Metric measurements and kitchen arithmetic

1 ounce is equal to 28.35 grams.
The recipe requires 24 ounces of cream cheese.
Golly!
*shriek*



So I halved the base and tiered the cream cheese layer. Geeky chick like me actually do enjoy division and multiplication you see... anyway I am not big on cheesecakes and I had only baked one, once before in my life. Honestly, I'm not even sure characteristics of a good cheesecake, so whilst other daring bakers ran amok improvising the recipe with wild and wonderful flavours, I stuck to what I could see the simplest option; lime. No drama. One third of the recipes makes 5 baby cheesecakes in individual ramekins.



The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge. Thank you Jenny and Abbey for sharing the recipe.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake
crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake



DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.
2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.
3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.
4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.
5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.



Some variations from JennyBakes:
**Key lime - add zest from one lime to sugar before mixing with cream cheese. Substitute lemon juice, alcohol, and vanilla with key lime juice.
**Cheesecakelets - put in muffin tins, ramekins, or custard cups. Try baking 20-35 minutes, or until still a little jiggly, and cool as before.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.
Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

ps: passionfruit pulp also makes a nice match... though too bad I didn't take any photos. xoxm

Excerpts from a cat's diary

"Day 183 of My Captivity
My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am forced to eat dry cereal. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope of escape, and the mild satisfaction I get from ruining the occasional piece of furniture. Tomorrow I may eat another houseplant.
Today my attempt to kill my captors by weaving around their feet while they were walking almost succeeded, must try this at the top of the stairs. In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced myself to vomit on their favorite chair, must try this on their bed.
Decapitated a mouse and brought them the headless body, in attempt to make them aware of what I am capable of, and to try to strike fear into their hearts. They only cooed and condescended about what a good little cat I was. Hmmm, not working according to plan."

I thought I might share this with fellow cat captors. As soon as I finish The Book Thief, I'm going to read the whole diary.

In my household I think Fig is the ruler and I'm the slave. It is rather pathetic how I succumb to his charm and good looks not to mention his meowing protests at his breakfast/lunch/dinner, whilst in fact the only creature who can be outraged with my forgetting to feed him would be Nino II. But then motherly instinct (read: guilt) kicks in and I shower him with a lot of attention. He's a good kid.



Lately I've been liking my cheese bread a lot, they are rather nice. I use my basic bread recipe that you can find in my introduction to Nino II.



Add liberal amount of cheese (normally a mix of grated sharp mature cheddar and parmesan), snippets of rosemary when I have some and a dash of mustard powder because honestly I desperately want to use it before it expires.



et voilà, another lazy blog by me a power blogger. Thanks for dropping by.

Out of office

Day 1 : I spent all morning yesterday looking for my papers for 2 years worth of tax return, and eventually took the bus to see my accountant. Turned out I owe the government some money rather than getting some back. Disgusting!
Day 2 : I baked my daring bakers challenge... unusually early considering the reveal date is another 5 days or so. Hey by the way... from this month I am also a daring cook! The thrill of waiting for the announcement of new challenges, now times 2.

This isn't the challenge by the by... in case you're wondering. Just a little sumthin I baked for the P's. You see... a month or two ago, when I met T+C for lunch I also planned to bake. Alas! I chose an completely new recipe from Gourmet Traveller which failed, to my horror! So when last friday we planned to meet again, I wanted to make sure the recipe I was going to attempt is fail safe.



One-pan chocolate cake
A recipe of Belinda Jeffery, from Vogue Entertaining + Travel mid-winter 2002, p.51

1/3 cup cocoa powder
75 gr cultured unsalted butter
1/3 cup light olive oil or vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
90 gr good-quality dark chocolate, chopped
250 gr caster sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup buttermilk, sour cream or yoghurt (see note)

To serve :
350 ml thick cream, whipped lightly + Hazelnut praline

Preheat the oven to 150C and butter a 23-24 cm round cake tin. Line the base with buttered baking paper, then dust the tin with flour. Shake out the excess flour and put it aside.

Put the cocoa, butter, oil and water into a fairly large saucepan. Bring to the boil over medium heat, stirring regularly until smooth, then remove from the heat. Add the chocolate and sugar and whisk until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool. When cool, add the egg and vanilla and whisk them in thoroughly. Sift in the flour and baking powder and stir until just combined. Whisk in the buttermilk.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and shake gently to even it out. Bake the cake for about 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre withdraws clean. Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes, then turn out onto the rack, remove the paper and leave to cool completely.
To serve : invert the cake onto a plate. Just before serving, spread the cream on top, using a spoon to swirl it up. To finish, sprinkle some praline over.

Note :
1. Sour cream. I went with the highest fat content option.
2. I added some chopped up tinned pears in order to firstly, sort of satisfy T's request for a fondant au chocolat et aux poires (which this cake is no where close, but nice nevertheless), and secondly to balance the fact that I used sour cream.
3. All in all, quite a nice cake actually... I used couverture chocolate, but next time I might use Green and Black's Maya Gold.
4. Tomorrow I will be back in the office. Boo!

What do you get if you pour boiling water down a rabbit hole?

Hints:




Answer : Hot cross bunnies.

HA HA! I had never heard of this said to be classic children joke before, I thought it's rather hilarious (albeit the apparent animal cruelty). It's in the article from which I took this recipe. A bit tardy for an Easter themed post, so I left out the cross.

Hot cross buns
Makes 16
Gourmet Traveller magazine Apr'07, p.39

750 gr plain flour, sifted
55 gr caster sugar
2 tsp (14 gr) dried yeast
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
250 gr sultanas
100 gr candied orange peel, coarsely chopped
Finely grated rind of 1 orange
300 ml milk
100 gr unsalted butter, coarsely chopped
1 egg
Glaze:
55 gr caster sugar
1/4 tsp mixed spice



Combine 700 gr flour, sugar, yeast, spices, sultanas, orange peel and rind and 1 tsp sea salt in a bowl. Gently warm milk and butter over a low heat until butter melts and mixture is tepid. Add egg to milk mixture and whisk.

Make a well in the centre of flour mixture, add milk mixture and stir. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes or until smooth. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and stand in a warm place for 40 minutes or until doubled in size.

Knock back dough and cut into 16 equal pieces. Knead each piece into a ball, blace in a lightly greased 22cm-square cake pan, cover with a damp tea towel and stand in a warm place for 40 minutes or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 220°C. Combine remaining flour and 1/4 cup water and stir to a smooth paste. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a fine nozzle. Pipe lines down each row to form crosses. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce temperature to 200°C and bake for another 10 minutes or until golden. (They are ready when they sound hollow when tapped).

For glaze, combine ingredients with 1/4 cup water in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1-2 minutes. Brush glaze over hot buns then transfer to a wire rack to cool.



I have a perfectly devine hot cross buns recipe from my Baker book. But for blogsake I decided to venture upon the ravels of the unknown and test a new recipe, adhering to it somewhat rather loosely. Refer to my notes at your own risk bakers.

Notes :
1. Due to the impromptu nature of this baking feat, I used what I could find at home; I swapped raisins for sultanas, and raisins for candied orange peel, lime zest for orange zest.
2. In Baker, the recipe includes a list of spices, a warm blend of cinnamon, cloves, coriander, ginger and nutmeg. I used that rather than allspice, though next time I'd liberally increase the quantity.
3. I only added the spices and fruits towards the last stages of the kneading, to allow the yeast to begin to work before the spices are added. Another tips from Baker.
4. I didn't add spice to the glaze, and I didn't bother to weigh the sugar nor measure the water. No wonder my glaze didn't stay syrupy and the sugar crystalised.
5. Nevertheless, nice buns they were.
6. A belated Happy Easter. xoxm

The apple of my eye

is my favourite English expression. It is lovely I think. Lovely is my favourite word in the English language by the way. I found a word in a book I'm reading, the Book Thief by Markus Zusak; lovelily. I didn't realise I could add another -ly after lovely. Of course it becomes an instant hit in my vocabulary. (waiting to use it in an opportune gushy sentence actually).

I baked this the other morning and packed some to bring to work to share. Amongst things I make this is the most oft asked recipe, and a bit unlike me to not omit/substitute something but this is one that needs no adjustment. Except for this one time, I added zest of one lemon just because.

"A pleasant hint of lemony aroma marries lovelily"



There! I did it! Lovelily in a sentence laced with soppiness verging on overkill. (I promise you, Markus Zusak is far more elegant writer than I)

Apple and almond batter pudding
Serves 6
A recipe from Vogue Entertaining Cookbook, Autumn/Winter SO+S p.109

120 gr plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
125 gr caster sugar
100 gr ground almonds
2 eggs
a few drops of almond essence
250 gr sour cream
3 Granny Smith apples
25 gr slivered almonds
25 gr extra caster sugar

Preheat oven to 180°C. Sift flour with baking powder and sugar together in a bowl, then mix in ground almonds. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, almond essence and sour cream then add to the dry ingredients, beating until smooth. Peel, core and slice the apples.

Spread half the batter in a buttered 28cm x 25cm baking dish and scatter with half the apples. Add the rest of the batter, then the remaining apples and scatter the slivered almonds and extra sugar on top.

Bake for 45 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the centre withdraws clean. Cool for 10 minutes. Serve with cream or custard.

Note:
1. I never add any essence. So in fact I do omit something from this recipe actually...
2. No silly kisses as I don't want to appear melodramatic, overly sentimental (and corny) blogger. Bye!

Come back soon sunshine

Autumn suits me for days are crisp and cool. Lovely days are when ray of warmth shines a plenty. The bureau forecasted showers for tomorrow, day after tomorrow and day after ...*sigh*



Last Christmas, in my office we had Kris Kringle. Having been away I only found the present on my desk after I came back from holiday, wrapped in unassuming plain brown paper. It was this beautiful cookie tin within, a cookie recipe book and 2 cookie cutters. Above all, it's the tin I love, my favourite shade of blue. Identity of the Kringle is not known, I have a few usual suspects... thank you!

Well anyway... last Sunday I suddenly craved for chocolate chip cookies, so I pored over my magazines and cook books to find a recipe. Now, I am not a chocolate chip cookie virgin baker, but I'm not a CCC baker minx either, in fact it must have been years since I last time made a batch. The recipe I tried this time, didn't come from the afore mentioned cookie book, I chose to try a recipe from Delicious, which uses baking powder which is quite common. Another recipe I found in another Delicious uses baking soda, a bit uncommon... typo/tricks/tips? I have a few more recipes nearly all seems to claim to be the best. I might test some out sometime and blog my findings. Betcha that my favourite batch would be one from my very un-American Larousse des desserts.



Double choc chip cookies
Makes 16 (Delicious magazine, Apr'04 p.69)

125 gr unsalted butter, softened
250 gr brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
225 gr plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
100 gr good quality dark chocolate, roughly chopped
100 gr white chocolate, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until pale. Add vanilla and egg and continue to beat until just combine. Sift in the flour with baking powder and a pinch of salt then fold in. Stir through chunks of chocolate.

Place tablespoonfuls of mixture 4-5cm apart on the tray. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool a little before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve with glasses of milk.

Note:
Maybe it's my fault I ended up with some tough cookies. Yes only some, strangely... maybe I over-handled the dough, either that or maybe it's because I completely subbed half of the ingredients:
a. damerara sugar rather than brown, because I thought I had some at home but then apparently not.
b. vanilla from pod rather than extract because I have excessive stock of vanilla pods
c. didn't find any nice white chocolate in the supermarket so I opted for Green and Black's Organic Milk and Maya Gold (not because I'm slightly pretentious but they were on special 2 for $5.00)
d. actually I think I must have used 70 gr + 70 gr of each chocolate and added 100 gr of macadamia nuts

They are all right biscuits I suppose. Score : 6.5 out of 10

a.ban.don [ə-bān'dən]

–verb (used with object)
1. to leave completely and finally; forsake utterly; desert: to abandon one's farm; to abandon a child; to abandon a sinking ship.
2. to give up; discontinue; withdraw from: to abandon a research project; to abandon hopes for a stage career; to abandon March's daring bakers challenge.

Why! I even bought a pasta maker to pump myself up for this. Last month's challenge was Lasagna of Emilia-Romagna, hmmm with meat ragu that contains veal, pork loin, beef skirt steak, prosciutto and pancetta. Well if you must know, apart from occasional chicken fillets I have not bought raw meat for years. For my cooking I mean, I regularly buy Fig minced kangaroo meat, no sweat. I sort of have relaxed my vegetarianism to the max that I happily wolf down pork and chives dumpings at this little joint on a weekly basis, but I really don't think I've ever bought any raw pork in my whole life.

I thought this challenge a perfect opportunity re-enter the realm of butchery, but Gosh! veal, pork, beef, prosciutto, pancetta... that's a double whammy butcher AND delicatessen. So I chickened out. The movie Chicken Run by the way, with all those poultry wanting to be free range chickens not end up as chicken pies... once stopped me from buying chicken all together. For months.

I didn't refund the pasta maker though it was a very impulse purchase. In fact I've started using it and I love it!!! I've used it 3 times now within the week, and how fun is it to crank out thin layer of pasta sheet!


Pasta all'uovo (ricetta base)
From the Silver Spoon p.268
Serves 4

200 gr plain flour, preferably Italian type 00 plus extra for dusting
2 eggs, lightly beaten
salt

Sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a mound on work surface. Make a well in the centre and add the eggs. Using your fingers, gradually incorporate the flour, then knead for about 10 minutes.

If the mixture is too soft, add a little extra flour; if it is too firm, add a little water. Shape the dough into a ball and leave to rest for 15 minutes. Roll out on a lightly floured surface or use a pasta machine to make a thin sheet, and cut out tagliatelle, lasagne, etc.

Simplissimo.

Note :
1. If you live in Sydney and haven't been to the Chinese Noodle Restaurant, please go.
2. No 1 (Xinjiang noodles) with beef. So good.
3. Pork and chives dumplings, pan fried or boiled.
4. Hot and sour soup
5. Am quite a piglet
6. *oink oink*