Cheesecake Riot

Cheesecakes are probably the best way of moving cheese out of your refrigerator once made. That’s actually an excuse to make the easiest and probably tastiest dessert ever.
Continuing with the fascination for cheese, last week was cream cheese time. The fact that you have an even 1:1 milk to cream kind of puts me off at times, but the finished product can always be paired with fresh bagels which makes the excuse to make the cheese all the more appealing.
The recipe for cream cheese is available at Fankhauser’s page and is very easy if you have the rennet. What I have found is that if you make the cake almost immediately after draining the cheese, without refrigerating it, you get an amazing consistency. Here is the recipe I used

Crust
1 packet (around 30) biscuits – I use non-flavoured. Marie is the best
150gms chilled butter, chopped into rough cubes
¼ cup sugar

Filling
400gms fresh cream cheese
1 ½ cups sugar (normal is fine)
½ cup coffee liquor (replace with appropriate vanilla essence if you like)
2 eggs
1 cup milk

Glaze
300g strawberries washed and roughly chopped
Sugar as desired (I didn’t measure this, adjust to your level of sweetness)

Process

1. Preheat the oven to 160C
2. Start with making the biscuit base of the cake. Crush the biscuits (don’t powder em) and add the butter and sugar to make a rough biscuit-like dough.
3. Use a spring-form pan and pat down the mixture so it forms a base.
4. Bake for 20mts making sure the crust does not get burnt
5. Remove from oven and let cool
6. Beat the cream cheese on your lowest setting of your hand mixer (invest in one, its worth it) till the cheese is smooth and no lumps remain
7. Add in the rest of the ingredients and beat on ‘mix’ till you get a thick ‘liquidy’ texture – kind of like cake batter.
8. Place the mix in the oven turned up to 170C and bake for 30mts or till the mixture has set.
9. Remove from the oven and let it get to room temperature. I’d put it out for at least 3-4hrs so the insides have cooled as well. Figured this out the hard way this time with the cake breaking apart when in the refrigerator
10. Chill in the refrigerator for at least a couple of hours
11. Serve cold with the fresh strawberry glaze


Strawberry Glaze
Cook the strawberries with enough sugar and water to form a syrupy mix. Cool this down to room temperature and pour it over the cheesecake when serving.

Cinnamon Rolls

I am having a love affair - with a book - a book about food or to be more precise a book about bread. The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhardt. I have always loved bread, but this book makes it feel like manna from the highest heavens. When I first read this book I dreamed that I was a baker in a quaint European town and would conjure up the magical loaves by the dozens. It had me on a high for weeks. And there was a time when I contemplated buying flour wholesale considering the amount of breads I was baking but immediately shot it down due to space constraints.

This wishful sinful wicked cinnamon roll recipe is an adaptation from the recipe by the Master himself. I have substituted yoghurt for eggs since I still haven’t found a source for free range eggs. I have tried the recipe with eggs and with yoghurt and there isn’t noticeable difference in the taste or the texture for a novice like me.

Ingredients:

6 tbsp Sugar (powdered)

5 tbsp Butter (at room temp)

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Grated zest of one Lemon

3 tbsp Yoghurt

3 ½ cups All Purpose Flour/Maida

2 tsp Instant Yeast or 1 ½ tsp Active Dry Yeast

1 to 1 ¼ cups Milk (at room temp)

½ cup Cinnamon Sugar

Cream together the butter, sugar and salt till light and fluffy. Add yoghurt and lemon zest and whip it all together. Then add the flour, yeast and milk. If using active dry yeast, proof the yeast by soaking it in a quarter cup of warm milk for 10 minutes before adding to the flour and creamed mixture. Mix till the dough becomes smooth and doesn’t stick to your hand. Knead the dough for 10 minutes till the dough is springy but not sticky. You might have to add a little extra milk or flour to achieve this texture. Form the dough into a ball, lightly oil the surface of the dough and keep it in a covered bowl. Let it rise at room temperature for about 2 to 2 ½ hours till it doubles in size.

Lightly dust the counter with a little flour and roll the dough into a rectangle ½ an inch thick. Spread the cinnamon sugar evenly over the surface from end to end leaving about a quarter inch area on one side along the length for sealing the log. Roll the dough into a tight log and seal it with a little milk. Cut the log into 1 inch thick slabs and place them flat - spiral side up on a lightly floured baking tray. Leave an inch to two inches gap between each roll so they can rise well without squeezing into each other. Cover with a lid or cloth making sure that the rolls don’t touch the covering allowing them to rise well. Let it proof at room temperature for about an hour or till they have almost doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and place the tray in the middle rack. Bake for 20 to 30 mins till they are golden brown. Cool on a rack before serving.

The best part of baking cinnamon rolls is the aroma in your house as they are baking. A tip - you need not wait till they are completely cooled if you are as impatient as I am. They taste good even hot, but make sure you are careful or you might burn your tongue.