Agave Nectar Cheesecake

Daring Bakers April 2009 Challenge: Cheesecake



This month our challenge was simple: follow an easy cheesecake recipe from start to finish. But, as with most Daring Baker’s challenges, there was a twist: be as creative as possible.

I started out thinking of modifications from girl scout cookies to tropical fruit, but before I could decide for sure, a challenge presented itself. I was invited to a potluck dinner for which the guest of honor did not eat refined sugar.

How to make cheesecake with no refined sugar? The question intrigued me and I decided to make it my recipe modification.

After much debate, I decided to sub agave nectar (Trader Joe’s sells it) for sugar, and to make the graham cracker crust with almonds. So the recipe ended up as:

Crust:
2 cups finely chopped roasted almonds
1 stick butter
1 tbsp agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla

Blended in Cuisinart, pressed into the bottom of a 9” round pan. I baked this for 10 minutes before adding the batter.




Cake:
24 oz creamcheese
¾ cup agave nectar
3 large eggs
¾ cup heavy cream (reduced to make up for the additional liquid)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp vanilla

I mixed the cake ingredients, poured into the crust, and rested the pan in a larger pan of hot water. I put this in the oven at 325 (reduced because agave nectar is supposed to brown at a lower temp than sugar).




This was all easy. Deciding when it was done, however, was hard. Bake until the top is almost set? I’ve never made cheesecake before, but I found this very vague. So I turned off the heat when the center was still wobbly, and left it in the cooling oven for one hour, as suggested. The center was just set by the end of this, and I put it in the freezer overnight.



The next morning I flipped it out of the pan, while frozen (I didn’t use a springform pan because I was afraid the water bath would leak, and had read this was a good way to get out cheesecakes made in regular pans). It defrosted all day in the fridge. Right before I left for the potluck I sliced some strawberries and kiwis and decorated the top and sides.



Overall it tasted pretty good, but the texture was sort of suspicious. I don’t know how this recipe would have turned out anyway, so I don’t know if it’s the agave nectar’s fault. It was just a little too creamy for me; I wanted to see internal structure to the cake, like crumbs of mush, but instead it was smooth as a custard. But, like I said, the taste was great and I liked the way it looked, so overall it would say it was a success.




The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

It ate my weekend, then I ate it.

Daring Bakers March 2009 Challenge: Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna
Recipe from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper

This was a difficult month for my relationship with the Daring Bakers. With the two most recent challenges essentially busts (Tuilles and Flourless Chocolate Cake – don’t believe the optimism in the posts – they were busts) I needed this month’s challenge to bring my baking spirits up again. I love lasagna, so I thought this would be perfect.

First, the five meat ragu. Since I couldn’t buy the meats in small enough quantities, I decided to double the recipe. Why not have leftovers? Well, that was mistake number one.

It took me several hours at multiple grocery stores to collect all of the ingredients, and several more hours to assemble and cook and the sauce. It was a full day affair. The recipe called for whole meats but then instructed us to grind them in a food processor. Having never done this before, I over-processed and my beautiful (and expensive) cuts of meat ended up as a meat paste. This mixture balled up when I started to fry it, despite my frantic efforts to break up the chunks. Not great. Later, when I added the milk, it immediately curdled and coated my already-not-ideal meat chunks in white residue. Again, fantastic. I probably would have given up here if I hadn’t already spent so much money and time on it. I stuck it in the fridge, swore that I would quit the daring bakers, and went to sleep.




The next morning I read on the Daring Bakers forum that not only did someone else’s ragu look like dog food (I believe she called it Alpo) someone else’s milk had curdled. The most encouraging part was that they still thought it tasted good. Slightly encouraged (but not enough to taste it myself), I started on the noodles.

Unfortunately, this was just as difficult as the ragu. My dough would not come together. I think it would have been much easier to use steamed spinach, but I was using raw, as the recipe recommended, and the mixture was hopelessly dry. For some reason, I decided to add more eggs instead of water. This was probably a bad call. The dough did come together but it was very eggy, almost yellow tinted behind the green, and very heavy/sticky.



I rolled it out as thin as I could without a pasta maker, hung it to dry, and then boiled it. It reminded me, both in look and touch, of alien tongue.



The béchamel sauce was the only saving grace of this entire production. It was easy and tasty and made me feel good about myself again.




I assembled the components trying to make my layers as thin and delicate as my chunky, milk-curdled ragu and thick, alien-tongue noodles would permit. I think I managed about 8 layers before I ran out of béchamel and just about ran out of room. So I popped it in the oven and thanked god that the couple I had invited over for dinner had canceled.





Now, the surprising part of this whole story – and really, I mean shocking – is that it actually turned out okay. It tasted different from a traditional American lasagne (which I must admit I prefer) but it still tasted good. Good enough to eat and want seconds. Good enough to save the leftovers. It was a miracle.





I also tried to eat the leftover noodles with a regular tomato sauce, but that didn’t work as well. Apparently the baking step was very important for these guys. They were too firm/spongy to eat just boiled.

So, I will hesitantly remain a Daring Baker. We’ll see what next month brings.




The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Daring Bakers February 2009 Challenge: Flourless Chocolate Cake
Recipe from: Sweet Treats by Chef Wan



I was really excited about this month's challenge. I love simple, elegant recipes that are all about the intricacies of each ingredient. Making flourless chocolate cake is a lot like baking bread. You add very little, but every time you do so much as think about one of the ingredients the outcome is slightly different. It is sort of like painting a still life. It is really the time to appreciate the assets and limitations of your supplies, and hone basic skills. I don't know how much honing I did this month, but I certainly had fun.

The recipes starts with melting chocolate and butter in a double boiler. I chose Scharffen Berger chocolate, partially because it was readily available, partially because it did not break the bank, and mostly because once I was served it while wine tasting in Napa. (I find that I have a fond memory of just about everything I do while wine tasting.)



Next it was time to whip the egg whites into "stiff peaks." I can never remember exactly what entails a "stiff" peak, so I have no idea if I did this correctly. But this is what I ended up with:


You will note there is a flashlight on the bottom left of the last photo. This is a good time to mention that if you have trouble finding things in the back of your kitchen drawers or cabinets, you MUST try a flashlight. Using one has revolutionized my baking experience and made me not want to tear my hair out at the beginning of every baking project. Anyway, my next task was to combine the two bowls, as gently as possible to try to avoid deflating the whipped egg whites:

The following step is where I made my one (known) mistake of the recipe. I wasn't really paying attention to the exact requirements for the pan the cake was to be baked in. Apparently I was supposed to use one with an area of 50". I used a circle with a radius of 5" (A = 78.5"). I realized this afterwards, when I wondered why my cake came out so thin.

Having a cake that was 50% thinner than it should have been had a couple repercussions: (1) it seemed more like a brownie than a cake and (2) instead of reaching the optimal 140 degrees in the suggested baking time it had soared to 148 degrees, slightly drying out the flesh of the cake. This cake was very, very rich. I inadvertently created a real life Got Milk? commercial in my apartment by inviting 5 testers over, giving them each an enormous slice, and then realizing I was out of milk. But that aside, the tasting went well and everyone seemed to enjoy the cake. I think I prefer a lighter dessert, but this recipe was nonetheless a good overall baking experience.

Daring Bakers Tag: The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

You win some, you lose some

Daring Bakers January 2009 Challenge: Tuiles

Recipe from: “The Chocolate Book” by Angélique Schmeinck

I apparently had trouble understanding the recipe for this month’s challenge. I mixed the ingredients as listed – this part was easy – and did the necessary chilling steps, exactly as described. Then I set out to create the cookie shapes. This was where the misunderstanding occurred. The recipe said: “Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly. Press the stencil on the baking sheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes.” Now, I don't think it's just me -- it never says how to actually make a shape! Maybe it is obvious to someone who has made tuiles before, but I was thoroughly confused how you use a stencil to make a cookie. I decided I would spread out the batter on the inside of a heart shaped cookie cutter. I spooned a small amount of batter into the heart, and then spread it around with a knife until the entire inside of the cookie cutter was filled with a thin layer of batter. I tried to make it as thin as possible.

I baked at 350. I peaked in at them after just a few minutes, and to my horror, discovered this:

I had used all of the batter and was expected at a baby shower with the tuiles in less than 30 minutes, so I had to make the most of what I had. I cut the giant cookie into reasonable sizes and then draped the irregular shapes on rolling pins to cool and solidify.

The collection of twisted polygons looked more like bad potato chips than the beautiful tuiles I had seen online, but they still tasted sweet and had acceptable crunch.

I took them, along with fresh whipped cream dyed pink with a few drops of red food coloring (the soon-to-be baby is a girl) and a bowl of blackberries and strawberries to the baby shower. I can’t say introducing these mutated tuiles to the group was my proudest moment, but I’ve done worse. We all enjoyed them.

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Baking Soda and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf.
They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

Pizza Pizza

Daring Bakers October 2008 Challenge: Pizza Dough

(Basic Pizza Dough Recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering The Art of Extraordinary Bread by Peter Reinhart)

I’m going to let the pictures tell most of the story this month. The task was to make pizza dough from scratch, actually toss it to stretch it into shape, and then to top it with both a sauce and toppings. I have to be honest – my dough didn’t turn out very well. I had a hard time getting it to the right consistency to begin with, and then it simply did not rise in the oven. So the five people I invited over for a pizza dinner and I ate delicious toppings off cracker-like crust. I think the biggest hit was the dessert pizza I made at the end with a puff pastry crust! But here they are, one by one, in all their non-rising glory….

Pizza 1 -- Sauce: Olive Oil; Toppings: Herbes de Provence and Garlic

Pizza 2 -- Sauce: Pesto; Toppings: Mozzarella and Spinach

Pizza 3 -- Sauce: Tomato Sauce; Toppings: Pepperoni, Artichoke Hearts, Mushrooms, Mozzarella

Pizza 4 -- Sauce: Caramelized Onions; Toppings: Pear, Gorgonzola, Walnuts


Pizza 5 -- Sauce: Tomato Sauce; Toppings: Breaded Chicken Cutlets, Tomatoes, Mozzarella

Pizza 6 -- Sauce: Caramelized Onions; Toppings: Portobello Mushrooms, Goat Cheese




"Pizza" 7 -- Crust: Puff Pastry; Sauce: Whipped Cream; Toppings: Raspberries and Strawberries

Once Upon a Tart....

Provençal Tart with Gruyère and Herbes de Provence

This tart is awesome. AWESOME. And it comes from a cookbook that makes me think everything in it might be just as good. This is my first recipe from Frank Mentesana and Jerome Audureau's Once Upon a Tart... and I guarantee it won't be my last. The Herbes de Provence weren't exactly cheap (~$15/jar), but I think you can avoid the price hike of having them imported from France by buying the individual spices (basil, fennel seed, lavender, marjoram, rosemary, sage, summer savory and thyme) and mixing them yourself. Wow, I'm getting hungry just thinking about how delicious this tart was...

A Tasty Cracker, but a Cracker Nonetheless

Daring Bakers September 2008 Challenge: Lavash Crackers and Vegan Spread

(Lavash Cracker recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread by Peter Reinhart)

I did actually complete September’s challenge in September, but now it is half-way through October and I am only posting about it now. This could be because I prefer cooking to writing, so if I have a free hour it’s more likely that I’ll be making a new recipe than blogging about an old one. It is also possible that is this particular case, there was nothing particularly thrilling to write about. It was a perfectly fine challenge, new to me, relatively quick, tasty, but it was neither a smashing success nor harrowing failure. I mean, it was a cracker.

But on with the story. I made the cracker recipe as described and added dehydrated onion and garlic, sea salt, poppy seeds and sesame seeds. I tried to add them in stripes, but this ended up not being noticeable once I broke up the sheet into individual crackers.

The cracker sheet baked slightly unevenly, and bubbled in one spot, but neiher of those were a deal breaker. I cracked the cooked sheet into pieces and it was done. I was not happy with how much of the seasoning fell off during handling, but enough stayed on to serve the purpose.

The vegan dip is really where the excitement was this month. I decided to make caponata, which is sort of like a concentrated ratatouille. I used vegetables from the farmers market and the following recipe from The Victory Garden Cookbook by Marian Morash (my vegetable bible):

2 lb eggplant

Salt

3/4 plus 2 Tb olive oil (but I recommend you use less)

2 cups chopped onions

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes

1/2 cup pitted, halved green olives

1/4 cup rinsed and drained capers

1 Tb pine nuts

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1 Tb sugar

Ground pepper

Peel eggplant and cut into 3/4 inch pieces. Salt and let drain for 30 minutes. Fry eggplant in oil until golden, about 6-10 minutes (this can be done in 2 batches if your frying pan isn't large enough). Transfer to strainer and let drain. Fry onions and celery until just tender, then add tomatoes. Cover pan and cook 4-5 minutes, uncover, and cook 5 minutes longer. Add eggplant, capers, olives, and pine nuts. Heat vinegar in a separate dish, and dissolve in the sugar. Pour over vegetables. Simmer, covered for 5-10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste and cool. Serve room temperature or cold.

It was a bit oily but delicious. My tasters raved.

I have to add, I served these crackers and the caponata as an appetizer that I followed with a tomato tart, greens, and roasted fingerling potatoes. See my next post for pics of the tart!