Cheesecake in July

It is almost impossible to bake in the summertime. We don't have whole house air conditioning, and besides, I refuse to heat the house from the inside while it's heating from the outside!

But this summer (so far) has been fairly lovely, and so on Saturday I ventured to bake a cheesecake. Anyone following this blog knows that I have declared the "perfect cheesecake" not once, but twice in recent months. And yet...

Lemon Cheesecake with Ricotta
(on the right is my personal recipe file project, still ongoing!)

Apparently, I need to fiddle with perfection. This weekend I made Mark Bittman's Lemon Cheesecake, but with twists. For the crust, I used Trader Joe's Triple Ginger Cookies (yum!). This was brilliant, a nice change from a straight graham cracker crust. The other innovation was to substitute ricotta for some of the cream cheese -- I used 15 oz. of whole milk ricotta with two 8 oz. packages of cream cheese. I didn't adjust the eggs, and perhaps I might have, but the happy noises coming out of my family's mouths last night confirmed that the ricotta added a certain lightness to the cheesecake. Again, yum.

The best part about cooking and baking, though, beyond the taste sensations exploding in the mouth, is the effort that goes into it. The same day I made a Quinoa Corn Feta salad (adapted from Rachel Ray) and a peach salsa for the bluefish we were grilling, and all that chopping and stirring was positively therapeutic.

Most importantly, for the cheesecake I needed lemon juice AND lemon rind. I walked down to the corner to buy the lemons at our bodega (a nice feature of city life), and then I rifled the drawers looking for my lemon zester.

I don't have a lemon zester in my other kitchen, so only in summer can I replay in my head that scene in the Brooklyn apartment of one of our favorite relatives. "A zester!" I exclaim. "I've always wanted a zester!" "Here, take it," says Uncle Roland. "No, really, I couldn't!" I retort, embarrassed. "Seriously, I've only used it once or twice myself. Take it, and you'll think of me when you use it."

How great is that for a dessert in mid-July? This recipe brought together creativity, fresh ingredients, the convenience of life in the city, the fun and precision of separating eggs, measuring and mixing, plus a chance to use my lemon zester and think about its provenance. Not bad for an experience -- and at the end there was cheesecake.

Thanks, Roland.

The Perfect Brownie

For years I have collected brownie recipes -- copied out of cookbooks, cut from newspapers, and so on, in search of the perfect brownie. Every brownie I make is too dry, or too cakey. In despair, I have purchased brownie mixes. My friend Jennifer expressed her disdain -- how could I, the queen of home baking, use a brownie mix? So sometimes I make Texas Brownies (Sue Kearney's recipe, with sour cream), very yummy, but that's a different treat entirely. (I'll post the recipe next time I make it -- great for a crowd. Requires corn syrup for the icing, though!)

Then last year I was at my sister's house and she had baked brownies for her husband's birthday. O my god. They were delicious!! And she said: "Why haven't you been making Foster's Brownies?"

I would have, really, if I had known they existed!

The recipe makes A LOT of brownies, so it's good to cut it in half. The key, though, is to manage the baking time. If you bake them too long, they are delicious, but too dry. If you manage just right, then someone in your family might say, like my son did yesterday: "There have been far too many cookies in this house over the years, and not nearly enough brownies."

Even a little piece deserves its own plate.

Here's the "modified" version (i.e. approximately a half recipe, but with my own tweaks).

Foster's Brownies

1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder*
1/2 t. salt
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar (reduced)
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
1 T. vanilla
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)
2 cups (12 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325.
Lightly grease and flour a 9 x 13" pan (glass is fine). Set aside.
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a bowl and stir to mix. Set aside.
Cream together the eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla in a separate bowl with an electric mixer until well blended.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix just until all the dry ingredients are moist and blended. Do not overmix.
Fold in the walnuts (if using) and chocolate chips and stir to blend. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
Bake 25-30 minutes. They should be slightly soft in the center when tested with a toothpick. Remove from oven and cool 30 minutes before cutting.
Cut into 2 1/2 by 3 inch bars (for a smaller brownie, cut the bar in half down the center or on the diagonal.)

* I usually use Ghirardelli's chocolate or Ah!laska brand, but I was lured at the Freshgrocer (which had neither of my preferred brands) to purchase Hershey's "Special Dark Blend of Natural and Dutched Cocoas." Yum. It really is darker than most cocoas, and the contrast with the Ghirardelli chips was awesome. (I admit, I used twice as many chips as the original recipe called for. But at least I left out the walnuts!)

Of course, AH!LASKA is organic, fat free, and kosher, the first such cocoa on the market. See all about it here.

Blueberry Buckle: The Recipe

So I thought somehow that the photo of my recipe book would be legible to anyone interested, and it seems that it was not.

Here's the recipe I used:

Blueberry Buckle

1/2 c. shortening (I used unsalted butter, softened)
1/2 c. sugar (not reduced as per my usual)
1 well-beaten egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c. milk
2 cups fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 if using glass pan). Grease a 11 1/2 x 7 inch pan. (9x13 is okay, but the buckle will not "buckle"...)

Thoroughly cream shortening and sugar. Add egg and mix well. Sift flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Pour into well-greased pan (pour?!? the consistency of my batter had me "patting" the dough into the pan). Top with blueberries. Sprinkle "Cinnamon Crumbs" (a.k.a. streusel) over blueberries. Bake 45-50 minutes or until done (possibly less if you're using a larger pan).

Cinnamon Crumbs: Mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (okay, I used 1 t.). Cut in 1/4 c. unsalted butter until crumbly.

Here's what it looked like before baking, in a 9x13" glass pan.

The after picture is here.

This was delicious, especially when warm and topped with fresh whipped cream. Next time I will try to make the "crumbs" more crumby (maybe the kitchen was too warm and so the streusel effect was lost?) and try a smaller pan (perhaps a 9 or 10" square metal pan?) to get the effect of "buckling" from the cinnamon layer, now that I know why it is called a Buckle. My friend who lives in Georgia recommends mixing up the fruit -- she uses blueberries and nectarines. Could one do blueberries and pomegranate seeds, or would that be too crazy?

Summertime Blueberry Buckle

I am in the midst of creating a personal cookbook -- trying to organize my recipes in some fashion that is both useful and attractive.

For a number of years I have been carting around a 3 ring binder with file folders stuffed into it: Breads and Muffins, Soups and Salads, Ethnic Recipes -- you get the drift. But now I am hoping to rewrite all the recipes I've been saving into my New Improved Book.

The problem? I'm actually fairly attached to the recipes as they are. I remember, for example, writing out one of my Russian recipes on the back of an orange flyer advertising George Kalbouss's Russian 522 course ... in about 1996. My friend Sara and I were planning a Russian feast. So looking at that recipe reminds me of the apartment where we held the feast, the guest list, the menu... How can I give that up?

I have recipes cut out of newspapers (including my Chocolate Roll Cake from St. Louis circa 1997 or so, when I was there for the AAASS conference in November); recipes handwritten on notebook paper or other random scrap paper; recipes cut out from magazines; recipes typewritten or handwritten on recipe cards, by myself, my aunt, my grandmother; recipes printed from epicurious.com or other recipe websites...

There is even a certain serendipity. Which brings us to the Blueberry Buckle recipe. My mom sent me her cornbread recipe, copied out from her new Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, but she also sent me the page from her old cookbook, and on the reverse of that page is the Blueberry Buckle recipe. And it's summer. So I copied it into my new book, and then prepared it -- for the first time. (I will adapt and change it in future -- stay tuned!)

Leaving room on the left for my Aunt Em's
Oatmeal Muffin recipe, the tastiest ever because made with sour cream!

I learned several things, about the Recipe Book project and about the recipe itself. First of all, by writing in ink I am guaranteeing that my book has "character" -- already I smeared the ink when preparing the first recipe! Secondly, this BH&G recipe makes word choices that don't necessarily reflect reality. For example, there is no way I could have "poured" the batter, since it was quite stiff. Instead I "patted" the dough into the pan. Third, though I only had a 9X11 glass casserole, that worked fine. No need to be hung up on exactitude! I admit, too, that I am doubtful about the "Cinnamon Crumbs" -- just a way to get more butter and sugar into the dish, since the texture did not live up to the name: there were no "crumbs" involved. Perhaps because it was too warm in the kitchen? I'll experiment some more in future to see if I can justify the BG&H vocab.

I got to thinking that adding basil to this recipe might be really nice. My daughter says no -- she thought adding chopped pistachios on top would be better. My son says that if I never make this recipe again, he will have no reason to live. So I guess I'll do it again next weekend when we have guests, as long as the blueberries are still in season.

Delicious -- especially with fresh whipped cream!

The designation "Buckle" seems so old-fashioned somehow, so I thought I'd better investigate. To quote this recipe site, "A buckle is an old-fashioned single layered cake interspersed with berries and with a streusel-type topping that “buckles” as it cools. Not sure mine did that -- maybe this is why I needed the smaller pan?

Finally, as I copied out this recipe and made the dish I was thinking of my stepdad. Over the holidays I accidentally overheard him talking to my mom about something I had baked (not even sure what!) and commenting that Angela should learn that sometimes sugar can be a good thing. (Generally I cut the sugar in all recipes in half, with the result that nothing I bake is particularly sweet!) So this time I did not reduce the sugar, and I agree -- it was tastier. Thanks, Allan.

Fundraiser for the Library?

I've been living in Greene County for almost 10 years now. I never quite know where I am, and now I see why -- whoever drew this county was a little tipsy. Slightly off-kilter. And having the Wright-Patt Air Force Base just confuses things further. Wherever I drive, I'm sure to end up in Beavercreek. When I merge onto I-70 I always remind myself: Dayton is West, Columbus is East.

So I try to do most of my traveling on foot or by bicycle. I stay in town whenever possible.

The other day I went to visit a neighbor. We had some business to contract, but she wanted me to come at 9 rather than 10. When I got there, I realized why.

She had baked a sweet bread to share with me over a cup of coffee.

In some ways, she reminds me of my grandmother -- ready to volunteer when called upon, living in a house filled with memories, and dipping into them occasionally to share.

In this case, the recipe was Lemon Yogurt Coffee Cake. She even had a xerox of the file card to give me when I expressed enthusiasm. (It was delicious -- especially because she toasted the slices in the toaster oven. Made it quite special.)

The best part, though, was the recipe card. Many people wouldn't recognize the homegrown effort of what was many years ago a fundraiser for the Greene County Libraries.

Typed recipe cards, reproduced and strung together with a shoestring. Yep, like a card catalogue. Very old school.

I have some ideas for how to modernize this recipe, but I haven't gotten to it yet -- we baked another Lemon Cheesecake (gluten-free this time) and have been reveling in it.

But the Lemon Yogurt Coffee Cake is next on my list of baked goods. And when I bake it, I'll think about the way libraries used to be. Card catalogues were awesome. In fact, when I visit the public library in St. Petersburg, Russia, I can lose myself in the card catalogue -- sometimes I don't even need to request the books.

Greene County library card catalogues ... no longer in use.

Cheesecake Heaven

Almost twenty years ago, I baked a pumpkin cheesecake for a friend of mine. I followed it up with lemon cheesecake, plain cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake. I'm afraid I was a bit of a cheesecake tease.

He married me -- he says for my cheesecake. And then it all went bad.

My cheesecake-making abilities have ebbed and flowed over the years -- and mostly ebbed. Somehow I have not been able to achieve the height, the lightness, the ecstasy that I aim for. My best rendition in recent years has been the Goat Cheese Mascarpone Cheesecake with Rosemary Rhubarb Sauce (from Grid magazine in Philadelphia), which is totally awesome. (I've even made it with a gluten-free crust for my celiac friend.)

But mostly my cheesecakes have fallen flat. I've taken to cutting them into squares and calling them "cheesecake bars." It's humiliating.

One answer is simply more cream cheese. But that doesn't achieve the lightness I'm looking for. Another is to use a smaller pan -- I've even gotten extreme with a 7" springform pan for ultra-mini-cheesecakes. Which disappear quickly, of course (who can knock the ingredients?), but leave my husband looking around for another cheesecake muse.

And finally -- though I have cursed some of his recipes in recent years -- Mark Bittman came to the rescue yesterday.

A classic recipe -- and it worked!

Lemon Cheesecake with Graham Cracker Crust

About 3 cups of crushed graham crackers
Pulse in Cuisinart with about 10 T. melted butter
(Skip Bittman's 3 T. sugar)

Press into a greased 9" springform pan and preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

4 eggs, separated
3 8 oz. pkgs. of cream cheese
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
2/3 c. sugar (reduced from Bittman's 1 cup)
1 T. flour

Beat the egg yolks until light with a mixer or in the Kitchenaid mixer; add cheese, lemon zest and juice, and 2/3 c. sugar and beat until smooth. Pour out into another bowl (if you're using the Kitchenaid) and stir the flour in with a spoon. Wash the bowl and whisk up the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Gently but thoroughly fold them into the cheese mixture (with a rubber spatula). Turn the batter into the pan and place pan in a baking pan large enough to hold it comfortably.

(This can be tricky -- I used a large flat Lodge enameled cast iron covered casserole. See above.)

Add as much warm water as you can to the larger pan -- you're baking the cheesecake in a water bath. (So your springform pan had better not leak -- I have a new one that locks very tightly.) Transfer carefully to the preheated oven and bake until the cake is just set and very lightly browned, about an hour.

Ideally (unless your daughter is baking lemon bars, which mine was), turn the oven off, take the cheesecake out of the water bath and return to the oven for at least 30 minutes to cool in the cooling oven. Then cool on a rack, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until well-chilled before slicing and serving.

I had planned the cake for a meeting I was having at my house, but my clever daughter made me a deal -- she baked lemon bars for the meeting (we never eat them at our house -- too much sugar!) and we kept the cheesecake for the family. It was truly fantastic -- light and creamy and lemony and a little bit tart. Perfect crust -- not too hard to cut into, as they sometimes are after an hour in the oven, not too sweet, since I omitted the extra sugar. Everyone was delighted -- and couldn't wait for breakfast this morning.

Marriage saved. For now.

My (Georgian) Hero

Darra Goldstein.

She's amazing. I finally made the Khachapuri in her Winter Vegetarian cookbook (1996, aka The Winter Hearth), and we judged it to be the most authentic Georgian cheese bread of all. It transported us back to the Tblisi restaurant in Warsaw where we had such a lovely meal when our friend Babs visited from the States. Here is a loaf of mine in all its glory:

In fact, I didn't have any "farmer cheese," so for the second cheese I used cream cheese.  (I don't really find the American "farmer's cheese" you can buy in the grocery store to work anyway -- it seems just like Muenster to me. There is another kind of "farmer cheese" I think that is softer, but I don't have access to it.) I worried that with cream cheese the result would be too sweet, but it was fine.

Adding the garlic clove made a surprisingly enormous difference and may very well be where the "authentic" taste came from.

Here we go:

Georgian Cheese Bread (Khachapuri)

3/4 c. milk
2 1/2 t. active dry yeast (= one packet)
1/2 t. honey
6 T. unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus 1 T. melted unsalted butter
1 3/4 t. salt
2 c. unbleached white flour
1/2 lb. farmer cheese (or cream cheese!)
1 lb. Muenster cheese, grated
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 garlic clove put through a garlic press

Heat the milk to lukewarm. Dissolve the yeast and honey in 1/4 c. of the milk. Set aside to proof for 10 minutes, then stir in the remaining milk. Add the 6 T. butter, 1 1/2 t. salt and the flour, mixing well.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning the dough to grease the top. Cover and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2-2 hours.

To prepare the filling, cream the farmer/cream cheese in a medium bowl (or a Kitchen Aid mixer). Stir in the grated Muenster until well blended, then add the eggs and the remaining 1/4 t. salt. Add the pressed garlic and beat until smooth and light. Set aside.

When the dough has doubled in bulk, punch it down and let it rise again until doubled, about 45 minutes. (If you're me and you're making this for dinner, these steps take too much time. Don't worry -- just make sure the dough rises some.) Punch down and divide into three equal pieces.

Grease 3 8-inch cake or pie pans, says Darra. Or just use a cookie sheet, greased or lined with parchment paper. On a floured surface, roll out each piece of dough into a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Center a round of dough in each pan (or on the cookie sheets). Divide the cheese mixture into three equal parts and place 1/3 of the filling on each circle of dough, mounding in the center. Then begin folding the edges of the dough in toward the center, moving in a clockwise direction, allowing each fold of dough to overlap the previous one, until the filling is completely encased in the pleated dough. Grasp the excess dough in the center of the bread and twist into a topknot to seal.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Let the breads stand for 10 minutes and then brush with melted butter. Bake for about 45 minutes (or much less, depending on your oven -- trust the scent of the bread to know when it is done) or until browned. Slip the khachapuri out of the pans and serve hot or at room temperature.

Darra also suggests mini-loaves with 1 T. of filling each, 12-15 minutes to bake.

I recommend this cookbook -- it is really terrific. Funny that I've had it for years and never searched Khachapuri. I guess I figured that for Georgian cheese bread, I use my Cooking in the Caucasus cookbook, and for Borscht I use this one. By the way, I also recommend Darra's vegetarian borscht, although only if you have a Cuisinart. It has so many vegetables in it that it's extremely hearty and you don't miss the meat at all (how would I know? I haven't eaten meat in over 30 years!), but without an army of serfs or a Cuisinart, you'll never manage the vegetables.