Tagged: cream cheese
Fresh Fig and Ricotta Tart, Roasted Pine Nuts
Absolutely love the combination! I first lay my eyes on this conjunction of ingredients while browsing through one of Jamie Oliver’s books. His recipe would make a brilliant dessert at any rate, but difficult to serve to a 14 element family. The figs are cut crosswise, filled with fresh ricotta, drizzled with honey and sprinkled with roasted pine nuts. I decided to adventure myself and make a version of my own, and turn this plated dessert into a tart.
This is a good dessert for dieters, and for those who do not appreciate overly sweetened dishes. Feel free to make changes of your own, specially with the nuts. Pistachios make a beautifully coloured plate, swirled with the honey and the wine tinted figs. The tart shell is a cream cheese dough, which I have been postponing to make for quite a while. The recipe belongs to Karen DeMasco and is featured in “The Craft of Baking”.
Black-Bottom Cupcakes
This one’s for my mother. The quest has been long, don’t even know how I managed to remember after such a long time!
These cupcakes are my mother’s childhood favorites. I know that this recipe is somewhat common, but there’s one little ingredient that makes the difference: apple cider vinegar. Is it the reason for making the ones my mother avidly confirms, the best, I have no idea. But it’s the only difference between recipes that I have taken note of.
The original recipe for these Black Bottom’s substitutes the cream cheese for mascarpone, but I stuck to the cream cheese. I figured the probability of a jewish family making these cupcakes with mascarpone generally slim.
This batter is so good, you could eat it with a spoon. If you don’t have problems with raw eggs, the filling is also nice…
White Ganache and Cherry Cheesecake
Aha! This is a good one when you’ve got a lot of time to spend. Today was left for basic errands. Unfortunately, I have a way of breezing through all those things, which makes my busy day end quite quickly. The good part is that I never get tired of making my desserts (even if they’re not needed) and that is something which I love to put on all my attention and care.
My cousins usually dine at my grandma’s on Wednesdays, so I always grasp the opportunity to practice my pastry. Just as long as I stay away from lemon, they are easy to satisfy (my Aunt hates lemon, and will identify it no matter how minimal the quantity). Cheesecakes are awesome for these occasions, and fairly simple to make. I guess what I like most about them is their versatility. You can add anything you want, and change the crust if you have a notion of what is possible or not. There are some disadvantages though, when it comes to this type of cake. It’s heavy, and that is not a very appreciated factor nowadays. I know white chocolate seems too sweet to add to a Cheesecake, but that’s only if you sweeten the batter too much! You just have to bend the rules a notch!
Impossible is Nothing: Subarbilly has made Bagels
I believed that making bagels at home was a challenge I would never achieve. I remember picking up a recipe for it a year ago, but after reading a few times, came to the conclusion that I was too much of an airhead to pull it off. The truth is, only an airhead like me would put something like this on practical terms. The “buy frozen” argument is indeed convincing. My only obstacle is the inexistence of something even vaguely similar to a bagel in this country. Forget it. And that’s only one of the various specialties that you, just simply, do not get here. People don’t even know it exists.
After making and tasting them, I had my doubts about it’s taste being like a bagel’s should. I even asked my dad! And after confirmation, I came to the conclusion that I had succeeded in making bagels. It takes time, like all yeast breads do. But this process is not quite the same as other loaf breads concern. These little fellas only go in the oven after being boiled in water. I suspect this to be the main reason for it’s uniqueness.
And this is how it goes:
