Nikas Culinaria » dessert

HÃ¤agen-Dazs “Made Like No Other” recipe – Caramel/Salt Surprise Summer Salad

Nika — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:45:21 +0000

Recently, BlogHer and HÃ¤agen-DazsÂ® asked me and a few other bloggers to create original recipes (not just desserts) using their ice cream as an ingredient.

How can one possibly say no to that?

I said yes and then, to the delight of my children, I went out and bought quite a few containers of HÃ¤agen-Dazs. I had to buy extras to fend off the ravenous offspring and then I set to creating my original take on HÃ¤agen-Dazs as an ingredient in a savory dish.

I could not help slipping in some of the lovely things growing in my garden too!

Click through to see all about this recipe – Caramel/Salt Surprise Summer Salad and enjoy!

Chocolate: thou art heavenly (and lucky?)

Nika — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 16:19:00 +0000

Visit my new page with a Ghirardelli chocolate wonderland and chance to win a $100 Visa gift card here -> LINK

I will also be sharing a recipe for chocolate chip cheesecake and for these delicious caramel chocolate covered apples you see below.

Make the jump!

To Die For Lemon Cream Crepes

Nika — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 13:25:12 +0000

Betty Crocker related posts:

My two amazingly action packed days at General Mills and the Betty Crocker kitchens still boggle me – we got so much done! From the moment we arrived at GM, I am visualizing those first few moments walking through their front door, we were enveloped by a well oiled and very welcoming machine composed of the nicest people who seemed honestly excited to see us.

One of the first things we saw in the lobby was a welcoming sign in spanish as we were a sub-group of a larger group of bloggers – the latina bloggers (blogueras if you will).

That sign was similar to the one you see below that welcomed us on the second day.

I am going to go a bit backward in this post and share with you a recipe we cooked, in teams, on the second day in the kitchens you see below.

Notice the film crew? Yeah, I did too.

I tried to duck them as much as possible but I fear there is video out there, of me – if you find it, dont tell me, I just cant watch!

There is a lot more about the beautiful GM campus but I will leave that for another post.

Today I am going to share this easy but beautiful recipe for crepes made with Bisquick, filled with a delightful lemon cream and raspberries.

When we were making this in the test kitchens, we had a lot of fun making the delicate crepes.

They look delicate but are actually quite easy to make. You get a great sense of satisfaction making these because they come out so pretty – very photogenic.

For those of you following from homes where you might make your own bisquick mix or might wish to use a whole wheat alternative I will blog a similarly delicious flip/side to the delicious crepes you see above – whole wheat buttermilk crepes with homemilked goats milk custard and blueberries.

Here is a sneak peek at that recipe:

Stay tuned for that post.

Lemon Cream Crepes
(recipe link)

Ingredients:

Crepes

1/2 cup Original BisquickÂ® mix
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter, melted
2 eggs

Filling

2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 box (4-serving size) vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix
2 cups fresh raspberries
Powdered sugar
Additional fresh raspberries, if desired

Directions:

In small bowl, beat Bisquick mix, sugar, 1/2 cup milk, the melted butter and eggs with whisk or fork until blended. Grease 6- or 7-inch nonstick skillet with shortening; heat over medium heat until bubbly. For each crepe, pour 2 tablespoons batter into skillet; immediately rotate skillet until batter covers bottom. Cook until golden brown on bottom side. Run wide spatula around edge to loosen; turn and cook other side until golden brown. Stack crepes as you remove them from skillet, placing waxed paper between each; keep covered.

In small bowl, beat sour cream, 1/2 cup milk, the lemon peel, lemon juice and pudding mix with whisk or fork until blended.

To assemble each crepe, spoon about 1/4 cup of the filling on one end of crepe; top with 5 raspberries. Roll up; sprinkle each crepe with powdered sugar. Serve with additional raspberries.

Enjoy! Let me know if you try these – they are sure to impress your friends and family.

Nutritional Information:

1 Serving (1 Crepe) Calories 240 (Calories from Fat 120),Total Fat 14g (Saturated Fat 8g,Trans Fat 1/2g), Cholesterol 75mg; Sodium 300mg; Total Carbohydrate 23g (Dietary Fiber 2g, Sugars 15g), Protein 5g; Percent Daily Value*: Vitamin A 10%; Vitamin C 8%; Calcium 15%; Iron 4%; Exchanges:1 Starch; 1/2 Fruit; 0 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Skim Milk; 0 Low-Fat Milk; 0 Milk; 0 Vegetable; 0 Very Lean Meat; 0 Lean Meat; 0 High-Fat Meat; 2 1/2 Fat; Carbohydrate Choices:1 1/2; *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

(Disclosure: General Mills paid for my travel and hotel stay for this blogger event but did not at any time require that I or any other blogger must reciprocate with reviews or blog posts in exchange for this experience.)

Collaborative Solstice Cake

Nika — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:40:24 +0000

We had a little party in the garden to celebrate the summer solstice. It was a quick one because I had to milk the goats right after so that I was not doing that in the dark!

For this party I made the 1-2-3-4 yellow cake in Joy of Cooking and then iced it with royal frosting (didnt want to make a heavy buttercream frosting). I added some Lorann orange oil to the cake and frosting and I think I added too much! Was too intense. I put the recipes for both at the bottom of this post. The decorations on the cake were a collaboration between me and my 6 yo. It is not something Martha Steward would find appealing! She wasnt on the guest list so it was ok with us.

The kids were happy for any sort of party but thought we needed to add more decorations and water gun play and running – all things that are hard to do in my garden but they tried anyways!

We cut the cake and munched on it in the afternoon light. We talked about what the solstice means and how its the first day of summer and the opposite of the winter solstice.

A bit of a cake-induce stupor overtook the kids as they munched but then they were back to the usual jumping about.

My little boy didnt mind the silliness of wearing pink tights – I thought such silly merriment was in order.

1-2-3-4 Yellow Cake (Joy of Cooking, page 938, 1997 ed)

Have all ingredients at room temperature.

Line three 8×2 inch or 9×2 inch round pans (or what ever you want) with parchment on the bottom – butter and flour.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Ingredients:

2 2/3 cups sifted cake flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large egg yolks
4 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon, scant cream of tartar
1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, salt; set aside.

Mix milk and vanilla; set aside.

In a large bowl cream the butter until it lightens. Add 1 1/2 cups sugar and beat to fluffy. Beat in one egg yolk at a time. Add a 1/3 of the flour, mix. Add 1/2 cup milk, mix. Add 1/3 of flour, mix. Add 1/2 cup milk, mix. Add last of flour, mix. Set aside.

Whip the egg whites and cream of tarter to soft peaks. Add the 1/4 cup sugar and whip to stiff peaks.

Add some of the flour/yolk mix to the whites. Add 1/2 of the whites to the remainder of the flour/yolk mixture and fold. Add the rest of the whites and fold gently.

Portion out the batter into your pans and put into the oven immediately.

Bake some 20-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove pans to a wire rack for 10 minutes and then remove cakes from pans and cool further. Ice/frost once cake is cool.

I do NOT recommend using royal icing for this cake but will put the recipe here for your edification (winks).

Royal Icing (Joy of Cooking, page 1009, 1979 ed)

Ingredients:

1 large egg white
1 1/3 cups powdered sugar
more powdered sugar as needed

Directions:
Mix egg white with 2/3 cup powdered sugar. Microwave about 30 seconds until temp hits 160 F, no higher than 175 F. Mix and then put in mixer bowl. Add 2/3 cup powdered sugar and beat. If its not the consistency you like/need, add more sugar but slowly so you do not make it too dry.

Bright Spicy Holiday Desserts – Bon Appetit Contest

Nika — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:01:57 +0000

I have entered this post into the annual Bon Appetit Holiday Dessert Bake-Off and I would be deeply thankful if you would follow THIS LINK and vote for my entry!

I have been fretting over this post for DAYS. I have been conceptualizing, racking my culinary brains, wondering if this entry should be super child friendly or uber – urbane and a global foodie galore. I have been hoping for just the slightest break in the driving dark rains here in Massachusetts. I baked all day yesterday while also getting ready for Halloween.

Today was meant to be simple – just assemble the lovely tidbits you see below and shoot. Not so fast!

At least the sun came out.

I asked my 13 yo daughter to help set out a stool onto which I would be setting the tray with the styled food. The 3 yo and the 6 yo decide that it would be time to run hair-burning-crazy amok around the house and outside of it – they see my camera as a few moments where I will be distracted and they run like the wind with it.

As the 13 yo was helping me with the stool one of our roosters attacked her and it was a fierce and brutal one. One of the girl chickens had some how found an antique plastic 6 pack plastic and had it wrapped tightly on her neck. As my DD was leaning over to help this poor hen the rooster launched himself at my poor daughter. She then was chasing the rooster around the garden as I rushed out to shoot while I still had sun.

So, as I am shooting these photos, 3 and 6 yos are running amok, 13 yos are running around in the garden, bleeding and swearing a blue streak, and a whole flock of chickens were assembled around me, the soft rustling of their feathers belying their impending attack.

Jeepers, what I do for food photography these days.

It is my hope that this holiday dessert offering can be considered delicious and non-denominational, good for any tradition.

When I was trying to think of what is THE iconic holiday dessert I was completely at a loss. In my house growing up, we just didnt do desserts. We had no tradition beyond Colombian bunuelos and those are not going to win a Bon Appetit contest.

My husband, being a first generation immigrant from England, suggested trifle. I vetoed that almost as soon as it came out of his mouth – trifle is NOT good food photography food.

I envisioned complicated frosted christmas cakes but decided I wasnt in the mood to do the frosting and knew it would not end well.

At some point, it struck me that holiday desserts have been about precious spices since time immemorial. With this thought in mind, I set out to find recipes that might showcase the spices I like and do it in a way that might win this contest.

I think its possible that the following two recipes might fit that bill. I had also in mind a persimmon panna cotta but I fell deeply in love with my persimmon, she is so very beautiful, that I decided to offer her simply as she is. Many cultures have done the same, serving simple fruits at the holidays.

Once again, please consider visiting THIS LINK to vote for my entry into the Bon Appetit Holiday Dessert Bake-Off. The voting selects favorites and then the chefs at Bon Appetit prepare those recipes and then selects the grand prize winner.

What does the winner get?

A trip for two to NY and dinner at Le Bernardin restaurant with Editor-in-Chief Barbara Fairchild and Restaurant Editor Andrew Knowlton!

If I win, I am going to take my 13 yo daughter (who should have stopped bleeding by then) and we will try things like foie gras and lord knows what else at Le Bernardin! It should be something she will remember for a long time and I would love to be able to meet Barbara Fairchild and Andrew Knowlton though I am not exactly certain what we will talk about!

Besides the persimmon, which is not an entry so much as food porn, we have, in front, Rosemary Coconut Hedgie Cookies (a variation of my very popular Chocolate Coconut Hedgies) and a Cardamom Cream Cake topped by figlets. The hedgies, as usual, are simple but just fantastic. They are crunchy and coconutty and sweet on the outside while still moist inside.

The Cardamom Cream Cake was something new to me and is also a very simple recipe. It is a traditional dessert in Scandinavian countries. The cake is very moist, quite decadent (made with heavy cream) and can stand up to all sorts of decorating abuse you might throw at it. I prefer simple. As such, all I did was make a homemade cardamom syrup, put that on the bottom layer and then sprinkled the top layer with powdered sugar.

Rosemary Coconut Hedgie Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/4 C AP flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 C butter
1/8 to 1/4 tsp finely minced fresh rosemary
1/2 C packed light brown sugar
1/2 C white sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 C flaked sweetened coconut
powdered sugar, as desired

Directions

Mix flour, baking soda, and salt, set aside.

Cream together butter, minced rosemary, brown and white sugars. Make certain that it is very well mixed and that you get a light fluffy texture (you have incorporated air into the mix).

Add egg and vanilla and mix well. It will be getting thick now. Add the flour by 1/3rds. The mix will be very thick, like a dough towards the end. Donâ€™t be shy, use your hands to knead it all together. Add the coconut flakes. You will likely need to use your hands to incorporate the coconut. Chill in the fridge (I did it over night).

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Make golf ball sized dough balls and put onto parchment.

You can dredge in powdered sugar or more coconut before baking.

Bake for about 25 minutes (your oven may be different, watch the first batch).

Dust with powdered sugar.

Cardamom Cream Cake topped by figlets (adapted from this recipe)

Ingredients

2 C all-purpose flour
1 C granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp freshly ground cardamom
1/8 tsp salt
3 large eggs at room temperature
1Â 1/2 C heavy cream
several figlets, sliced in half for garnish
Powdered sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Put about 2 tsp cardamom pods into a coffee grinder and grind as much as you can. Pick out the pod husks and any other large bits, set aside. You will use some of this in the cake and then in the following recipe for the syrup. Please be careful because this grinding releases A LOT of really intense cardamom essence into the air which can really choke you up. We had to open windows to vet out the kitchen area.

In a large bowl, mix (low speed) together all purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, freshly ground cardamom, and salt. Use an electric mixer so that you can get a really good whip going. Keep your mixer on low and blend in your eggs. Next add your heavy cream and slowly turn the speed up to high. Continue beating until the batter looks like softly whipped cream. There is no water in this recipe so you do not need to worry much about excess gluten development. Really whip it.

You can then pour this batter into a cake pan but I wanted to get fancy so I used two spring form pans and spread it out thin so that I could cut the cake with a cookie cutter.

Bake until the toothpick comes out clean (an hour but check at 40 minutes on to be sure you do not over cook)

Cool on a rack and then decorate as you wish. I think dusting with powdered sugar is the traditional way.

Like I mentioned before, I wanted to turn up the cardamom notch so I made a cardamom syrup that I put on the bottom layer. I sliced my figlets and adorned the top of the cake with them.

Cardamom Simple Syrup

Ingredients

1/2 C water
1/2 – 1 tsp ground cardamom, pod husks and all
1 C granulated sugar

Directions

Add ground cardamom to water in small pot, bring to a boil, add sugar, simmer until sugar is dissolved. Allow to cool.

Strain out large bits, store in cool place until use.

Dont forget to visit THIS LINK to vote for my entry into the Bon Appetit Holiday Dessert Bake-Off.

Drop me a comment to let me know if you did so I can thank you!

Join the Canvolution!

Nika — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:51:28 +0000

So by now, even MY garden (Humble Garden) is starting to produce, after months of rain of biblical proportions. My pickling cucumbers are growing, green beans and lemon cukes are whats for supper, and zucchinis are starting to really outpace our intake!

Anyone who gardens will eventually need to preserve or put up some of the bounty, thats where canning comes in!

There is a grassroots movement across the US to help people, especially all those new gardeners out there, how to preserve their food!

Its called Canning Across America.

The premise is that classes will be organized hopefully near you.

I will be teaching how to use a pressure canner to can low acid foods like meats, soups, sauces, and vegetables at the August 30th, 2009 Cantacular Canvolution event in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Here are the particulars as posted by Linsey Herman at her blog Cakes and Commerce!

The Canvolution Will Not Be Televised – August 30th, 2009

The Can-o-rama Cantacular is open to everyone with an interest in canning, preserving, pickling, and putting things by. Held in conjunction (canjunction?) with Cans Across America, our Somerville Can-o-rama is both a social event and a day of workshops, learning, and sharing.

Though the event is an all-day affair, please feel free to come and go as you please. If you do join us part way through the day, please be prepared to introduce yourself to the group. Don’t worry – we’re a friendly bunch! You’ll be able to bring home a can of something good at the end of the day – what it is will depend on what we do during the workshops.

We will be supplying a limited amount of jars and fruits and vegetables. Suggestion donation will be $10 to cover supplies, including jars and vegetables. If you have some fruits or vegetable you really want to can, please bring them in. Likewise, a donation of 12 new pint-sized ball jars can be made in lieu of a monetary donation. Please email me if you plan to do this instead.

While we will supply canning equipment and some jars, you will need to supply a few basic kitchen tools to participate. Please bring with you:

* a kitchen knife, preferably a chef’s knife
* a cutting board
* a dish towel

Because we will need to limit number to about 20, please make sure you sign up early if you are planning to come. We will cut off signups on August 27th – you have up to that date to sign up – we will be picking up provisions at the farmers market so we need to finalize numbers by then. To sign up, please send a suggested donation of $10 to: lin sey h e r m a n ( at ) y a h oo. c o m.

I will send you the address – a location in Union Square – as soon as I receive confirmation of your donation on PayPal.

We don’t have a set schedule of recipes, so if there is something you are really wanting to learn about, please let us know via email and we’ll try to incorporate it into the schedule.

We’re also hoping for some other demos throughout the day, from needle arts to knife skills…we’ll keep you posted!

Can-o-rama Cantacular Schedule, August 30th, 2009

10:15 am: Welcome & Introduction
Because this event is both about canning and fostering community, we’ll be starting things off with introductions. We’re pleased to meet you!

We’ll discuss the benefits and joys of canning and go over some of the techniques we’ll be using throughout the day.

11:00 am: Boiling Water Canning Linsey Herman
This is the most common form of canning for home cooks and requires the least specialized equipment. We’ll show you how to can tomato sauce, pickles, or jams and jellies.

12:00 noon: Lacto-Fermentation and other methods of putting by Alex Lewin
A tradtional method for putting food by, lacto-fermentation is at the root of sauerkraut, kimchi, some pickles, corned beef and many other well-known savory treats. Alex will show you how to get your own sauerkraut going and demonstrate how you can lactoferment your own vegetables at home. (note: we won’t can lacto-fermented vegetables because the processing kills off the beneficial bacteria).

1:00 Pressure Canning Nika Boyce
Exurban homesteader and scientist Nika Boyce will de-mystify pressure canning, which has long been seen by many home canners as dangerous. difficult or just too durn technical. Nika will present pressure canning and explain how to use the pressure canner to put by just about any low-acid food.

2:00 More Boiling Water Canning
Why not? This is the most common form of canning for home cooks and requires the least specialized equipment. We’ll show you how to can tomato sauce, pickles, or jams and jellies.

3:00 pm on…
We’ll spend the rest of the day using what we learned to can everything we have. Come join us for recipe making, canning, and chit-chat!

We can’t wait to meet you on August 30th!

Papaya Ice Cream with POM Syrup

Nika — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 20:36:57 +0000

I recently received a case of really cute 8 ounce POM pomegranate juices sent to me by the kind people at POM Wonderful.

Pomegranates are the mythical or iconic symbol of fertility…… To read more of this review, please visit the Papaya Ice Cream with POM syrup review.

A Pink Birthday

Nika — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:46:07 +0000

Today was my middle daughter’s 5th birthday. She asked for pink and she got a bit of pink.

See for yourself below!

Drop-in & Decorate! Sugar Cookies for a Better World

Nika — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 17:20:46 +0000

Yummmm, sugar cookies.

I know its only November but the holidays are really just around the corner. Once Halloween is gone, it seems like its a full-on sprint into the winter holidays.

If you have the time, one nice way to open the season is to make a batch of beautiful sugar cookies. Perhaps a turkey-shape would be best right now and I might do some of those for Thanksgiving but today’s post shows Christmas cookies (because I do not have other types of cookie cutters) that go for a good cause!

By the way, I will be blogging soon on how we are NOT doing a turkey this year and something completely different but hopefully just as satisfying.

Are you thinking of drop-kicking the overgrown poultry and going for something brand spanking new?

If yes, let me know what your up to!

Lydia of The Perfect Pantry and Nine Cooks has been running a wonderful community building event for years now called Drop-in & Decorate. I am going to borrow from her site to give you the details.

“Drop In & Decorate^SM Cookies for Donation is a simple concept: bake some cookies, invite friends or family (or neighbors, or co-workers) to drop by and help decorate, then donate your cookies to a local food pantry, emergency shelter, senior center, lunch program, or other community agency serving neighbors in need.

Drop In & Decorate parties have become a wonderful tradition for many friends and families a way to “give back” and have fun, too.

To start your own tradition, download our free “How to Host Your Own Cookie Decorating Party” Guide (click here). Includes recipes, supply sources, and how to donate.

Read about Drop In & Decorate parties here.

Meet our recipient agencies and partners , and learn how and where to donate your cookies.

What’s in the King Arthur Drop In & Decorate Baking Kit? Click here for details.

NEW! Drop In & Decorate gear: buttons, T-shirts, aprons.”

Today I am going to share with you Lydia’s truly fantastic recipe for these sugar cookies that can put up with a LOT of icing.

Its much more of a shortbread and that, my friends, is ALWAYS a good thing (ok, maybe not for the hips, but the lips say “Yes, please, ma’am”).

I hope Lydia doesn’t mind my sharing this recipe here. Its my hope that you try it, see how fantastic your cookies are and then you become inspired to host your own Drop-in & Decorate party this year!

DROP IN & DECORATE SUGAR COOKIES
Reprinted from the archives, our best, most delicious sugar cookie recipe. See note below for making multiple batches. Makes 16-20 large (4-5 inch) sugar cookies.

Ingredients:

3-1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups best quality unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 Tbsp milk
2 1/2 tsp best quality pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375Ã‚Â°F. Line a couple of baking sheets with a Silpat or parchment paper. In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt. In another large bowl or the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar, until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla, and continue to beat until well blended and smooth. Beat flour mixture into the butter mixture until smooth. Divide dough in half. Place one half on a sheet of parchment paper or wax paper; cover with another sheet and roll to 1/4 inch.

Repeat with second half of dough. Refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes, or up to a couple of days (or, if making far in advance, you can freeze at this point. Wrap sheets tightly in plastic wrap). Remove one sheet from the refrigerator; peel off the top wax paper, then replace paper and invert dough. Peel off and discard what is now the top sheet of paper, and cut out the cookies. (cookies will spread, so do not place too close together on the baking sheet).

Reroll scraps, refrigerating if necessary to firm the dough. Bake for 6-9 minutes, or until just lightly colored on top and slightly darker at the edges. Rotate sheets halfway through for even browning. Remove pans from oven and let cookies cool 2-3 minutes. Then remove cookies to a rack and let cool completely. (At this point, the cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to two weeks, in layers separated by parchment or wax paper.)

After the cookies are completely cooled, decorate with Royal Icing. Place the decorated cookies on a tray and leave out overnight, uncovered, to harden. The next morning, package in food-safe cellophane bags or cookie tins.

*Note: to make multiple batches, do NOT double the recipe. ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s hard to control proportions. Instead, make multiples of the original recipe, one batch at a time, for guaranteed success!

*Another note: Rolled sheets of cookie dough can be made ahead and frozen (or, if you’re going to use them within a day or two, you can stack the rolled sheets of dough on a cookie sheet in the refrigerator). Let defrost until dough is pliable enough to be cut without breaking cookies, but not necessarily completely defrosted.

I will post again once I decorate these babies and shoot them. Be patient!

Technorati Tags: sugar cookie, November, Halloween, winter, holiday, sugar cookies, turkey, Thanksgiving, Christmas, cookie cutter, poultry, The Perfect Pantry, Nine Cooks, Drop-in & Decorate, Cookies for Donation, food pantry, emergency shelter, senior center, lunch program, community agency, neighbor, tradition, friend, families, recipe, King Arthur, icing, shortbread

Spooky-easy Maple Pumpkin Cheesecake

Nika — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 12:00:03 +0000

We are just at peak fall color here, mother nature has decided to cool off, the kids are wearing their Halloween costumes all day long, and it feels like fall to me, finally. We were expecting lows of 29 F last night so I had to put row covers over the spinach, bell peppers, beets, and lettuce.

The thing that makes me feel most fall-like is the smell of wood fires from all the wood stoves around us. Our house is built really tight and gets lots of solar gain so we are not using our stove yet.

Something else put me in the autumn-mode. Last week I received a review copy of a cookbook by George Geary called “The Complete Baking Cookbook: 350 Recipes from Cookies and Cakes to Muffins and Pies” and I have been pouring through its many recipes trying to decide WHAT to bake for this review.

Can I just say first that the author, George Geary, is one super productive individual? Check out his site and you will learn about his teaching schedule across 9 different states, his four cookbooks (just signed for two more), his cooking classes at his new cooking school in Yorba Linda California, and foodie cooking tours across the world. Makes my head spin! Today’s cookbook of his just came out this October 12th and he has more in the works. Whew, if that were not enough, he was also the pastry chef and production manager for the Walt Disney Company and the Marriot Corporation.

This book has a nice introduction section that any occasional baker should read because it gets your mindset back into the baking mode if you have been mostly making savory meals. Its a required starting place for novice bakers as it will introduce you to the methods needed to make these recipes.

The 350 recipes are laid out in well planned sections, including:

Cookies, Bars, and Squares
Pies, Tarts, and Cobblers
Cakes, Frostings, Glazes, and more
Confections
Grand Finales
Breakfast Breads
Holiday Favorites

The book has beautiful food photography every few pages and the photos do an excellent job of tempting you to make the shown foods. I know that my stomach was growling badly while I was making today’s recipe because I could see a beautiful photo of it as I stood at the counter and brought the ingredients together.

Just about every recipe called my name but I wanted to choose something that would make sense for the current holiday – Halloween. For this reason, I chose the Maple Pumpkin Cheesecake.

I made cheesecakes with my mom as a kid but I have never made one since becoming a mom. In a way, its because we don’t need the calories (OK, who does?) but also because I always felt like it was a major enterprise to make one.

This recipe could not be easier and it came out perfectly, first time out. Be ready with two large pans because this recipe makes a large quantity.

The flavor will simply make you groan in ecstasy. The dominant flavor that will fill your head is a burst of pumpkin pie goodness. This is like all of whats right with pumpkin pie paired with the utter decadence of cheesecake. You also get a fantastic bloom of citrus from the lemon juice that works surprisingly well with the rest of the flavors. Some cheesecakes can be chalky affairs that stick to the roof of your mouth but this one is not like that at all. I found that it is as thick and creamy as it should be without a moment of chalkiness.

My 4 year old daughter KD is my youth taste tester. She especially loves eating the food off the set after I have done my main shooting. I love catching her expressions as she chews into the latest treat. Below you can see she is enjoying the cheesecake with milk (notice the faerie costume).

Maple Pumpkin Cheesecake (Print the PDF) (Copied here with permission)

SERVES 18 TO 20

Two flavors for the fall that go well together are maple and pumpkin.

Ã¢â‚¬Â¢Preheat oven to 350Ã‚Â°F (180Ã‚Â°C)

Ã¢â‚¬Â¢10-inch (25 cm) cheesecake pan, ungreased, or springform pan with 3-inch (7.5 cm) sides, greased

Ingredients:

Crust

2 1Ã¢Ââ€ž2 cups graham cracker crumbs 625 mL
1 tsp ground ginger 5 mL
1Ã¢Ââ€ž3 cup unsalted butter, melted 75 mL

Filling

5 packages (each 8 oz/250 g) cream cheese, softened 5
1 cup sour cream 250 mL
2 1Ã¢Ââ€ž4 cups granulated sugar 550 mL
6 eggs 6
1Ã¢Ââ€ž2 cup all-purpose flour 125 mL
1 tbsp vanilla extract 15 mL
3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice 45 mL
1Ã¢Ââ€ž2 cup pure maple syrup 125 mL
1 tbsp ground cinnamon 15 mL
1Ã¢Ââ€ž2 tsp ground nutmeg 2 mL
1Ã¢Ââ€ž4 tsp ground allspice 1 mL

Decoration
Classic Whipped Cream
(see recipe, page 239 – see below)

Directions:
1. Crust: In a bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, ginger and butter. Press into bottom of cheesecake pan and freeze.

2. Filling: In a large mixer bowl fitted with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese, sour cream and sugar on medium-high speed until very smooth, for 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Mix in flour, pumpkin, vanilla, lemon juice, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice.

3. Pour batter over frozen crust. Bake in preheated oven for 65 to 75 minutes or until the top is light brown and the center has a slight jiggle to it. Let cool on a rack for 2 hours. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours before decorating or serving.

4. Decoration: Ice top of cake with Classic Whipped Cream or pipe a border around edge of cake, if desired.

Tip – If pure maple syrup is not available you can use about 1Ã¢Ââ€ž4 tsp (1 mL) pure maple flavoring.

Variation – Add 1 cup (250 mL) chopped hazelnuts into the batter for a crunchy texture.

(Here KD is going for a gulp of milk. Cheesecake taste testing is mighty thirsty work!)

Classic Whipped Cream (Print the PDF) (Copied here with permission)

MAKES ABOUT
1 CUP (250 ML)

Use this classic topping on almost any cheesecake or cake.

Ingredients:

1Ã¢Ââ€ž2 cup whipping (35%) cream 125 mL
2 tbsp granulated sugar 25 mL

Directions:
1. In a well-chilled mixer bowl fitted with whip attachment or with a hand-held mixer, whip cream on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. With mixer running, sprinkle sugar into cream and continue whipping until firm peaks form.

Variation
Ginger Whipped Cream:
Add 1Ã¢Ââ€ž2 tsp (2 mL) ground ginger to the cream after the sugar.

Product Details:

The Complete Baking Cookbook: 350 Recipes from Cookies and Cakes to Muffins and Pies by George Geary $23.07

Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: Robert Rose (October 12, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0778801764
ISBN-13: 978-0778801764
Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 4.8 x 0.6 inches

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