April 2008 Archives
This month Deborah of Taste and Tell and Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms tasked the Daring Bakers with the mission of making cheesecake pops. It looked exciting, I thought cheesecake, I'm good with cheesecakes. Well, this cheesecake did not want to cooperate. I followed the recipe, and the cake was NO WHERE near being cooked. I checked a few cookbooks -- some said the center could be a little unfirm, but the temp should be 150 degrees. So, I pulled it, let it cool, then stuck it in the refrigerator overnight.The next morning, I pulled it and tried to scoop out a ball. This did not work out at all. The ball had the consistency of soup, chunky soup. The outer 2 inches were cooked, the rest wasn't. I decided to 're-bake' the cheesecake. This would have worked brilliantly, should have worked brilliantly. You can just tell there is a but coming.
I forgot about it. Forgot about it while it was in the oven at 200 degrees. To say overcooked would be an understatement. I popped it out of the pan, then I had to cut the top of the cheesecake off. It was hard and pointy, it cracked like shards of glass. The inside part tasted fine, so I formed it up, stuck it in the freezer, and dipped them in tempered chocolate.
Well, if you have read this blog, I don't like it when things don't work out. SO >>> I made it again. This time I cooked the cheesecake for TWICE the alloted time in the recipe. Everything scooped out, or cut out cleanly, I used some different toppings, and these are downstairs now.
The first batch was enjoyed by my neighbors, people love them - even if you don't. I decided to eat one of the Oreo topped ones after the photo shoot. When I bit into it, the pop flew in half and deposited the uneaten part on the floor. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. How did it tast - great, but I will recommend people to eat them on a plate. Think of them as chocolate dipped cheesecake bits.
The cheesecake is the right consistency for eating, but I don't think it is the right consistency for pops. I think it might need to be a little overbaked to withstand the forces of gravity.
I topped mine with Oreo cookies, sweet cacao nibs, candy bits, chocolate sprinkles, roasted hazelnuts, and a dark cherry coulis thickened to a jelly. All the flavors went well with the chocolate
I have so many posts I need to put up. I hope to get the DB post up tonight, then a few post about bread and a restaurant review.
Here's a preview
Not Quite Nigella has decided to throw her first blogging event.
When eaten by themselves, cacao nibs have a crunchy, cool, chocolaty taste. They are a little grainy, but get smooth as you chew them. Many fine candy retailers will have a variety of nibs available for purchase. Once baked, the cacao nibs take on the texture of walnuts. The flavor is very mellow, and when baked in the bread, most people think the bread contains nuts, instead of cacao nibs. If you think chocolate, you can taste it, otherwise, I'm not sure the flavor is strong enough. Also - if you think chocolate - you'll want sweetened chocolate. Yes, sweetened chocolate would make this much better, but would turn it into more of a dessert. Sweetened nibs, or chocolate-coated nibs, might make this better, without overpowering the bread.
I think I will pick up some of the chocolate-coated cacao nibs and try this recipe again. Anyway - here is the recipe:
Cacao Nibbed Banana Bread
3 Overripe Bananas
1 Cup Sugar
1 Stick Melted Butter (cooled)
2 Large Eggs
1 tsp Rum
2 Cups Unbleached AP Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1/2 cup cacao nibs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (non convection)
Spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray, and make a parchment sling for the pan.
Mash the bananas with the sugar until liquefied, then mix in the butter, eggs, and rum.
Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Fold that into the bananas and mix until combined. Fold in the cacao nibs and pour into a prepared loaf pan.
Bake for 50 minutes to 70 minutes. You want the internal temp to be 210 degrees, and an inserted toothpick needs to come out clean. Mine took about 65 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes in the pan. Remove from pan, peel off sling, and rest on wire rack until the bread is near room temperature.
I was planning on using the rest of the bananas,
until I came across her event. Now I can do both. I used my
tried-and-true banana bread recipe (adapted from Alton Brown's). It's worked
a number of times, is fast and easy to do. This time I added some cacao
nibs to the recipe
When eaten by themselves, cacao nibs have a crunchy, cool, chocolaty taste. They are a little grainy, but get smooth as you chew them. Many fine candy retailers will have a variety of nibs available for purchase. Once baked, the cacao nibs take on the texture of walnuts. The flavor is very mellow, and when baked in the bread, most people think the bread contains nuts, instead of cacao nibs. If you think chocolate, you can taste it, otherwise, I'm not sure the flavor is strong enough. Also - if you think chocolate - you'll want sweetened chocolate. Yes, sweetened chocolate would make this much better, but would turn it into more of a dessert. Sweetened nibs, or chocolate-coated nibs, might make this better, without overpowering the bread.
I think I will pick up some of the chocolate-coated cacao nibs and try this recipe again. Anyway - here is the recipe:Cacao Nibbed Banana Bread
3 Overripe Bananas
1 Cup Sugar
1 Stick Melted Butter (cooled)
2 Large Eggs
1 tsp Rum
2 Cups Unbleached AP Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1/2 cup cacao nibs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (non convection)
Spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray, and make a parchment sling for the pan.
Mash the bananas with the sugar until liquefied, then mix in the butter, eggs, and rum.
Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Fold that into the bananas and mix until combined. Fold in the cacao nibs and pour into a prepared loaf pan.
Bake for 50 minutes to 70 minutes. You want the internal temp to be 210 degrees, and an inserted toothpick needs to come out clean. Mine took about 65 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes in the pan. Remove from pan, peel off sling, and rest on wire rack until the bread is near room temperature.
Making chicken stock is a very simple thing that everyone can do. It's cheaper than buying from the store. It can be frozen, reduced, made into soup, and so many other things. We buy a whole chicken and break it down. This gets you meat for three of four days, and bones for the stock.
First, you have to break down the chicken. Get out your boning knife, and get to work. If you own a boning knife and don't know how to use it, shame on you ;) Breaking down a chicken is pretty easy. First you remove the breasts with a few strokes of the knife. Second, break the joints, and cut off the wings and legs. From here, you can either prep the carcass and wings for the stock, or you can debone the thighs and drumsticks. Deboning is a little more involved, and not necessary for making a stock. The addition of the extra bones will bring a little more flavor to the stock, but you can make it without them. Typically, I include the wings in my stock, too much work to get any meat off of them. If this is too daunting, save the bones from a store bought rotisserie, and just drop it in the pot.
After this step, you have two options: you can roast the carcass and bones, or you can drop it all in a sock pot. roasting the bones in the oven for a few hours will impart a very nice, rich flavor to your stock. If you choose to roast the bones, add a few carrots, celery stalks, and onions to the roasting pan about one hour into the cooking process. Watch the temperature, and do not let the vegetables burn. you do not need to peel the carrots, just rough chop.
After a few hours of roasting (the more the better), use tongs to transfer everything to the stock pot--even the fat. Feel free to add some more vegetables to the pot, they only help develop the flavor. If you have fond (little burnt, stuck on bits) on the bottom of the roasting pan, heat it up over the stove and deglaze it with some water. Add this to the pot, fill the pot with water, and put it on a low simmer. If the stock boils, the blood and muck in the bones will break up, and cloud up the final product. If you keep tit at a low simmer, the particulate matter will float to the surface, and can be quickly removed with a skimmer.
I prefer to make generic stocks--no spices, no herbs, no salt,--just chicken and vegetables. You can add herbs during the cooking process, but it limits the potential uses. If you infuse two gallons of stock with rosemary, everything you use it with will taste like rosemary. It's very easy to add strong flavors when you are using the stock for a sauce or soup. It's really hard to remove flavors from the stock.
Salt-- avoid adding any salt to the stock. If you decide to reduce the stock for a sauce, the sodium will concentrate, and possibly throw off the seasoning of the dish. If you want to taste the stock, add a little salt to the cup. You can always add salt, you can't remove it without diluting the flavor.
As with the roasting, the longer the pot can simmer, the better. I try to let mine simmer overnight. Most make it around 24 hours before they are strained and cooled. When you are ready to transfer the stock, have everything ready. The goal is to get the stock to a safe temperature quickly, without killing the refrigerator temperature. First, strain out the stock with a chinois, or a fine strainer, rinse the pot, and return the stock to the pot. Submerge the pot into a sink filled with ice-water. This will quickly reduce the temperature to a storable temperature. For a very clean stock - strain it througha coffee filter--this will remove everything you don't want in the stock.
When you store your stock, the fat will solidify on the top--remove theis with a skimmer. you now have a virtually fat-free, sodium-free, stock that can be made in t a number of things.
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