I’ve been making a different flavoured cheesecake at work every week. This is the first one I made with the Pichet Ong recipe from his book The Sweet Spot. Every other cheesecake that I’ve made since then is loosely based on this method. The Sweet Spot is the only book I’ve ever food entirely focussed on Asian inspired desserts. In his recipe, he added blueberries and strawberries on top but I thought it would be more Asian to include Kumquats. The great thing about this recipe is that you don’t need to bake the cheesecake. It sets with gelatine. It’s also a great cheesecake for people like me who doesn’t like the rich taste of cream cheese in most cheesecakes. This one is lighter because you’re blending the cream cheese with tofu. I know tofu sounds weird in a cheesecake but once it sets overnight, you can’t tell there’s tofu.
This is the first time I’ve candied Kumquats. They tasted amazing! 
To candy the kumquats, I sliced them first. Then I boiled 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups of water. Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Add the kumquats, reduce the heat. Simmer until the kumquat slices are translucent. About 30-35 minutes. Remove from heat. Cool the kumquats in the syrup. Strain the kumquats, reserving the syrup. Combine the kumquats and 1/4 cup syrup in a small bowl. Return the remaining syrup to the same saucepan. Boil until reduced to 1 1/4 cup. About 8 minutes.
I’m not sure if Pichet Ong tested this recipe because I had to use half of the Graham Cracker crust that was included in the recipe. For an 8” pan which is the amount in the recipe his crust would take up half of the pan!
I used half of this crust recipe:
Ginger Graham Cracker Crust
113 g. butter, melted
174 g. graham crackers, crushed into fine crumbs. 1 ½ cups
1 ½ cups packed brown sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp salt
Grand Marnier Tofu Filling
538 g. silken tofu
1 ½ tsps fresh lemon juice
½ cup whipping cream
1 tsp salt
5 gelatin sheets
341 grams cream cheese at room temperature
156 g. sugar
3 tbsp grated orange zest
1 tbsp grated lemon zest
2 tbsp grand marnier
1- To make the graham cracker crust: preheat oven to 300 F. Lightly
butter an 8 inch round dish and set aside.
2- Put the graham crackers, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and salt
into a mixing bowl. Mix well, then add the melted butter and mix with
your hands until the crumbs are evenly moistened. Transfer the mixture
to the prepared baking dish and press into an even layer on the
bottom.
3- Bake the crust until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Remove from
the oven and cool completely.
4- To make the cheesecake filling: Put the tofu and lemon juice in a
blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.
5- Put the cream and salt in a medium saucepan and warm over medium
heat until bubbles begin to form around the edges. Stire in the
softened gelatin until completely dissolved. Remove from heat.
6- Put the cream cheese, sugar and orange and lemon zests into the
bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle. Mix on med. Speed until light
and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the
bowl, add the grand marnier, and mix on medium speed until smooth,
about 1 minute. Gently fold in the gelatin cream and tofu mixture
until well incorporated.
7- Pour the filling into the cooled crust. Refrigerate, uncovered
until set, at least 4 hours, or preferably overnight.
I’ve never heard or tasted Cassava until recently. It’s a very common ingredient in South East Asia and the Cassava cake is a very popular dessert in the Philippines. I made this cake as a special dessert at the Union. The cake is usually made with young coconut but I used shredded coconut instead that was infused with rum. I also feel that the recipe I used wasn’t sweet enough so I increased it to 3/4 sugar and I felt that it still wasn’t sweet enough. I lined the pan with banana leaves because I read about it in a traditional Filipino cookbook but none of the recipes that I’ve seen online mention it. I added pineapple ice cream on top and mango sauce around it. I loved it.
http://www.filipinainseattle.com/cassava-cake-recipe.html
There’s a video at the bottom of the page giving you a good tutorial on how to make this cake. It’s very simple.
For Valentine’s day, I came up with the idea of giving out cookies to customers when they got their bill. I didn’t know how many people would show up so I made 120 which is double the usual amount on a weeknight. At the last minute, I decide to have write “luv sux” for the anti-valentine crowd. The reaction to the cookies were great! And they also happen to be delicious. I used the candied ginger from my last post. A whole pound of ginger for all those cookies and I still needed more. I made these 3 times because the recipe that I found was only for 15. They taste like shortbread with a nice ginger flavour. I felt that the ground ginger in the recipe wasn’t enough so I doubled it. They’re a bit difficult to roll out. They fall apart a bit so you can get it too thin. I baked them for 15 minutes. Here’s the recipe:
http://www.cherrapeno.com/2008/02/chocolate-ginger-biscuitscookies.html
I needed candied ginger for a ginger cookie recipe that I was planning on making for Valentine’s day at The Union. We gave out heard shaped ginger cookies to customers! I’m going to post my ginger cookie recipe another time. This is the first time that I’ve candied ginger and it turned out amazing! It’s delicious. It’s hard to stop grabbing a few and eating them. I placed them on this rack to cool overnight. I used the David Lebovitz recipe:
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2008/12/candied-ginger/
With Lebovitz, you can’t go wrong. Once they were dry, I sprinkled sugar and kept them in a container. They were all used a few days later. One pound of ginger for over 100 cookies!
The photos aren’t great and I’m going to photograph them again with better lighting and my slr. Last December I left my job at the pastry shop and started a new one on January 1st at The Union. A South East Asian style restaurant on Union and Main. These are some of the desserts I’ve made. Here’s the menu. I started on January 1st and a few days later, we were open for business. It took a couple of weeks of thinking and researching before I decided that these desserts felt right together. I’m sure there will be changes happening. That’s the fun part. Coming up with new ideas. From top to bottom: Pandan/coconut panna cotta with caramelized baby banana, brandy snap and tapioca pearls, lychee and mango crumble with orange custard and dark chocolate truffles which aren’t on the menu so you have to ask for it and see if it’s available. So far, it’s been so much fun. We’ve already had a good review last week!
Two of the most important factors for deciding on what dessert to make is how fast I can make it and whether I have most of the ingredients at home. I spend so much time baking at work that I don’t want to go back home and make anything very complicated. This dessert was made to go with an Israeli dish I made a few days ago. I make custard everyday at work so this took less than 15 minutes.
I was looking up information about using 2% milk in custards when I found this recipe which is the one I used.
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/81/traditional+vanilla+custard
I did use 2 % milk and whipping cream and my custard turned out great. If you’re going to use chocolate, I would melt it first on a bain marie. That’s something that’s not mentioned in the recipe. Also, I decreased the sugar a little bit because the chocolate was already sweetened. I used a combination of semi sweet, bitter sweet and dark. I didn’t have much chocolate left so I used whatever I had. Next time, I would use dark or bitter sweet only. I think it would taste better with a more intense flavour. The custard will harden after you’ve added the chocolate and it’s refrigerated for a few hours. I wouldn’t eat it right away. Another thing not mentioned in the recipe, that I think is important to do with custard is strain it. After you’ve mixed the milk/cream with the eggs and placed it back in the pot. You mix it until it thickens. Then you strain it in a bowl and let it cool. You have to strain it so you don’t get lumps. I’m not sure why it says to not let it boil because it’s going to curdle. I also wait until it bubbles and I don’t have it on low heat. It’s on medium.
There’s a few things I added after the photo was taken. I removed the custard from the glass and added raspberries at the bottom of the glass and small pieces of pecans on top. It’s a nice surprise when someone is trying it for the first time. I also love the combination of raspberry and chocolate as well as creating different textures to a dessert. I also added more custard on top so it’s level with the glass. If I had whipped cream left I would whip some and add it on top with a piping bag. Even without the whipped cream, my friend thought it was delicious!
I have a jumbo muffin pan that I bought last year and only used once so I thought it was time that I make muffins again. I wanted to make blueberry muffins but the grocery store near my house didn’t have any. I noticed that dates were on sale. That gave me an idea to make date muffins. I went home and searched online and found a good recipe.
http://southernfood.about.com/od/datesandfigs/r/great-date-muffins.htm
I’ve made these twice already. I only made 6 because of my jumbo muffin pan. You also have to adjust the oven temperature and time if your pan is larger. I baked it at 350 F and baked them for 20 minutes. The picture I took was from the first time that I made them. They turned out so much better the 2nd time. They were too dense the first time. I mixed it too long. The 2nd time they turned out lighter and crunchy on top. I really love them. I love dates!
Speaking of dates. I had the other kind of date tonight. We went to see an amazing documentary about the war in Afghanistan called Hell and Back I’m not the type to be attracted by war films. I tend to avoid them. I don’t like violence. This is a documentary that feels so real. It’s about the story of a soldier who gets wounded during the war. It follows his life in a small town in N.C after he comes back from Afghanistan where he has to deal with his physical and emotional pain. At first you think it’s dramatized because it’s unbelievable to think that a cameraperson can be capable of filming during all the shooting. Here’s the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW4ZCoWBH14
This recipe is from the book Berry Desserts. I was going to transcribe it here but then I googled it and found it online with a couple of good reviews too.
http://www.food.com/recipe/blueberry-upside-down-ginger-cake-204855
I made this cake last summer (when blueberries were cheap!) and I’ve been wanting to post it for a while but I’ve been procrastinating.
This cake is really simple and delicious. My whole apartment smelled like cloves after I made it. There’s lots of strong flavours in this cake. I wanted a cake that wasn’t predictable and boring and this was a good choice.
Not too much has happened since my last update. I’m still working at the same patisserie. It’s still busy there. at the beginning of next year, I’m going to start looking for another job. I need to learn new skills. I’ve been seeing so many films. Tonight I saw Gates of Heaven about a pet cemetery in California. It was amazing. Made by Errol Morris, one of the best documentary filmmakers in the world!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P1pTey4rpI
A few days ago, I bought Prince tickets. 12th row on the floor! December 16th! I’m so excited. It’s my dream concert.
I’ve been reading and speaking lots of French lately. And that’s because I want to be ready when I move back to Montreal. I still don’t know when that will happen yet, but I want to be prepared when it does.
It was my friend’s 30th birthday last Saturday. We used to work together at the Italian restaurant. I haven’t seen him since I left the restaurant and he now left as well. He’s going to Mexico for a while to work. He left the day after his birthday. I wanted to bring a dessert to his party so I asked him what he liked and he told me that his favourite cake was a Red Velvet Cheesecake which I’ve never heard of before. I searched online and found a few recipes. I chose the simplest one. This one. I only had a couple of days to make it before the party. It takes 2 days to make the cake. The cheesecake has to be refrigerate for at least 8 hours before the icing goes on top. I preferred this recipe but involves baking 2 cakes and I needed my 2nd springform pan for another cake. I added some almond extract to the icing. In recipes that ask for chocolate graham crackers, I’ve started using regular graham crackers (because i’ve never seen chocolate ones in stores) and I added 1/2 cup of cocoa powder. The cocoa powder makes it amazing! Better than it would be with just regular chocolate graham crackers. It has this strong bittersweet taste that goes very well with the cheesecake. I screwed up on my letters a bit. I’m not that great with my chocolate writing. I started writing it too low so I had all this white space on top which is why I put some hearts on it. It looks a bit cheesy. The recipe says that the cake is baked when the center is firm but it won’t be firm. It has to jiggle. The cake continues to be baked after you remove it from the oven. That’s when it becomes firm. It also might crack which mine did. It won’t affect the taste of the cake and if you cover it with icing, you won’t see it. James loved the cake. Now he’s in Mexico drinking margaritas.
