Tall and Creamy Cheesecake

When I set out to make this cheesecake by Dorie Greenspan, I did it because I was attracted to the beautiful photo of the cheesecake in her book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.  It had a lovely crust that rose up the sides unevenly (and all the more attractive because of it), with a snowy white top.  You can see this photo on Dorie's blog.



I didn't notice, until too far into the process, that the recipe says the top will be browned.  I didn't know what to do about this discrepancy between the photo and the recipe -- was the recipe incomplete?  Or was the photo wrong?  I had planned to serve the cheesecake at work the next day for a coworker's birthday celebration.  Would it be unattractive with a brown top?  Did I want to risk removing the top?  But at what point?  And how then to make the top look as smooth and beautiful as it does in the photo?

I posted a comment on Dorie's blog the evening I made the cheesecake.  The very next morning, I was delighted to find that Dorie had taken the time to email me a response.  She explained that the book had been written several years ago and she couldn't remember why the top of the cheesecake in the photo was pale, but that when she makes it herself, it becomes very brown as mine did.  Good enough for me!  And thus cheesecake was enjoyed by all.



This was my second attempt at making cheesecake, and both of the recipes I've used must be pretty good, because I've never had a problem with cracking, which I hear can be a problem with cheesecakes.  (The first recipe is here.)  Between the two I prefer this one, for a number of reasons: 1) It spends less time in the oven; 2) The crust is prebaked; 3) The crust, which is my favorite part of any dessert that has one, goes up the sides, which not only makes for a more attractive appearance, but means there's MORE OF IT; and 4) It uses slightly fewer ingredients.  You could solve for 2 and 3 by using the other recipe and simply making more of the crust and prebaking, but the other points stand.

Flavor wise, both are very good.  The difference lies mostly in the texture; this recipe produces a creamier cheesecake, while the other is slightly fluffier.



I chose to make strawberry sauce to accompany it once again, because I just think it complements the cheesecake so well.  I used the same recipe as I did here, but with twice the amount of sugar as the other version is super tart.  If you like things super tart, don't change the sugar amount.  The graham crackers I used came from Trader Joe's, which apparently only sells cinnamon graham crackers.  I was a bit concerned that this would negatively affect the flavor, making the crust too cinnamony, but the problem did not materialize.  It was actually quite delicious.  I recommend it over regular graham crackers!  But because they're already sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, I put less sugar into the crust than the recipe calls for.

Tall and Creamy Cheesecake (from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours)

Ingredients

For the crust:

• 1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tbsps sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 stick (4 tbsps) unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake:

• 2 lbs (4 8oz boxes) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsps pure vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/3 cups sour cream or heavy cream, or a combination of the two

Method

To make the crust:

Butter a 9-inch springform pan—choose one that has sides that are 2 3/4 inches high (if the sides are lower, you will have cheesecake batter leftover)—and wrap the bottom of the pan in a double layer of aluminum foil; put the pan on a baking sheet.

Stir the crumbs, sugar and salt together in a medium bowl. Pour over the melted butter and stir until all of the dry ingredients are uniformly moist. (I do this with my fingers.) Turn the ingredients into the buttered springform pan and use your fingers to pat an even layer of crumbs along the bottom of the pan and about halfway up the sides. Don't worry if the sides are not perfectly even or if the crumbs reach above or below the midway mark on the sides—this doesn't have to be a precision job. Put the pan in the freezer while you preheat the oven.

Center a rack in the oven, preheat the oven to 350°F and place the springform on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Set the crust aside to cool on a rack while you make the cheesecake.

Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.

To make the cheesecake:

Put a kettle of water on to boil.

Working in a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese at medium speed until it is soft and lives up to the creamy part of its name, about 4 minutes. With the mixer running, add the sugar and salt and continue to beat another 4 minutes or so, until the cream cheese is light. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one by one, beating for a full minute after each addition—you want a well-aerated batter. Reduce the mixer speed to low and stir in the sour cream and/or heavy cream.

Put the foil-wrapped springform pan in the roaster pan.

Give the batter a few stirs with a rubber spatula, just to make sure that nothing has been left unmixed at the bottom of the bowl, and scrape the batter into the springform pan. The batter will reach the brim of the pan. (If you have a pan with lower sides and have leftover batter, you can bake the batter in a buttered ramekin or small soufflé mold.) Put the roasting pan in the oven and pour enough boiling water into the roaster to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan.

Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour and 30 minutes, at which point the top will be browned (and perhaps cracked) and may have risen just a little above the rim of the pan. Turn off the oven's heat and prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon. Allow the cheesecake to luxuriate in its water bath for another hour.

After 1 hour, carefully pull the setup out of the oven, lift the springform pan out of the roaster—be careful, there may be some hot water in the aluminum foil—remove the foil. Let the cheesecake come to room temperature on a cooling rack.

When the cake is cool, cover the top lightly and chill the cake for at least 4 hours, although overnight would be better.

Serving:

Remove the sides of the springform pan— I use a hairdryer to do this (use the dryer to warm the sides of the pan and ever so slightly melt the edges of the cake)—and set the cake, still on the pan's base, on a serving platter. The easiest way to cut cheesecake is to use a long, thin knife that has been run under hot water and lightly wiped. Keep warming the knife as you cut slices of the cake.

Storing:

Wrapped well, the cake will keep for up to 1 week in the refrigerator or for up to 2 months in the freezer. It's best to defrost the still-wrapped cheesecake overnight in the refrigerator.

Strawberry Sour Cream Pie

This is one of those pies you dream about taking to a gathering -- it looks beautiful, tastes great, and leaves the impression that you must've spent ages on it.  Depending on how good you are with pie crusts, if you make your own or buy it from the store, that may or may not be true.



You know, I've never actually understood the phrase "easy as pie."  Making pies has never been particularly easy for me, because making pie involves making crust, and if you're like me, the crust is everything.  So if the crust comes out mediocre, or worse, actually bad, it ruins the entire pie.  Yet for a pie crust to come out well, it's a rather careful and involved process, as least for those of us who only make it every so often.  Cold fat (butter and/or lard) is necessary for that flaky texture that makes eating pie crust such an unforgettable experience when it's done well.

Over the years, I've made my share of pie crusts, more than some, far less than others.  After nearly every effort, I came away with the frustrated thought that it simply wasn't worth the time and effort.  I just couldn't seem to keep the dough cold enough, or roll it out thin enough, or whatever the problem might be.  Or if it came out well, the stress and energy I'd put into it just didn't seem worth it when I could buy perfectly acceptable (if not mouth-wateringly delicious), time friendly, ready-made pie crusts.  Then my tastes became more sophisticated, and the store-bought ones stopped being acceptable.  That fact, plus my lack of skill at making a good pie crust, combined to equal no homemade pies for me for a loooong time.

Those days may be over.  Okay, I still haven't perfected making pie crusts.  But now I've found a pie crust recipe that at least makes the effort worthwhile, it's so good.  What is this amazing recipe that has changed my outlook on homemade pie crusts?  It's none other than Rose Levy Berenbaum's own favorite, her flaky and tender cream cheese pie crust.  It's delicious -- just as sinful tasting as something called "flaky and tender cream cheese pie crust" would taste -- and, while a bit involved to make, is quite doable by the home baker.



This wonderful pie crust in combination with the incredibly easy-to-make creamy strawberry filling, results in a superb pie.  You don't need to prebake the crust.  You simply mix up the filling, roll out the pie crust, fill it, and bake it.  In the last few minutes you broil the pie for a few minutes to caramelize the top -- as you can tell from the photos, I'm still trying to get used to the broiler function on my oven.  Unfortunately it was a bit too hot or I put the rack up one level too high, and it ended up making the top look rather more burnt than golden, but that flaw is mine and not the recipe's.  The top of the pie should be as golden as the crust.

Another reason this pie is great to take to a gathering is because unlike many other pies, a single slice holds together very well, making for an attractive helping.  Unfortunately I don't have photos of this, as single slices were devoured too quickly to photograph, but you can see for yourself.

Strawberry Sour Cream Pie (crust by Rose Levy Berenbaum, filling by Worth the Whisk)

Ingredients (Crust):

• 8 tbsp unsalted butter, frozen and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 1/3 cups + 4 tsp pastry flour
• 3oz cream cheese
• 2 tbsp heavy cream
• 2 tsp cider vinegar
• 1/8 tsp aluminum-free baking powder
• 1/8 tsp sea salt

Method (Crust):

1. In a food processor, pulse flour, salt and baking powder to blend.
2. Add the cream cheese and process until coarse, resembling corn meal.
3. Add the frozen butter cubes and pulse until the mixture is roughly peanut sized.
4. Add the cream and vinegar and pulse until mixture is the size of small peas.
5. Scrape dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Use latex gloves or cover hands with plastic bags and press dough until it holds together in one smooth flat disc.
6. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate at least 45 minutes, preferably overnight, before rolling out.

Ingredients (Filling):

• 1qt fresh strawberries, rinsed, hulled, and sliced
• 1 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tbsp reserved
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup sour cream (any kind but nonfat)
• dash of salt

Method (Filling & Assembly):

1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
2. Into a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, sugar and salt. Add sour cream and blend just until creamy (it will look like wallpaper paste).
3. Gently fold in the berries; don’t overmix.
4. Pour the filling into your unbaked pie shell.  Using a spatula, gently spread to edges but do not pack down; there should be some air holes throughout.
5. Sprinkle the top with reserved 1 tbsp of sugar.
6. Bake the pie for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350°F and bake an additional 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
7. The center of the pie may still look undercooked.  Broil the pie for a few minutes, until the sugar on top has caramelized and the top is as golden brown as the crust.

Bridge Creek Heavenly Hots

About 8 times out of 10, if you asked me to choose, I'd probably pick waffles over pancakes. But occasionally I'm in the mood for pancakes, especially when homemade, as they're so much easier to make than waffles (in my opinion). I'm also a fan of things in miniature. So when I saw the recipe for silver-dollar pancakes in the latest issue of Gourmet, I was tempted.



Then I read this description of them in the magazine, and it sealed my fate: These are the lightest sour cream silver-dollar-size hotcakes I've ever had -- they seem to hover over the plate. They are heavenly and certainly should be served hot. So light they hover over the plate? Surely an exaggeration.


Shown here next to a head of garlic so you can see the hotcakes' silver-dollar size -- or close enough, anyway.

And while okay, they didn't literally levitate, they really were the lightest, most wonderful little hotcakes I've ever had. It finally gave me a good excuse to drag out my Black & Decker griddle, which has gotten far too little use. The batter is quite thin and will spread, so use less per cake than your instincts tell you. "Serve hot" also seems to be a tall order, given how small these are and how many you'd likely have to make, but depending on the size of your griddle, you can make several at a time. I was able to fit 8 of them on mine, and if I had really tried I probably could have made it 10. Stacking them immediately after they're done will help insulate the heat between them, as well.



Also? I haven't purchased maple syrup in probably years, and I must say I was simply shocked by the prices. I had read something at some news source about maple syrup costing an arm and a leg these days, but I didn't pay that much attention since I rarely buy it. But wow -- I'm sure glad pancakes are a once-in-a-while treat in my house rather than a regular staple!



I had these for breakfast this morning, and just in case, I had them again for dessert after dinner. You know, for the sake of science. I wanted to make sure the first batch wasn't a fluke of "heavenliness."



Bridge Creek Heavenly Hots (from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham)

Makes 50-60 dollar-size pancakes

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup cake flour
• 2 cups sour cream
• 3 tbsp sugar

Method

1. Put the eggs in a mixing bowl and stir until well blended. Add the salt, baking soda, flour, sour cream, and sugar, and mix well. All of this can be done in a blender, if you prefer.
2. Heat a griddle or frying pan until it is good and hot, film with grease, and drop small spoonfuls of batter onto the griddle -- just enough to spread to an approximately 2 1/2-inch round. When a few bubbles appear on top of the pancakes, turn them over and cook briefly.

My note: If you have a nonstick griddle, as I do, you may be able to skip the "film with grease" step. They are very obedient on my griddle and slide off easily. I certainly don't need the extra calories from the grease, given the amount of sour cream that goes into these!