Sour Apple Schnapps Cheesecake

Saturday we were invited to a gathering at the beach, and I wanted to take something to contribute. I had a five pound container of ricotta left over from the Renaissance Italian lunch, so thought cheesecake would be a good use. I decided to adapt the Greek style cheesecake I made for Gaslight Gathering.

I looked at what I had by way of flavorings, and decided I liked the idea of using sour apple schnapps. It's honestly not very good for drinking, but adds a nice flavor when cooked. I decided to make an almond crust, as I had plenty of them left over as well.

Because this style uses no egg yolks, and whips the whites into a meringue, it is a very light style, especially compared to the density of a New York style cheesecake. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

The sour apple flavor came through clearly. It is not overly sweet, rich enough to be satisfying without being heavy.

Sour Apple Schnapps Cheesecake

For the crust:
 4 oz. by wt. almonds
1/6 cup sugar
 8 oz. by wt. all purpose flour
 4 oz. by wt. butter, softened
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch salt

In a heavy skillet, toast almonds over medium heat. Transfer to a food processor. Pulse several times. Add flour, sugar, and salt, process until nuts are finely ground.

Transfer nut mixture to a mixing bowl. Add butter, egg, and vanilla. Work by hand until ingredients are well mixed. Form into a ball, wrap balls in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least ten minutes.

For the cheesecake:
4 egg whites
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. all purpose flour
16 oz. by wt. ricotta cheese
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup sour apple schnapps
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
pinch salt

Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

In a bowl, mix together ricotta and schnapps, refrigerate.

In an ungreased ten inch spring form pan, press almond dough to form a 1/8 inch thick crust on the bottom, and about 3/4 inch up the sides of the pan.

 In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Slowly beat in flour, sugar, and salt until eggs are medium stiff peaks. Beat in honey, until fully incorporated. Fold ricotta into egg whites until well blended, with no lumps of egg white or ricotta remaining.

 Pour batter into spring form pan, using a spatula to smooth to an even layer. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until cheesecake is resilient to the touch, and lightly browned. It should be a little jiggly in the center.

Remove from oven. Lightly dust with cinnamon powder. Place on cooling rack to cool. Refrigerate until serving time. Remove spring form ring when ready to serve.
Happy eating!

Chocolate Class: Three Simple Chocolates

Today was the day the spouse was looking forward to. This was the first class we made things that we got to take home. We made three fairly simple, but quite tasty, chocolates.

We made a chocolate bark. It was simply dark chocolate mixed with crisp rice cereal, toasted hazelnuts, and raisins. We rolled it out between two sheets of acetate. This produces a shiny finish, but a more matte finish can be achieved by rolling it between two layers of parchment paper.

We also used dark chocolate to make mendiants.  They are a traditional French confectionery with fruits and nuts. The original had four things whose color referred to the colors of the robes of the four mendicant orders of the catholic church. Modernly, any appealing combination is likely. They are fairly simple. You pipe a disk of tempered chocolate, then quickly place nuts and fruit pieces into the chocolate before it sets. You want to place them in  a pleasing pattern, so that all the colors are visible.

Finally, we used milk chocolate to make rochers. Rocher is French for 'rock'. I suppose they could look a little like a rock, assuming you'd never seen one (a rock, I mean). Anyway, these are slivered almonds, tossed with vanilla sugar and Grand Marnier, and toasted. When cool, they are tossed with orange zest, and lightly coated with milk chocolate. These are probably my favorites of the three.

While these are relatively simple to make, they are tasty, elegant, and very flexible. Any of these can be made with dark, milk, or white chocolate. The rochers can use just about any nut, flavored in whatever way you like. The mendiants can use just about any combination of dried fruits, nuts, candied peels, or seeds that works for you. The bark, too can be made with just about any combination you find appealing.

If you experiment, come back and tell us what you did. I'd love to hear what creative combinations you come up with.

All recipes courtesy of Chef James Foran.

Recipes

Chocolate Bark

8 oz. by wt. tempered dark chocolate
¾ cup crisp rice cereal
½ cup chopped roasted hazelnuts
¼ cup raisins, chopped
pinch sea salt

In a bowl, thoroughly mix together rice cereal, nuts, raisins, and salt. Pour tempered chocolate over mixture. Toss well, so that everything gets covered in chocolate. Working quickly, place between two sheets of acetate, and carefully roll out to about 1/4 inch thick. Allow to cool and set completely before removing acetate. Break into pieces.

Mendiants

6 0z. by wt. tempered dark chocolate

30 cashew halves

30 pistachios
30 slivers of dried apricot
30 dried cherries

On a parchment lined baking sheet, pipe rounds of chocolate about the size of a silver dollar. Quickly place one of each nut and fruit in each round. Use the same pattern for each mendiant. You want part of the nut or fruit to be visible. Allow to set completely.

Makes 20 - 25 candies.

 

 

Almond Rochers

5.7 oz. Slivered almonds

2 Tbsp. Grand Marnier
1 Tbsp. vanilla sugar
pinch salt
4 oz. tempered milk chocolate
zest of 1/3 orange

Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

In a bowl, toss together almonds, liqueur, sugar, and salt. Spread out on a silicon mat lined baking sheet. Bake, tossing every 3 minutes, for 12 minutes, or until golden brown.

Spread on another baking sheet, let cool to room temperature.

Toss almonds with zest. Add chocolate, toss to coat completely. Spoon into miniature paper cups. Allow to set completely.

Makes about 15 candies.

Happy Eating!

 

Pastry Class: Pear - Almond Galette, and Pithivier

Last Monday in my pastry class, we made puff pastry. Since we had the mid-term last Wednesday, we didn't get to make anything with it until today. We got to make two things, a pear - almond galette, and a pithivier.

A galette is a flat tart, while a pithivier is a filled, domed pie. For both of these, we made a frangipane, a filling made from almond paste, butter, and eggs.

Before we started, we divided the dough in half, and rolled each half out to a 12 inch by 16 inch rectangle. Those were placed in the freezer to stiffen up.

For the galette, we first docked the rectangle of pastry. Docking just means poking a lot of little holes in a pastry. We used a roller docker, which looks kind of like a torture device. It is a cylinder with prongs, attached to a handle. Rather than buying one, you can just stab the dough repeatedly with a fork.

Once the dough is docked, cut into rounds. Pipe a little of the frangipane in the center, and spread it to about 3/4 inch from the edge. The sliced pear is arranged on top of the frangipane. The pear is then brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with vanilla sugar. When baked, the puff pastry puffs up around the pear, providing a little crust.  Once cool, the pears recieve a light coating of apricot glaze, and then the whole thing is dusted with confectioner's sugar, and some finely chopped almonds. The glaze helps prevent oxidation of the fruit.

Chef James wanted us to start thinking beyond the baking, and consider the whole dessert. So, he had us try our hand at plating. We made a caramel sauce, which we put on the plate in a decorative pattern, and then taught us how to make quenelles of whipped cream. I made a braided pattern in the caramel.

The caramel was fairly simple, just sugar, water, and corn syrup cooked until  it achieves a medium amber color. At that point the caramel is removed from the heat, and cream is added. When it calms down, butter and salt are added, and brought back to a boil, briefly.

The pithivier is really simple. It's a round of puff pastry, with a mound of frangipane, and covered with more puff pastry. We used an egg wash to seal the rounds together.

We cut the edges in a petal like shape. For decoration, we incised curved lines into the top pastry.

The pithivier is baked until golden, then pulled out of the oven. The top is then brushed with a light coat of corn syrup, and put back to produce a crisp, shiny coat.

I like this puff pastry. It was both crisper and flakier than any commercial puff pastry I have used.

Both the galette and the pithivier were great. They were rich, and just sweet enough. I don't like overly sweet pastries.

As always for the pastry class, all recipes are courtesy Chef James Foran.

Recipes

Frangipane

4 oz by wt. almond paste
4 oz by wt. butter
1 oz by wt. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 Tbsp. all purpose flour
pinch of salt

In the bowl of a stand mixer using a paddle, cream almond paste, butter, and sugar until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla, and again process until smooth. Finally, add flour and salt, and cream until smooth.

Caramel Sauce

5 1/4 oz by wt. sugar
1 Tbsp. corn syrup
2 oz by vol. water
4 oz by vol. cream
3/4 oz by wt. butter
1/4 tsp. salt

In a bowl, combine sugar, syrup, and water. Transfer to a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Brush down sides of pan with water two or three times to remove any stray sugar crystals. Cook until sugar solution is a medium dark amber color.

Remove from heat, at cream in three stages while whisking vigorously. Add butter and salt, return to heat until sauce just comes to a boil. Remove from heat and cool.

Pear - Almond Galettes

1/2 recipe of Classic Puff Pastry
1/2 recipe of frangipane
5 pears, peeled, cored, and sliced
4 Tbsp. melted butter
5 tsp. vanilla sugar

Dock pastry, then cut out ten five inch diameter circles. Arrange circles on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Pipe frangipane into centers of circles. Spread evenly to within 3/4 inch of the edge. Arrange pear slices on circle, being careful to keep pears at least 3/4 inch from the edge. Brush pears with melted butter, and sprinkle liberally with vanilla sugar.

Bake in a 375 F oven until golden brown. Cool completely, and brush pears with an apricot glaze.

Pithivier

1/2 recipe of Classic Puff Pastry
1/2 recipe of frangipane
1 egg, beaten
1 oz by vol. light corn syrup

Cut two 7 1/2 inch circles from pastry. Place one on a parchment lined baking sheet. Pipe on frangipane, and smooth into a dome, careful to keep the frangipane 1 inch from edge. Brush edge with beaten egg. Press to seal. Use a 5 1/2 bowl to press over pithivier to make a dome shaped middle. Scallop edges. Using a sharp knife, incise curving lines radiating out from the middle, careful to avoid cutting all the way through.

Bake in a 375 F oven until golden brown, approximately 45 minutes to an hour. Remove from oven, brush top with corn syrup. Turn oven to 425 F. Return pithivier to oven, bake until corn syrup creates a shiny, golden crust, about 3 - 5 minutes.

Happy Eating!