Heal My Life

So What's New?

I know, I've been REALLY bad. But honest, I've been terribly busy.  One day soon, I'll reveal all, but in the meantime I want you to know that I haven't forgotten about you all, and I have been doing at least a thing or two besides slaving away in front of this computer.  So, you can see that we've not turned into slugs, some photos:

First, Anthony's first crop of Lion's Mane mushrooms!  Okay, I know it can't really be called a crop, but I'm pretty proud of him for getting this far as the conditions he has to work under are antediluvian. And they're a little hard to see inside their sterile plastic bag, but that's them, on sitting on top of their growing medium.  The second shot is the Lion's Mane just prior to being consumed.  And yes, they really do taste like lobster! 

Next: Charlotte, my five year old granddaughter graduated from Kindercare!  Her class put on a play and she was a moth.  She was so adorable I cried.  The woman to the left is my talented daughter Chandra.  She designs children's knitwear and will soon be having her designs knit in Nepal!   

Okay, so these are not really photos of anything I've been doing... and it's true I haven't been doing many fibery things lately except working a bit on current projects, but I have been baking a bit though I have not photographed everything and I did not participate in this month's Daring Bakers Challenge: Bagels.  But, from the Essence Of Chocolate  I did make the Chocolate Shortbread with Cacao nibs and sea salt.  I didn't photograph them for a reason.  They were delicious.  SO good in fact that the batch didn't survive the second day.  But they didn't turn out as neat looking squares, they puffed and were light and crumbly, which means I over beat the dough.  Sigh. That's what I get for trying to do too many things at once - lack of attention to the task at hand. You can see the cookies (done correctly) over on my talented Daring Baker Sister Anita's blog .

I also made, from the same cookbook, the Chocolate Chunk Cheesecake which was AWESOME!  I did make a couple of changes to the recipe though.  First I added extra vanilla, then I baked it in a water bath.  It came out so creamy I got weak in the knees after my first bite: always a good sign.  You can see the original recipe as well as a photo of it baked without water (and it really is pretty that way) here, at allchocolate.com.  I honestly did take photos of mine but do you think I can find them? 

Chocolate Chunk Cheesecake

Adapted from THE ESSENCE OF CHOCOLATE by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg

Makes 12 servings

If you bake it without the water bath, this cheesecake will puff when baking and may run over the rim of the suggested pan size.  Although I baked mine in a water bath, I used two pans just in case - an 8" and a 6" since I was planning on taking the little one to my daughter. The next time I bake it - I'll use a 9" pan or three 6" instead of the 8".  Why look for trouble? 

NOTE: I should tell you that baking cheesecake in a water bath results in a white top.  If you prefer a puffy brown top, bake it directly on the rack without the water, and increase the beating times to create a fluffy filling.

For the Crust

2 1/2 cups chocolate wafer cookie crumbs made from store-bought cookies
8 tablespoons (4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted

Directions
In a medium bowl stir together the crumbs and melted butter. Press the crumbs into the bottom and at least halfway up the side of an 8-inch and 6 inch spring form pan. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat oven to 375ºF. Bake the crust for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and let cool on a rack. Wrap the outside of the pans carefully with a double layer of aluminum foil or a single layer of heavy duty foil.  Lower the oven temperature to 325ºF.  Put on a full kettle of water to heat it.

For the Filling

3** 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature*
1 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
2 large eggs at room temperature*
2** cups sour cream at room temperature*
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon dark rum (I'll use 2 next time)
10 oz. 70% bittersweet chocolate, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces

* Having the cold ingredients at room temperature is very important.  It's the only way you'll be able to blend them without beating in too much air, thus creating a softer, creamier texture.
** This recipe creates a soft and creamy cake.  If you like your cheesecake a bit denser, use 4 8 oz packages of cream cheese and 1 cup of sour cream instead.

Directions
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, blend the cream cheese, sugar and salt on medium speed just until combined - do not beat!  Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs and beat again, just until combined. Add the sour cream and vanilla and mix on low for an additional 2 minutes, or until the batter is smooth and creamy. Scrape the bowl and paddle as necessary. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the chocolate.

Place the two foil wrapped pans in a large roasting pan.  Pour the batter into the crust. Spread it evenly with a small offset spatula.  place the roasting pan in the preheated oven and pour hot water into the roasting pan to halfway up the sides of the cake pans.  Bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour, or until set.  If you are using one smaller pan, you can take that one out of the oven at 1 hour and leave the second one in for an additional 15 minutes or so.  Turn off the heat, prop open the oven door with a wooden spoon, and let the cake rest in the oven for 30 minutes. (don't worry about taking the small one out early, not resting in the oven didn't affect it at all)

Remove the cheesecake from the oven and cool on a cooling rack for 30 minutes, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours to chill and firm, or preferably overnight.

Run a palette knife or icing spatula around the edge of the pan, remove the spring form ring and carefully transfer the cake to a serving plate. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until serving. The cheesecake can be refrigerated up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 month.

I also made another batch of the diplomat cream from last month's daring baker challange (this time it came out just fine).  I baked a sheet of puff pastry, cut it into squares, mounded the diplomat cream on top, added a dollop of chantilly cream, some caramel sauce and a sprinkling of cocoa nibs.  YUM!   

So that's it for now.  See you later! 

I Scream for Ice Cream

So I haven't had time for much of anything lately except work, and in a very exciting and creative way.  And I know I still owe some of you questions for the Interview and I have not forgotten, I promise - they're coming!  But I did sneak a few rows on the second Monkey sock, now down to the foot.  And I did make a batch of Peach Ice Cream in the new Cuisinart. 

I'm not going to share the recipe because I'm unhappy with it.  I've decided I like my homemade ice cream with eggs: this recipe was without.  Otherwise the flavor was very nice.  I used a plain peach ice cream recipe from A Passion for Ice Cream (see sidebar) which I ordered from Amazon after taking it our of the library to peruse it first.  I added a vanilla bean and seeds, 1 tablespoon of dark rum and about 1 teaspoon of powdered ginger. Next time I'll add chopped crystallized ginger and MORE rum. 

Yum.

Better Late Than Never Gateau St. Honore

Well I believe I'm the last daring baker to post about this month's challenge, and I DID complete it on time.  But I made it at Anthony's aunt's house on the Chesapeake, not at home, and I dutifully brought my camera, but completely forgot the cable to hook my camera to her computer.  Grrr.... so cakes done - photo's taken - no post possible.  Sigh, isn't that always the way. 

Then work one thing and another kept me from having the time to actually sit down and type this.  And I feel rather badly about it because so far I'm two for two with the fabulous Daring Bakers.  The first challenge I participated in was April and that crepe cake.  I won't even rehash that story but I screwed it up.  Next was this month's challenge and I'm late to post.  Yikes. 

Now all that said, this last challenge was amazing.  We made Gateau St Honore. The challenge was hosted by the ever gracious and talented Helene of Tartlette. If you visit her blog you can read the recipe and access links to half of the bakers, and get the links to the rest of the daring bakers over on Anita's Blog, Dessert First . 

Helene did quite a bit of work on the recipe(s) compiling them from several top pastry chef's cookbooks and presenting them as a unified whole to us - complete with assembly illustrations which were incredibly helpful.  You get kudos for that alone Helene! 
      
Gateau St. Honore is an assembly in the grand style and tradition that the French are famous for.  This cake, in fact, is often part of the requirements for graduation from top pastry schools.  It is composed of Puff pastry, Choux pastry, Diplomat Creme, whipped cream and caramelized sugar.  Count ‘em folks - FOUR recipes for ONE cake if you count making whipped cream and caramelized sugar as recipes and since they come with instructions - I do.  So yeah, of course we had to make it ours.  Helene, bless her heart, gave us the option of making our own puff pastry or using store bought frozen dough.  Normally, I'd take the plunge and make my own, but since I was supposed to be helping A's aunt and uncle get ready for a party for 100 people at their house over the same two days I was supposed to be making this cake, I was smart enough to use the store bought stuff. 

So the morning of the cake: First I made the diplomat cream.  Easy, except I had forgotten my thermometer so I had to guess at the consistency of the cream and wouldn't you know - I didn't cook it long enough.  I was so worried about curdling the eggs (I wouldn't have time to do it again) I took it off the heat too soon.  so my Diplomat cream was closer to a Diplomat sauce.  Okay, I can deal with that - it was delicious.  Next - I unfolded the thawed puff pastry.  It looked great, smelled okay and handled nicely.  I cut out two circles and put them aside.  Next I made the choux dough.  Now I’ve done this dozens of times and have the recipe in my head.  But following Helene’s recipe, somehow my brain short circuited somewhere between the water and butter and the flour.  I read her 4 ¾ ounces as 4 ¾ CUPS!!!! You don’t even want to know what happened when I dumped 4 ¾ CUPS of flour into a cup of water and a few tablespoons of butter.  Let’s just say I got pretty close to cement.  We won't even go into why I didn't catch this goof BEFORE I dumped the flour in. Okay, so – dump THAT into the trash and start again.  Fifteen minutes later, with 4 ¾ OUNCES of flour, I had a decent cream puff dough.  Nice.  I piped rings onto the puff pastry circles and little baby cream puffs around the two cookie sheets and popped it all into the oven. 

The cream puffs did perfectly what cream puffs were supposed to do - they puffed up beautifully.  And the puff pastry just lay there – dead.  The pastries came out of the oven looking like beige Frisbees.  This was NOT nice – I was NOT happy, and I was pretty much out of time.  So I crossed my fingers, said a very sincere prayer to St. Honore, who by the way is the patron saint of bakers, which is probably a good thing since her signature cake is such a trial, whipped the cream, assembled the cakes, caramelized the sugar and drizzled it over the cream puffs on one cake, made a chocolate glaze for the cream puffs on the second cake and the extra cream puffs and prayed that no one would notice how flat the cakes were or how runny the cream was.

I had just enough time left to do the dishes before I had to get busy with party things.

The party went off without a hitch except for one minor breakdown on my part over citronella candles at Kmart. Dessert time came and we put out three pineapple upside down cakes that A’s aunt had made, birthday cupcakes, black bottom cupcakes and a big bowl of fruit salad that his cousin had made, a plate of cookies that someone brought, two gateau St Honore and a plate of mini cream puffs that I had made.  Within ten minutes later, all my work had disappeared – the serving plates were empty. 

As I wandered through the guests eating gateau, listening to ooohs and aaahs of pleasure, I was glad I hadn’t told anyone about the runny cream and flat puff pastry – no one had even noticed.  I had sneaked a slice for myself and with the exception of the tough puff pastry bottom – it was delicious.  I never would have undertaken such a rigmarole of a recipe without the Daring Bakers – but it was worth every whine and groan.  And I’ll make it again.