A Treat That's a Little Sour and a Little Sweet

Per the combination of a random citrus craving and the desire to purchase more fun baking paraphernalia, (Exhibit A: my new fluted cake pan) this week's tasty treat is a Sour Cream-Lemon Pound Cake, adapted from a recipe in Cooking Light. (I guess Cooking Light was thinking in relative terms compared to other desserts like cheesecake because at  323 calories and 10.5 g fat per serving, and 18 servings per cake, this bad boy ain't exactly about to fly away.)

A special shout-out goes out to my good friend Marissa, who did me the kindness of getting married just so that she could get cool new kitchen appliances and I could inherit her old electric hand mixer! (Yup, that's how I'm telling the story.)

Fact: Most delicious desserts begin with a pile of butter :)

Ingredients:

One 9-10" fluted cake pan or tube pan

Cooking spray (canola oil style, not olive oil)

Dry breadcrumbs to coat the inside of the pan (approximately 3 tablespoons, maybe more)

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cups butter, softened (1 1/2 sticks -- making Julia Child proud) :)

2 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 teaspoons lemon extract

3 large eggs

1 1/2 tablespoons grated lemon rind (It will take about 2 lemons to produce this much)

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, divided in to two sets of 2 tablespoons

1 (8 oz.) tub of low-fat sour cream

1 cup powdered confectioners sugar (a.k.a. loves-to-go-everywhere sugar)

Cake Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. (Actually, I wouldn't do this yet, because for me it just made my apartment hot because I didn't grate the lemon first and my oven only takes 6 minutes to preheat. So, do this at some point, but it doesn't have to be first.) :)
2. Coat inside of pan with cooking spray and dust with breadcrumbs. (I found it difficult to distribute the breadcrumbs evenly just with my fingers, so after dusting the crumbs on, I picked up the pan and swirled it around to distribute the crumbs more evenly, and gently dumped the excess out of the pan.)
3. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Mix well with a whisk. Set aside for now.
4. In a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed until light and fluffy.
5. Gradually add the granulated sugar and lemon extract. (I added the sugar about 1/2 cup at a time, to make it easier to mix in. Thus making 5 total additions.) 
6. Add each egg, one at a time, and blending well in between each addition.
7. Toss in the grated lemon rind and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and beat for 30 seconds. (This is when it really starts smelling good.)
8. Slowly add the dry flour mixture to the sugar mixture, alternating with adding the sour cream. When combining, beat at a low speed and begin and end with the dry flour mixture.
9. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour and 10 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean.
10. Cool pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Then remove the cake from the pan and cool completely on the wire rack.

 

Icing Directions:

1. Combine 2 tablespoons of lemon juice with the powdered confectioners sugar.
2. *Fun Part Alert!* Drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake. And watch it make the most pretty, delicious mess you've ever seen.

 

Let the glaze set for a few minutes, and enjoy!

Triple Threat: Casserole, Salmon and Chocolate, Oh My!

My sincerest apologies for waiting so long between posts. As retribution, I have whipped up a triple threat of a post, just for you! A delicious, and surprisingly low fat, Sunday supper, a fast and easy salmon dish, and an absolutely delectable chocolate delight.

Last week I again was feeling the pangs of homesickness in this hot and muggy peninsula that I currently call home. I wanted it to be fall and if fall wasn't going to come to me on its own, I was going to make my own. So I whipped out my evergreen scented candle and went to work on a delicious stick-to-your-ribs-but-not-your thighs Tuna Noodle Casserole inspired by a recipe in Cooking Light.

Ingredients:

"No Yolks" my new egg  (white) noodle discovery! 

8 oz wide egg noodles (I found these really awesome ones made with egg whites, pictured at right) 
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1/3 cup chopped carrot
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (I actually didn't have flour, so I used corn starch as a thickening agent instead. It seemed to work just fine.)
2 3/4 cups fat free/skim milk
1/2 cup (4 oz) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (This plus the onions is where the heart of deliciousness of this particular recipe comes from.)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (or, if you're me, you just grind pepper over the top until it looks right)
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/2 cup (2 oz) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided (I used parmesan, romano and asiago because it was what I had. I figure anything that you find delicious can work.) :)
2 (5 oz) cans albacore tuna in water, drained and flaked
Cooking Spray
2 quart baking dish

Side note: I also considered calling this post "Never Stop Stirring" and you'll see why...

Directions:

1. Preheat broiler. (If you have an electric oven. If you have a gas oven, you can probably wait on this because a gas oven is significantly more efficient.)
2. Cook noodles according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain.
3. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium heat, coating pan with the oil. When the pan is hot, add the onions and carrots, cook until carrot is almost tender, approximately 6 mins. (Now begins the "stirring constantly" section of the our program... Get ready!)
4. Sprinkle the pan with flour, (or corn starch, as it were) cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually stir in milk, cook for 5 mins, stirring constantly with a whisk until slightly thick. (If you use a metal whisk on a non-stick pan, you're asking for trouble. I used a spatula because I have yet to invest in one of these bad boys, but I really should. Silicone coated wire whisks are your friends, ladies and gentlemen.)
5. Stir in cream cheese, mustard, salt and pepper, cook 2 minutes... yup! stirring constantly!
6. Remove pan from heat. Stir in noodles, peas, 1/4 cup shredded cheese and tuna.
7. Spoon mixture into a shallow broiler-safe 2 quart baking dish coated with cooking spray. Top with last 1/4 cup of shredded cheese.
8. Broil until golden and bubbly. This may take 3 minutes, it may take 5. It will really depend on your oven and how close you have the rack set to the top.
9. Before serving, let stand for at least 5 minutes. If you used a glass pan you may want to wait a little longer. A metal pan will cool quickly, however.

~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~

Done with dish numero uno! Now, for an even lighter, quicker dish! Straight from the Stark-Siegel household comes The Salmon Recipe. That's what we call it, so that's what I'm calling it here. This is a great mid-week dish because it is very fast and, if your fridge and cabinet are stocked as mine are, only requires you to buy salmon!

The world's simplest ingredients list!

Ingredients: (Scale up and down with the appropriate amount of salmon)

6 oz salmon filet

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon coarse ground mustard

1 garlic clove, minced

salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 F.
2. Line a rimmed baking sheet or pan with aluminum foil. Place salmon (skin side down, if it has skin) on the foil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. (I'd suggest a metal baking pan, because a glass one will hold heat longer and make it easier to accidentally over cook the fish.)
3. In a bowl, make a sauce by combining all the other ingredients.
4. Top the salmon with the sauce, trying to coat evenly. You may have to spoon some of the sauce over more than once in order to get the delicious mustard grains to stay.
5. Bake the salmon in the oven for approximately 15 minutes, but watch it carefully as the time this takes  is highly dependent upon the thickness of the fish. Thicker pieces may need more time, thinner pieces may only need about 12 mins.
6. Remove from oven, let cool for about 5 mins and enjoy!

~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~

Now, last and definitely not least... dessert! Coming back to our "stir continuously" theme, we will complete this hat trick with a surprisingly easy Chocolate Raspberry Tart. Yum! We ate healthily, now it's time to reward ourselves!

Note: If you have the option of cooking this on a gas range, please do so. Electric stoves, especially the crappy old school exposed coil ones, are horrible at rapid exact temperature control, which can be extremely necessary when heating heavy cream. I have taught myself this lesson many times... this time the upshot was that I got to learn how my oven comes completely apart so that I may clean every little nook and cranny of its filling of exploded heavy cream... So, don't say I didn't warn you.

Anywhoo...

Ingredients:

32 chocolate wafer cookies (about 8 oz) (They didn't sell these at my grocery store, so I substituted chocolate graham crackers instead. It worked fine. Use about 6-8 graham crackers. I used 6, but the crust never really dried. I'd probably do 7 next time.)

2 tablespoons sugar

coarse salt

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 1/4 cups heavy cream (buy extra, you may have boil-over issues)

1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries (6 oz)

9 inch flutted tart pan with removable bottom (Yeah, I didn't have this either, so I just used a disposable 9 inch pie tin so that I could bend the outside edges to reach the pie server down to the crust when serving. It worked just fine.) :)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. In a food processor, combine cookies, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Process until very fine crumbs form. Add butter and pulse until the mixture comes together.
3. Press the mixture into the bottom of the baking pan, use the flat bottom of a 1-cup measuring cup or a flat bottomed drinking glass to press the cookie mixture firmly into the pan. (Just like with the cheesecake recipe.)
4. Place pan on a baking sheet and bake until crust is dry and set, about 20 minutes. Turn off oven and let cool.
5. In a large bowl, combine chocolate and a pinch of salt.
6. In a small saucepan, bring cream to a bare simmer over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. (Watch it here, with this very small quantity of cream, the simmer can very quickly turn into an overflowing boiling mess... trust me.)
7. Immediately pour the cram over the chocolate and let stand for 1 minute, allowing the chocolate to melt a bit. 
8. Stir gently until chocolate melts and mixture is completely smooth. Pour chocolate into cooled tart shell and refrigerate until set, at least 30 minutes. (I let it set over night.)
9. If you have the springform pan, remove the tart from the pan and then top with raspberries as you please. If you don't have a springform pan, leave that bad boy in there. :)
10. Enjoy!

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

Sorry guys, another non-baking post, but this is important I promise! I am walking in the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk this Saturday, October 29th! I still have a long way to go before I reach my fundraising goal, so please help me out by clicking the pink ribbon above and donating to this very worthy cause.  Thanks in advance!

Next weekend will be my first travel-free weekend since the beginning of the month. I promise a real baking post will come soon!

Fall!

No real post this week. Too busy with thesis.

However, I have discovered one of my new favorite beverages This discovery was inspired by the changing of the seasons, which I was able to embrace in beautiful Atlanta.

Not to sweet. Juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust right. :)

Enjoy!

Cheesecake Success

Huzzah! It worked! And, as it turns out, the outer surface of the cheesecake was not bunt at all. It was simply caramelized. Yum!

It was so good that I almost forgot to take a picture before the last slice was gone. Luckily, I remembered just in the nick of time. Voila!

The cake came out a perfect combination of rich and fluffy. I ate a small sliver, and it was still enough to satisfy me. I think the sour cream really helped it to not become too dense, and the fresh strawberries on top were a nice contrast to the rich creaminess of the cheesecake. I know most people prefer the homemade jam-style strawberry topping (which there is a recipe for in the cookbook I mentioned) but I must say that the simple freshness of the plain strawberries suited my taste just right.

Next weekend I'm off to Atlanta, but maybe I'll whip up a fall-inspired tasty treat up there!

The Art of Cheesecake Timing

In case you ever wondered why people say making a cheesecake is difficult, it's not the actual mixing part (although my elbow is a bit sore, and I am extremely jealous of those with the huge Kitchen Aid mixers that come in all the fun colors.) In fact, (in my opinion) the difficulty in making cheesecake is all in the timing.

As promised, this week I baked 100% from scratch. The challenge: New York Style Cheesecake.

The recipe I based my cheesecake on came from my go-to recipe bible, a gift from my brother a few holidays back:

If you'd like to buy this book for yourself, click here!

They really mean it when they say "best recipe." Everything in this book has been tested time and time again until the authors/contributors feel that the it can no longer be improved upon. It also has a bunch of handy tips like how to properly cut up a whole chicken, and how to pick a good wok or a Dutch oven. (And, yes, I am aware that the internet exists and probably has lots of similarly useful information. But I stand by my case nonetheless.)

Anywhoo, done with the impromptu book promotion. On to cheesecake!

As I alluded to before, the actual preparing of the cheesecake contents are not the difficult part, although whipping up cream cheese with nothing but a fork certainly takes a bit of elbow grease, but that's part of the fun. The tricky part of cheesecake is getting the balance of timing and temperature just right. The steps come down to: mixing, medium temperature baking, cooling, mixing, filling, high temperature baking, low temperature baking/resting, room temperature resting/cooling, chilling and room temperature resting again. I had a minor slip up, as you'll see below, but nothing catastrophic. What I would consider to be "true" baking time for this dish only adds up to about 25 minutes, but the entire process takes hours. So let's dive in!

Ingredients:
Crust:
6  tablespoons unsalted butter. (5 tablespoons of which are to be melted, 1 tablespoon of which is to be divided, melted, and used for the pan)
8  whole graham crackers (4 oz), broken into rough pieces and processed in a food processor to fine, even crumbs.
1  tablespoon sugar

Filling:
2 1/2  pounds (five 8-ounce packages) cream cheese, cut into rough 1-inch chunks, at room temperature
1/8  teaspoon salt
1 1/2  cups (10.5 oz) sugar
1/3  cup sour cream
2  teaspoons lemon juice
8 eggs (6 whole eggs, and 2 egg yolks) at room temperature

2 Notes:
1) To make cheesecake, you really need a springform pan. Otherwise, you'll have a lot of trouble getting your slices out because the crust is only on the bottom of the pan. You don't need a fancy one. I bought a simple nonstick one at the local grocery store and it works great.
2) Because the creators of this cookbook are so thorough, I won't be able to fit the whole recipe (all the added descriptions and tips) into one blog post. But I'll be sure to include the essentials and the big tips/lessons/simple mistakes of note. If that's not enough for you, then buy the darn book!


Directions:

Making the crust:

1. Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and preheat to 325 F.
2. Brush the bottom and sides of the springform pan with 1/2 teaspoon melted butter.
3. After turning your graham crackers into what appears to be graham cracker sand in the food processor (or blender, if you don't have a food processor -- and if you have neither I suppose a ziplock bag, a rolling pin and/or filled water bottle and some patience will do) combine with the sugar in a medium bowl and mix thoroughly. 
4. Add the melted butter to the graham cracker-sugar mixture and mix with a fork until completely evenly moistened.
5. Empty the mixture into the bottom of the springform pan and press evenly into the bottom of the pan using a spoon or the flat bottom of a drinking glass.
6. Bake crust in the oven until fragrant and beginning to brown around the edges, about 13 minutes. (Mine never got very brown around the edges, but I took it out at 15 minutes to be safe. And it was plenty fragrant at that point.)
7. Cool on a wire rack while making the filling. (I decided to start making the filling while the crust was cooking, and I think it was a good idea. This is especially true since the timing in the recipe book counts on you owning an electric mixer. My electric mixer: a fork and some elbow grease.)

Making the filling:

1. Increase the oven temperature to 500 F.
2. In a large bowl or the bowl of a standing electric mixer (pick a heavy bowl if you're hand mixing like I was, because it'll be more stable and thus easier to work with when you're mixing up the tough cream cheese) beat cream cheese at a medium-low speed to soften it slightly, approx. 1 min. 
3. The book repeats 2 things with the addition of each ingredient, or portion of ingredient, 1) that mixing with an electric mixer will take approximately 1 minute, and 2) to scrape the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula . I'm not writing that 12 times, so from now on, assume each addition includes "and mix thoroughly, approx. 1 min, and scrape the sides of bowl" at the end.
4. Add the salt and about half of the sugar (I did the sugar in thirds, 1/2 cup at a time) and mix.
5. Add the rest of the sugar...
6. Add the sour cream, vanilla and lemon juice...
7. Add the egg yolks...
8. Add the remaining 6 whole eggs (2 at a time, mixing & scraping between each addition)

The baking/low baking/cooling/chilling/resting process:

1. Brush the sides of the (now cooled) springform pan with the reaiming 1/2 tablespoon of melted butter.
2. Set the pan on a rimmed baking sheet (to catch any spills or potential pan leakage.) (I didn't do this, and it wasn't a problem, but it's probably a good idea.)
3. Pour the filling into the cooled crust and bake for 10 minutes. (I baked it for 10 minutes, and the top turned really brown, too brown in my opinion, so be sure to watch this step of the process like a hawk, but DON'T open the oven door. They're very big on stressing that fact.)
4. After 10 minutes, turn the oven temperature down to 200 F, without opening the oven door, and continue to bake until the cheesecake temp reads about 150 F with an instant read thermometer. Approximately 1.5 hours. (I never stuck the thermometer in, I just pulled it out after 90 mins, 'cause it was bedtime and, frankly, I didn't feel like waiting any longer.) ;)
5. Transfer cake to a wire rack and cool until barely warm, 2.5 to 3 hours. (I went to bed, it cooled on the wire rack overnight. I put a cloth over top of it to make myself feel better, and because that's what they always did in cartoons. Tomorrow we'll see if the long-term room temperature cooling affected the texture at all.)
6. Run a paring knife between the cake and the pan sides. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, at least 3 hours. (The cheesecake can be refrigerated for up to 4 days.)
7. After it was cooled, I added sliced strawberries to the top. I had always planned to do this, but now it was especially important because the top of mine didn't look pretty due to the uneven browning that occurred during baking. I pressed each strawberry onto the cheesecake, hoping that this will help it stick as it cooled overnight tonight.
8. To unmold the cheesecake, remove the sides of the pan. Slide a thin metal spatula between teh crust and the bottom of the pan to loosen, then slide the cake onto a serving plate. Let the cheesecake stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes, then cut into wedges (it's best to use a sharp knife that you rinse with hot water and wipe between each slice, to get the best slices.)
9. Bon Appetit!

I haven't actually tried the cheesecake yet, because I'm bringing it in to work tomorrow, so I'll have to update on the taste test then. For now, you'll have to live with these fine photos:

Overly-browned cheesecake top. :(

 

Magical strawberry solution!

Until tomorrow, my friends...

A Stab at Something New...

So, who likes to be bored? "'Not I,' said the pig."

I must say, I am in that category of people that just does not like to sit around with nothing to do. (Unless, of course I am enjoying a leisurely Sunday of drinking coffee and reading the Times.) But, I digress, as I am referring to those other times, when I am too tired to do anything that requires significant thinking, but still feel the need to do something productive with myself. Lately I have turned those hours of idle hands into evenings to dive into a new adventure: a brand spanking new baking recipe!

Now I've never really been much of a baker. I can whip up a mean stir fry, and I've never met someone who can beat my fresh and spicy gazpacho recipe. But, baking? Not so much. I have never felt shame in making a quick batch of Ghiradelli brownies from the box, or cookie dough from the tube. But now the time has come to branch out, enter the unknown world of true, no holds barred, baking from scratch!


I must admit that the recipe that got me going and inspired me to share my baking adventures was not, I confess, entirely from scratch. Last Sunday night I made a key lime pie, adapted from this recipe I found on AllRecipes.com. As you can see, the recipe calls for what I have decided to call "cheater crust." (a.k.a. store bought prepared graham cracker crust.) While I did use the pre-made crust  for my first go, I am swearing to the blogosphere here and now that I will not cut corners again.

Here is my adapted version of this recipe, as I found that some parts needed minor extra explanation, and I added a little extra flair at the end:

Ingredients:
1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker (cheater) crust
3 cups sweetened condensed milk (this was pretty much exactly the amount I could get out of  two 14 oz cans since some of the milk sticks to the top and can also be hard to get out of the edges)
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup key lime juice (it took approximately 20-25 key limes)
1 tablespoon grated lime zest (be careful, those little key limes are slippery, and I found it was very easy to accidentally grate your knuckles instead)
Thin circular slices of approximately 2-3 key limes. (Optional.)


Quick tip:  If you, like me, lack a juicer and thus must do all the juicing by hand, roll the whole limes in between your hand and a hard counter top, using your body weight to push down. This will bring out some of the juices so that you do not have to put so much effort into squeezing the limes once they are cut.


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. (If you haven't juiced your limes yet, you might want to do that first, as it will likely take longer to do that than it will for the oven to heat up.)
2. In a medium bowl, combine condensed milk, sour cream, lime juice, and lime zest. Mix well and pour into graham cracker crust.
3. Bake pie in the oven for 5 to 8 minutes, until tiny pinhole bubbles burst on the surface of the pie. Do NOT brown. (I found that I could never see any tiny pinhole bubbles, so I simply took my pie out after about 10 minutes. It came out fine.)
4. Chill the pie thoroughly before serving. 
5. (Optional) Before pie is served, place thin circular key lime slices around the outer edge of the pie, and one in the middle. In addition to adding color and visual texture to the pie, the slices also serve as an excellent guide for how large a slice should be. One lime = small slice. Two limes = BIG slice.
6. Enjoy! :)

I didn't take any pictures of the finished pie, or the pie in process last week, but I will be sure to this week!