Crazy Cooking Challenge – Cheesecake!

I am very excited, as I have joined another baking group!  This is my first month as a Crazy Cook!  This months challenge was Cheesecake.  We had to choose a new cheesecake recipe, we were not to use a recipe that we had already posted about.  This was hard for me because I really, really wanted to use my ‘go to‘ cheesecake recipe.  It is my all time favourite and have not tasted a cheesecake as good since I first made it.  So, in sticking with the rules I hunted for a new recipe!  I searched and searched, which one to try??

The recipe I chose was Tall and Creamy Cheesecake from Smells Like home.  Let me explaine why I chose this recipe.  While searching, many of the reicpes that were coming up were the same ‘base recipe’ I use, as it was a Daring Bakers Challenge a few years ago.  As  I was reading this one post the blogger mentioned how she really didn’t like the cheesecake and liked her ‘go to’ recipe much better.  What? a cheesecake better then my favourite? I knew I had to try it!

Next big decision? What flavour will I make? I usually sturggle with this one.  Most people like cheesecake, but not everyone like the same flavours.  It is hard to please everyone but this time I tried.  Instead of making one cheesecake I made many, many individual cheesecakes, this way I could make several different flavours.

Tall and Creamy Cheesecake

Adapted from Smells Like Home

Crusts

I made 3 different crusts, grahm crumb, Oreo crumb and Oreo Cookies.

Grahm Crumb Crust

1 cup Grahm crumbs

3 T Sugar

3 T butter melted

Directions

1. Combine crumbs, sugar and butter – Stir and set aside

Oreo Cookie Crust

1 cup cookie crumbs

3 T sugar

2 T butter melted

Directions

1. Combine crumbs, sugar and butter – stri

Preparing the cursts

1. Spoon a generous tablespoon of prepared crust into lined muffin tins

2. Press frimly to create the base – I found a glass that worked perfect

3. For remainder place an Oreo Cookie in the cup

4.  Set aside to prepare Cheesecake

Cheesecake

• 4 pkgs cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/3 cups sour cream or heavy cream, or a combination of the two
• 24 Oreo Cookies, 12 whole and 12 chopped
• 2 Skor Bars
• 2 pkg of mini Rolo’s

Directions:

1. Working with a stand mixer (I strongly recomend using a stand mixer, as a last resort an electric beater, but dont even attemt it with a whisk, your arm will fall off, there is alot of mixing), preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese at a medium speed until soft and creamy; about 4 minutes.

2. With the mixer running, add the sugar and salt and continue to beat for another 4 minutes or so, until the cream cheese is light.

3. Beat in the vanilla.

4. Add the eggs one by one, beating for a full minute after each addition – you want a well-aerated batter.

5. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the sour cream and/or heavy cream.

Look at that! So creamy and light.  It looks like a dream!

6. Give the batter a few stirs with a rubber spatula , just to make sure that there is nothing left unmixed at the bottom of the bowl

7. Scoop the plain batter into the cups filled with Grahm crumb crust

At this point I notice that there is A LOT of batter still left, I didn’t even look like I used any.  I ended up making 12 plain and started dividing the batter into 2 other batches

8. Chop and crush remining 12 Oreo cookies

9. I crushed some (wacked them with a frying pan) and roughly chopped some – Stir to combine

10. Scoop onto the Oreo Cookie “crust’

11. Melt 5 oz of semi sweet chocolate allow to cool and add to remaining batter

12. I then divided the batter again.  One half chopped Skor Bar, other half chopped Mini Rolo’s

13 Stir and scoop into prepared cookie crumb crust

14. Bake at 325 F they are done when the centers are just about firm and only a tiny bit jiggly.

NOW DISASTER STRIKES!

I was so excited! The batter came together like a dream, so fluffy and creamy, it looked heavenly! I could not wait to try one of these little cheesecakes (who am I kidding? I wanted to try them all!)

I put them in the oven for their bake…

Everything seemed to be going perfectly.  They had a slight rise, as the recipe suggested.  The aroma in the kitchen was delightfully tangy and sweet.

Then………..They ALL FELL!!

I was devistated! Keep in mind they were still baking.  It’s not like I took them out too early and they were under cooked.

They Look more like Tart Shells than cheesecakes

The Oreo one’s survived the best

Skor

Rolo

What can I say? I was very disapointed! I really don’t know what went wrong.  They tasted ok… but, I like my recipe better. They were very dence, which I was not expecing from the fluffy and airy batter. Chalk this one up as a (very expensive) learning experience.

This was my first Crazy Cooks  Challenge and now I find out that this was the LAST challenge! They will no longer be running.   I guess I will have to search for another monthly baking group.  Anyone know of any?

 

Daring Bakers do Candy

I learned something doing this challenge. I learned that I hate making candy.  To me baking involves the oven, not hours of standing in front of the stove!  I have made candy twice now, my first and last!  Initially when I first saw the Challenge I was thrilled, it sounded wonderful!  Everyone was sharing their photo’s and ideas which all looked delicious.

I apologize right now to our wonderful hosts for my shenanigans.  This challenge was just not for me!

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at http://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

So this months Daring bakers Challenge was making Candy, any kind.  We were to make 2 kinds, one of which had to be chocolate.  So, I guess I really didn’t complete the challenge because I was not able to make a chocolate one.

The Tale of Erica’s Candy Making

As soon as I saw the recipe for the Pate de Fruits I knew that I was going to make them.  They looked delicious! I decided to use a berry mixture that I had in the freezer (maybe my first mistake), blackberry, blueberry and raspberries. I then followed the recipe for the Strawberry Pate de Fruits (perhaps mistake #2).  Because I thought they would be so wonderful I thought it would be a fantastic idea to double the recipe! (mistake #3, you can see where this is going)

Berry Pate de Fruits

Ingredients:
3 cups (16 oz/450 gm) Strawberries, fresh or defrosted from frozen
1 tablespoon (15 ml) Lemon juice, fresh
2 cups (16 oz/ 450 gm) Granulated White Sugar
2½ tablespoons (38 ml) Liquid Pectin

Directions:

1. Prepare an 9”x13” (20cmx20xm) pan by lining it with aluminium foil or parchment paper and spraying it with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Place the berries in a blender or food processor and process until very well pureed.

So far so good…..

3. Pour them through a mesh strainer into a medium saucepan, discarding any remaining fruit chunks.

Here starts another problem.  My strainer was too big and seeds and skin was getting though

I had the bright idea that I should strain it through cheesecloth! (mistake #4).  It was too thick to just strain though.  I had to squeeze the heck out of it.  When you squeeze cheesecloth the juice does not just drip down, no no, it squirts everywhere!!! I looked like I had just murdered someone, there was dark red juice everywhere, all over me, the counter and my hands were stained for 3 days!

The remains

What I managed to get into the pot

4. Stir in the lemon juice and 1/2 cup of the sugar, place the pan over medium-high heat, and insert a candy thermometer.

5. Cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until it is hot, around 140°F/60°C. Add the remaining 1.5 cups of sugar and the liquid pectin, and lower the heat to medium.

Disaster strikes here!  No where did it say use a Large pot, now granted I doubled the recipe (refer back to mistake #3) so I used a medium pot (mistake #5)

stirring away, thinking I was doing pretty good I notice the level rising

Panic sets in “Oh MY GOD its going to bubble over”

Frantically, I turn the heat off and remove it from heat (mistake #6) and throwing the pots out of the cupboard to find a big one (yep I literally threw them, it was a noisy few seconds).  I quickly poured the bubbling bloody mess into a big cold pot (mistake #7, that can’t be good).

ok, back in action

6. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture registers 200°F/93°C.

At which point I drop the stirring spoon into the bubbling hot bloody mess (mistake #8)

Now all I can do is laugh, REALLY?!?! can anything else go wrong? Yep!

7. At 200 F  turn the heat to low and hold it at 200°F/93°C for 2-3 minutes.

8. After this, return the heat to medium and bring it up to 225°F/107°C. This process will take some time, especially with the heat on medium, so have patience and be diligent in stirring frequently so the bottom doesn’t scorch.

Take time! they were not kidding, an hour and forty minutes later, the liquid still fairly runny but I think burnt on the bottom (mistake #9) it finally hits 225 F

9. Once the fruit paste reaches 225°F/107°C, turn the heat to low and keep it at that temperature for an additional 2-minutes.
10. Remove the pan from the heat and pour into the prepared pan, smoothing it into an even layer. ( no need to smooth, still quite runny (mistake #10)

-Looks pretty good!

Thought I would spread a think layer on parchment paper and make homemade fruit roll-ups! (you guessed it mistake #11)

11. Allow the pate de fruit mixture to set at room temperature for several hours, until completely cool and firm. Use a sharp knife to cut it into very small squares, and roll the individual pieces in granulated sugar.

After all that I am still positive it will be good.  Looks tasty!  But now we wait, and wait! 5 hours later I went to cut it, still not firm, but cooled so I put them in the fridge until morning.

Day 2:

First thing in the morning I make a cup of tea and get out the try to try my candy.

Well….

1. It didn’t set, was like thick jam

2. Couldn’t cut them, had to use a spoon

3.  They tasted horrible! like really terrible. and I quote from a tester “that is the worst thing you have ever made!

At this point I through it all in the garbage , no photos, no sugar rolling, nothing!

Candy totally defeated me. I wanted to make some filled chocolate candies but just wasn’t in the budget I do hope to try that sometime.

I think I will stick to oven baking!

Thank you to our hosts for this challenge, I just wish I had better luck.

Boston Cream Pie

After watching Bobby Flay’s Boston Cream Pie through down Mike decided that was the cake he wanted for his birthday.  Stupid me, I thought Boston Cream Pie was a pie. Nope!  it’s a cake.   Two layers of sponge cake are filled with thick vanilla custard and topped with a chocolate glaze. We were rather impressed with the presentation that Eunice, from the Through down, had with her Cake so I thought I would make it. It was a disaster from the word go!

First off I burnt the first round of cream and had to do it all over again. Then the cake we picked ended up being dry and tough. Then total disaster it fell apart before our eyes…..

Pastry Cream:

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar

3 large egg yolks

1/8 cup (20 grams) all-purpose flour

Scant 3 tablespoons (20 grams) cornstarch

1 1/4 cups (300 ml) milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. In a medium-sized heatproof bowl, mix the sugar and egg yolks.

2. In another bowl, sift or whisk the flour and cornstarch together and then add to the egg mixture, mixing until you get a smooth paste.

3. Meanwhile in a small saucepan, bring the milk just to a boil over medium heat.

4. Pour the milk slowly into the egg mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling. (Strain if necessary.)

Forgot to take pictures of the next few steps

5. Then place the egg mixture into a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until boiling, whisking constantly. When it boils, continue to whisk constantly for another minute or so until it becomes thick.

6. Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla extract.

7. Pour into a clean bowl and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming. Let the cream cool in the refrigerator for a few hours.

Cake I picked was try, crumbly and tough!  Sadly with time we had to resort to a box cake

Chocolate Ganache

8 oz. Semi Sweet Chocolate

2 T corn syrup

2 cups whipping cream

1.  Over a double boiler melt chocolate and syrup

2. Remove from heat and stir in cream, it takes a bit but comes together nicely.

3. Allow to cool slightly

Assembly

1. Level out the bottom layer of cake

2. Cut centre out of second layer

3. Fill center with Pastry Cream

At the bottom of this picture you can see the disaster starting

4. Cube remaining centre cake and pile on top

The dam is breaking!!!

Oh No!!

Had to quickly wrap it in plastic wrap until it was time to eat

When it was time I quickly poured the chocolate on top, ran out side to sing Happy Birthday

By the time we finished singing this is what it looked like

We literally watched it in slow motion fall apart the ream oozed out and the cake slowly fell down.  I was so angry!! But in the end it was delicious! Everyone loved it.  I now see why they had a dry, tough cake, it holds things together!!  Even though it looked horrible it was great!

French Toast Cassarole

I saw this recipe in our local newspaper and thought it looked tasty.  I love french toast, but I normally dip it in Ketchup, yes ketchup!  When you eat eggs and toast or have a toasted western do you dip it in syrup? no! you dip it in ketchup! So far me and my Dad are the only ones who think this way.  Anyways…..no ketchup in this one but thought I would give it a try.

Ingredients

1 loaf bread

8 eggs

2 cups half & half

2 cups milk

1/4 cup maple or pancake syrup

2 tsp 1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup golden corn syrup

1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions

1. Cube loaf and spread over the bottom of a greased 13 x 9” (3.5 L) baking dish.

2. Whisk eggs in a large bowl.

3. Add half & half, milk, syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice; whisk until combined.

4. Pour mixture over bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

5. Just before baking, combine brown sugar, corn syrup and butter; whisk until blended. Drizzle over bread mixture.

6. Bake in a preheated 350F (190C) oven until puffed and golden brown, about an hour.

7. Cut into pieces and serve drizzled with syrup.

This recipe didn’t turn out great but I think it was my fault.  I cut the recipe in half because it was going to make way to much, but I think I may have not halved one of the liquids.  It was very wet and gooey.  The top was burning and the middle seemed still raw…

The top crunchy part was quite tasty.  I think I will give it another try being very careful with my measurements.

Daring Bakers Do Macarons

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

First off I must say how happy I am to be able to participate in the October challenge, for a while I didn’t think I was going to be able to, as I had no oven for almost 3 weeks.  Luck has it that I got my oven just in time and I was able to squeak theses out just before the buzzer.

Making macarons? Really? That’s not a challenge, or so I thought.  When I think of macaroons I instantly think of lots of chocolate and coconut, they are one of my favourites! Not these ones!  When I saw the picture I was totally confused, these are not macarons, they are just fancy cookies.  I had never heard of macarons like this before.  To be honest I was terrified to take on the task or making something I had never heard of, never mind seen or tasted before, but that’s why were are there right, it’s a Challenge!

* Sorry for the lack of photos, I was so concerned about making these work that I forgot to take pictures

Macarons

Mandatory:
-Make Claudia Fleming’s recipe for macaroons
-Fill and sandwich the macaroons

Optional:
-Flavor variations and decoration
-If you have a nut allergy, find a good nutless meringue cookie recipe but you must make them into cookie sandwiches with some kind of filling

Ingredients
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t over fold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.

(notice how they are flat and dull, no feet!)
7. Cool on a rack before filling. I filled mine with a home made butter cream, it was delicious!

Mine were quite a disaster.  They looked nothing like they were suppose to. (To see what they are suppose to look like take a peruse through some other Daring Bakers on the Blogroll http://thedaringkitchen.com/blogroll/bakers) They did not have “feet”, they were chewy, thin and just yucky.  Had a hard time getting them off of the baking sheet, so they are not even round.  The only part I liked was the Chocolate filling I made.  If you put enough of it in the middle you can kill the flavour and texture of the cookie.

Not sure what I did wrong but I will definitely not be making these again.  Though If I ever see one in a bakery I would buy it just to see what they are suppose to taste like, because Im sure if they tasted like mine no one would buy them.

Looking forward to Novembers Challenge!

Pickled Carrots and Beans

For a couple of years now I have wanted to try canning.  Not sure why.  I had never done it before, but I really like the idea of making what I am eating.  It just seems a little more rewarding.

I looked all over for recipes, there are so many to choose from.  I wanted to try a salsa or something, but I figured I should start with something simple since I had never done this before.  I settled with a recipe for Pickling carrots and beans.  I have had then before and loved them.  Seemed simple enough.

4 pounds carrots and beans

8 garlic cloves

1/2 cup canning or pickling salt

4 cups white vinegar (5%)

4 cups water

Fresh dill

Wash and trim beans and carrots to fit jars, about for inches.

In each sterile jar (boil for 10 mintues).

Place 1-2 dill sprigs and garlic.

Place beans and carrots up right in jars, squeeze in as many as possible.  leaving half inch head space.

Boil for 5 min water, vinegar and salt.  Pour boiling liquid into jars, making sure to cover the veggies and leave a little room (1/ inch) at the top.  Place lids on and secure tightly.

Return jars to the water bath and boil for 10 minutes.  Remove from water and let cool on counter.  You will hear the jar lids pop as they seal.  If they dont seal put in fridge and eat in a timely manner.

And now we wait…..