Cheesecake Pie

I have to say Operation Cheesecake Pie was a success.

As I mentioned in my last post being in the culinary industry  leaves very little time for much else in your life; that being said I, for the most part, have difficulty finding much time to bake on my days off.  This cheesecake pie is delicious and saves quite a bit of time. I purchased one of those premade graham cracker pie crusts from the market, due to the aluminum tin I don't have to worry about getting my spring form pan out or that pesky water bath associated with cheesecake. Another upside to this cheesecake pie is that it only takes 35 minutes to bake! That is nearly half the time of most cheesecake recipes and like 1/4 of the time of my usual recipe. That's less time baking and less time between me and eating the thing. 

This was the first time I ever baked a cheesecake without sour cream and the first time I used evaporated milk in the recipe. The texture is not quite as smooth and rich as my normal cheesecake recipe but it is still delicious. Additionally, since the recipe is so easy I might have experiment with the flavors.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
• 2/3 cup evaporated milk
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• 9-inch graham cracker crust, baked

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 325 F.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs until thick and light yellow. Add 1/2 cup of sugar and the flour, beating until blended.Set aside.
3. In another bowl, beat cream cheese with a small amount of the evaporated milk until smooth.Do not forget to scrape the bottom! Add remaining milk, the lemon juice, and the grated lemon peel; beat until smooth and well blended. Pour egg mixture into the cream cheese mixture; beat just until blended.
4. Pour mixture into the graham cracker crust. Bake at 325° for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

I didn't top this particular experiment with anything but it's such a light and fresh flavor adding fruit would be delightful. Might have to try adding chocolate to this recipe.

The Pixie is still baking and eating

Has it really been over a year since I've posted?


I must say that it has in fact been a very busy year for this pixie. I've been baking up a storm, unfortunately being a professional baker doesn't leave much time writing. Have I mentioned that I'm a professional now? Isn't that a weird thought? Well, not professional in the way that Johnny Iuzzini is a professional but I do get paid to make desserts now.

A year ago I was recently graduated and a new intern for a casino (a somewhat big casino in california). I was so excited when they offered me full time employment in October. There were no openings when I left my internship so I found a job at a wonderful little cupcake shop known as Cupcake Love, the owner is a wonderful woman that is filled with love and creativity.Should you ever find yourself near Solana Beach I highly recommend their Peanut Butter Ecstacy cupcakes. I worked there for a few months but once the casino offered me a full-time position I knew I had to take it. Now I spend my days making creme brulee, cakes, pies, breakfast pastries, and even do molded chocolates.

So I'm still baking, eating and hopefully now I'll be making time to write as well.At this very moment I have a cheesecake pie in the oven, it is the first time I've ever made a cheesecake with evaporated milk instead of sour cream, cannot wait to taste it.

Double Chocolate Biscotti

Biscotti, like macarons, are cookies that I went most of my life under the impression that I did not like it. I don’t know if this is because the only biscotti I’ve ever really seen was at a Starbucks or because most recipes I’ve seen have nuts; whatever the reason it is does not matter now.

In pastry school we made biscotti once and I was not completely frustrated with the process so I decided that I would some today so my mother could have some fresh biscotti waiting for her when she got home.

I myself am a chocolate fiend and since coffee and chocolate are a wonderful pair it seemed only natural that chocolate biscotti would be perfection.

Ingredients

• ½ stick of butter (soft)
• 2/3 cups of sugar
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1 ¾ cup of AP flour
• ¾ cup of semi sweet chocolate chips

Method

1. In a mixing bowl cream the butter and the sugar together until light and fluffy.
2. Meanwhile, sift the cocoa powder and baking powder. Gradually add to the butter and sugar.
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time allowing to fully incorporate before adding the next.
4. Fold in flour gradually by hand. The batter will start to come together and form a single mass.
5. Fold in the chocolate chips.
6. Wrap the dough in plastic and allow to chill for 15 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
8. Divide the dough into 2 and roll into 9 inch logs (careful to avoid air pockets). Flatten the top slightly and place on parchment lined cookie sheet.
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes rotating half way through.
10. Cool for 5 minutes and then transfer to wire rack to allow to cool for 1 hour.
11.  Cut each loaf into ½ inch slices, and lay flat on a cookie sheet with new parchment. Beware chocolate chips that are on the outside edge though, every time I tried to cut through them my cookie would break and would have to be eaten (oh darn.)
12. Bake at 325 F for 9 minutes. Flip cookies and bake for another 9 minutes.
13. Allow to cool and enjoy.

What you are left with it a delicious chocolate cookie that isn’t overpowering or too sweet. They have a great snap and are perfect for dunking.  The only trouble I seem to have with biscotti is cutting them. It seems hitting a soft and gooey chocolate chip causes the piece to crumble. This recipe yielded roughly 2 ½ dozen cookies so I imagine without the causalities it would have made 3 dozen.

The beautiful thing about them also is that they are very quick to come together; the longest part of this recipe is waiting around for them to cool down just to bake them again. I think with the way I’ve been nibbling at them they might disappear pretty fast too.

Chocolate, Chocolate, and More Chocolate

We've entered the final section of our pastry program and graduation is right around the corner. I almost can't believe that I'm almost finished with school when a few years ago I thought I might not be able to even attend. I've had tremendous support from my family and friends (although who wouldn't support the idea of more cake in the world?) and I feel like it's all a dream.

The final section of our program is chocolate. Our chef warned us that chocolate would be frustrating, and it is to a certain extent. For the most part I remind myself that with the other sections I had had some experience but chocolate is a completely new experience.

One of my favorite chocolates that we've made is called Palet d'or it's a dark chocolate ganache dipped in more tempered dark chocolate and then brushed with edible chocolate.

Oh tempered chocolate. I have a new found appreciation for chocolate and the people that make it now that I know just how finicky it can be. Off by 2 degrees and that's it you have to start all over. Furthermore it seems the darker the chocolate the harder it is to work with which is a shame because I love dark chocolate.

I don't know if I'll make chocolate in the future, chef says that it's a specialization that he doesn't see too much, but I'm enjoying (for the most part) the experience of creating these tiny things of beauty.

Petit Fours

Pastry school is roughly a 40 hour week for me, this leaves very little time for blogging. I had hoped that as I became more comfortable with the schedule this would change but it seems there is always something to do, a fact that doesn't really bother me. I'm in bliss.

Recently we begun our section on petit fours. Petit fours are small cakes and other delectables that can be consumed in one or two bites. Last week after doing a few we were allowed to come up with our own.

The first petit four that my brilliant classmate and I designed was a white chocolate mint mousse on a layer of dark chocolate raspberry ganache and flourless chocolate cake.

The flourless chocolate cake is light, airy and offers a nice contrast to the richly decadent ganache. The mint was light in flavor and didn't overpower the sweetness of the white chocolate mousse. It tasted somewhat like a thin mint with an extra kick of flavor.

The second petit four we concocted was my personal favorite.  We named it a Banana Colada. Since starting the programs I've wanted to use the banana puree we had in the freezer. Seizing the opportunity to use one of my favorite flavors we create a banana mousse on top of a Pineapple Mango Jelly. The bottom layer was a thin layer of banana mousse with chocolate crunch pearls on a layer of coconut dacquoise. Quite delicious and refreshing to eat.

Petit fours really allow the creative juices to flow and due to their small size they are quite difficult to ignore eating. Usually I'm fairly good about not munching on everything we make in class but I find that this section I will eat at least one petit four from each of my classmates.

Section 2 Done

I've completed my first section in the kitchen and by the lack of updates I'm sure you can tell I was quite busy.

It's amazing how quickly everything moves before you know it you have everything coming out of the oven and it 1pm.

I just finished a three day final where I had to plan and bake a number of items including: Croissants, Baguettes, Foccacia, Ciabatta, Scone, Pound cake, Brioche de Paris, Croix au Sucre and a few others.

As I become more adjusted to my schedule I hope to keep up with this blog.

Every single day I think about pastries. I wake up at 4:50 am by 7 I'm in my apron prepping dough, writing recipes and thinking about my next flavor combination. I'm in utter bliss, and while I find it difficult to stay up pass 9pm most nights I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Very few people get a chance to follow their dreams and every day I get to make sure there are more pastries in the world.

First Day Back in the Kitchen

Today was the first day in the kitchen at school, no baking yet but it was still fairly exciting. It's nice to be around people who want to create things like you do and getting to know that you're around that much chocolate doesn't hurt either.

Section 1 will be breads which means baguettes, croissants, and all sorts of yummy (read: fattening) things.

Tomorrow begins the real work here's hoping I pass inspection