Crustless Cheesecake

As I am sitting down to revive this retired recipe, my very first cheesecake is on its way to perfection. After a semi-failed attempt at a chiffon cake, I decided to come home to a well-stocked kitchen equipped with Williams-Sonoma measuring utensils and the perfect Kitchen Aid mixer. The batter was the airy consistency that blended just right. It is important, especially with cheesecake, that the ingredients are room temperature. Make sure you take them out of the refrigerator ahead of time to ensure your cheesecake is the best of the best.

Ingredients: 

1 lb ricotta cheese

1 lb cream cheese

1 1/3 cup sugar

4 eggs

1/2 lemon juice

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

3 T flour

3 T corn starch

1/4 cup melted butter

16 oz sour cream

Directions for Crustless Cheesecake:

Step 1: Mix ricotta cheese and cream cheese. Add sugar, beating it in gradually.

Step 2: Add 4 eggs, 1 at a time. Stir in juice of 1/2 lemon. Add vanilla extract.

Step 3: Add flour and corn starch. Add melted butter and blend all until smooth.

Step 4: Last, add sour cream.

Step 5: Pour mixture into a 9 inch greased spring form pan. Set in cold oven. Set oven to 325° Don't open oven door! Bake for one hour.

Step 6: After it bakes for an hour, let it stay in the oven for two hours after oven is turned off. Then take cake from oven and place on rack. DO NOT REMOVE FROM PAN UNTIL COMPLETELY COOL.

This is not only my first ever cheesecake, but my Mom-Mom's infamous recipe. Aside from a few cracks, it came out just as my Dad remembers. Baking a cheesecake with a water bath, especially on the first try, seemed a bit ambitious. For the next cheesecake recipe, I hope the water bath method eliminates the cracks and it will look just as great as it tastes! 

Until next time.

Things To Remember When Picking Produce

A passion for the freshest produce is something that stems through generations of our family. Gardening and ensuring the ingredients are as fresh as the walk from the garden to the back door is something that has carried me through life. The pride is shown not only by my Pop Pop but also by a very eager seven-year old me. Here are Mom-Mom's tips for selecting fruit found in her own words. 

Pineapple

Pineapple is ripe if the top center leaves pull out easily, distinct crevices surround each section, and fruit is pliable to touch. Quality fruit is heavy for size.

Cantaloupes 

Cantaloupes are ripe if soft near stem end. Coarse netting on the green or gray rind. Sweet fine texture and pungent aroma.

Strawberries
Select bright, clean, fresh, fragrant, medium size, tart, well-shaped berries with green caps. They are highly perishable. Pick over carefully, spread on tray, refrigerate a short time. For best flavor and texture do not wash until just before using.

Grapes
Buy mature, plump grapes, firmly attached to stem, high color for variety. Not moldy, wet or shriveled.
Buy for purpose! Concord grapes are especially good for juice or jelly, but any grape is good for salad or table use.


Oranges
For slices or sections, buy thick-skinned oranges that are light for size. For juices buy thin-skinned oranges, heavy for size.

Apples
Quality apples are firm with good color. There is no shriveling of peel. Immature fruit lacks color and flavor.
For good looking baking apples, prick their skins before hand. They'll bake without bruising. 


There you have some tips and tricks to remember next time you are picking picking out produce whether at the grocery store, your local farm, or even as close as your back yard!

Chiffon Cake

            As I sat reading the through the hundreds of recipes, I finally decided on one I still hear about all these years later. I thought a chiffon cake could have been a tricky first recipe to tackle, but my roommates aren’t ones to complain about any baked goods in the house. I was so nervous to get started that I forgot a few key ingredients, which called for a few trips to the grocery store. I finally had everything (or so I thought) to begin my first recreation.

Being a college student, lacking essentials such as a tube pan and a sifter, I made due with a bundt pan and make-shift sifter out of a disposable cake pan. Many years ago, I learned the hard way that not sifting the flour makes a huge difference.

My first recreation, The Chiffon Cake.

Ingredients:

8 eggs separated into yolks and whites

¾ cups of scalding hot milk

½ tsp of cream of tartar

1 ½ cups of sugar

2 cups of sifted flour

½ tsp of salt

3 ½ tsp baking powder

½ cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp lemon juice

Directions for Chiffon Cake:

Step 1: Blend together and then cool ¾ cups of scalding hot milk and 8 egg yolks, slightly beaten. Then set them aside. (Add the milk slowly and keep beating the eggs to avoid cooking the egg yolks.)

Step 2: Measure into a bowl, 8 egg whites, ½ tsp cream of tartar, beat until very stiff and dry.

I never worked with cream of tartar; what is cream of tartar anyway?  I don’t think I beat the egg whites and cream of tartar enough, especially because I didn’t know egg whites could be stiff and dry! So my tip to you is to beat the egg whites until you have the peaks, but don't over beat!

Step 3: Measure into a bowl 1½ cups sugar, 2 cups of sifted flour, ½ tsp of salt, 3 ½ tsp baking powder.

Step 4: Make a well in flour and rest of dry ingredients and add ½ cup of vegetable oil, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 tsp lemon juice.

Step 5: Add egg mixture and mix until smooth.

Step 6: Pour batter over egg whites. Mix by folding gently until blended.

Step 7: Bake in a greased tube pan on 325° for 55 min., then 350° for 10 min.







Step 8: Remove from oven and hang cake until cool.

Since I had no idea what hanging a cake meant and didn't use a tube pan, I searched the cabinets for a bottle that would fit well enough to hang the cake! Miraculously, it looked great!

Finally my first recreation was complete. Although I don't think the cake incorporated Mom-Mom's magic, I think I made a great first attempt. However, I think this journey is going to be a lot more difficult, and a lot more than just my love for baking.