Cheese Cake 101

Forgive me for not having this post up sooner. I got sick for most of the week, then I had to tackle all the catering we had due today. So it's been crazy around here. Finally with the shipment gone and probably half eaten by now I am going to make it up to you by posting finally posting.



Cheesecake 101-
Some people cringe at the idea of baking a cheesecake and go the non bake way. Others can never get the perfect flat top you see at stores. I'm a Pastry Chef, so is Michael, and we even crack our cheesecakes from time to time. Hence the above covered in chocolate and nuts. But look at it, I'd rather buy that then a plain undecorated one any day.
One thing that is great about baking is if you do it our way....You can go watch a movie and not have to worry about checking every few minutes. There's no water bath, so no boiled fingers and best of all it leaves it open for you to create your own.

First lets talk crust. Most just crush graham crackers or buy the pre-made tins. Don't! For one your cheesecake is going to be short and more like a pie, spend the money and buy a spring form pan so you can have that lovely high wall. Even if it's just a small 6 inch it will be totally worth it.
So now we got you away from pre-made crust I do suggest buying the Keebler crushed graham crackers in a box. Saves you the time of pounding a bag full of cracker only to hit your fingers or have the bag explode. We like to grind cocoa nibs, or nuts and toss them into the mix. Nut's especially bring out this really amazing complex flavor to the crust. Add a little bit of sugar and butter until its the consistency of wet sand. Of course once you get in pushed into the bottom of the pan bake if for about 5-7 minutes at 350 to give it a nice little crunch.

For the filling always make sure you cream cheese is room temperature. Always scrap the sides as your adding ingredients to make sure everything is getting well blended. After blending the sugar in make sure to add your eggs ONE at a time. This ensures that your mixture stays smooth and consistent. This way you won't have a section of cheesecake that's just all eggs. Now here's a super secret ingredient....flour. It gives you a little extra cushion for preventing the cake from cracking. It acts as a binder to keep all the ingredients together.

Flavoring can range from any extract to liquor. Just be careful with the alcohol because you can end up making the batter too watery. If that's the cases then it will take longer to bake and may not be as thick and creamy as you would like.

As for the baking part NO WATER BATHS. Water baths are used prevent it from cracking and puts an even cooking temp. around cheesecake so everything cooks evenly. Just by lowering the temp. and elongating the process you can save yourself from scalding hot water. We suggest baking at 230 degrees for an 8-9 inch pan for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. This just ensures everything bakes evenly without water. Cheesecake is done when the center jiggles like jello not like a cup of cream. When it's done it will jiggle in an oval and sets quick not like a circular jiggle that takes a while to stop.
Let it sit at room temp. for at least 3 hours. Because if you put it in the fridge too early it will be more likely to crack.
Of course if it does you guys remember my last post where I taught you how to fix those boo boos.

Our favorite recipe is Michael's brown sugar cheesecake.
For the crust you need 1 1/2 cup of gram crackers crushed, 1/2 cup Finley chopped pecans, 1/4 cup sugar, and 4-6 oz of butter melted. Make your wet sand like mixture, press into the bottom of pan, and bake for 7 min. at 350.

Now for the batter-

• 2#'s of cream cheese (room temp.)
  
• 2 cups of brown sugar
• 1 cup of chopped pecans
• 3 eggs
• 1 tbsp of flour (mix into brown sugar)

Put the room temp cream cheese into mixer with sugar and beat with paddle attachment until smooth. Scrap your sides then put to a slow mix while adding eggs one at a time (scrap bowl in between eggs). Toss your pecans in and mix for just a few seconds. Pour and bake 2-2 1/2 hours at 230.

So there you go. I hope that was helpful and feel free to post your questions, or ideas for my next or future posts. Hope it helps foodies!










Next entry SUGAR COOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Chef's family holiday tips.

With the holidays coming up I though I might throw a few pointers out for all you none Chef's out there.
Holidays at my place are crazy. My husband finds at least 10 crazy ideas he wants to try, along with the typical turkey dinner, the kids are running around, and I have to pick up when ever my Chef moves to something else. The end result is great, and while we have a method to the madness most people don't.

Food

• Be realistic (since my husband is not)- Don't bite off more than you can chew, or try something new without at least one run through. I found a recipe once for a supposed amazing gravy. I followed the recipe to a T only to find out it tasted awful.

• Think simple and sheik- One of my biggest hits at any party is my asparagus cigars. There pretty easy to make and best yet you can make them 3 days ahead and keep them in a freezer.
  

Take a bundle of asparagus and cut off the ends. If there really thick take a peeler and take some of the skin off. In fact x that peel them all the way up to the tip. They'll absorb the marinade better and cook faster. Then cut the asparagus in half so you have more to go around.

1. Take the asparagus and place them in a zip lock bag.
2. Add a good 5 seconds worth of balsamic vinager, 3 crushed and chopped garlic cloves, and a pinch of salt and pepper.
3. Let it sit in the marinade for at least 1 hour

You'll need a box of phyllo dough. Make sure to keep a lightly damp paper towel over your opened package to keep it from drying out. Cut the phyllo into long strips. Watch how wide you make them because you want your asparagus to peak out at both ends.
Melt some butter and grab a can of Parmesan cheese.
Pyllo dough has no butter in it, so you create layers with it putting the butter inbetween making it crispy and ultra yummy.
Brush butter along your strip of phyllo and sprinkle the cheese on as well. Then take your asparagus and roll the phyllo around it creating at least 4 layers.
If your not freezing them for later heat the oven to 350. Pop them in and bake till golden brown.
They are addictive so be forwarned.


DESSERT

• If your making cookies make the dough ahead and keep them in the freezer. As long as you make sure to get as much air out of the bag, or wrap them well they can last up to 6 weeks. You can also roll them into logs so when you pull them out there easier to cut and are already preformed for you.

• Don't skimp out on main ingredients. If your making plain chocolate chip cookies it's okay to buy eggs, milk, butter, flour, and sugar cheap. Just make sure you go out of your way to get the good chocolate. It's the star of the show, and getting the bags on sale is going to show in taste. You'd be suprise how buying a good chocolate will completely change your cookie. Do the same with cocoa powders, dried fruit, flavoring, and spices.
  

• Use parchment paper when baking cookies. You won't have to clean everytime you want to bake more, and it helps to trasfer them to a cooling rack.
  

• If your cake looks less than great, or your cheesecake cracks in the oven DO NOT DISPARE.
  

Bring 8z of heavy cream to a boil and dump it over 8oz of semi sweet chocolate.
Stir the 2 together and toss in 2oz of butter. You just made a ganache you can pour over the almost disaster.

• Sugar Cookies boring you? Then make a huge batch and seperate them into smaller ones. Add different extracts, or maybe even some citrus peel and your completely changed it into something edgy.

I like to take my sugar cookie dough left overs and add lemon zest with a little orange blossom water. Think high end tea party, they are ungodly delicious.

Just remember to take things in stride. So what if it's a little darker than you want, doesn't necessarily mean it's burnt. If it has a crack, hide it. You'd be suprised how many times my cheesecake was less than perfect. After a can of dulce de leche and a few nuts I changed it into a plain ruined cheesecake, into the ultimate Dulce cheescake. Taste check throughout to avoid a toss out, and remember to salt hot items at the end because once it cools you might find it's too salty. Hoping your holiday endevours foodie you guys up.

Stay tuned for cheesecake 101 later this week, and my ultimate guide to gingerbread house making.

Heart Shaped Meatballs

So to celebrate the day michael and me met, and him getting through the opening of the casino I thought I would do a little italian.
I don't have time to make spagettie sauce from scratch, so what I am going to do is take emerils super garlic sauce out of the cupboard and use that. For my special made from scratch part of the meal I will make heart shaped meatballs.

There are 2 specialy items you should get for this Alessi grated pecorina romano cheese, and McCormicks Italian herb seasoning grinder. These 2 things will spice up any italian dish and cut half if not all of the spices you need. (there also good together in oil for dipping bread in)

This is what you will need:
1 pound of ground beef/veal/pork which ever you like the best I will use beef
2tsp of thyme
1 cloves of garlic
1/4 -1/2 cup of romano cheese depending on how much you want
2 eggs
10 grinds of the italian herb mix (or a 1/2 tsp of each:rosmary pepper, red pepper, onion, tomato, and parsley)
1 cup of bread crumbs

Heat oven to 375
Toss the bread crumbs with the thyme, cheese, italian herbs, and garlic
Mix the egg and the meat until well combined, and then take turns between adding in crumb mix and mixing. Once everthing is together shape into balls, or hearts in this case and place onto sheet pan (you can also tightly package and freeze for later use). Cook for 10 minutes/flip and cook for another 10. I always hate giving times because I was always taught its done when its done. I usually have one dummy in the middle that i cut open to check that its cooked properly. NEVER EVER EVER cook your meatballs in sauce. For one your not sure when there done and risk contaminating the whole thing, and 2 they wont be as yummy. If you have to you can cook them in a pan with a little oil, but they wont taste as great. Remember that the whole point of cooking is to experiment so if there are things you want to change, CHANGE THEM it will be even better in the end because it will have a bit of you in it. Until the next dinner heres hoping I'll make a foodie out of you!

Why Not / Chelada Lime Chicken

As a pastry chef, honestly, I don't have the "culinary" experience. My husband has always cooked for fear what I might put in a pan and that was that. I stuck to my cakes and crazy desserts.....Until now. Lately Ive gone from the oven to the stove and fight for the reins of cooking master against my husband. I love food, why not try and make some.
Not all my food is from scratch, since I am still teaching myself most comes from strange Ideas I get when looking into the cupboard or fridge. If you think about it, most people don't have as much culinary experience as we do, so in the end no one will notice. Not all my meals will appeal to everyone, but not everything does. Of course I will also put in restaurant experiences when I get a chance, but mostly my blog will be here to inspire you to throw those odd spices in the back of your cupboard into the pot.
P.S. Don't be scared of how much garlic I use, I LOVE GARLIC, you can't really taste it trust me.


So lately the mood to be mrs. housewife has overpowered my love of fast food. I knew michael would be home extremely late, and thought some nice mexican comfort food might make him relax. Looking in the freezer what did we have...chicken....The options were limitless but I wanted to do something AMAZING at least to his standards. I took a cake pan since I was out of plastic bags. And Lined it with aluminum foil threw a bit of olive oil and the 3 chicken breasts in and this is what I tossed in:

4 cloves of crushed garlic and chopped (I swear they were tiny)
1 quarter of a red onion not chopped but in nice long strands (my culinary diction amazing you yet)
1 Tsp of Seasoned Salt
1 Tsp of Seasoned Pepper
3 Tbsp of mcCormicks hot mexican style chile powder
2 Tsp of dried thyme
2 Tsp of parsley flakes
Good hand full of chopped cilantro
2-3 Limes for Juice

Toss the chicken in above make sure its nicely covered on each side. Wrap it in the foil lining the cake pan and let it sit in the fridge to marinate. Now I left mine in for 2-3 hours, I'm not super sure because who writes stuff down as their cooking, I am going off memory here ::insert laugh::

Okay so if you pull your chicken out and there is white spots on it now it's okay. All that is, is the lime juice cooking the chicken wont kill you trust me.
Get a nice skillet pan and coat it with 3 Tbsp butter, once its nice and hot and the butter it cracklin' add everything in the aluminum bag we made, scrap off any juice or extra tidbits that may stick trust me you want every last piece.

So now we have the chicken cookin away in garlic, seasonings, onions, lime juice, and butter. If you did it right it smells frickin awesome and you can't wait. Around this point and time I was thirsty and went to the fridge as our chicken cooked and noticed michaels beer. It was miller's new chelada beer and I thought "hmm I bet this would be yummy" and put 3/4 of the beer bottle in the pan. Leaving 1/4 of beer for me! So now instead of frying in goodness we are now stewing in goodness. IT REALLY SMELLS YUMMY NOW!
I'm not good at knowing when chicken is done, so I always cut it into nice long strips to keep an eye on it while I'm cooking. I find it easier after the chicken has cooked for awhile but you can do it before you start all this. Take a taste test, add more spice or salt if needed, I personally added way more chili powder because michael likes a little kick.
So now the chicken is almost done, grab a bag of frozen corn and toss it in cornstarch, you need at least a table spoon or enough to get the corn dusted. In the last few minutes before the cooking is done add in the corn. Not only will the corn cook(defrost really) but the cornstarch will thicken up that oh so juicy broth and make a nice sauce for the chicken. Now what I wanted to do was take have the corn and puree it to make a sauce, unfortunately I couldn't find our hand blender so I left it as it. Paired with black beans and rice me, maybe a little squeeze of more lime on top,and michael were melting into our seats as we ate dinner. By far the most depth I have ever put in a dish according to michael. He especially loved how the beer paired with the chicken ( I didn't tell him what was in the chicken). So there it is my first entry, If you think this might appeal to you heres the list one more time:
Bag of frozen corn
3-4 chicken breast boneless
1 Tsp of Seasoned Salt
1 Tsp of Seasoned Pepper
3 Tbsp of mcCormicks hot mexican style chile powder
2 Tsp of dried thyme
2 Tsp of parsley flakes
Good hand full of chopped cilantro
2-3 Limes for Juice
Until my next dinner fiasco, here's me hoping that maybe I'll make a foodie out of you.
Amanda Joyner.