22 posts tagged “dessert”
This was rich beyond belief — I used too much butter in this dough, but dagnabbit, it was tasty. Not as good as the pear and blue cheese galette, but in my not-so humble opinion, you just can't beat that one.
Maybe that's why cooking is so much fun... A lot of the time, I find myself frustrated because my efforts don't reach my expectations — but then again, there are occasions when I exceed them, in the most unexpected way. This was one of those occasions. I've gotta try make more of these galette suckers. They's good eatin'.
This was seriously good... I made a blueberry galette a couple of years ago, and I have no idea why it took me so long to try this again — other than the fact that I rarely make dessert. But the pear and blue cheese part of it comes from a pizza that this very excellent grandmother of a friend of mine ordered from California Pizza Kitchen — caramelized pear and blue cheese. I think it's fantastic that someone of that age would be so open minded about unusual food combinations. I tried some of the cold, leftover pizza, and it was simply spectacular. I'm not sure how it'd taste hot, but cold, it was an eye opener.
Well, I took that combination and used it for my galette, and it was a winner. It looks a right mess, but oh well, you can't have everything.
Obviously, it wouldn't go down with people who don't like blue cheese, but I'd never allow those sort of people at my dinner table. Denying evolution, the moon landing or the Holocaust is one thing, but blue cheese?! What kind of depraved bastard would do such a thing? Get thee to McDonalds, you degenerate.
That Hyborian twit can kiss my pasty arse. Lamenting women & crushed enemies ain't got nothing on pancakes
But I tell a lie. What is best in life? Pancakes? No. I submit to you that pancakes are not what is best in life. Clearly, what is best in life are blueberry pancakes (with a little vanilla extract in the batter to really bring things to life):
A clever concept, I think, but the truth is that the lingonberries were wasted. I could have used any sort of berries, and the thing would have been equally nice — or I could have used strawberries or rasberries, or peaches or a lot of other things, and it'd been better. I think I'll reserve the lingonberries for the shitkickers.
But don't get me wrong; 'twas nice.
But don't get me wrong; 'twas nice.
Yeah... Doesn't look much like a cheesecake, does it? It boggles my mind that I can make such mistakes — hell, I don't even know what my mistake really was. I have my suspicions (not cooked long enough, and also, egg whites beaten too much/beaten egg whites not being folded into the dough with enough energy — hence, the thing became far too airy). The cake really tasted good, but it was obviously not cooked enough.
Also, I was too eager to create a "pale" cheesecake. Somehow, I thought cheesecakes — or at least fancy cheesecakes — should have a slightly brown color on the top. And trying to do that has worked pretty good for me — it has generally given me a clue as to what temperature I needed to cook certain things. But I'm a little stumped here, for the moment.
I used a crust made from Oreo cookies, which worked out pretty good.
Also, I was too eager to create a "pale" cheesecake. Somehow, I thought cheesecakes — or at least fancy cheesecakes — should have a slightly brown color on the top. And trying to do that has worked pretty good for me — it has generally given me a clue as to what temperature I needed to cook certain things. But I'm a little stumped here, for the moment.
I used a crust made from Oreo cookies, which worked out pretty good.
I'm proud of my cheesecake. Very proud. I've spent the better part of a year trying to get it "just so," and by some strange and mystical, mysterious coincidence, I've actually gotten it just so... It's very, very light, and also very, very tasty. Commercial cheesecakes — even the ones from the Cheesecake Factory — are just too damn dense, and far too rich; they sit like a brick in your stomach, and that's just not a sensible way to finish a good meal.
Just like making Naan, I try to learn how to do the "standard," "plain vanilla" version, before I start trying to improvise and come up with variations of my own (you gotta learn how to walk, before you can run, as they say). Well, I've done that... So now I'm starting with some little variations of my own...
The single most overlooked aspect of a cheesecake is the crust. Seriously. You try taste the crust on an almighty Cheesecake Factory cheesecake, and you'll see what I mean: their crust has no flavor at all.
Normally, I flavor the crust with cinnamon, but in this case I used some butterscotch chocolate instead. It turned out to be a good idea: it made the cake taste rich, without actually being rich. Still, since butterscotch is such a potent flavor, I was a little timid about using it. And I think I used too little of it, because you couldn't really taste the actual butterscotch flavor. Having said that, it obviously is far, far better to use too little than too much, because a cheesecake with butterscotch as a dominant flavor wouldn't be very nice, I think.
Now,, no matter how satisfied, proud — or downright arrogant — I am about the result, there's always room for improvement. And room for making mistakes, hehehe. I bake my cheesecakes for two whole hours at 200° F, but no two ovens are equal. And this was the first time I've done a cheesecake in this one. So at the end, the surface of the cake hadn't taken on the typical coloration, so I turned on the broiler... Well, a cheesecake is a fragile thing, and I turned my back for about 10 seconds, and my poor cheesecake ended up with a slightly charred top. It didn't affect the taste, but it didn't look good. Thus, I removed the top (a really time-consuming, and annoying thing to do, mind you), and created a glaze, from a wonderful, old-fashioned plum jam that the grandmother of a friend of mine made, years ago.
I'm very happy about this thing. I'm thinking about making a strawberry or blueberry glaze, next. Not to actually adorn the cake with it — I'm thinking about serving it on the side, along with it (since the next time I make this, I will never ever, ever let the top of the cake get too browned, or make any other form of mistake whatsoever, har har).
Since the cake was so fluffy and light, it was impossible to cut it in a clean way. Every piece I cut ended up with a lot of miscellaneous debris, even if I used a really thin and sharp knife, and heated the blade under very hot water. So it doesn't present anywhere near as well as it tastes. But you know, what's that quote, "It's better to look good, than to feel good" — well screw that! Obviously, I'd rather my food look and taste good — but if I have to make a choice between the two, I will always pick taste over appearances.
Just like making Naan, I try to learn how to do the "standard," "plain vanilla" version, before I start trying to improvise and come up with variations of my own (you gotta learn how to walk, before you can run, as they say). Well, I've done that... So now I'm starting with some little variations of my own...
The single most overlooked aspect of a cheesecake is the crust. Seriously. You try taste the crust on an almighty Cheesecake Factory cheesecake, and you'll see what I mean: their crust has no flavor at all.
Normally, I flavor the crust with cinnamon, but in this case I used some butterscotch chocolate instead. It turned out to be a good idea: it made the cake taste rich, without actually being rich. Still, since butterscotch is such a potent flavor, I was a little timid about using it. And I think I used too little of it, because you couldn't really taste the actual butterscotch flavor. Having said that, it obviously is far, far better to use too little than too much, because a cheesecake with butterscotch as a dominant flavor wouldn't be very nice, I think.
Now,, no matter how satisfied, proud — or downright arrogant — I am about the result, there's always room for improvement. And room for making mistakes, hehehe. I bake my cheesecakes for two whole hours at 200° F, but no two ovens are equal. And this was the first time I've done a cheesecake in this one. So at the end, the surface of the cake hadn't taken on the typical coloration, so I turned on the broiler... Well, a cheesecake is a fragile thing, and I turned my back for about 10 seconds, and my poor cheesecake ended up with a slightly charred top. It didn't affect the taste, but it didn't look good. Thus, I removed the top (a really time-consuming, and annoying thing to do, mind you), and created a glaze, from a wonderful, old-fashioned plum jam that the grandmother of a friend of mine made, years ago.
I'm very happy about this thing. I'm thinking about making a strawberry or blueberry glaze, next. Not to actually adorn the cake with it — I'm thinking about serving it on the side, along with it (since the next time I make this, I will never ever, ever let the top of the cake get too browned, or make any other form of mistake whatsoever, har har).
Since the cake was so fluffy and light, it was impossible to cut it in a clean way. Every piece I cut ended up with a lot of miscellaneous debris, even if I used a really thin and sharp knife, and heated the blade under very hot water. So it doesn't present anywhere near as well as it tastes. But you know, what's that quote, "It's better to look good, than to feel good" — well screw that! Obviously, I'd rather my food look and taste good — but if I have to make a choice between the two, I will always pick taste over appearances.
This is by far the airiest, lightest, fluffiest cheesecake I've ever made. When I started my cheesecake quest, I was aiming for a goal that a friend of mine dreamed up: a cheesecake that wasn't so dense that you felt like you'd swallowed a brick after eating it -- and ideally, a cheesecake so airy and fluffy that you'd be able to eat two pieces for dessert.
I fear I may have gone too far with this one... It's like Mr. Angelfood meets Mr. Cheesycake. Luckily, I screwed the crust up by trying to incorporate bittersweet chocolate morsels, in addition to the honey graham crackers, sugar, butter, vanilla and cinnamon. The chocolate made the crust dense, bitter, and dry. And that's a good thing, or else I'd risk people trying to suck down three or four of these buggers for pudding.
Update: Okay, here's my recipe. This is the result of a LOT of experimentation. I may add a step-by-step demo with pictures at a later date.
This is an extremely light and fluffy cheesecake. The "secret" to it, is to beat the egg whites separately from the rest of the batter, and to use more egg whites than yolks.
I use a traditional springform pan for my cheesecakes. Some people use a shallow tart pan, which I admit results in a quite elegant, petite cake -- but it'll only yield about eight servings, compared to about twenty for my springform cake. And it's the same amount of work, so you do the math... Besides, going through the effort of creating an excellent cheesecake, only to end up with no leftovers is just too traumatic to contemplate.
The crust is flavored. This is important. Too many commercial cheesecakes have these boring crusts that brings nothing to the party.
For the crust:
1 package Graham Crackers (These typically come in a box with three packages, total weight 14.4oz, so that's about 4.8oz for one package).
3 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons melted butter (more if needed)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Preheat the oven to 325ºF.
2. Before opening the package, crush the crackers with your hands. Then pour it into a food processor and pulse it until you have coarse crumbs -- don't overdo it, or else the crust will become too dense.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse it a few more times. Make sure there is enough butter to make the mixture stick together.
4. Brush the bottom of a spring-form pan with melted butter (to prevent it from sticking), and add the mixture.
5. Press the mixture into the pan -- I use the bottom of a glass, and then a spoon around the edges.
6. Bake in oven for approx 12 minutes, and let cool.
For the filling:
3 8oz packs of cream cheese
7 eggs
1 cup white sugar (or more, according to taste)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1. Preheat oven to 200ºF.
2. Separate egg yolks and whites, but discard two of the yolks (otherwise, it will become too rich. If you like it rich, only discard one yolk -- but using an equal amount of yolk and whites makes it too rich for my taste).
3. Beat the cream cheese until smooth (I use a hand-held electric mixer, but obviously a big, standing mixer works just as well.)
4. Add everything else, except the egg whites. Beat until smooth.
5. Clean your mixer and beat the egg whites until stiff peaks.
6. Add egg whites to the cream cheese mixture and mix thoroughly with a spatula. You do not want to merely FOLD it in gently, as this would leave you with patches of just egg white in the cake -- it has to be mixed until it is completely homogeneous. Yes, a lot of the air will be mixed out of the egg whites -- but enough will remain to ensure a fluffy texture.
7. Brush the sides of the spring-form pan with melted butter.
8. Pour mixture into pan, until it fills it to the top (there may not be enough room for all of the mixture).
9. Bake for 2 hours at 200ºF (for a browned surface, increase to 300º during the last 10-15 minutes).
10. Place on a rack to cool for 2 hours, covered with aluminum foil to slow down the cooling process. Then, chill overnight in the refrigerator.
11. To help release the cake from the pan, heat a thin knife with hot water from the tap, and then run the knife around the edge of the pan.
Serving suggestion: I like to add some fruit jelly, preserve or sauce -- strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, plum etc.
This recipe intentionally overfills the pan, making the cake balloon up almost like a soufflé. However, it will shrink back to its normal size as it cools -- but it won't shrink so much that it starts pulling away from the walls of the pan, causing unsightly cracks in the surface (this was an accidental discovery).
I fear I may have gone too far with this one... It's like Mr. Angelfood meets Mr. Cheesycake. Luckily, I screwed the crust up by trying to incorporate bittersweet chocolate morsels, in addition to the honey graham crackers, sugar, butter, vanilla and cinnamon. The chocolate made the crust dense, bitter, and dry. And that's a good thing, or else I'd risk people trying to suck down three or four of these buggers for pudding.
Update: Okay, here's my recipe. This is the result of a LOT of experimentation. I may add a step-by-step demo with pictures at a later date.
This is an extremely light and fluffy cheesecake. The "secret" to it, is to beat the egg whites separately from the rest of the batter, and to use more egg whites than yolks.
I use a traditional springform pan for my cheesecakes. Some people use a shallow tart pan, which I admit results in a quite elegant, petite cake -- but it'll only yield about eight servings, compared to about twenty for my springform cake. And it's the same amount of work, so you do the math... Besides, going through the effort of creating an excellent cheesecake, only to end up with no leftovers is just too traumatic to contemplate.
The crust is flavored. This is important. Too many commercial cheesecakes have these boring crusts that brings nothing to the party.
For the crust:
1 package Graham Crackers (These typically come in a box with three packages, total weight 14.4oz, so that's about 4.8oz for one package).
3 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons melted butter (more if needed)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Preheat the oven to 325ºF.
2. Before opening the package, crush the crackers with your hands. Then pour it into a food processor and pulse it until you have coarse crumbs -- don't overdo it, or else the crust will become too dense.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse it a few more times. Make sure there is enough butter to make the mixture stick together.
4. Brush the bottom of a spring-form pan with melted butter (to prevent it from sticking), and add the mixture.
5. Press the mixture into the pan -- I use the bottom of a glass, and then a spoon around the edges.
6. Bake in oven for approx 12 minutes, and let cool.
For the filling:
3 8oz packs of cream cheese
7 eggs
1 cup white sugar (or more, according to taste)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1. Preheat oven to 200ºF.
2. Separate egg yolks and whites, but discard two of the yolks (otherwise, it will become too rich. If you like it rich, only discard one yolk -- but using an equal amount of yolk and whites makes it too rich for my taste).
3. Beat the cream cheese until smooth (I use a hand-held electric mixer, but obviously a big, standing mixer works just as well.)
4. Add everything else, except the egg whites. Beat until smooth.
5. Clean your mixer and beat the egg whites until stiff peaks.
6. Add egg whites to the cream cheese mixture and mix thoroughly with a spatula. You do not want to merely FOLD it in gently, as this would leave you with patches of just egg white in the cake -- it has to be mixed until it is completely homogeneous. Yes, a lot of the air will be mixed out of the egg whites -- but enough will remain to ensure a fluffy texture.
7. Brush the sides of the spring-form pan with melted butter.
8. Pour mixture into pan, until it fills it to the top (there may not be enough room for all of the mixture).
9. Bake for 2 hours at 200ºF (for a browned surface, increase to 300º during the last 10-15 minutes).
10. Place on a rack to cool for 2 hours, covered with aluminum foil to slow down the cooling process. Then, chill overnight in the refrigerator.
11. To help release the cake from the pan, heat a thin knife with hot water from the tap, and then run the knife around the edge of the pan.
Serving suggestion: I like to add some fruit jelly, preserve or sauce -- strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, plum etc.
This recipe intentionally overfills the pan, making the cake balloon up almost like a soufflé. However, it will shrink back to its normal size as it cools -- but it won't shrink so much that it starts pulling away from the walls of the pan, causing unsightly cracks in the surface (this was an accidental discovery).
Starting to feel like I'm getting the hang of this now. I've seen some cheesecakes that are completely pale on top -- and some recipes I've tried, resulted in that. Well, I much prefer this slightly speckled, browned surface.
I've settled down with a recipe that combines a CIA recipe with one from Cooking for Engineers, with various modifications. The CIA recipe creates a very thin or low cake, which I'm sure is fine if you're a professional who makes half a dozen cakes in a batch, but if you only make one, it takes almost no extra effort to create a bigger cake that will give you twenty servings, rather than ten. So I increased the ingredients; almost doubling them. I think I can safely double them, now.
Another thing I learned this time around, is that there's a very good reason why some recipes calls for using fewer egg yolks, than egg whites: it creates a lighter flavor. One of my goals has been to create a light and fluffy cake (hence my whisking the egg whites separately, into stiff peaks, and folding them in). I just thought it would be a shame to throw away egg yolks, so I decided to keep them in. This created a really rich flavor -- which is nice; nothing wrong with that -- but it wasn't what I was looking for.
Well, I think I'm getting close to my perfect cheesecake...
I've settled down with a recipe that combines a CIA recipe with one from Cooking for Engineers, with various modifications. The CIA recipe creates a very thin or low cake, which I'm sure is fine if you're a professional who makes half a dozen cakes in a batch, but if you only make one, it takes almost no extra effort to create a bigger cake that will give you twenty servings, rather than ten. So I increased the ingredients; almost doubling them. I think I can safely double them, now.
Another thing I learned this time around, is that there's a very good reason why some recipes calls for using fewer egg yolks, than egg whites: it creates a lighter flavor. One of my goals has been to create a light and fluffy cake (hence my whisking the egg whites separately, into stiff peaks, and folding them in). I just thought it would be a shame to throw away egg yolks, so I decided to keep them in. This created a really rich flavor -- which is nice; nothing wrong with that -- but it wasn't what I was looking for.
Well, I think I'm getting close to my perfect cheesecake...
Purchased pastry shells filled with a vanilla custard, and a blueberry mixture with a little lemon zest. These little suckers are normally served as savory hors d'oeuvres, but they're very nice as a little dessert too.
Next time around, I'll use strawberries, I think. And I'll make my own faux puff pastry too -- I've got the glasses scoped out, that'll cut it into just the right sizes.
Next time around, I'll use strawberries, I think. And I'll make my own faux puff pastry too -- I've got the glasses scoped out, that'll cut it into just the right sizes.
This dish (Gang keo goung)
calls for a Laotian all-purpose curry paste called Kore -- or in a
pinch, a store-bought Thai curry paste. Since this dinner was a little
involved, I decided against making Kore, and instead added some of its
ingredients to a Thai curry paste: freshly grated galangal, finely
chopped kaffir lime leaves, and some sweet Indian curry powder.
Apparently, Laotian food sometimes makes use of Indian curry powder, which I've never seen in Thai food. This struck me as a bit odd, since Thailand is closer to India than Laos -- but perhaps there are some historical, cultural ties there somewhere...
Laos frequently uses dill in their seafood (it is sometimes referred to as Laotian coriander (leaves -- ie., cilantro)). It's never cooked, but just added as a garnish. This is a great idea -- it is a great addition to a spicy seafood curry. Only problem, in all the excitement, I forgot to chop it up... An excellent dish. Oh, and I put some plain, boiled rice in the bowl -- traditionally, this dish is eaten by dipping sticky lumps of rice into the soup, but that didn't strike me as very practical...
"Kang soh" turned out to be the perfect side dish for this curry. It
has a very fresh taste from lime juice and fish sauce, with a smoky
counterpoint from toasted sesame seeds (in fairness, I toasted them a
little too much, but when I do this again, I'll toast them exactly the
same amount again, because it worked just right), along with toasted
shallot and garlic, strips from half a de-seeded and de-veined chili,
scallions and cilantro. It doesn't look like much, but the flavor was a
perfect match for the curry.
Finally, I made some dessert crêpes with an apple caramel sauce and whipped cream. I found my savory crêpes didn't taste of anything much at all, so I wanted to make sure these had an actual flavor of their own to contribute. I didn't have an exact recipe, so I just followed a savory crêpe recipe, used less salt, and added sugar and vanilla extract. They turned out great. I'm thinking of crêpes kinda like wine -- if it doesn't taste good on its own, you shouldn't be cooking with it.
I made the crêpes and the sauce the night before. The sauce consisted
of water, brown sugar, diced apples and cinnamon, simmered until soft,
buzzed with an immersion blender -- and a bit of lemon juice. I added
some strips of fresh apple (to offset the sweetness of the sauce),
whipped cream and crumbled ginger snap cookies for some crunch.
This went over real well, but I think I'll reserve it for a night when I'm not cooking the main course...
Apparently, Laotian food sometimes makes use of Indian curry powder, which I've never seen in Thai food. This struck me as a bit odd, since Thailand is closer to India than Laos -- but perhaps there are some historical, cultural ties there somewhere...
Laos frequently uses dill in their seafood (it is sometimes referred to as Laotian coriander (leaves -- ie., cilantro)). It's never cooked, but just added as a garnish. This is a great idea -- it is a great addition to a spicy seafood curry. Only problem, in all the excitement, I forgot to chop it up... An excellent dish. Oh, and I put some plain, boiled rice in the bowl -- traditionally, this dish is eaten by dipping sticky lumps of rice into the soup, but that didn't strike me as very practical...
Finally, I made some dessert crêpes with an apple caramel sauce and whipped cream. I found my savory crêpes didn't taste of anything much at all, so I wanted to make sure these had an actual flavor of their own to contribute. I didn't have an exact recipe, so I just followed a savory crêpe recipe, used less salt, and added sugar and vanilla extract. They turned out great. I'm thinking of crêpes kinda like wine -- if it doesn't taste good on its own, you shouldn't be cooking with it.
This went over real well, but I think I'll reserve it for a night when I'm not cooking the main course...
