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Most disturbing thing overheard from the next stall over: "Don't pick that up. Put it down! That's poo poo!"
This from a woman with four very small children in the bathroom stall of a rest stop. Yikes.
Dinner last night: Pork chops, ravioli, peas
Dinner tonight: Hamburger, cole slaw, corn
I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I had two. Gentleman Caller's mom made a pumpkin dessert that makes pumpkin cheesecake and pumpkin pie obsolete. I'll continue with the Ultimate Snackdown Pumpkin Cheesecake competition, but I'll post her recipe when I get it and y'all can decide for yourselves.
While on vacation, I had another (and the last) wedding shower/party. I got to see lots of family and friends that I haven't seen in years. I also received lots of lovely gifts, many for the kitchen! I can't wait to get back to cooking. It will be a while, though, because I'm going to Disneyland later this week!
Also while in Tennessee, I went to my high school reunion. Reunions are unusual. Suddenly I encountered people I hadn't seen or thought of in ten years and was expected to make conversation. I'm not fond of small talk, and usually avoid it, so I avoided lots of people. Seeing some people brought back rather strange memories, such as being picked up and put in the trash can by a guy in my art class, or the mneumonic another girl and I came up with to remember the name of the country "Madagascar." Odd memories, for sure.
Dinner tonight: whatever I can find in the freezer.
So here it is two days before Thanksgiving and I still have three cheesecake recipes to try. Because it is difficult, nay, impossible, to make a cheesecake while riding in a car, the three remaining cheesecakes will be tested post-Thanksgiving. Here are three reasons why this is for the best:
1) Two of the three remaining cheesecakes are not traditional pumpkin cheesecakes, so if given the chance will try to corrupt the more traditional ones. Thanksgiving is not a celebration of radicalism.
2) I might throw up if I have to eat another pumpkin cheesecake right now.
3) Thanksgiving dinner is the best meal of the year. It should last as long as possible. Post-Thanksgiving cheesecakes help the holiday linger.
So, here is the recipe for the reigning champ:
Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake with Bourbon Variation
Cook’s Illustrated 11/2003Depending on the oven and the temperature of the ingredients, the cheesecake may bake about 15 minutes faster or slower than the instructions indicate; it is therefore best to check the cake 1 1/4 hours into baking. Although the cheesecake can be made up to three days in advance, the crust will begin to lose its crispness after only one day. To make slicing the cheesecake easy and neat, use a knife with a narrow blade, such as a carving knife; between cuts, dip the blade into a pitcher of hot water and wipe it clean with paper towels. The cheesecake is good on its own, but the Brown Sugar and Bourbon Cream (recipe follows) is a grand addition. And how!
Makes one 9-inch cake, serving 12 to 16
Crust
5 ounces graham crackers (9 whole crackers), broken into large pieces
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, meltedFilling
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar (10 1/3 ounces)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin
1 1/2 pounds cream cheese , cut into 1-inch chunks and left to soften at room temperature, about 30 minutes
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lemon juice from 1 lemon
5 large eggs , left at room temperature, about 30 minutes
1 cup heavy cream
1. For The Crust: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Spray bottom and sides of 9-inch springform pan evenly with nonstick cooking spray. Pulse crackers, sugar, and spices in food processor until evenly and finely ground, about fifteen 2-second pulses. Transfer crumbs to medium bowl, drizzle melted butter over, and mix with rubber spatula until evenly moistened. Turn crumbs into prepared springform pan and, using hand, spread crumbs into even layer. Using flat-bottomed ramekin or drinking glass, press crumbs evenly into pan bottom, then use a soup spoon to press and smooth crumbs into edges of pan. Bake until fragrant and browned about the edges, about 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack while making filling.2. For The Filling: Bring about 4 quarts water to simmer in stockpot. Whisk sugar, spices, and salt in small bowl; set aside. To dry pumpkin (see illustrations below): Line baking sheet with triple layer of paper towels. Spread pumpkin on paper towels in roughly even layer. Cover pumpkin with second triple layer of paper towels and press firmly until paper towels are saturated. Peel back top layer of towels and discard. Grasp bottom towels and fold pumpkin in half; peel back towels. Repeat and flip pumpkin onto baking sheet; discard towel.
3. In standing mixer fitted with flat beater, beat cream cheese at medium speed to break up and soften slightly, about 1 minute. Scrape beater and bottom and sides of bowl well with rubber spatula. Add about one third of sugar mixture and beat at medium-low speed until combined, about 1 minute; scrape bowl and add remaining sugar in two additions, scraping bowl after each addition. Add pumpkin, vanilla, and lemon juice and beat at medium speed until combined, about 45 seconds; scrape bowl. Add 3 eggs and beat at medium-low until incorporated, about 1 minute; scrape bowl. Add remaining 2 eggs and beat at medium-low until incorporated, about 45 seconds; scrape bowl. Add heavy cream and beat at low speed until combined, about 45 seconds. Using rubber spatula, scrape bottom and sides of bowl and give final stir by hand.
4. Set springform pan with cooled crust on 18-inch-square doubled layer heavy-duty foil and wrap bottom and sides with foil; set wrapped springform pan in roasting pan. Pour filling into springform pan and smooth surface; set roasting pan in oven and pour enough boiling water to come about halfway up side of springform pan. Bake until center of cake is slightly wobbly when pan is shaken, and center of cake registers 145 to 150 degrees on instant-read thermometer, about 1 1/2 hours (see note). Set roasting pan on wire rack and use paring knife to loosen cake from sides of pan. Cool until water is just warm, about 45 minutes. Remove springform pan from water bath, discard foil, and set on wire rack; continue to cool until barely warm, about 3 hours. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, at least 4 hours or up to 3 days.
5. To Serve: Slide thin metal spatula between crust and pan bottom to loosen, then slide cake onto serving platter. Let cheesecake stand at room temperature about 30 minutes, then cut into wedges and serve.
Variation: Use graham-pecan crust (3 oz. graham and 2 oz. ground pecans) and substitute ¼ c. bourbon for the lemon juice in the filling to make a Pumpkin-Bourbon Cheesecake with Graham-Pecan Crust.
Step By Step: Drying Pumpkin with Paper Towels
1. Line baking sheet with triple layer of paper towels. Spread pumpkin on paper towels in roughly even layer.
2. Cover pumpkin with second triple layer of paper towels and press firmly until paper towels are saturated.
3. Peel back top layer of towels and discard.
4. Grasp bottom towels and fold pumpkin in half; peel back towels. Repeat and flip pumpkin onto baking sheet; discard towels.Brown Sugar and Bourbon Cream
Makes about 3 cups1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons bourbon
1. In bowl of standing mixer, whisk heavy cream, sour cream, brown sugar, and salt until combined. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve cheesecake, at least 4 hours or up to 24, stirring once or twice during chilling to ensure that sugar dissolves.2. When ready to serve cheesecake, add bourbon and beat mixture with whisk attachment at medium speed until small bubbles form around edges, about 40 seconds; increase speed to high and continue to beat until fluffy and doubled in volume, about 1 minute longer. Spoon cream on individual slices of pumpkin cheesecake.
I made the regular version (graham crust and lemon juice in filling) and topped it with the brown sugar and bourbon cream. It uses a ridiculous number of bowls and pans and I'm not convinced that it is absolutely necessary to dry the pumpkin, but this recipe makes a mighty fine cheesecake. Best so far.
If anyone tries this one for Thanksgiving, I want feedback!
Pumpkin cheesecake recipe #6, deliciously and efficiently entitled "Pumpkin Cheesecake," is a low-fat masterpiece. It uses reduced-fat vanilla wafers for the crust, three blocks of fat-free cream cheese and two blocks of 1/3-less-fat cream cheese. For a low-fat cheesecake, it isn't bad. I wouldn't spit it out of my mouth or anything, but I probably wouldn't go back for seconds. It wasn't as creamy as the other cheesecakes, on account of the reduced fat content. It also seems to have formed a bit of a thick skin/crust on the top and sides. This could be from the lack of fat or from the lack of a water bath. Either way, the result is less than desirable. The flavor is adequate, but perhaps a boost in the spices would make it a little less bland. The recipe (from Cooking Light, by the way) does not include a topping. I'm fairly adamant about toppings for cheesecakes, so in keeping with the low-fat theme, I made a maple whipped cream topping using no-sugar-added maple syrup. Gentleman Caller called it "the Missouri of cheesecakes. It's OK, but there are options that would be a bit less bland."
So, for those pious healthy eaters, this cheesecake is for you. It is thoroughly sufficient. But a bon vivant wouldn't be satisfied with such a dearth of fat and flavor.
In other news, I superglued my fingers together yesterday. Accidentally, this time. I was trying to make a necklace.
Dinner tonight: Cider-roasted chicken; autumn apple, grape and cheddar salad with pecans; green beans of some sort
I made another pumpkin cheesecake! I still have three more to go before Wednesday. Don't think I'll make it. I have only one springform pan, which slows down the process a bit. This cheesecake has a vanilla wafer crust and I used my new Cuisinart food processor to crumb the cookies. It was so easy! I could do it all in one batch, and the crumbs were uniform in size. Oh, happy day. How have I existed so long without this food processor? Seriously, I love it. I might even write a haiku.
The cheesecake must set overnight. Tasting notes mañana.
Dinner tonight: veggie burger, gnocchi in Parmesan-mushroom sauce, leftover butternut squash salad.
First of all, I'd like to say that I lied. We had peas for dinner last night, not broccoli.
Sorry, dear Internet, but I'll lie to you from time to time. I always come clean in the end.
Now that's out of the way, more cookie reports!
Batch #17 "Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies"
Recipe from Southern Living. This recipe includes both semisweet and milk chocolate chips, though not equal amounts (twice as much semisweet). The batter was unusually dense and sticky, but the resulting cookie was aesthetically pleasing. Light golden brown and chunky. The texture was soft and chewy with a bit of a crunch. Flavor was super-good. I'm sending this one to the next round.
Batch #18 "Good-For-You Chocolate-Chip Cookies"
Recipe from Cooking Light. Ingredients included half all-purpose flour and half whole-wheat flour, applesauce and reduced-fat chocolate chips. I used regular chocolate chips because I couldn't find reduced fat, and even if I had found them, I'm opposed to reduced-fat chocolate. There are no bad chocolate chip cookies, but these are by far the worst of the ones I've made, mostly because of the sorry chocolate-chip-to-cookie ratio. Sorely lacking in chocolate flavor. The whole-wheat flour added a slightly nutty flavor, which I kind of like. The color was light brown and the texture was puffy and soft. Chocolate chip cookies aren't supposed to be good for you. Broccoloons are good for you, and no one likes broccoloons, do they?
Batch #19 "Puffed-Up Chocolate-Chip Cookies"
Recipe from Cooking Light. The ingredient list calls for applesauce in place of some of the butter. The batter was quite runny, grossly so. Because the butter and applesauce are mixed together, the butter never gets creamy. Instead the butter was in very small chunks throughout the batter. The cookie was light brown and puffy with a light, spongy texture. I actually found the texture a bit disconcerting. They would, however, probably be excellent dunked in a glass of milk. Update 11.20.05: Cookies have developed an odd sheen about them, as if they are exuding moisture. A sweaty sheen. Yuk.
Dinner tonight: Grilled pork chops with port-fig sauce and pecans with roasted butternut squash salad
Update 11.20.05: Another lie. No port-fig sauce with pecans. Instead, pork chops with garlic relish. These lies are going to tear us apart.
Anonymous's comment on my yesterday post reminded me of a new way to make people feel uncomfortable (an ongoing game of mine). Follow someone around a grocery store and add to your cart everything the shopper adds to his/her cart. It is important to start with someone with an empty cart and follow immediately behind. It won't be much fun if the shopper is oblivious of what you're doing. Variation: If shopper puts a tub of ice cream in the cart, pick up another tub of ice cream (same brand/flavor) and say something disparaging ("Yikes! 500 calories per serving!") and put it back emphatically. I call it shopper stalking. It's good practice for real stalking.
Dinner last night: white cheddar macaroni and cheese with a veggie burger
Dinner tonight: chicken l'orange with rice, carrots and steamed broccoli
It is 7 p.m. and I have no idea what we're having for dinner tonight. There are one zillion and seven things that need my attention right now and my brain is too jittery to concentrate on dinner.
Hey, yesterday I made the beef jerky of chocolate chip cookies! Usually I like to make two batches at a time, for comparison purposes, but I was distracted yesterday too.
Batch #16 "Chewy Chocolate-Chip Cookies"
Recipe is from Cooking Light and by far the healthiest of the cookies I've made. The recipe uses 1 Tablespoon of butter. One! Two egg whites. And a bit less than ¾ c. of sugar (brown and white combined). These low-fat cookies take longer to make because you have to beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, which for some reason, took an exceptionally long time yesterday. The texture after folding in the rest of the ingredients is difficult to describe. It is sort of like thick marshmallow fluff. Very thick and sticky. The cookies look good, keep their shape, are light golden brown and taste good. But have a funky texture. When warm, they have a crunchy shell and gooey, chewy inside. After a day, they are really chewy and pliant, like beef jerky. This cookie doesn't make it to the next round, but is a good option for those who want a tasty lower fat alternative and don't mind sacrificing a bit in the texture department.
I went to the mall today. Mistake. Malls are some sort of alternate reality. Oh, sure, I used to hang out at the mall a lot in high school; I even worked in an ice cream shop at the mall. But now malls freak me out. I felt like everyone was looking at me, because everyone was looking at me. I actually checked to make sure I wasn’t still wearing my pjs. All buttons buttoned and zippers zipped. Hair brushed. Nothing unusual. I suppose it is possible I looked extraordinarily attractive today, but I doubt it. Creepy. I couldn’t even find what I was looking for. So I went to the grocery store to calm myself down. People are too busy consulting shopping lists and squeezing the tomatoes to pay attention to me in the grocery store.
When people ask me about my blog, I sometimes lie and tell them that it is a list of all I eat in a day. I consider that a joke, because who would be interested in reading a list of what I eat? Well, as it turns out, some people are. Several people have asked me what I cook for dinner. A few people have asked the same of Gentleman Caller. Neither of us has been able to answer the question. I'm a little frightened by my lack of short-term memory. I plan a meal, pick out recipes, shop for ingredients, prepare the meal, eat the meal and promptly forget what I ate. Most meals are good, but only some are memorable. So, in an effort to remember what I eat and to satisfy the curiosity of those who are interested, I'll start including a dinner menu in my posts. Last night it was Tomato, Onion and Goat Cheese Tart with leftover Chicken Parmesan. Tonight it is Spinach, Goat Cheese and Roasted Tomato Salad with Maple-Balsamic Vinaigrette with fake chicken and leftover tart. A very goat-cheesy night.
And now, as promised, feedback on the Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake with Caramel-Bourbon Sauce:
The recipe is from the November 2005 issue of Bon Appétit. It has a pecan crust, which I was a bit concerned about because the crust is so dark that it is difficult to judge the desired level of prebakedness. The color is the same raw, cooked and, I imagine, overcooked. I had to toast the pecans first, then grind them. As I did not have a food processor yesterday (but I have one today!), I ground them in very tiny batches in my magic bullet. The filling had lemon peel and whole-milk yogurt, which are not usual pumpkin cheesecake ingredients, mixed with the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, pumpkin and seasonings in my stand mixer. Easy. Baked in a water bath. The sauce was a dark brown sugar caramel sauce with bourbon and toasted pecans, poured over the top of the chilled cheesecake. It looked really nice, though I didn't see it this morning after the sauce set. I licked out the saucepan, though, and thought the sauce tasted just fine on its own.
Gentleman Caller took the cheesecake in as his contribution to the office thanksgiving party. I had him swipe a slice for me before the cheesecake was set out, just in case there wasn't any leftover for me to try. Usually I don't mind sending in an already-sampled cheesecake, but this was a fancy lunch and might seem a tad tacky. I'm glad he did save a piece because the cheesecake was gone after the fourth table got to it (out of twelve tables). Three tasters preferred the Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake (the reigning champ), though one preferred the gingersnap crust of the Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Gingersnap Crust. Another taster preferred this cheesecake for having a perfect texture, good crust and topping and a good presentation. One complained that it was too small. As far as cheesecakes go, I think that is a common complaint.
This is getting difficult to judge. This is one mighty fine cheesecake. I’d eat it with no complaints. But, I think the Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake might be better. It remains champ, but with a very close runner-up. Oh, it’s so close. But there can be only one winner. This one has a less soggy crust, which may be due to my improved technique for wrapping the springform pan in foil before submerging it in hot water. Or it could be because of all those lovingly and meticulously ground pecans. It also has a good texture, perhaps because of the addition of whole-milk yogurt. If the Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake wins the Snackdown, I might toy with the recipe a bit, trying different crusts, and perhaps adding yogurt. Just to see what happens.
It has been cold and rainy here for two days, which I find depressive and arrogant. I had the most unpleasant morning. I tried to cheer myself up by going to Wal-Mart. I know lots of people boycott Wal-Mart for very honorable reasons. I'm not so honorable. I love that place. But today it just didn't get my mojo going. So I made another pumpkin cheesecake. This one is for GC's office Thanksgiving party tomorrow. He has been instructed to get feedback and to save a piece for me to try. It's in the oven baking right now and the lovely smell in the house is beginning to cheer me up a bit. But I still hate today.
In other pumpkin cheesecake news, Red Momo has been conducting independent review of the cheesecakes. Here is the report:
So, I took it upon myself to make both the bourbon spiced pumpkin cheesecake and the spicy pumpkin cheesecake. For anyone worried, a few extra minutes (maybe ten at most) is all that they need at this high altitude.I brought them into the office and both received rave reviews. Seriously, you'd have thought people had won the lottery, so happy were they at the cheesecakes.
Most people preferred the spicy pumpkin cheesecake, as it was essentially a pumpkin pie with cheesecake undertones.
I, however, and Pink Ribeye, both prefer the bourbon spiced pumpkin cheesecake. I used about purteen daughters worth of Jack Daniel's, but it was family well spent. Seriously, it was delicious.
The reason I prefer it is because I wanted cheesecake with pumpkin pie undertones. And the sour cream topping -- with the added JD, it was just fine (though a mouthful of that only would be a little strange). Another aspect was that the BSPC was thicker. Much thicker. And I like a thick slice of cheesecake.
-Red Momo
Red Momo, Purple Fried Okra and the others I've quizzed about the proper taste and texture of a pumpkin cheesecake have convinced me that a cheesecake with pumpkin pie flavor is the goal. So, Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake pushes Spicy Pumpkin Cheesecake from the winner's circle. Will it be able to hold the title against the #5 competitor, training in my oven right now? Results tomorrow.
I like having parties. Saturday night, Gentleman Caller and I had ~30 people over to celebrate our marriage and to stock our bar. We got lots of booze, so the next few months of wedded bliss will have an alcoholic haze. I made lots of food for the party: the previously mentioned gorgonzola and fig terrine, bacon ball, and cheese platter; lemon bars, maple-date bars, spinach-artichoke dip, smoked-ham rolls, black bean empanadas, pistachio-chili bread twists, Parmesan and oregano bread twists, lingonberry and almond puff pastries, apple puff pastry tartlets, and herbal sangria. And three batches of chocolate chip cookies, but only two batches were served at the party. Once batch was for private consumption only. Most of the food was easy to make, and all but the empanadas were new recipes to me. I won't make either of the bread twists again. They were good, but nothing special. The empanadas and the bacon ball, however, were excellent, and were the most sought-after treats on the table. A friend (I don't know her gourmand name) brought some fudge filled and frosted chocolate cupcakes that were super good. I had to hide some to make sure that I got a chance to taste them. There was quite a bit of food left at the end of the night (party ended at 4:30am!), so I sent doggie bags home with those still going strong at the end of the night. One important lesson learned from the Wedding Throwdown: use disposable cups when entertaining more than 10 people. GC and I washed lots of glasses yesterday!
Now, for the cookie review:
Batch #13 "Chocolate Chip Cookies with Salt"
Recipe from Epicurious, designed to show how sweet and salty flavors complement each other. This is the first recipe that I have not followed exactly. The recipe calls for vanilla sugar, which never have on hand. It is easy to make (stick a vanilla bean in a jar of sugar, in several weeks, the sugar takes on a light vanilla scent and flavor), but I didn't want to wait several weeks, so I used regular sugar. I don't think the vanilla sugar would have altered the recipe significantly anyway. Most chocolate chip recipes call for salt in the ingredients, but this one uses sea salt mixed into the batter and also sprinkled on top of the cookie before baking. Sea salt comes from sea water, which leaves behind large, coarse crystals of salt as it evaporates. The large, irregularly shaped salt crystals contain no additives and provide a crunchy texture. The salt added a new flavor and texture component to the cookies, but most tasters couldn't identify what made the cookie different. So, the flavor wasn't overly salty, but everyone could detect the salt after I revealed the secret ingredient. The cookies were good, though a bit unusual, but would not satisfy a craving for a traditional chocolate chip cookie. The cookies were a pale golden color with a thick, cakey texture. Batch #13 does not advance to the next round.
Batch #14 "Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies (2)"
I'm not sure where this recipe came from, but it includes a basic recipe and variations with additional ingredients. There wasn't anything unusual about the basic recipe. The cookies were golden brown, spread out a bit, but kept a nice shape. They were really soft and chewy, which is what I look for in a cookie, but they broke apart easily. The flavor was excellent, but the cookie isn't sturdy enough to survive to the next round. The variations, however, will be included in the Ultimate Special Addition Chocolate Chip Cookie category.
Batch #15 "Chocolate Chip Cookies"
Recipe from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook. This recipe uses mini chocolate chips. The cookies spread quite a bit, producing a large, round and flat cookie, not even 1/4" thick. It tastes good and managed to be both crispy and chewy. However, I like a cookie of substance that I can sink my teeth into. This is not that cookie.
Saturday, Gentleman Caller and I are finally going public with the news of our marriage. We're having a party (a.k.a. "the Wedding Throwdown") to celebrate our enigmatic union and to show off all the cool wedding presents we got from GC's family and their friends. I have planned a rather eclectic menu featuring cheese, bread and chocolate, with a few other flavors thrown in for variety. I tried to choose bite-size finger foods so I won't have to use plates or silverware, and things that will hold at room temperature for many, many hours. There will be a cheese plate with a few hunks of cheese, a bacon cheeseball, a gorgonzola-fig terrine, apples, pears, grapes and assorted crackers. These will display both of my cheese platters (I have two!), my fancy cheese slicer (a gift from my mom from our Norway trip) and the three pewter mice pins and placards (also from Norway). I made the terrine and the fig syrup yesterday and the bacon cheeseball today. Today I also made Blue Grilled Cheese’s recipe for spinach-artichoke dip. I think it is BGC's recipe because it seems very similar to one I helped her make for a Christmas party years ago. It's chilling in the refrigerator now, but I already licked clean the mixing bowl. Good stuff. This will be served in a sterling silver pointy-oval, leaf-shaped bowl.
I'm just so happy to have an excuse to use all these pretty things I got for getting married. Sometimes I feel sorry for them. Think of the excitement they felt, being selected from the store display, dressed up in pretty wrapping paper and taken to a fancy country club party. Then the disappointment of being crammed into a car and shut into a dark basement storage room. Well, I won't allow my pretty things to be disappointed any longer. Saturday, they will bask in the admiration they deserve.
I'll make more treats tomorrow.
For the past three days, there has been an issue of Bon Appétit in my mailbox. I didn't subscribe to this magazine, but I suspect someone bought a subscription for me. What a nice surprise! Saturday I received, and read, the November issue. Yesterday I received, and have almost finished reading, the December issue. Today, October. I wonder if I'll get a year's worth in the next few days? In the November issue is another recipe for a pumpkin cheesecake, so I'm back up to five, is it five?, more to try. My one and only springform pan is on loan right now, so I'll enjoy this pumpkin break for as long as it lasts. In the meantime, I'll continue to drool over my new cooking magazines.
I looked at all the cookies, three cooling racks worth, and felt ill. I had already tasted several from each batch, made careful notes and determined which ones would advance to the next round. But still I had almost five dozen cookies left. I put them into ziplock bags, labeled each bag and put the bags into a bubblewrap-lined box. I taped up the box and the nausea vanished. Out of sight, out of mind. I went on about my business, until Gentleman Caller returned home with a friend, back from a show and a few drinks, with his tooth set for some cookies. "Where are they?" "Gone. They left." I untaped the box and let GC and friend sample the cookies. When they were sated, I retapted the box and applied an address label. Early the next morning, I mailed the box to the Cookie Disposal Service, otherwise known as Red Momo.
What follows is a partial transcript of the review:
“As for me, I would have to say that 8B was my favourite. It covered all the cookie prerequisites, and while not necessarily the world's best (I think there might be better ones and I look forward to them). 9B was actually good, too. I enjoyed it, even with its crispiness. I did realise, however, that I craved different cookies throughout the day. Sometimes I wanted the less-baked and other times I wanted the crisp.Anyway, I can also report on transportation issues. 8A was crumbs. 8B was crumbly but some major cookie-sized chunks still made it. 9A, about the same. 9B and 8C were perfectly cookie shaped. Definitely those when long-distances are in order.”
--Red Momo
______8A - Not my favorite
8B - Good but a little crunchy
8C - Too crunchy but good taste
9A - Too sweet and crumbly
9B - Nice and soft but not my favorite taste.I think 8C was the best taste but 9B was the best as far as texture goes.
Thanks for sharing!!
-- Purple Chicken & Bacon BBQ Pizza on Thin Crust
________________The consistency is very important. 9A wasn't too soft like 8A, or oily like 9B, and it also wasn't to crumby like 8B or flaky like 8C. The taste of the dough was not too rich, which is important since the chocolate chips are rich, and by god we don't want an over-bombardment of richness.
-- Blue Cheddar
________________I can taste the baking soda in 8A.
-- Green Green Chili
________________My favorite was batch 8A. I think with the molasses, batch 9 is a little too sweet, and I really like them chewy, so 8A is my favorite
-- Blue Peanut Butter Cup
________________For the flavor, I liked the 8B, even though I prefer a crispier cookie.
-- Blue Cabbage Roll
________________8B is my favorite.
-- Pink Ribeye
Big thanks to Red Momo and his tasting team.
I made three batches of cookies for Saturday night poker:
Batch #10 “Thick and Chew Chocolate Chip Cookies”
This recipe is from Cook’s Illustrated. There is nothing unusual about the cookies except for the exceptional chewy goodness. The cookies are baked on parchment paper. The cookies are big, moist and chewy. The color isn’t very deep, but the flavor more than makes up for the lack of color. The recipe calls for you to make balls with the dough, ~ ¼ c. per cookie, then pull the ball in half and press together the rounded edges, leaving the rough, separated edges on the outside. I don’t know how this technique contributes to the final outcome, but the result is great. I’m sending it to the next round. This one was preferred by the poker players, even though chocolate chip cookies don’t match up very well with beer or Scotch.
Batch #11 “Thin, Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies”
Also from Cook’s Illustrated. This recipe uses milk and light corn syrup, ingredients not common to chocolate chip cookies. It requires a stand mixer, but few mixing bowls. Definitely a plus in a kitchen where the cook is also the dishwasher. The cookies are really thin; they spread out a lot, melding together to form a few jumbo cookies. The flavor is sweeter than I like, but still pretty good. The cookie, though thin, isn't particularly crispy. It's very chewy, which I like, but too thin. Gentleman Caller likes the thin cookies, but says these aren’t as good as some of the earlier ones. This recipe gets tossed out.
Batch #12 “Old-Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies”
Recipe from Bon Appétit. It calls for equal parts vegetable shortening (Crisco) and butter, so the cookie holds its shape well. Perhaps too well. The cookies are thick and almost shortbready, but not quite. They are pretty light in color. One poker player brought up an excellent point, though, and that was that for milk-dunking purposes, batches 10 and 11 won't cut it. Only this batch is thick enough to soak up enough milk. This criteria adds a new wrinkle to the competition. However, though it excels in dunkability, it is an unimpressive cookie in all other areas of comparison. So, a bit reluctantly, this is another for the recipe wasteland.
Moving right along! I had gotten a bit burned out on chocolate chip cookies after the batches last weekend, but the plethora of pumpkin cheesecakes in the meantime gave my palate a break. There has been some serious lobbying to have the molasses chocolate chip cookies moved to the “special ingredients” category because the molasses makes it unfair for the other plain chocolate chip cookies. After much deliberation and heated testimony, I have agreed to eliminate Batch #9 from the plain chocolate chip category.
With this, I have crossed the halfway mark. Ten more recipes to go. At this point, it seems to be never ending. I dream about baking cookies.
I have just returned from the housewarming party with the results for the Spiced Pumpkin cheesecake with a Gingersnap Crust: no go. It tastes good, but had a sticky texture that made for a bad showing slicing and serving. The recipe had no topping for the cheesecake, so I borrowed a streusel topping from a pumpkin pie recipe. That's a keeper. The crust was soggy and not overly gingersnappy. Definitely not worth the trouble of grinding up the cookies to make the crust. The filling was good, but not outstanding. So, final verdict: toss the recipe. It was good, but not good enough. We have high standards here at the Ultimate Snackdown. So, it is still neck and neck between the Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake and the Spicy Pumpkin Cheesecake. The winner may be determined by a vote. Should a proper pumpkin cheesecake be a creamier pumpkin pie, or a cheesecake with pumpkin flavor? Cast your votes now! There is a definite but subtle distinction here. Of course, there are four more cheesecakes to try.
I made three batches of chocolate chip cookies today for poker night tonight. Results will be posted tomorrow, even though I already know which one (of the three) wins.
I'm not really sure what that means, but if you need me this weekend, I can be found in my kitchen, baking up storms of chocolate chip cookies and a small tempest of pumpkin cheesecake. Tomorrow afternoon is a housewarming party for one of Gentleman Caller's colleagues. I'll warm his house with a Spicy Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust. Gingersnaps! Sounds good. Then, tomorrow night is the inauguration of our new poker basement. I'll be betting with chocolate chip cookies. I'll make those tomorrow. Today I made the cheesecake. It's baking in the oven now. I don't have a food processor, so I tried to make gingersnap crumbs with my blender. There is a "crumb" setting, so I thought I had it made. Not so. Some ground up nicely but most just flew around the top of the blender canister. It took forever because I had to do the cookies in batches and stop between batches to swipe the crumbs out from under the blades. No fun. I'm currently comparison-shopping for a good food processor. This would be an easy recipe if I had a food processor or could buy gingersnap crumbs. This recipe has no topping for the cheesecake. I hope it looks good. Toppings cover up unsightly Evil Dead-esque cracks.
I know you sweet readers are eager for the crowning of the Ultimate Pumpkin Cheesecake so you can try it out for your respective Thanksgiving day feasts. I vow to churn out recipes at a rapid pace. Five more to go. I can make it happen. In fact, I just sent cheesecake #3 (Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake) to GC's office, but not before slicing off a hunk to try myself. This cheesecake would have to be extraordinary to warrant the trouble of making it. The recipe is from Cook's Illustrated. I think they usually do a good job of creating good recipes in their test kitchens. This one, however, used so many bowls and dishes that I had to stop midway to wash and dry some before I could carry on. And I have a fairly well stocked kitchen. One particularly questionable step is drying the pumpkin. The recipe calls for a can of pumpkin, which you spread out over a three-thickness paper towel mound and top with another three layers of paper towels to draw out excess moisture. Is this really necessary? The recipe also directs you to cook the cheesecake in a hot water bath. This is to ensure a slow and even cooking, which helps keep the top from cracking and the bottom from burning. It also makes for a soggy crust, which is unfortunate, because the crust had potential. It was similar to the crust from the previous two cheesecakes, except it had spices in it.
So, was the cheesecake worth all the effort? Maybe. It had a nice, light and creamy texture. This one is definitely richer and smoother. GC said it is more like a cheesecake with pumpkin flavor than the current champ, which is more like a creamy pumpkin pie. The topping, though, is excellent. Brown sugar and bourbon cream. Yay for Wild Turkey.
Right now I'm leaning toward Spicy Pumpkin Cheesecake (#2) because it is just as tasty, perhaps a bit healthier (less cream cheese, whipping cream and sugar and fewer eggs) and easier to assemble. I'll probably keep the spiced cream topping for a nonalcoholic option, but will filch the brown sugar and bourbon cream topping from the Cook's Illustrated recipe. And, I might try adding some spices to the other crust. I think the Ultimate Snackdown Pumpkin Cheesecake winner will probably be a version cobbled together from all the competitors.
I am, however, awaiting official review from GC's colleagues before making any final decisions.
Update 7:30pm: The tasters have reviewed the cheesecake and given it two thumbs up, an A++++, a "wow!" and "Out of this world!" Guess they liked it. Unfortunately, they didn't get to try the Spicy Pumpkin Cheesecake, so have no basis for comparison. But with results like those, I think this cheesecake makes it to the next round.
As demanded, here is the recipe for the Spicy Pumpkin Cheesecake, which recently knocked out the Bourbonless Pumpkin Cheesecake from the competition. I'm a bit reluctant to post the recipe because it hasn't yet achieved Ultimate Pumpkin Cheesecake status and I don't want to go around giving out sub par recipes. This one does have potential, however, and is quite tasty in a good way, so I won't be embarrassed if it graces Thanksgiving tables. If you should make this recipe, I want feedback. Be brutal. I can take it.
Spicy Pumpkin CheesecakeFor crust
¾ cup graham cracker crumbs (from ~five crackers)
½ cup pecans (1-¾ oz), finely chopped
¼ cup packed light brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ stick (¼ cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
For filling
16 oz. cream cheese, softened
¾ c. sugar
2 eggs
16 oz. can pumpkin
2 t. cinnamon
¼ t. ginger
¼ t. cloves
For topping
8 oz. heavy whipping cream
1 T. pumpkin pie spice (+ more to taste, if desired)
1/4 c. Icing sugar (+ more to taste, if desired)Make crust:
Invert bottom of a 9-inch springform pan (to create flat bottom, which will make it easier to remove cake from pan), then lock on side and butter pan.
Stir together crumbs, pecans, sugars, and butter in a bowl until combined well. Press crumb mixture evenly onto bottom and ½” up side of pan, then chill crust, 1 hour.For filling:
In large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and eggs on medium speed ‘til smooth. Add pumpkin and spices; continue mixing.Spoon into pie crust and bake 350 until set, ~45m. Cool. Refrigerate several hours.
For topping
Pour whipping cream into a clean bowl. Sift icing sugar and pumpkin pie spice on top of cream (don't need to sift if icing sugar isn't clumpy). Also, you can just use a mixture of 2 parts cinnamon, 1 part each of cloves and ginger instead of premixed pumpkin pie spice. Mix on high speed until soft peaks form. Taste and adjust icing sugar or spices if necessary. Mix until stiff peaks form. Spread on top of pumpkin cheesecake. Refrigerate until ready to use. Let stand ~20m before cutting and serving.
Serves 16.