Cheesecake - Baking Partner Challenge #9

Hello, my dear pals.. Hope u all had a wonderful Vishu or Tamil Puthandu or Pohela Boishakh or Gudi Padwa or Ugadhi. Yes, the names are very different. But they all mean the same and every one of them is celebrated in a very similar way with their own lil' twist & turn. Just like how we tweak our recipes to suit our individual taste buds or to incorporate the ingredients available at hand or locally !! So now that the festive mood is over, let's get back to business :D

Challenge of the month for the 'Baking Partners' group was Cheesecake.. U could have your pick from Japanese Cheesecake or Eggless Cheesecake or No Bake Fruit Cheesecake or the Perfect Cheesecake ;) Yup, you guessed it right, I went for the Perfect Cheesecake. Yea, you could say that the name fancied me, alright !! But the actual reason ,was the tiresome & grueling chore of shopping with a Norsk translator in hand and many a times some normal ingredients are exotic ingredients at this small beautiful village ;) So finally the Perfect Cheesecake seemed to fit into the profile..

But did it turn out to be actually perfect?? That's now an interesting question.. Coz, I don't know to judge this particular piece. I have not had cheesecake before. And certainly it did not appear similar to the pictures I have seen or from the source. I could feel a slight taste of the eggs & the sourness from the sour cream. And it was a litttttle dense too, not on the very fluffy side !! Having said all these, I must also admit that Deeps & I enjoyed having it. though it was a different taste from the normal cakes ;) So I don't know, is this a success or disaster or semi success story, you experts tell me :)

Recipe Source: Simply Recipes (in turn from Dorie Greenspan cookbook)

I Took: 

Preparation Time: 45 minutes

Baking Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Idle Time: Overnight

Yields: 8-12 servings

I Used:

Crust
Digestive biscuits	-	1 cup / 8 nos (original recipe calls for Graham Cracker biscuits)
Sugar	-	1 tbsp
Salt	-	A pinch
Unsalted butter	-	35 gm (omit salt if using salted butter)
Filling
Cream cheese	-	450 gm
Granulated sugar	-	135 gm
Salt	-	a pinch
Vanilla Essence	-	1 tsp
Eggs	-	2 large
Sour cream	-	80 ml
Heavy whipping cream	-	80 ml
Topping
Sour cream	-	200 ml
Powdered sugar	-	20 gm
Vanilla Essence	-	1 tsp

The Way:

Prepare Springform pan

1. Prepare a 16*16 inch square of aluminum foil. Place the springform pan in the middle of the foil
2. Gently fold up the sides of the foil around the pan
3. No holes should be created in the foil as you do this as the presence of holes will allow water to get into the pan and ruin the crust. Press the foil around the edges of the pan
4. Place a second large square of foil underneath the pan and repeat gently folding up the sides of the foil around the pan and pressing the foil against the pan 
5. Gently crimp the top of the foil sheets around the top edge of the pan

Prepare Crust 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F with the baking tray in the lower third of the oven
2. Blend the biscuits to a fine powder
3. Place in a wide bowl and mix in sugar and salt to it
4. Stir in the melted butter and mix well into the biscuit powder
5. Place this biscuit powder mix in the springform pan. Use your fingers to make an even layer at the bottom with a slight rise along the inside edge of the pan
6. Place this in oven for 10 minutes
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool
8. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degree F

Prepare Filling

1. Allow cream cheese to come to room temperature. Then beat on medium speed them till smooth, soft & creamy
2. Add sugar and beat for 4 minutes
3. Add salt & vanilla essence beating after each addition
4. Add eggs one at a time. Beat for a minute after each addition
5. Add sour cream, beat until incorporated
6. Add heavy cream, beat until incorporated
7. Pour this into the springform on top of the biscuit crust and smoothen the top with a spatula

Cook Cheesecake

1. Prepare 2 L of boiling water
2. Place the springform pan in the baking tray, Pour the boiling water into the baking tray to create a waterbath for the cheesecake
3. Water should reach halfway up the springform
4. Cook for 1.5 hours or until it turns slight golden on the top. In my case it took 1 hour and 15 minutes
5. Turn off the heat. Open the door of the oven 1 inch and allow the cake to cool for another 1 hour. This is to prevent the cheesecake surface from cracking
6. Cover the top of the cake with aluminium foil so that it doesn't touch the cake and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight

Prepare topping

1. Stir in the powdered sugar & vanilla essence into the sour cream
2. Unmould the cake form the springform and spread the topping over the cake. If interested you can top it up with a fruit coulis of your choice

Cheers,

Chitz

Oreo Milkshake

Milkshake with Oreo biscuits

This one had been bookmarked for quite a long time now. Actually I wanted to make this when we had some kiddo guests the other day. I got the inspiration from my niece who loves the Oreo biscuits like anything. Even if she doesn't get any food, she will be more than happy to adjust (winks) with the Oreo biscuits. So I knew that my kiddo guests would love the drink. But somehow it didn't materialise that day !! 

  And I was in a mood for a chilled chocolaty drink after my lunch one fine day. So here it goes, tada... Happy drinking guys !! Hope you too will enjoy this :-)

I took: 10 minutes

Serves: 2 glasses

I Used:

Oreo biscuits	-	4 nos
Ice Cream	-	1 cup
Milk	-	2 cups
Chocolate	-	4 cubes
Vanilla Essence	-	1 tsp

The Way:

Blend together all the ingredients in a blender. Refrigerate the shake and have a chilly treat :-)

Cheers,

Chitz

Pineapple Delight

Pineapple Biscuit Pudding

Colorful, cheery looking dessert :D, rite ?? This was yet another favorite childhood snack of mine. I was not much a fan of biscuits or fruits back then. But this pudding used to set my spirits high. And I still don't remember where my mom got this recipe from, but her making them and me and my sis ogling at it is still etched in my memory. My mom used to save the cream which she got from boiling milk everyday. And when it was of a considerable amount for the pudding, we would have a pudding day !! Wow.. I simply love those days. 

This one is definitely easy to make and requires no cooking. So if you want to try out some  new dessert for your weekend party, here goes the recipe.

I Took: 30 minutes

Serves: 4-5 servings

I Used:

Pineapple	-	½ a medium sized one
Sugar	-	¼ cup
Marie Biscuits	-	16 nos
Cream	-	300 ml
Cashew nuts	-	15-20 nos
Almond	-	15-20 nos
Pista	-	15-20 nos
Glazed Cherry	-	To decorate

The Way:

Prep Part:

1. Cut pineapple into square pieces, preferably around the same width as that of the biscuits.
2. Mix the sugar and water in a pan and boil till the sugar melts. Add the pineapple pieces to the sugar solution and keep for a while for the pineapple to absorb in the sweetness.  
3. You can ignore the above 2 steps and use tinned/preserved pineapples
4. Chop the nuts finely using a knife or a blender.

Assembling Part:

1. In a pudding dish, line the pineapple pieces. 
2. On top of it, line the biscuits after dipping them in the sugar solution. Use the sugar solution used for the pineapple or the sugar syrup in the tinned pineapples.
3. Add cream on top of that and sprinkle in the nuts.
4. Repeat the above order and decorate with chopped cherries on top.

Refrigerate the pudding for about 2 hours. Serve cold :-)

Slice out a full portion of pineapple-biscuit-creamy nuts and enjoy the treat.

Cheers,

Chitz