is pretty much heaven-sent. And all I can say is RUN, don't walk, to get the ingredients to try your very own version, stat. Because it is STUPID simple and STUPID fast. How does prepped and cooked in under 15 minutes grab you? Yes, that includes mis en place, coming to pressure, cooking, releasing, and plating. Bonus: truly only one-pot will be dirty when you're done (well, and your plates and utensils... stop being so picky).

I have included lots of suggested variations, which in some cases would lengthen your cook time, but many are ingredients you can finish prepping while the IP is doing it's thing so it adds no additional time. Even then, it's gonna be fast and it's gonna be delicious. For me, the pasta was perfectly al dente--to the tooth! Unlike the box mac n' cheese that often comes out mushy/too soft for my taste, this had the mild chew of a perfectly done pasta. Prefer it softer? You can easily let the pasta sit for a minute before releasing pressure to add a little extra cook time, or simply sauté a minute, lid off, until you get the texture you prefer.

Some bloggers make big claims about this being a "blue box but better" experience. First of all, why would I want that? I don't think anything compares to the powdered neon yellow-orange of the mac n' cheese so many of us grew up with, and if that is what I am craving, that is what I am making. But if that's what you're going for, stick to American cheese in your version, as nothing else will really compare otherwise. For me? I wanted home made mac n' cheese with ingredients I can stand by, and fast as fast can be. Done! Now I'm kinda obsessed with all the different ways I can riff on this recipe, the sum of this mental roller coaster is outlined below:

INGREDIENTS
FIRST
1 lb bag of elbow macaroni
4 Tbsp butter
4 cups water
2 tsp ground mustard
salt and pepper

THEN
1 cup heavy cream, evaporated milk, or even 3/4 cup whole milk and 1/4 cup half-and-half (consistency will vary, but any will work)
16oz shredded cheese of choice
      - I used pre-shredded cheese for speed: 8oz of sharp cheddar and 8 oz of a mixed Mexican blend we had on hand with Monterey Jack, Oaxaca and Asadero
OPTIONAL: 1 cup cream cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Dump macaroni, butter, water, mustard, salt and pepper into the IP and stir together. Close, set to high for 4 minutes. 
2. Quick release and stir to make sure noodles are cooked to your liking. If not, you can sauté a minute to boil it a little longer, but mine was perfect.
3. Stir in the rest of the ingredients, AKA TEH NOMS. All the creamy goodness and cheeses melt together.
4. That's it. Really. All done. Serve it and eat it. Voila. Finis.

I can sum up cooking eggs in an Instant Pot in two words: easy and frustrating!

Cooking eggs conventionally, we have boiled, baked, steamed, poached, and fried, to name a few. Among the "in the shell" methods, we call them "two-minute eggs", or whatever length of time you want them cooked to get the yolk the way you like it. Sounds easy enough.

With Instant Pot, we have different models/sizes to contend with, but we also have altitude and psi to take into account.

Altitude because the temperature of boiling water changes depending on your altitude, and pressure cookers cook with pressurized boiling (above boiling, even) steam. So if someone in Denver, Colorado is telling you to cook a recipe for 30 minutes, in Seattle you're gonna cook it for a little less time. A handy little cheat sheet lives here, if you happen to be curious.

On top of that, different models of pressure cookers operate at different psi, pounds of pressure per square inch. Stove top models and many electric models cook at 15psi on high, while inexplicably most Instant Pot models top out a little over 12psi. So the intersection of altitude and model can make differences in cook times, which you can geek out about over here, if you wanna know the ins and outs of that (and funny enough, uses the same comparison of Denver, CO in altitude adjustments that I chose to).

So what does this mean for me, an Instant Pot user at sea level? Not much for most recipes, honestly. I will be trying to make a note of online recipes and where the author is from in future, at least. But it makes a big difference when we're talking about a very short cooking window, as with eggs. Literally one minute difference, can produce runny or hardened results. Add on manual or natural release, and whether you shock the egg after to stop cooking and you have a handful of steps where the finished product can vary widely. Based on ONE MINUTE of cook time. No pressure, would-be Julia Childs (I made a punny! "No pressure, " get it?!" *ahem*)

Recently I followed a comprehensive blog post where a home cook took beautiful photos of her 1-5 minute "poached" eggs. Specifically I was looking sidelong at her images of a perfectly drippy 5 minute high-pressure egg, when I get similar results at 2 minutes in-shell. How could 5 minutes come out gooey in a silicone cup, and with no ice bath to follow? I decided to try 4 minutes and came out with just-this-side-of-hard boiled, confirming my skepticism. Which is what went me down a rabbit hole to try and suss out why her results could be so different from mine. And it turns out that while we were using the same model of IP, and I used the exact same silicone cups even, she is a few thousand feet above sea level. Could that be the difference? I am going to find out!

Next experiment is LOW pressure poached eggs, as outlined on The Kitchn when briefly discussing the purpose of low-pressure settings on our pressure cookers. Up to now, I have been doing 2 minute eggs on high pressure, followed by an ice bath. The results are a gooey yolk, which I love, but sometimes the whites don't set all the way inside which I do NOT like. So the next test will be a low pressure setting for 3 minutes with manual/quick release and see what we get. I will try to report back soon!

Some inspiring recipes I found while looking for info on my blog post:

Egg Papin - Poached Eggs in Bell Pepper Cup
Eggs En Cocotte - "French Baked Eggs"

I have been using my IP for a little over a year now, and so far I have only ever done savory dishes/meals. I keep running across recipes for baked goods, but they require a small springform pan to go into the IP, which I didn't have. Well, the other day I was ordering something small off of Amazon, such that it was an "add on" item and required I bring my total to over $25. I figured this was a perfect opportunity to pick up that pan I always wanted. Bonus, I also wanted a bundt pan for another recipe I wanted to try out, and this sweet little number came up in my searches-it's both! And it comes in two adorable colors: orange and turquoise! I snagged the turquoise one and it arrived the other day.


This week has been a bear, unfortunately. Hubby is sick again (still sick? Who can tell any more?!), and my studio flooded in the rain and we have spent the past several days UN-installing all my beautiful bamboo floors to chase down the trouble. Unfortunately, the water intruded far further than we could have imagined and we are having to take the ENTIRE floor up, and not just a section. Cue call to insurance, and we'll see where we land...

So yesterday, I was feeling despondent and tired and cranky and sore from lots of unhappy physical work. We were at the grocery store to get some staples when I remembered I had this little pan at home and I wanted to try my hand at making a salted caramel cheesecake. Cheesecake of all flavors happens to be one of my and my husband's favorite desserts, and I thought maybe if I had the energy left when I got home, I would bake us one to cheer us up. Ooooh, and I had some leftover Ginger Snap cookies I could make a crust with, I bet! So I tossed some extra cream cheese and sour cream in the basket.

Hubby went into shut-down mode and I set to my task. My spirits lifted a bit as I changed my focus to something fun. He walked into the kitchen, hearing the bashing about, wondering what I was up to. I commanded him to go sit down and offered to make him a hot buttered rum to soothe his throat and maybe lift his spirits as well. Which is when inspiration struck. Cheesecake. Ginger Snaps. Salted Caramel. Hot Buttered Rum. I need to put these all together!

After scouring the Googles for some versions of cheesecakes with some of the ingredients I envisioned--in order to get the ratios at least somewhat correct--I altered course slightly, and this is the result. Hubby gobbled it down, complimenting me repeatedly on success. The crust really was noms in particular. We both agreed the caramel sauce was fairly unnecessary as the cheesecake itself was so yummy, though I might add a tad more sugar to the filling next time. Hope you enjoy it!



Instant Pot Hot Buttered Rum Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust and Salted Caramel Sauce

TOOLS
7" springform pan
parchment paper (optional)
Cooking spray
Foil
Paper towels

INGREDIENTS

Crust
~20 gingersnap cookies
4 Tbsp melted butter
2 Tbsp sugar

Filling
2 packages cream cheese (16 oz), room temp is best
1/2 cup golden brown/light brown sugar
1/4 cup sour cream
2 Tbsps rum -OR- 1 tsp rum extract (or vanilla if it's all you got)
1 Tbsp all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon*
1/8 tsp ground cloves*
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg*
2 eggs
*shortcut, you can use pumpkin pie spice if you like, close enough, IMO.

Topping
I cheated and used a salted caramel sauce I already love from Delicately Sweet Confections which I got from The Handmade Showroom.
If you need to make a sauce, try this simple salted caramel sauce, or alternately this rum caramel sauce.

DIRECTIONS

The foil sling thing, in Step 8

1. Mise en place - set out your cream cheese, sour cream, eggs, and spices for the filling right away so the cold ingredients can come to room temp and you're ready to whack out the filling when your crust is done. If you have a second silicone ring for your IP which hasn't been used for cooking meats/savory things, swap it in now so your dessert doesn't taste like last night's dinner.
2. Prepare your springform pan. Spray inside of springform pan lightly with cooking spray. Line bottom with a circle of parchment paper, cut to fit the bottom and spray lightly again (optional, but this second step makes getting it out of the pan even easier)
3. Make crust. Using a food processor, or the handy plastic bag and a rolling pin method, break up your gingersnap cookies until finely ground. Combine with melted butter and sugar and blend thoroughly. Using a flat bottom glass or other similar tool, press gingersnap crust into pan bottom and working half way up around the sides as well. Allow to set in freezer while you make the filling.
4. Blend all ingredients except for the eggs in a stand or hand mixer, scraping down sides and making sure everything is blended evenly. (If you let the ingredients warm to room temperature, this should come out smoothly. If you didn't, you may get a more lumpy textured filling. I'm okay with this, but fair warning to you.) Add two eggs and blend just until combined, don't over-mix.
5. Pour filling into prepared crust, smoothing the top
6. Take a piece of paper towel and a piece of foil of similar shape/size, place foil on counter, then paper towel, then your cheesecake pan on top of both. Mold the foil/paper towel around the base of your pan (prevents water from getting to your crust).
7. Take a second length of foil and loosely cover the top of your pan - this keeps water from dripping down from the lid onto your cheesecake top
8. One more foil thing! Take a length, about 18 inches long, fold into  a 4" strip. Slip under the pan like a sling--this makes it easier to lower your pan in and lift it out when you're done.
9. Pour 2 cups into pot and place metal trivet in the bottom. Lower your pan onto the trivet. (Tip: using boiling water and closing the IP quickly thereafter saves time coming up to pressure. Works with anything you cook this way.)
10. Lock lid, make sure it is sealing, press "Manual" and set for 35 minutes on high pressure. Allow to release naturally.
11. Lift out cheesecake, remove all foil and set on a cooling rack for a bit. When cooled, release from pan (use a knife around the edge to help as needed), put in refrigerator for 3-4 hours or overnight.
12. Slice and plate with half a gingersnap cookie on top, drizzle with sauce of choice.