What to do with a giant honeydew that's about to go bad? Sorbet!
I cut up the honeydew and blended it with a handmixer. I added a can of coconut milk, some lime juice, and a little bit of sugar, and put it in the ice cream maker until it was creamy. Delicious!
It was a little bit soupy, and once I put it in the freezer it became like a giant tropical popsicle (too much water, not enough cream I guess), but overall it was a tasty and not too bad for you treat!
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Mini Cheesecakes with fruit topping
I've made these twice now. The first time they were totally delicious. The second time, I tried to make twice as many, and I had too much crust and not enough cheesecake. (I actually did what the recipe said, but I found that it wasn't enough filling to make 24 mini cakes. 12 cakes plus a shallow 9-inch cake was just right.)
The recipe comes from the Perfect Party Food cookbook that mom got for Dave (a book that has provided many excellent recipes). One major adjustment - instead of the vanilla wafers the book suggests, I made mom's sour cream cheesecake graham cracker crust - basically just honey grahams crush up with melted butter. It's a little more time consuming, but soooo tasty.
The cheesecake filling recipe is simple and delicious, but the best part is the topping. I've make a bunch of different ones. The best was a blueberry sauce - basically just blueberries - either fresh or frozen, boiled on the stove for a couple minute with either cornstarch or flour and a little bit of sugar or honey. I made a strawberry sauce the same way - though it wasn't quite as good (maybe just my taste.)
You can also just put spoonfuls of preserves on top - very easy and tasty. I also put caramel sauce on a few, and a melted combo of chocolate chips and peanut butter - very rich but yummmm. And I left a few plain. They're pretty and fun to eat and very delicious.
The recipe comes from the Perfect Party Food cookbook that mom got for Dave (a book that has provided many excellent recipes). One major adjustment - instead of the vanilla wafers the book suggests, I made mom's sour cream cheesecake graham cracker crust - basically just honey grahams crush up with melted butter. It's a little more time consuming, but soooo tasty.
The cheesecake filling recipe is simple and delicious, but the best part is the topping. I've make a bunch of different ones. The best was a blueberry sauce - basically just blueberries - either fresh or frozen, boiled on the stove for a couple minute with either cornstarch or flour and a little bit of sugar or honey. I made a strawberry sauce the same way - though it wasn't quite as good (maybe just my taste.)
You can also just put spoonfuls of preserves on top - very easy and tasty. I also put caramel sauce on a few, and a melted combo of chocolate chips and peanut butter - very rich but yummmm. And I left a few plain. They're pretty and fun to eat and very delicious.
Oatmeal Cookies
Note to self - the BEST oatmeal cookie recipe is on the lid of the giant Quaker oatmeal containers from Safeway. 'Nuf said.
Croque en Bouche Pudding
Sarah Braunstein Woulfin's totally genius idea for not letting her leftover wedding cake go to waste made for one of the best desserts I've tasted in a long time (not counting the s'mores brownie from Citizen Cake the other week - but c'mon - there's no sense comparing to them).
Dave and I ended up with about 50 extra profiteroles after all the families had left, and while Dave made a good dent, they were definitely on the verge of going stale. So Sarah suggested bread pudding. Eureka!
I don't remember exactly what I did, but basically, I mashed the profiteroles (with vanilla and chocolate cream filling - yum!) with a potato masher. I beat 4-5 eggs, added 1 cup soy milk and 1 cup regular milk, some vanilla, and a pinch of salt, and poured that over the mashed croques in the aluminum tin the caterers had given us to contain the leftovers. I sprinkled it with raisins and bake it for about 40 minutes. Viola. Totally amazing dessert.
Dave and I ended up with about 50 extra profiteroles after all the families had left, and while Dave made a good dent, they were definitely on the verge of going stale. So Sarah suggested bread pudding. Eureka!
I don't remember exactly what I did, but basically, I mashed the profiteroles (with vanilla and chocolate cream filling - yum!) with a potato masher. I beat 4-5 eggs, added 1 cup soy milk and 1 cup regular milk, some vanilla, and a pinch of salt, and poured that over the mashed croques in the aluminum tin the caterers had given us to contain the leftovers. I sprinkled it with raisins and bake it for about 40 minutes. Viola. Totally amazing dessert.
Peach Blueberry Pie (with Murbeteig crust)
Last weekend I made Ollalieberry pie and it was a big success. I followed the Hudson family recipe from the Coastways Ranch guide sheet for the filling (6 cups berries, sugar/honey, instant tapioca) and while the crust was a visual disaster that never really rolled out properly, it still tasted delicious.
This time I tried peaches and blueberries. I actually wanted to make just blueberry pie, but at $10/quart I couldn't afford it. So I checked my How to Cook Everything book which confirmed that peaches and blueberries actually do go together, and got some relatively fuzz free peaches from the farmers market. I also decided to try Omi's murbeteig recipe again since I didn't get to taste it last time (apple murbeteig that I brought to Twilight's BBQ and didn't get to taste since we had to leave before dessert).
The one problem is that we didn't have any white sugar. (I like to get the Trader Joe's natural sugar and we're not shopping again until we get back from Mexico.) So I figured it would be okay to use brown sugar instead.
I also decided to make a little extra murbeteig so I would have more for the topping. So I used 1.5 sticks of butter, 2 cups of flour (1 cup white/wheat, 1 cut white), 1 egg, and 1/2 cup brown sugar.
The consistency was pretty wet. That might be because of the brown sugar. I think maybe I should make sure I have white sugar next time. Also, I could use less sugar - especially with such a sweet filling. I think 1/4 cup would be plenty.
I think the mix of white and white/wheat flour was okay, but I should also probably try to follow the directions exactly at least once before I start messing with it.
I think increasing the amount of butter and flour was fine. I did have enough to coat the bottom/sides of the pie plate and make criss-cross rows of dough for the top - which was very pretty once I figured out the best way to make the rows. (With your fingers, roll a small handful of dough into a tube, then thin it out by slowly squeezing it with two fingers across the length of the pie. 5 rows across and down with a thin tube all the way around.)
The filling smelled really, really good, but when it was all done (about 45 minutes at 350), it was totally soupy - didn't hold it's pie shape at all. I had the same problem with the ollalieberries. I wonder if I need more tapioca, or if I'm using too much fruit, or if I'm just not letting it set for long enough before cutting it. The recipe also called for either almond extract or lemon zest as options. I didn't use either, and it might have helped give it a little more defined flavor. This one was mostly just super sweet. (The extra cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg I added didn't come through at all.)
Overall, it was an okay dessert, but definitely not my favorite.
This time I tried peaches and blueberries. I actually wanted to make just blueberry pie, but at $10/quart I couldn't afford it. So I checked my How to Cook Everything book which confirmed that peaches and blueberries actually do go together, and got some relatively fuzz free peaches from the farmers market. I also decided to try Omi's murbeteig recipe again since I didn't get to taste it last time (apple murbeteig that I brought to Twilight's BBQ and didn't get to taste since we had to leave before dessert).
The one problem is that we didn't have any white sugar. (I like to get the Trader Joe's natural sugar and we're not shopping again until we get back from Mexico.) So I figured it would be okay to use brown sugar instead.
I also decided to make a little extra murbeteig so I would have more for the topping. So I used 1.5 sticks of butter, 2 cups of flour (1 cup white/wheat, 1 cut white), 1 egg, and 1/2 cup brown sugar.
The consistency was pretty wet. That might be because of the brown sugar. I think maybe I should make sure I have white sugar next time. Also, I could use less sugar - especially with such a sweet filling. I think 1/4 cup would be plenty.
I think the mix of white and white/wheat flour was okay, but I should also probably try to follow the directions exactly at least once before I start messing with it.
I think increasing the amount of butter and flour was fine. I did have enough to coat the bottom/sides of the pie plate and make criss-cross rows of dough for the top - which was very pretty once I figured out the best way to make the rows. (With your fingers, roll a small handful of dough into a tube, then thin it out by slowly squeezing it with two fingers across the length of the pie. 5 rows across and down with a thin tube all the way around.)
The filling smelled really, really good, but when it was all done (about 45 minutes at 350), it was totally soupy - didn't hold it's pie shape at all. I had the same problem with the ollalieberries. I wonder if I need more tapioca, or if I'm using too much fruit, or if I'm just not letting it set for long enough before cutting it. The recipe also called for either almond extract or lemon zest as options. I didn't use either, and it might have helped give it a little more defined flavor. This one was mostly just super sweet. (The extra cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg I added didn't come through at all.)
Overall, it was an okay dessert, but definitely not my favorite.
My Baking Diary
I've gotten into a bad baking habit. I'll bake something. It will be delicious. I'll want to bake it again a few months later and I can't, for the life of me, remember what I did to make it taste so good. So it was with the DELICIOUS chard quiche with whole wheat crust I made last year which I just cannot recreate. Same with the original mini cheesecakes - so tasty the first time - the second time, not as good.
I've found that I'm not very good at following recipes exactly, and while I'm aware that baking is supposed to be an exact science, I've found that a little bit of improvisation - either for lack of the right ingredients, little patience for fine details, or just an urge to bend the rules - can make for a very tasty baked treat - and only rarely a complete disaster.
So here I will attempt to log some of my baking adventures - and hopefully create a reference for myself that I can use to recreate the winning desserts, and avoid the disastrous ones.
I've found that I'm not very good at following recipes exactly, and while I'm aware that baking is supposed to be an exact science, I've found that a little bit of improvisation - either for lack of the right ingredients, little patience for fine details, or just an urge to bend the rules - can make for a very tasty baked treat - and only rarely a complete disaster.
So here I will attempt to log some of my baking adventures - and hopefully create a reference for myself that I can use to recreate the winning desserts, and avoid the disastrous ones.
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