Saturday, April 24, 2010

The (somewhat) Triumphant returns!

Ahoy all! I'm back to baking and cooking, and now that I have a (somewhat) camera, I will be posting (most of) my escapades here for all to see!

While, I'm afraid to say, I don't have pictures of *all* of my baked/cooked items (pauses momentarily for the wails of dismay to disappate into the background), I do have the latest one!

Last week, I made three delicious items - Grilled Thai chicken salad with Mango and Ginger, Roasted asparagus with balsamic-shallot butter (I will NEVER look down my nose on asparagus again!), and a Strawberry cheesecake. And, of course, I only have a picture of the cheesecake. Shall we say single-focus brain, anyone?

So, as I sit here in my pajama's killing time before I have to text a friend (he was a cute one too, darnit) that I'm not going to be able to go to Renn Faire today after all, because I have to work for a few hours ( =( ), I will tell you about this marvelous cheesecake.



Disclaimer #1 - I am NOT responsible for the number of pounds one gains after having a slice (or two) of this beauty.

Claimer #2 - But I swear, it's worth every one.

On to the cheesecake! So at work two weeks ago, we had a major blowup relating to insufficient product for one of our customers. It was Thursday. We pulled our team together, and had to figure out how to get a product to California from Toronto, Canada. It needed to be there by Monday morning. And, the product was being produced on Friday, and it has a mandatory 8-day incubation time (and, we can't ship to customers on incubation). Totally screwed, anyone? After working with *everybody*, and finding an alternate item that we could repack (but we still needed packaging from Toronto), we throw together a potential solution. ~$2 grand later, it's actually going to work! At that point, I told everyone in the room that if we were able to do this, and get the customer product on time, I would bring in a cheesecake. Needless to say, we did, and so did I.

And now I'll stop blabbering.

Behold - the Cheesecake.



It is a Strawberry cheesecake, made with fresh Strawberries, and mascarpone cheese, of all things (I've never made a cheesecake with mascarpone before). The pictures don't do it justice, but it was heavenly. (Even though I broke Cheesecake Cardinal rule #3 - don't take the springform pan off until it's COMPLETELY cooled - it WAS a 9inch cheesecake. It was 10inches when I took it into work.)

And now for the recipe. It's from www.delish.com , which has had more jewels there than I expected for being one of the 'lesser' cooking sites. If only more of them were more waistline-friendly.

Next time I make this, which I will, I will be using a Vanilla bean - for my very first time!

· 1 pound(s) strawberries, hulled · 3 tablespoon(s) light corn syrup · 1 cup(s) finely ground graham crackers (about 4 sheets) · 1 cup(s) plus 3 tablespoons sugar · 3 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter, melted · 1 pound(s) plus 13 ounces cream cheese, room temperature · 1/4 teaspoon(s) salt · 2 large eggs, room temperature · 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped and reserved · 8 1/4 ounce(s) mascarpone cheese, room temperature

Directions –

1 - Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place strawberries in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with corn syrup, and toss gently to coat. Bake until syrup thickens and strawberries turn deep red and shrink slightly, about 1 hour 30 minutes. Transfer strawberries and syrup to a medium bowl, and mash with a potato masher. Let cool completely. 2 - Raise oven temperature to 350 degrees. Stir together graham cracker crumbs, 3 tablespoons sugar, and the melted butter in a small bowl. Press mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan to make an even layer. Bake until crust is firm to the touch and has just darkened, about 10 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack, and let crust cool completely. 3 - Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Put cream cheese into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium-low speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl, then gradually add remaining cup sugar and the salt. Scrape down sides of bowl; add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down sides of bowl, and mix in vanilla bean seeds and mascarpone until very creamy and no lumps remain, about 3 minutes. (Reserve vanilla bean for another use.) 4 - Transfer 5 cups cream cheese mixture to bowl with mashed strawberries; stir to combine. Pour strawberry-cream cheese mixture on top of crust; smooth with an offset spatula. Carefully spoon dollops of plain cream cheese mixture on top, smoothing with an offset spatula. 5 - Wrap the exterior of the springform pan in 2 layers of foil; set in a large roasting pan. Fill roasting pan with boiling water until water reaches halfway up the sides of the springform pan. Bake cheesecake until set, about 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes. Remove springform pan from water bath, and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours (up to overnight).


And voila! Like magic, it’s delicious, and everyone who tries it will be wondering where you’ve been all their life. Or something like that.

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