02.29.08
Posted in Bread, Foodblog Events at 5:05 am by julie
I’ve been so occupied with plans for March that I almost didn’t realize that February was nearly gone. This past Sunday, I was blithely sitting down to breakfast, when all of a sudden it struck me: March 1st is Saturday, and I hadn’t completed my February Daring Bakers challenge yet. This was no small quandary, because Breadchick Mary of The Sour Dough and Sara of I Like to Cook had set before us a very time-intensive (but exciting!) recipe: Julia Child’s own French bread. Although, as a slow-rising yeasted bread, it would not require a great deal of active attention, this was clearly not a recipe I could pull off during the work week. I did some quick calculations to determine if it was already too late, decided I had just enough time to finish at a reasonable hour, and dashed into the kitchen.
Le Fraisage et Petrissage
As always with my Daring Bakers projects, I tried very hard to stick exactly to the recipe. In this case, I used the stand mixer variant, because I knew immediately that my 9-months pregnant body would not thank me for the effort of handkneading. (I’d like to try handkneading with Julia’s method sometime, however, because it was different from my usual two-fisted method, and I was curious to see how it works.) I did have to add an extra half-cup or more of flour to get a dough that wasn’t unmanageably sticky. Also, I was particularly proud of myself for following the step that called for removing the dough from the bowl after initial mixing, washing the bowl and dough hook, and continuing on from there—I wasn’t sure of its purpose, and every minute that ticks by seems crucial when you are afraid of running out of time, but I did it anyway.
Pointage Premier Temps
I let the dough rise in my most vertically-oriented bowl, carefully determining via water volume that the dough should rise to within an inch or two of its rim. My house is always just cool enough that yeasted doughs need a little extra boost of heat to rise in a timely fashion, so I employed my usual method of warming and then turning off my oven to use as a proofing box. Three hours later, I was good to go.
Rupture et Pointage Deuxieme
I’ve never deflated bread dough by dislodging it from the bowl with a rubber spatula before. It turned into a wrinkly, rubbery mass that kind of cracked me up for some reason, so I had to take a picture. Two hours later, my dough had risen back up to virtually the same level as the finished first rise, and was turned into a wrinkly skin flap yet again.
La Tourne; La Mise en Forme des Patons et L’appret
I decided to make three loaves from my batch of dough. I’ve never shaped batards before, just boules, so I knew that had to be part of my personal challenge. Of course, they also had to be short enough to fit on my pizza-shaped baking stone, so they ended up being rather stumpy batards. My husband has used floured canvas for shaping bread in the past, so I had two canvases all ready to go, which saved me a bit of time. He used scraps of raw linen leftover from stretching canvases for paintings; the fabric has quite a bit of body, so I didn’t find it necessary to brace the folds. I had just enough time for shaping before we headed out for a childbirth prep class, so the shaped loaves—two batards and a small boule—wound up getting nearly three hours for their final rise.
Le Demoulage et La Coupe
As soon as I got home, I started the oven preheating, and decided how to go about getting the loaves onto my baking stone. What ultimately worked best for me was unmolding the dough onto sheets of parchment paper lightly sprinkled with semolina flour and transferring them to the stone via our baker’s paddle. They unmoulded without a hitch, though I didn’t deposit my boule very centrally on the parchment and ended up having to shift it over. Slashing was not the easiest proposition because I don’t really have an appropriate tool for the job. I sharpened a knife and did my best, but I was concerned about tearing and deflating, so my slashes were all on the faint side.
Baking and Cooling (for which we were given no French terminology)
My loaves baked up perfectly. I did the boule on its own, and the two batards together. For the boule, I went to the trouble of removing the parchment from under it after I had finished the three water spritzing sessions, but had a heck of a time getting the baked loaf on the paddle afterwards (it was so light that it just slid off the stone into the back of the oven when I tried to get it), so I left the batards on their paper. My biggest concern during this step was breaking my beautifully seasoned baking stone because of the cold water/steam action, but it held up just fine.
I ended up removing the loaves from the oven a few minutes earlier than called for, once they had a deep enough color; I think this was the right move, because they were definitely done when we sliced into them. I often don’t care much for French bread because it can be quite crusty and hurts my hard palate after a while. Perhaps the baking time as called for would have produced such a crust, but my loaves came out just to my tastes: sturdy yet squeezable.
Cooling was indeed one of the most difficult aspects of this recipe. The bread was finished much too late for dinnertime once Igave it the two hours of cooling specified by the recipe, but we couldn’t resist slicing up the boule for a late night snack at 11:00pm, (with olive oil and balsamic for dipping, of course!). It was absolutely delicious. The interior was aerated and fluffy, and the crust was toothsome and full of caramelized flavor. I know some folks felt that their loaves came out salty, but we didn’t notice that at all. Jeremy is a something of an elitist when it comes to baking bread—when making it himself, he favors recipes that involve delayed fermentation, sometimes over the course of several days—and I think this was the first one-day bread I’ve made that genuinely impressed him. Twelve hours of combined rising and prep time still counts as one-day bread, right? Anyhow, we found Julia Child’s bread recipe to be a complete success, despite—or, more likely, because of—the lengthy preparation and incredible detail it requires. It may not have been a Valentine-specific challenge for February, but that doesn’t make this recipe any less a labor of love to complete.
As you know, my effort was just one of hundreds, so make sure you visit the Daring Bakers Blogroll to see how everyone else fared. If you’d like to try your hand at making Julia’s French bread as well, the (very long) recipe is available at The Sour Dough here.
Permalink
02.27.08
Posted in Breakfast, Cookies & Candies, Dessert, Dinner, Eggs, Lunch at 11:02 am by julie
For some reason I always have a really hard time wrapping my head around what to make with flavored chicken sausage. From time to time we pick up a package of chicken-apple or tomato-basil, and I scratch my head trying to come up with something more interesting than grilling them and sticking them in buns. Such was the case with the spinach-feta sausages we got earlier in the week, but I was able to put at least a few of them to good use in an easy crustless quiche.
The recipe hails from Baking Bites, and I chose it because it calls for similar flavorings and also because crusted quiches are my nemesis. I keep thinking the idea of eggs and cheese and pie crust together sounds great, because I love all of them, but whenever I eat it, I am bitterly disappointed by the sog-factor. Homemade pie crust is just enough work that, for the most part, I don’t consider quiche worth the risk unless it is crustless. (The single exception to that, so far, was the leek and bacon tart from All About Braising. That was deliciously sog-free, and I’d make it again in a heartbeat, presuming I had the braised leeks.)
Every so often I make a crustless broccoli quiche with feta and cottage cheese (and will post my cobbled-together recipe next time I do so). This recipe involves more flour—I used my faithful white whole wheat—and a looser batter than I am used to, but it baked up perfectly. I used a big handful of thawed and drained spinach from the freezer because it was all I had available, and similarly had to forego the sprinkle of feta on top, much to my dismay. The sausage that started it all was uncased, sliced, and sauteed briefly with the onion and spinach mixture.
The quiche gave me a new problem, however: I had an extra egg white in the fridge, though for the life of me I can’t recall now why that would be, so I used it up in the quiche and consequently ended up with an extra egg yolk that I wasn’t about to waste. I took the opportunity as a challenge to test out another chocolate chip cookie recipe that required an extra yolk: Robyn Lee’s Killer Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies, as posted on Serious Eats.
The best thing about this recipe was clearly the size of the cookies. It calls for quarter-cup scoops of dough, about twice as much as I typically use for home-baked cookies. It also makes about the most iconic looking chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever produced: perfectly round, thick, golden, and studded with big bittersweet chocolate chips (see photographic evidence). In case you’re wondering, I baked on my Silpat for exactly 23 minutes as specified, and got exactly 16 cookies out of the batch with a spoonful leftover for the baker’s treat.
Warm from the oven, these cookies tasted as good as they looked: crisp on the outside and around the edges, with a soft chewy center. Unfortunately, once they had cooled, they hardened up a bit much for my personal tastes, and required consumption with a glass of milk for dunking. That certainly didn’t stop us from polishing them off within a few days, of course!
Permalink
02.26.08
Posted in Dinner, Lamb, Meats at 11:35 am by julie
This is one of those recipes that I was skeptical about. Its blend of spices didn’t exactly sound appealing to me, and Jeremy has commented before that he doesn’t understand the combination of lamb with mint. But I wanted something easy and pantry-friendly, and it had enough rave reviews on Epicurious that I gave it a shot despite my reservations. I’m very glad I did, because I’ve since made it several times, and I think it is safe to say that, in a slightly adapted form, it is now my go-to recipe for lamb chops when I’m stumped for other inspiration.
The original recipe calls for broiling the chops. My oven’s broiler is very sketchy, so I adapted it to what works best for us. I don’t currently have fresh mint on hand (it didn’t survive the winter or the energetic shepherd pup in our backyard), but I substitute in dried mint to good effect. Finally, I’ve made these with and without the cayenne, and I have to say that we find the heat very distracting in this particular application. If you want to use the cayenne, I would recommend not letting the rub stand on the meat for more than a few minutes.
Savory Mint Lamb Chops
1/4 C olive oil
1/4 C chopped fresh mint (or 2 T dried mint flakes)
4 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
8 (1- to 1 1/2-inch-thick) lamb loin chops (about 5 ounces each), trimmed
Place olive oil, chopped mint, minced garlic, salt, cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper (if using), and black pepper in small bowl; mix well. Spread herb mixture over both sides of lamb chops. Transfer chops to broiler pan. Let stand 10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400F. Heat some oil in a cast-iron skillet over medium high heat, and sear chops until well-browned on each side. Arrange chops on platter, garnish with fresh mint sprigs, and serve. Place the skillet in the oven and continue to cook the chops until their internal temperature reaches 155F or to desired doneness. (I am still quite squeamish about underdone meat, by which I mean anything less cooked than medium—and even medium is a stretch for me sometimes. Usually the chops vary a bit in size, so I just pick out the smaller ones for myself, and let Jeremy have the big fat ones that didn’t cook through as much.)
Source: Adapted from Epicurious.
Permalink
02.25.08
Posted in Dinner, Meats, Pastas, Persnickety Bits, Pork and Ham at 3:03 pm by julie
I’ve been neglecting the blog again, and yet I keep taking photos of what we’re making and planning out my posts, so I’m going to try and play catch-up this week. Actually, I had a legitimate excuse for the first few days: a silly cooking-related injury.
I decided to make stuffed pork chops for dinner one night. I’ve done rolls and stuffed thin cutlets, but I’d never stuffed a piece of meat pocket-style before, so this was a first, and I was very pleased with the result of my knife skills. I was able to keep the side opening an inch or less wide, so that it could be easily resealed with a single toothpick. Once the seared chops were in the oven to finish cooking, I started in on some Marcella-style green beans with Parmesan, parboiling and then setting them in cold water. By that time, the pork was cooked. I set the skillet of chops back on the stovetop, grabbed the colander of drained beans, and turned around to deposit them in another pan on the back burner, grabbing the handle of the skillet with my left hand to move it out of my way.
You can see where I’m going with this. I’m usually very good about getting out my silicone handle cover, but I was being absent-minded, and before I knew it, my hand was alight with pain. I (quite literally single-handedly) finished off the pan-sauce for the chops and a very simplified version of the green beans while gripping a big bag of ice cubes for dear life in my throbbing hand, but had no appetite anymore, not to mention insufficient means of cutting into a big pork chop, generally a two-handed operation. The chops and green beans ended up in the fridge for a few days, before I could muster up enough good will to tackle them again.
Since I’m not a fan of reheated meat, I didn’t bother trying to reheat the chops whole. Instead, I diced them up into chunks (fondly admiring my stuffing handiwork in the process, as you can see from the top photo), and reheated that with the remains of the pan sauce and green beans, adding some chicken stock and a splash of cream to get a more fluid consistency. Served over farfalle, it was a satisfying conclusion to a painful experience. And believe you me, it’s an experience I don’t intend to duplicate anytime soon, stuffed pork chops or no.
Mushroom-Stuffed Pork Chops
I used thick boneless chops from Costco for this recipe, shallots in place of onion, and some rather stale whole wheat sandwich bread because it happened to be on hand. My mushrooms were a mix of dried mushrooms, rehydrated and chopped, and I ended up not needing all the filling for that number of chops, probably because I seriously doubt I could have shoved 1/2 C of filling into a single chop.
4 pork loin center chops boneless or bone-in, trimmed
3 T vegetable oil
1 C cubed (1/4-inch) bread
1 onion, chopped
2 C thinly sliced mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
2 T minced fresh parsley
1/2 C white wine or chicken stock
1 C sodium-reduced chicken stock
1 T all-purpose flour
1 T butter, softened
Slash edges of pork chops to prevent curling. With knife held horizontally and starting at rounded edge, cut wide pocket in each chop. Set aside.
In large ovenproof skillet, heat 1 T of oil over medium heat; fry bread, stirring often, until golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer to bowl. Add 1 tbsp of the remaining oil to skillet; fry onion, mushrooms, garlic and half each of the salt and pepper over medium-high heat until onion is softened and mushrooms are golden, about 6 minutes. Add to bread along with parsley. Let cool. (Make-ahead: Cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.) Stuff about 1/2 cup of the stuffing into pocket of each chop. Secure with toothpicks. Sprinkle with remaining salt and pepper.
In skillet, heat remaining oil over medium-high heat; brown chops. Transfer skillet to 400°F oven; roast until juices run clear when pork is pierced and just a hint of pink remains inside, about 15 minutes. Remove to platter; remove toothpicks and tent with foil.
Add wine to skillet and bring to boil over medium-high heat, stirring and scraping up any brown bits; boil until evaporated, about 3 minutes. Add stock; bring to boil. In small bowl, blend flour with butter; whisk into stock and simmer, stirring, until thickened, about 3 minutes.
Permalink
02.11.08
Posted in Bread, Breakfast, Foodblog Events at 3:05 pm by julie
Even though, for all these years, I have apparently been oblivious to the famous “Time to make the doughnuts” commercial campaign, when I heard about Helene’s and Peabody’s similarly-named challenge, I wasn’t about to pass up an opportunity to try my hand at doughnut-making again. The only question was what sort of doughnut to make. We didn’t eat many Dunkin’ Donuts when I was growing up, but I still have a few fond doughnut memories. The first one that sprang to mind was eating plain cake doughnuts with hot chocolate on top of Pike’s Peak, but unless we drove up to Mount Hood to eat them, I just don’t think it would be the same. I decided to go with a childhood favorite from the grocery store: chocolate long johns.
Apparently, long johns are a regional thing—who knew? I can find unfilled chocolate bars and cream-filled round doughnuts, but the filling is always too much like pudding or custard. The filled bars I grew up with are non-existent in Oregon, though, and have consequently been added to my “unavailable cravings” list, along with funnel cakes and chicken nuggets from Chick-Fil-A. So, for this event, I decided to try my hand at Alton Brown’s yeasted doughnuts and make a few into long johns for my own personal gratification. (Jeremy doesn’t understand the attraction of long johns or funnel cakes, so the latter will have to get their own post as soon as I make acquaintance with a funnel of my very own.)
This was my first experience with making yeasted doughnuts, but the dough was easy to make and very cooperative. I started early enough the day I made them that we even ended up eating breakfast several hours before lunchtime, which may be a first for homemade yeasted breakfast foods in our house. I’m still having some issues with getting my frying temperature right to avoid greasiness, but I think that will continue to plague me until I break down and at least buy a deep fry thermometer, or even an honest-to-goodness fryer. Because there are only two of us, I cut the recipe in half, and still got 10 round doughnuts, 3 bars, and a few doughnut holes from the batch. Everything got dipped in the chocolate glaze, which was absolutely luscious stuff: thick and shiny and well-behaved.
For my three long johns, I picked out a filling recipe that sounded very much along the lines of what I remembered from childhood: nothing remotely dairy about it, just sugar and fat made up into a fluffy sort of frosting (mmm, I can’t imagine why Jeremy wouldn’t want one!). I do think I was in the right vein, but the particular recipe I tried ended up staying gritty even after 15 minutes in the stand mixer, so it wasn’t quite right. Still, it was close enough to tide me over until the next time we go back to Colorado for a visit, and now I can let myself periodically buy the yummy fresh doughnuts from King Donuts—just a few blocks from our house—without resentment or regret at their decided lack of long johns. (Oh, and just for the record… I’ve never eaten a Krispy Kreme doughnut, and I’m kind of proud of it, too!)
Yeasted Doughnuts
3/4 C milk
1 1/4 oz vegetable shortening
1 package instant yeast
3 T C warm water (95 to 105 degrees F)
1 egg, beaten
2 T sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
12 ounces AP flour, plus more for dusting surface
Peanut or vegetable oil, for frying
Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat just until warm enough to melt the shortening. Place the shortening in a bowl and pour warmed milk over. Set aside.
In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let dissolve for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk and shortening mixture, first making sure the milk and shortening mixture has cooled to lukewarm. Add the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and half of the flour. Using the paddle attachment, combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined. Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well. Change to the dough hook attachment of the mixer and beat on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl and becomes smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 3/8-inch thick. Cut out dough using a 2 1/2-inch doughnut cutter or pastry ring and using a 7/8-inch ring for the center hole (I used a biscuit cutter and an apple corer to make my doughnuts). Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 365 degrees F. Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side. Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan. Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes prior to glazing, if desired.
If you plan to fill your doughnuts, cut the dough into either rectangles or non-perforated circles before frying. When cool, use a sharp knife to cut a pocket inside each doughnut, angling it as you cut so that the opening is smaller than the pocket itself (like stuffing chicken breasts or pork chops). Make your desired filling and pipe it into the pockets, making sure to use enough filling to entirely fill the pocket.
Source: Adapted from Good Eats, with Alton Brown.
Chocolate Doughnut Glaze
1/4 C unsalted butter
2 T whole milk, warmed
1 1/2 tsp light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 C confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Combine butter, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla in medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until butter is melted. Decrease the heat to low, add the chocolate, and whisk until melted. Turn off heat, add the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth. Place the mixture over a bowl of warm water and dip the doughnuts immediately. Allow glaze to set for 30 minutes before serving.
Source: Adapted from Good Eats, with Alton Brown.
Creme Filling
1/2 C shortening (I used Spectrum)
1/2 C confectioners’ sugar
1/2 C white sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Using an electric mixer, whip shortening in a medium bowl with confectioners’ sugar and white sugar until creamy and no longer gritty, 5 to 10 minutes.
Source: Adapted from AllRecipes.
Permalink
02.07.08
Posted in Cake, Chocolate, Dessert, Foodblog Events at 9:13 pm by julie
Jeremy’s favorite and most often requested birthday cake is German chocolate. When we were first married, I made them with cake mixes and canned frosting, but oh, how far I’ve come. I made a pretty tasty version last year. And while he was away at school in New York City—over his 30th birthday, I might add—I connived a way to turn a chocolate yogurt loaf cake into an inside-out German chocolate cake (frosting in the middle) so I could safely send him a birthday cake in the mail. But I’m not sure if any German chocolate cake from this point on will ever be able to compare with the one I made for Jeremy’s birthday on Sunday. If you have a weak heart, consider yourself warned:
This is the German chocolate skyscraper cheesecake from the Junior’s Cheesecakes
cookbook. I got the book back in November due to fond memories of Junior’s from Jeremy’s grad school days. Although almost every recipe in the book is drool-worthy, I somehow haven’t gotten around to trying one out until now.
My prior experience with baking cheesecake has been limited to an old family recipe. It’s a simple one with few ingredients, and I always cooked it in a graham cracker crust until the top was quite brown, then served with cherry pie filling (just the cherry goo part for me, no actual cherries please!). I didn’t make it often, but just enough that I couldn’t really understand why the thought of making a cheesecake seems to strike fear in so many bakers’ hearts. (Perhaps, for that reason, it would be a good Daring Bakers project one day?). Maybe that’s why the thought of baking a two-layer cake with a New York-style cheesecake sandwiched in the middle didn’t make me cringe. I have to admit, though, that once it was actually underway, I started to doubt myself.
I bought all the ingredients for the cake the previous weekend, but since then, one of the bricks of cream cheese was repurposed for emergency bagel-smearing needs. I anxiously watched the morning slipping away until Jeremy could run back over to the store for me, and by the time I got started on the cheesecake layer, it was already around 1:30pm. According to the book, both the cheesecake and chocolate cake layers needed several hours of cooling time on a rack, followed by time in the fridge (and freezer in the case of the cheesecake)—in other words, this recipe is the polar opposite of the all-in-the-pan cake I last wrote about. Then there is the fact that my oven is not the most reliable, and I pictured my cheesecake coming out of the oven with an uncooked and sunken center and a scorched top. I muttered to myself that, even if it did come out poorly, the flaws would be hidden in the middle of all that cake and frosting. However, it was too late to back out, and a good thing too: Foil-wrapped and water-bathed, my cheesecake was done exactly when the recipe indicated it should be, perfectly set and lightly golden on top. Not only did it never crack or sink, it pulled gently from the sides of the springform as it cooled, and performed beautifully in the finished cake, as you will see.
The cake batter was a little fussier, and the cooled layers threatened to crack a bit when it came time to wrap them in plastic wrap for refrigeration, but they held up just fine in the end, and the trimmings indicated the cake itself was very fluffy and light and German-chocolatey. I also toasted nuts and coconut while the oven was still hot. By this point it was past dinnertime, so I paused long enough to make a big batch of lamb kefthedes and spinach-mashed potatoes for dinner, and watch the post-Superbowl episode of House.
Then it was right back to the stove to clean up and make the frosting. This is the part of the recipe I feel a little sketchy about. It took quite a bit longer than described at a hard simmer to achieve a golden-brown color, and when I started adding nuts and coconut, it stiffened up in a hurry. I ended up adding less coconut than called for, and after a half-hour cooling period in the fridge, it was so hard and crumbly that there was no way I could spread it on the cake; my solution was adding a bit more cream for lubrication and zapping it for a few seconds in the microwave. At least then it more resembled frosting than candy, and I was able to gently smudge and press it over the layers. The cheesecake layer was a walk in the park by comparison. I didn’t bother trying to frost the outside edges of the top cake layer as the recipe indicated, even though there was probably enough frosting leftover to do so; it would never have stayed put.
Finally, around 11:00pm, I sliced that sucker open and we gave it a try. The first slices were a little messy to extract, but after setting up in the fridge overnight, all the layers melded and made slicing a piece of cake (sorry, I couldn’t resist). The cake parts tasted like good German chocolate cake, but oh-my-gosh, the cheesecake was heavenly! I’m still a little in awe that I produced it myself, because it really does taste exactly like the cheesecake we bought from Junior’s. As Jeremy put it, it was perfectly creamy and neither too airy and light, nor too dense and rich. I have actually been a little sad since Sunday that we don’t have any upcoming events that would warrant my bringing a fresh cheesecake to, or even anyone at hand to share this spectacular cake with. After all, how on earth are we going to be able—and more to the point, should we even try—to eat the whole thing ourselves? (Answer: I’m guessing a good chunk will end up in the freezer for future indulgence.)
This post is my entry for the Serendipity Bake-Off being hosted by Familia Bencomo. I think it’s impressive-looking without needing additional decoration… at least that’s my story, and I’m sticking with it!
German Chocolate Skyscraper Cheesecake
Cheesecake Layer
3 8-oz packages cream cheese (use only full fat), at room temp
1 1/3 C sugar
3 T cornstarch
1 T vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs
2/3 C heavy whipping cream
Early in the day, preheat the oven to 350F and generously butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Wrap the outside of the springform tightly with foil, covering the bottom and all the way up the sides.
Put one package of cream cheese 1/3 C sugar and the cornstarch in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on low until creamy, about 3 minutes, scraping several times. Blend in the remaining cream cheese, one package at a time, scraping after each. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat in the remaining sugar, then the vanilla. Blend in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the cream just until completely blended.
Gently spoon the batter into the prepared springform and place in a large shallow pan containing hot water that comes about 1″ up the sides of the springform. Bake at 350F for about 1 1/4 hours until the edges are light golden brown and the top is slightly golden tan, looking set and no longer wet. Remove the cake from the water bath, transfer to a wire rack, and cool in the pan for 2 hours. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (still in the pan) until completely cold, about 4 hours. Place in the freezer, still in the pan, for at least half an hour before assembly, or overnight if you are preparing in advance.
Cake Layers
1 1/2 C sifted cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 oz German’s sweet baking chocolate
1/2 C water
3/4 C unsalted butter, at room temp
1 1/2 C sugar
3 extra-large eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 C buttermilk
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
Once the cheesecake is out of the oven (make sure to remove the water bath), start the cake layers. Generously butter the sides and bottom of 2 9-inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of both pans with parchment paper, but don’t let the paper come up the sides.
Sift the flour, baking powder and soda, and salt together in a small bowl. Melt the chocolate in the water in the microwave or in a small saucepan over low heat, then set aside to cool. Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl on medium speed until light yellow and creamy. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each. Blend in the melted chocolate and vanilla. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the flour mixture, alternating with the buttermilk and blending well after each addition.
Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar together in a clean bowl on high heat until stiff peaks form. Stir about 1/3 of the whites into the chocolate batter to lighten it, then fold in the remaining whites. Don’t worry if you still see a few specks of white, since they’ll disappear during cooking. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and bake at 350F until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a moist crumb, about 30 minutes. Cool the cakes in the pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then turn them out onto the rack and gently peel off the paper liners. Let the cakes cool completely, about 2 hours, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to assemble the cake.
Frosting
1 1/2 C chopped pecans
1/2 C sliced almonds
1/2 C chopped hazelnuts
4 C angel flake coconut, plus 1/4 C for sprinkling
2 C sugar
2 T AP flour
1 C heavy whipping cream
1 C whole milk
1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 T vanilla extract
Once the cakes are out of the oven, spread out all the nuts on a large rimmed baking sheet and toast at 350F until golden, about 5 minutes, tossing once or twice. Set aside to cool. Toast 1/4 C coconut the same way until golden brown and set aside for garnish.
When you are nearly ready to assemble the cake, mix the sugar and flour together in a large saucepan. (This is when I moved the cheesecake to the freezer.) Add the cream, milk, butter and vanilla, and stir until well combined. Cook and stir constantly over medium heat until the mixture thickens and turns golden brown, about 12 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the toasted nuts and untoasted coconut. Refrigerate until the frosting is thick enough to spread, about 30 minutes.
Assembling the Cake
Remove the cheesecake from the freezer and let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes (if frozen overnight). Place one cake layer, top side down, on a cake plate. Spread with frosting. Release and remove the frozen cheesecake from the ring of the springform, then release and remove from the bottom of the pan (I slid a thin knife around the bottom, then flipped the cheesecake bottom and all onto the cake layer and gently pulled the pan bottom off the now-top of the cheesecake.). Spread with some more frosting. Top with the remaining cake layer top side up, and frost the top of the cake and the sides of the top cake layer only. Sprinkle the top evenly with toasted coconut. Refrigerate the cake until ready to serve (if the cheesecake was frozen overnight, it will take about 2 hours to thaw enough to easily slice). Use a sharp straight-edge knife, not a serrated one, to cut it.
Source: Junior’s Cheesecakes Cookbook, by Alan Rosen and Beth Allen, pg. 160-161.
Permalink
02.02.08
Posted in Cake, Chocolate, Dessert at 10:38 am by julie
I haven’t been doing as much cooking lately as I usually do. My excuse is that I’ve got old lady hips now, so standing in the kitchen for any amount of time inevitably ends in me hobbling back to the sofa to rest my swollen ankles. Good thing March is next month! In the meantime, I’ll take this opportunity to share a simple little cake I’ve made quite a few times, most recently a few weeks back.
This was the first recipe I made from In the Sweet Kitchen, and it’s still the primary reason I use the book—although the flavor pairing and substitutions charts frequently come in handy as well. The most recent time I made it, I went from scratching my head, thinking, “I wish we had something for dessert,” to eating cake in less than an hour and a half. So it’s a great quick-fix and doesn’t make many dirty dishes, all good things when you’ve got on your achy old lady hips. I have to admit to speeding up the cooling time for the cake by popping it in the freezer for about 15 minutes once the frosting was ready to go, which worked out perfectly.
All-in-the-Pan Chewy Chocolate Cake
1 1/2 C AP flour
1 C sugar
1/4 C unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 T canola oil
1 T white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 C cool water
Quick Chocolate Butter Icing
1/4 C unsalted butter, room temperature
2 C confectioners sugar
2-3 T milk or water
1 1/2 T unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 350F, and get out the butter for the icing, if using. Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt into an 8×8 or 9×9 ungreased square baking pan. Stir well with a fork or flat whisk, making sure to get the corners of the pan. Make three wells in the dry ingredients (small, medium and large); pour the vegetable oil in the largest indentation, the vinegar in the medium one, and the vanilla in the smallest. Pour the water over everything. Again with a fork or flat whisk, stir until all the ingredients are well-blended, making sure to catch all the dry pockets that may form around the corners and edges. Don’t beat, just mix until most of the lumps are out and the batter is fairly uniform (no patches of overly thick or runny batter).
Bake an 8×8 cake for 30 minutes, or a 9×9 cake for 23-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the top is springy when touched lightly. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool completely before cutting or frosting. Because it is a very moist cake, it can tear if cut too soon, and of course you don’t want the icing to melt. While waiting for it to cool, make the icing, if using.
Icing: Cream together the butter and 1 C of confectioners sugar until the butter is well distributed; it will still be dry and powdery. Stir in 1 T milk or water, then sift the cocoa powder over and cream to blend. Mix in the vanilla, then the second cup of confectioners sugar. Add as much remaining liquid as necessary to achieve a thick creamy icing.
To serve, either cut the cake into squares and simply dust with confectioners sugar, or spread with icing (there will be plenty; you don’t have to use it all unless you really like icing!). Serve with vanilla ice cream or a glass of cold milk, and try not to eat the whole pan in one sitting.
Source: In the Sweet Kitchen, by Regan Daley, p. 407-409.
Permalink