Day: December 11, 2017

Pumpkin Cheesecake

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Often as not, you or your guests hate cheesecake. I get it. I was watching a cheesecake video today and I was reminded why they are so terrible: too dense.

We had some guests come on Thanksgiving for dessert and Cards Against Humanity. I offered the choices which included pumpkin cheesecake. She politely commented how she didn’t care for cheesecake. Perfect! I told her that I too hate cheesecake and this isn’t like any she’s had. I guaranteed she would find it at least not like the horrible cheesecakes from before. She accepted, maybe as a socially capable guest. She agreed it was far better than she expected and did, in fact, eat the slice.

If you want to win guests over and earn accolades, make this pumpkin cheesecake.

Baked Pumpkin cheesecake still in the foil wrapped springform pan
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Pumpkin Cheesecake

Cheesecake is not all the same.  Most are to be avoided.  This is to be hoarded and eaten.  The overly thick cheese part which seems always to accompany WAY too sweet is gone here.  Everyone who hates cheesecake likes this.  If you prefer, mashed sweet potato can be used in place of the pumpkin to make it a more year-round treat.

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 12 people
Author Dann Reid

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Crust

  • 11 oz Graham Crackers, processed to crumbs
  • 3.5 oz Light brown sugar
  • 3 oz Melted, cooled butter

Cheesecake Filling

  • 1.5 lbs Cream cheese, room temperature
  • 8 oz Light brown sugar (1 C) Smash the lumps
  • 1 t Salt
  • 2 each Eggs, Large
  • 1/2 t Ground ginger
  • 1 t Ground Ceylon cinnamon
  • 1/2 t Freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1 can Pumpkin puree 15 oz can

Sour Cream Topping

  • 1.5 C Sour cream
  • .5 C Powdered sugar

Instructions

Graham Cracker Crust

  1. In a bowl large enough to hold all the ingredients, mix the crackers, sugar, and melted butter together.  Press the whole into the bottom of a 10” springform pan.

  2. I bake the crust at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes to firm up the crust and develop a toasty flavor to the Graham crackers. Once the crust is toasted to your preferences, remove it to cool, turn the oven to 250 degrees F, and start mixing the filling.

  3. Start 1 quart of water to boil.

Assemble Cheesecake filling

  1. Paddle the cream cheese in the bowl of your mixer. I do not mix it on high as I do not prefer all the air that can mix in. Mix it just to make it smooth and soft. Add the brown sugar just to mix and then the spices and salt. Add one egg, allow to fully incorporate then the next, and mix until that, too, has been incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl and then mix in the pumpkin. This is just to mix it in and that’s it. Pour the filling onto the cooled Graham cracker base, place the pan into a cake pan large enough to hold it, and place that into a roasting pan.

    Out of habit, I wrap my pan first with plastic wrap then with foil. What I forgot was that home foil is not as wide as restaurant foil! I'll be using the cake pan next time.

    Update about protecting the springform pan. Those crockpot cooking bags are perfect for waterbaths and cheesecakes. They're huge, too. I have started using them and place the springform into the bag and fold the edges down far enough to be below the top of the pan, then tape the extra tight to the pan so it fits snuggly.

  2. Cheesecake is a custard. Custards require special attention so the eggs don’t curdle and the cheesecake bakes but doesn’t turn granular. This takes time. We need time to sneak the heat into the cake and let the chemistry happen. Water baths allow for the slow transfer of heat. Put the roasting pan with the cheesecake into the oven, then add the boiling water, carefully, into the roasting pan. This allows you to make the water bath without risking burning yourself by moving a pan of boiling water into the oven. Pan, then water, is safer. If you prefer, you may place a clean kitchen towel flat and smooth under the cake pan to keep the cheesecake from sliding around. Bake for 1 hour and don’t peak.

  3. After 1 hour, turn the oven off, open it for just a moment. Go ahead and look at it, but it doesn’t look done because it isn’t done. Close the door and set the timer for another hour. When that timer goes off, remove the roasting pan assemblage to a cooling rack on the counter for, you guessed it, another hour. After that hour is done, remove the cheesecake from the cake pan, place it in the refrigerator until tomorrow. Cover the cheesecake pan with plastic wrap. All that was to prevent the horror of finding a crack on top of the cheesecake. Not the end of the world, but a certain sign that the heat was too high or the cheesecake was overcooked. There is an easy fix. Read on.

Top the cheesecake

  1. Whether or not the cheesecake cracked, the sour cream topping makes a very nice addition for an extra layer, extra color, and an extra flavor.  If it is cracked, then it becomes a secret.

    Pumpkin cheesecake with sour cream topping

Recipe Notes

Pumpkin is mostly available year round, but often is only thought appropriate for the holidays.  Happily, this cheesecake can be made any time with the substitution of pureed sweet potato for pumpkin.  Same amounts and same procedure and same deliciousness.  

 

Out of habit, I wrap my pan first with plastic wrap then with foil. What I forgot was that home foil is not as wide as restaurant foil! I’ll be using the cake pan next time.

 

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Cheddar Cheese Scallion Biscuits

Opinions vary depending on where you are in relation to the Mason-Dixon line: split the biscuit or not.

 

Cheddar Cheese Scallion Biscuits

Years ago I was the head baker at a restaurant in Tallahassee. Brunch has always been a big deal to me. Most chefs see it as a way to move a lot of stuff that needs to go. Sorry to ruin you illusions. But, they like to have fun doing it. Being creative with so much culinary room to play as brunch is where some of my best inspirations came. Sometimes things are just sitting around waiting to be combined. The cheddar cheese scallion biscuit was just that thing.

To make this biscuit really sing, the scallions should be sliced almost GoodFellas thin. The thinner they are the more they sorta just melt into the biscuit and become all flavor.

The procedure is straight up biscuit. I use my fingers instead of pastry blades which seem always to break or dinner forks which are too hard to grip that long. Everyone’s Granny made biscuits long before science told us not to touch the butter for it will melt or something. Pffft. Use your hands.

This double and quadruples easily, but this size batch made 8 substantial biscuits. Yeah, they are yummy the next morning as sausage and egg sandwiches, so cook extra bacon and sausage.  Make sausage gravy.  Make breakfast for dinner.  You get the idea.

Get some bacon from D’Artagnan. Type bacon into the search bar and be amazed.

 

 

 

 

 

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Cheddar Cheese scallion Biscuits

These are a delicious and fluffy and make a great foil for shredded Bar-b-que pork or with eggs and bacon in the morning.  The mix quickly which makes is a short time from start to finish.  Measure all your ingredients the night before and you'll have biscuits in the oven in nearly no time.

Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 8 Biscuits
Author Dann Reid

Ingredients

Biscuits

  • 8.5 oz All purpose flour
  • 1.25 T Baking powder 15 g
  • .25 t Baking Soda
  • 1 t Cream of Tartar 3 g. Helpful, but not required.
  • 1 t Salt
  • 2 t Sugar
  • 2 each Scallions (optional) Cut as thin into rounds as you can
  • 1.5 oz Grated Cheddar cheese 42 g
  • 6 oz Buttermilk
  • 2 oz Cold lard Cut into 1/4" dice
  • 2 oz Cold butter Cut into 1/4" dice

Instructions

Mix the biscuits

  1. Heat oven to 425 degrees F.  Gather a wooden spoon, a rubber scraper, sheet pan, baking paper or a silicone mat, a small bowl of flour for the counter, and cutters or a knife.

  2. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, salt, butter and lard into a bowl large enough for your hands to work.

  3. Using your fingers and thumbs squeeze the chunks of butter and lard between your thumb and forefinger.  You are pressing the ingredients into the fats and at the same time making the chunks flat like coins on the railroad.  Keep pressing and squeezing until all the chunks are flattened and the flour mix has a yellow hue to it. 

  4. Add the cheese and the scallions.  Mix them together just to separate them and make a small well in the center of the mix.  Add the buttermilk.  This is a messy job as it makes giant clumps of biscuit dough on your hands.  There is a work around.  Carefully use a wooden spoon and mix in small strokes, taking care not to fling the dough out of the bowl and mix until the biscuit dough comes together.

  5. Flour a section of your counter and turn the dough out.  Scrape the dough out of the bowl onto the pile of biscuits.  Lightly dust the top with flour, and push the dough to about 1".  

  6. Square the edges of the biscuits, push to keep the dough in an approximate rectangle.  Brush the top with milk then cut them into shapes.  

  7. I prefer to avoid re-rolling the extra so I cut them into squares or rectangles.  Place the biscuits on the prepared sheet pan, with the edges touching, and place in the hot oven.  Turn the oven to 400 degrees F and bake for 20 minutes. 

  8. Done is determined by the color on top and bottom but also, push down on the biscuit a wee bit.  If the biscuit feels loosey-goosey inside, bake a few more minutes.

Recipe Notes

The optional part on the scallions really is for finicky kids, of which I know more that a little.  I think these biscuits are far superior with the scallions.


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