Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Peeps!
Asti flew into London tonight for a brief visit. Always lovely to see her again and spend some time together. She handed me a small box of Peeps saying that she wasn't sure if they might be too stale. Too stale? Never, no such thing as too stale Peeps!
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
New York Cheesecake
Recently we had some rather nice cheesecake. It was nice but well, just nice and not what Id call a NY cheesecake. It wasn't Turf Cheesecake; but then, nothing is and its a bit much even for me these days. But I did know what I wanted, so because my daughter was flying in for a quick visit, I decided to make a classic NY Cheesecake so she'd have a tasty snack when she arrived tonight. Here's the recipe I used:
Ingredients:
*10 - 12 digestive biscuits
80g butter
500g mascarpone
400 g Philadelphia cream cheese
2 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
*2 lemons
4 tbsp plain flour
*150g caster sugar
20 cm/8 inch springform or loose bottom deep pan.
*Notes:
1. They don't have graham crackers in the UK.You can either just omit the cracker crumb crust or use some really good digestive biscuits. I used Dove Organic Wholemeal Digestive Biscuits. They are the closest thing to Graham crackers I ever tasted, actually tasty. Don't use store brand or the classic McVities, they are bland and awful.
2. Full Fat mascarpone only. In NYC I would have used all Philly cheese but the Philadelphia company here lies. What they sell as Philadelphia cream cheese is close but absolutely not exactly the same as what they sell in the US. Trust me on this. It's a tragedy.
3. Use a microplane and get every scrap of zest off those lemons and into your cake mix. Depending on the lemon variety you're using and your personal taste preferences, you may need an additional lemon.
*In the US this is called superfine sugar. I think you could probably use regular granulated but the superfine/castor sugar will yield a more delicate texture.
Method:
1. Butter the pan. Line the base with parchment/nonstick baking paper.
2. Blitz the biscuits in a processor (or put them in a plastic baggie and smash with a rolling pin) then dump them into a mixing bowl. Met the butter - 60 seconds in the microwave in a small pyrex bowl.
Pour the butter into the crumbs and stir it through. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the baking pan smoothing and pressing them with the back of a spoon. Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes to firm.
3. Heat oven to 160 F.
4. Dump cheeses into the bowl of your mixer (you can make this manually with a large wooden spoon but I wouldn't). Mix on low until the cheeses are smooth, fluffy, and well mixed.
5. Add the eggs and egg yolks. Beat eggs and cheese gently until they are thoroughly mixed.
6. Thoroughly remove the lemon zest with a microplane or zester and add to the cheese mix. Juice the lemons and add to the cheese mix. Lightly blend and taste. Add more lemon juice/zest if you want a stronger lemon taste but I'd suggest the zest more than the juice because you don't want the mix too liquidy. This is the art bit of baking.
7. Add the flour and sugar and then beat gentkly to thoroughly combine all.
8. Spoon the cheesecake mixture into the cake tin. Smooth the top. Slide into the oven and bake for 45-60 mins till the cheesecake is set but with a bit of a wobble when you gently shake the tin. (I turn the oven off at 45 min and just let the cheesecake sit in the hot oven for the remaining 15 min or so. This helps prevent surface cracks.) You can let the cheesecake cool slowly in the closed oven for an additional 30 - 60 minutes as well. This also helps prevent surface cracks.
9. Let the cheesecake cool at room temp. in the tin, and then chill till you're ready to serve - you can make it the day before you want to eat it.
You can serve the cheesecake as-is or spoon a fruit compote over the top like blueberry or strawberry.
You can also swirl in melted chocolate for a marble cheesecake. I wouldn't but some people really like chocolate.
How many does this feed? Ha! What a question. Polite people? Greedy People? Nostalgic people? Late at night with a cup of coffee when no one is watching people? Figure at least 8, possibly 12 or more. Did you really plan to share it?
Ingredients:
*10 - 12 digestive biscuits
80g butter
500g mascarpone
400 g Philadelphia cream cheese
2 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
*2 lemons
4 tbsp plain flour
*150g caster sugar
20 cm/8 inch springform or loose bottom deep pan.
*Notes:
1. They don't have graham crackers in the UK.You can either just omit the cracker crumb crust or use some really good digestive biscuits. I used Dove Organic Wholemeal Digestive Biscuits. They are the closest thing to Graham crackers I ever tasted, actually tasty. Don't use store brand or the classic McVities, they are bland and awful.
2. Full Fat mascarpone only. In NYC I would have used all Philly cheese but the Philadelphia company here lies. What they sell as Philadelphia cream cheese is close but absolutely not exactly the same as what they sell in the US. Trust me on this. It's a tragedy.
3. Use a microplane and get every scrap of zest off those lemons and into your cake mix. Depending on the lemon variety you're using and your personal taste preferences, you may need an additional lemon.
*In the US this is called superfine sugar. I think you could probably use regular granulated but the superfine/castor sugar will yield a more delicate texture.
Method:
1. Butter the pan. Line the base with parchment/nonstick baking paper.
2. Blitz the biscuits in a processor (or put them in a plastic baggie and smash with a rolling pin) then dump them into a mixing bowl. Met the butter - 60 seconds in the microwave in a small pyrex bowl.
Pour the butter into the crumbs and stir it through. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the baking pan smoothing and pressing them with the back of a spoon. Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes to firm.
3. Heat oven to 160 F.
4. Dump cheeses into the bowl of your mixer (you can make this manually with a large wooden spoon but I wouldn't). Mix on low until the cheeses are smooth, fluffy, and well mixed.
5. Add the eggs and egg yolks. Beat eggs and cheese gently until they are thoroughly mixed.
6. Thoroughly remove the lemon zest with a microplane or zester and add to the cheese mix. Juice the lemons and add to the cheese mix. Lightly blend and taste. Add more lemon juice/zest if you want a stronger lemon taste but I'd suggest the zest more than the juice because you don't want the mix too liquidy. This is the art bit of baking.
7. Add the flour and sugar and then beat gentkly to thoroughly combine all.
8. Spoon the cheesecake mixture into the cake tin. Smooth the top. Slide into the oven and bake for 45-60 mins till the cheesecake is set but with a bit of a wobble when you gently shake the tin. (I turn the oven off at 45 min and just let the cheesecake sit in the hot oven for the remaining 15 min or so. This helps prevent surface cracks.) You can let the cheesecake cool slowly in the closed oven for an additional 30 - 60 minutes as well. This also helps prevent surface cracks.
9. Let the cheesecake cool at room temp. in the tin, and then chill till you're ready to serve - you can make it the day before you want to eat it.
You can serve the cheesecake as-is or spoon a fruit compote over the top like blueberry or strawberry.
You can also swirl in melted chocolate for a marble cheesecake. I wouldn't but some people really like chocolate.
How many does this feed? Ha! What a question. Polite people? Greedy People? Nostalgic people? Late at night with a cup of coffee when no one is watching people? Figure at least 8, possibly 12 or more. Did you really plan to share it?
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