Al Dente

Zwieback AWOL. Still Looking for the Cheesecake of My Dreams...

I'm looking for the cheesecake of my youth, dense, not creamy, and with absolutely no graham crackers!  Al Dente reader Marcy and I both had high hopes for a circa 1961 Craig Claiborne's Cheesecake recipe that she found the New York Times that she found. It calls for cottage cheese instead of cream cheese and uses zwieback for its razor-thin crust instead of graham crackers.

I had planned to try this recipe, or rather have my husband, the cheesecake enthusiast, try it last week, but finding zwieback, a crisp, twice-baked biscuit, proved impossible. With zwieback AWOL, I needed a substitute, and I spent all last week looking for it. My first thought was biscotti, the twice-baked Italian biscuit, but all the biscotti I came across had strong nutty flavor, which I thought would be overpowering in the cheesecake. I scanned the cookie aisle and finally settled on some crispy Italian ladyfingers. Not the perfect substitute, but I didn't want to wait any longer to try this recipe.

In the end, the results were disappointing. The cheesecake was watery, perhaps the cottage cheese should have been drained. The lemon juice and rind was overpowering. I'm still looking for my ideal recipe. Any suggestions for the cheesecake of my dreams?

Cottage Cheese Cheesecake

Ingredients:
1 6-ounce package zwieback
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1-1/2 pounds cottage cheese
1/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 eggs, separated
1 cup sour cream
Rind and juice of one lemon
Strawberry glaze (see below)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven 325 degrees F. Roll zwieback into fine crumbs. Grease a nine inch spring form pan and dust the sides with zwieback crumbs. Mix the remaining crumbs with the one quarter cup of sugar and the butter and press onto bottom of the pan. Bake five minutes. Cool.

2. Press the cottage cheese through a fine sieve. Add half the remaining sugar, the flour, salt, egg yolks, sour cream, lemon rind and juice. Whip until thoroughly blended.

3. Beat egg whites until stiff, adding the remaining sugar gradually. Fold into cheese mixture.
Turn the mixture into prepared pan, bake at 325 degrees F about 1-1/2 hours. Cool in pan and glaze as directed.

Strawberry Glaze

Ingredients:
1 quart strawberries
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon butter

Directions:
1. Wash and hull berries. Crush enough berries to make one half cup.

2. Boil the crushed berries, sugar, water, and cornstarch two minutes, stirring. Add the butter, strain and cool.

3. Arrange the whole berries over the top of the cheesecake and pour the glaze over the berries. Chill.

--Tracy Schneider

Not All Amaretti Are Created Equal!

My friend Terry doesn't like the crisp amaretti you find in boxes and tins at specialty food stores, so when her neighbor in Spilamberto, Italy, Elisa, offered her some homemade amaretti, she was surprised at how delicious--and chewy--they were. She even asked for the recipe.

Turns out Terry liked Elisa's amaretti for more than just their texture. Elisa's recipe includes no almond paste nor almond extract, which Terry finds overpowering, just freshly ground almonds. I like Elisa's recipe because it has only four ingredients, and they're all kitchen staples.

Elisa's Amaretti

Ingredients:
100 grams sugar
1 egg white
100 grams almonds, preferably blanched
Salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Grind the almonds in a food processor, but be careful not to grind them too finely. Combine with sugar.

3. In another bowl, using an electric mixer, whisk the egg white with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form. With a wooden spoon, thoroughly fold in almond mixture.

4. Using a teaspoon drop small balls of the mixture on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle a pinch of sugar on each and put immediately into the oven.

5. Bake for 15-20 minutes, less time if you'd like them soft and chewy, more time for crisper cookies.

Makes 15-20 cookies.

--Tracy Schneider

It's an Old-fashioned Halloween at Our House

The plan for the day was to make jelly apples and popcorn balls with my daughter, all before her afternoon soccer game. Surprisingly enough, that's just what happened.

We popped three batches of popcorn, mixed them with Paula Deen's sugar syrup, and then with buttered hands turned them into popcorn balls.

My daughter loves to measure, pour and stir, but once the candy syrup began to boil, I kept her a few arms lengths from from the bubbling sugar syrup on the stove.

Without a candy thermometer, we had to use a cup of cold water to check the syrup and she got the chance to see how the sugar water became molten syrup in stages, from soft ball to firm ball to hard ball. 

We went through a similar drill for the candy apples, and soon enough, we had a dozen of both--the makings of an old-fashioned All Hallows' Eve.

Popcorn Balls

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1-1/3 cups water
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1.In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, water, syrup, vinegar, and salt. Cook over high heat until mixture reaches 255 degrees F (hard-ball stage) on a candy thermometer. Stir in vanilla.

2. Pour over popped corn, tossing gently to coat. When mixture is cool enough to handle, press popcorn into 3-inch balls with lightly greased hands. Cool completely on waxed paper.

Makes 14 popcorn balls

Popcorn Balls, Paula Deen

--Tracy Schneider

Baking Kids Love and Halloween Meringues

Good books on cooking with kids are hard to find, and it's even more uncommon to see a "serious" chef take one on. I was so pleased to see pastry chef Cindy Mushet, who won acclaim with last year's Art and Soul of Baking, follow that book up with Baking Kids Love. Written with the kid-input of Mushet's daughter Bella, it's a fun, colorful, approachable--but real--guide. Instead of the usual genre mainstays of arranging fruit in smiley faces or hiding vegetables in brownies, this one brings kids into the real world of the kitchen. They proof yeast, they melt chocolate, they roll out pie crust. It's just the sort of book I wanted to use with my own 7-year-old, so when I heard Cindy and 11-year-old Bella were coming to Seattle on tour, I asked "Baking with kids? Can they bake with my kid?" 

That's how they wound up in my kitchen, pastry bags in hand, making Halloween-style "meringue crispies" with my boy. The treats were meringue cookies stretched out into the shapes of "rattling bones and fingers," decorated with almond fingernails and melted-chocolate rings. My son is a veteran of one-bowl mixes like chocolate chip cookies and banana breads (both of which have a place in the book), but I hadn't ever given him more complicated projects. I was afraid that if he failed, he'd lose some of the pleasure he takes in baking. 

Mushet kept such fears in mind for the book, thinking hard about what to include so that kids (and, not incidentally, parents) could find kitchen success. Butter cakes did not make the cut, for instance, because not every modern-day parent knows how to gauge when the butter and sugar are properly creamed. Instead, there's the pretty "chocolate celebration cake" on the book's cover, which uses oil. Mushet also knows, though, that kids can rise to the expectations of adults; she's seen even 5-year-olds safely wielding knives and whipping up goodies. "Because I believed it, they could do it," she said.

The book started out with the recipes that Cindy and Bella loved to make together, then Bella proved a good sounding board for which gaps to fill and which recipes to leave out. Which recipes did Bella say to chuck? "Whole wheat bread". Sure, she likes it, but "Do I love it?" No. Instead, the book has pretzels and pizza dough, cinnamon rolls and monkey bread.

Baking is such a science, with success riding so much on correct measurements, I had to ask whether it was risky to put the recipes in the imprecise hands of children. Mushet noted that the book stresses the importance of measuring properly and following directions. And she shared this tip from when Bella was very young: She let her youngster measure out each ingredient, but had already pre-measured the precise amounts herself in advance. The correctly filled spoons and cups were the ones that went into the mixing bowl.

And our own baking experiment, with my boy? It was a delight. Cindy showed him how to separate eggs, and he proceeded on his own without a single speck of yolk going into the whites. "You're a natural!" she told him. Bella showed him how to judge the stiffness of the whipped whites, then how to pipe them into scary bones and fingers. He needed no directions on the sprinkled sugars and other decorations -- or, of course, on the eating. He's now the designated meringue chef in the family. We're both brimming with pride. 

Here's the recipe:

Candy Bracketology

"Almond Roca over Atomic Fireballs? No way!" my husband said, in total disbelief, when he heard the news. But that's just what happened the first day of the 2009 "Candy and 'Friends' Tournament", put together by the folks at Milliman, an actuarial firm based in Seattle.

"Could sour gummy worms be this year's Cinderella? Could a powerhouse like Cracker Jacks see an early exit from the tourney? Is there any way that Bugles could make it into the Sweet Sixteen?"

"This is really out of my league," I think, as my husband tries to explain the intricacies of bracketology. But even if you've never been swept up by March Madness, like me, you can still appreciate this "sporting" event.

Milliman's first Candy Tournament was held in 2005, the brainchild of Rex Barker and Arthur Rains-McNally, Milliman actuaries and candy enthusiasts. Maybe enthusiast isn't quite the right word. Rex, I've been told, pounds candy, nonstop, all day long. Not even chocolate, but the really sweet stuff. Smarties are a favorite.

If you walk into the company kitchen on any given afternoon over the next few weeks, you'll find trays or bowls laden with two kinds of candy or "friends" (non-candy snack foods like wasabi peas or Chips Ahoy!). And if you want to taste, you'll have to vote. Those are the rules. In fact, the rules of the tourney take up a full page, (so too do the rules for the bracketology), all decided by the Candy Committee. I'm not sweet talking you. There really is one.

And in addition to creating the rules, the Candy Committee also determines just which 64 treats make it into the tournament. Toblerone? Yes. Frangos? No. Skittles, Nerds or Zotz? Yes, yes and yes. Now that is one sweet job.

--Tracy Schneider

Candy: A Halloween Love Story

It was a toss-off question I posed on Twitter a couple of days ago: What's your favorite low-brow candy?

I 'fessed up to keeping Junior Mints in my freezer, a habit I picked up, oddly enough, while watching "Julie & Julia" this summer at a theater that sold those movie house staples frozen. It makes the mint even more refreshing.

Almost instantly, this silly query prompted all sorts of funny feedback. I heard from folks who have a thing for Butterfinger, Rolos, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Coffee Crisp. Though, Coffee Crisp doesn't seem exactly low-brow because it is imported. From Canada.

I had to laugh when one Twitter buddy in San Francisco said she immediately headed out to the corner store, in search of Junior Mints. There were only York Peppermint Patties. Close, but not what she was suddenly craving. "I'm so suggestible," she Tweeted.

The good, sweet fun slopped over to my Facebook page, where another roar of approval for good/bad candy was heard. Candy Corn was a huge hit, especially when paired with peanuts. One comment, though, had me laughing out loud and groaning at the same time. Chef Bill Smith gleefully spilled his guilty pleasure: Those marshmallows shaped like circus peanuts paired with mayo. As the old saying goes, don't knock it until you've tried it. So, I'm officially not knocking it.

Anybody think they can top that? How about piling on and adding your favorite treat?

-- Leslie Kelly

Looking for the Ultimate Cheesecake Recipe

My husband is on a quest for a cheesecake recipe that spirits me away to the New York City delis of my youth. He's tried before, to no avail. This time I fear, if I don't help him along, I'll be eating cheesecake for Thanksgiving instead of pumpkin pie.

My idea of cheesecake differs from his entirely. First, cheesecake should not have graham crackers, period. Graham crackers are for s'mores. Second, cheese cake should be moist, but not creamy. The texture should be drier, closer to the mouth feel of ricotta than of cream cheese.

I'd be happy with a ricotta cheesecake. (My favorite comes from the Florentine Bakery in Utica, New York where I grew up.) But for an authentic New York Cheesecake, I think we're looking for a recipe that calls for farmer cheese, a dry cottage cheese that I remember eating occasionally as a child. I haven't seen it in years.

As a starting point, my husband tried the Upstate Cheesecake recipe from Baked. But that recipe was as far away from my ideal, as Upstate is from Manhattan. If you have any suggestions, we're all ears!

Upstate Cheesecake

Ingredients:

For the simple graham crust:
2-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 20 crackers)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick unsalted butter, softened

For the cream cheese filling:
40 ounces (five 8-ounce packages) cream cheese, softened
1-3/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (from about 1 lemon)
1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
5 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sour cream

Directions:

Make the simple graham crust:
1. Lightly spray a 9-inch springform pan with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Put the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a large bowl. Beat, by hand, until well combined. Press the mixture into the bottom and all the way up the sides of the prepared pan. Put in the refrigerator while you make the filling.

Make the cream cheese filling:
1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese, sugar, flour, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Beat on medium speed until just combined, being careful not to overbeat (too much air can cause cheesecakes to crack). Add the eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the cream and beat until incorporated.

3. Pour the mixture into the chilled crust and bake for 10 minutes. Open the oven door to let out some heat, and lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Bake until the cheesecake is set around the outside, but still slightly wobbly in the center, 45 minutes to 1 hour, rotating the pan every 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and spread the sour cream over the top of the cheesecake. Return to the oven for 5 more minutes. Turn off the heat, crack the oven door, and let the cheesecake cool completely in the oven (about 1 hour).

4. Chill the cheesecake in the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight. When ready to serve, loosen the sides of the crust from the pan with an offset spatula, then remove the springform sides and serve.

Yield: 1 (8-inch) cake

Baked, Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2008

--Tracy Schneider

Gourmet's Adventures with Ruth: Behind the Scenes & on the Cutting Room Floor

This Sunday, in many areas but sadly not mine, Ruth Reichl will visit Jon Rowley's Seattle, the second installment of Gourmet's Adventures with Ruth. Julia Child called Jon Rowley the "fish missionary" and viewers can watch Reichl as she tastes the first Copper River salmon of the season and forages for clams and fiddlehead ferns at his side.

But viewers won't have the opportunity to join the pie class Ruth attended with "pie whisperer" Kate McDermott, Rowley's wife and an accomplished baker in her own right. McDermott spent two years experimenting with pie dough before she arrived at the perfect crust.

If Kate's Art of the Pie class with Ruth had not ended up on the cutting room floor, you would have learned that they baked two pies that afternoon, a rhubarb pie made from enormous red Northwest stalks and an apple pie made with the last of the storing apples. 

And you would have been surprised, then delighted by Kate's approach to making pie. She throws the cookbook out the window and breaks all the rules when it comes to baking.

Kate tells you to imagine that you're a mother of six on the plains of the Mid-west in the early twentieth century. There's fruit that needs to be used up, kids that are running in and out of the kitchen, and supper that must be put on the table. These women weren't using the "dip and sweep" method to measure their flour or cutting out perfectly symmetrical apple slices.

Kate beams as she holds up a measuring cup with a little more or a little less flour. Watch as she roughly chops her apples, peel and all, into mismatched sizes. Kate shows that baking a pie need not be a production. And if you had been behind the scenes you might have heard Ruth say, "Kate, your approach to baking has really been liberating."

--Tracy Schneider

 

Poached or Baked: A Perfect Pear

I first came across poached pears years ago in Italy. Until then, it would never have occurred to me, wherever I was, to order any dessert unless it had chocolate--and lots of it!

But there they were, an entire platter of beautiful pears, and I became a convert. Back in the U.S, I set out to find a recipe for poached pears that would recreate that first bite. But I was always disappointed. Then I came across this recipe for baked pears in the October 2002 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

I love the flavor of these pears with their thick, sweet wine sauce and the luscious vanilla mascarpone that is served on the side. It's not the same as my first bite. Maybe better.

Baked Pears with Vanilla Mascarpone

Ingredients:
4 Anjou or Bosc pears
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 cup red wine
2 sprigs thyme (optional)
Vanilla Mascarpone (recipe follows)
Store-bought biscotti

Directions:
1. Preheat over to 425 degrees. Slice off bottom end of each pear just enough so that it will stand upright. Using a melon baller or small spoon, remove seeds from the bottom. Peel upper half, leaving stem intact, and pat dry with a paper towel. Rub butter over peeled part of each pear and arrange pears in a small baking dish (about 7 x 11 inches) so they are standing. Sprinkle with the sugar.

2. Pour wine into baking dish; add thyme sprigs, if using. Bake until pears are soft when pierced with a paring knife and well browned, about 45 minutes; using a small spoon, baste pears occasionally with the wine, adding a bit of water as needed to prevent liquid from evaporating. Remove from oven.

3. To serve, spoon some of the pan juices into each serving dish, and place a pear on top. Sever with a dollop of mascarpone and several biscotti on the side.

Vanilla Mascarpone
½ vanilla bean, split and scraped
8 ounces mascarpone cheese
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and stir together with a wooden spoon. For the creamiest results, allow the mascarpone to stand at room temperature for fifteen minutes before serving. Makes about 1 cup.

Notes: If using Bosc pears, buy only ripe ones; Anjou, which are juicier, can still be slightly firm. Avoid enamel baking dishes, as they cause the syrup to burn.

Serves 4

Martha Stewart Living, October 2002 

--Tracy Schneider

The Bake Shop Ghost: A Sweet Book for Kids

My friend Carolyn gave The Bake Shop Ghost to my daughter, but I know Carolyn had me in mind. I love reading about food. And who could resist this description of the sweets made by the best baker in town, Miss Cora Lee Merriweather?

Few looked up from the glass-fronted cases filled with fluffy meringue pies, glistening fruit tarts, flaky strudels, and, most of all, cakes. Layer cakes, sheet cakes, cakes with glazes, cakes with fillings, cakes with frosting finer than Irish lace, chocolate cakes, white cakes, tiny petits fours and towering wedding cakes.

When Cora Lee Merriweather dies, she refuses to leave the bake shop, and her ghost scares off all the new buyers, until Annie Washington, a pastry chef fresh off a cruise ship, arrives. But how Annie and Cora Lee make peace is a delicious tale. And at the very end of the book, author Jacqueline K. Ogburn shares her family's favorite recipe for chocolate layer cake.

The Bake Shop Ghost, Jacqueline K. Ogburn, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005

--Tracy Schneider