A Tale of Two Springforms

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...."

It was time...to make cheesecake?

Okay, so it's sort of hard to make a cream cheese/French Revolution parallel. But, man, I love that novel. And, hey, I bet Chuck Dickens liked cheesecake. I bet he would've liked these cheesecakes.

I mean, there is simply something to be said for cute li'l heart-shaped cheesecakes. (They're even PINK, for crying out loud.) And this is one of my favorite recipes: Neapolitan Cheesecake. (Hmm...maybe we could shuffle a few letters and re-dub it "Napoleonic Cheesecake" to make it more Tale of Two Cities-ish?)

I posted a pic of a large one of these guys a while back. These are the same thing, but mini versions. Mom and Dad asked me to make up something special for one of our neighbors. He's been kind enough to keep our lawn mowed since our lawnmower gave up the ghost a few weeks ago, and they wanted to give him a little thank-you. Nothing says thanks like cheesecake, right?

Here are the pics.

First, the aforementioned, oh-so-cute mini springforms. (Everyone, now: Awww...)

Here they are wrapped in their foil swimming trunks, getting ready for a water bath/spa experience.

Chocolate cookie crumbs + melted butter = really yummy crust.

Here they are going into the oven, luxuriating in that steaming hot water bath I was talking about.

Out of the oven, cooling...and cooling...and cooling. (They take forever.)

Closeup, minus the foil "trunks."

Finally, after cooling completely, they get released from their springforms.

After chilling several hours, they get topped with chocolate and drizzled in white chocolate, then chilled some more. Then they're boxed and ready to go!

Sweet Safari

I have a confession: I miss Play-Doh. There are days when I wish I still had a couple of cans of that salty goodness (oh, come on, like you never tasted it) to roll into snakes and snowmen.
Somehow, though, this doesn't exactly fly as a "grown up" hobby like reading or jogging or gardening or whatever. And that makes me pretty sad. At least, it did until I discovered something:

Fondant.

It's ADULT PLAY-DOH! (And it's actually meant to be eaten, which is a bonus.)

I've used fondant before, but only for relatively easy things like bows and cutouts. I've never tried to free-style, so to speak. But when I found out I was doing a baby shower cake, and that the mom-to-be was decorating her nursery in a jungle theme, I figured I'd branch out a little.

Let me tell you, trying to hand-cut intricate little jungle animals out of fondant takes a lot of time and patience. (And that's after the time spent coloring the fondant.) Gluing the pieces together with royal frosting is a bit of a royal pain. But it's still so much fun.

I wasn't entirely happy with this cake (and would do several things differently in the future), but I did enjoy the Play-D...um, the fondant.

A Week in Photos

Me, not including at least four paragraphs in a post? It's shockingly non-standard, I know. But, well...they say a picture's worth...you know. And the fact is that I currently have limited time. So I'll just post a few pictures from the last week of baking and let 'em speak for themselves.

Neopolitan Cheesecake with chocolate-covered strawberries:

And a butterfly cake for Emily's graduation open house. (Congrats, Em!)

Disaster Relief

I'll tell you right up front that I didn't get pictures of it. I just couldn't bring myself to. It was that tragic.

What was "it"? The carrot cake cheesecake fiasco.

This had so much potential, and I'm not sure if the problem was recipe-related or baker-related (either is possible), but either way, instead of a Cheesecake Factory-esque carrot cake cheesecake, I wound up with...carrot mush. Yikes.

Anyway, this cheesecake was (supposed to be) for company we were having for dinner. When I discovered the mush factor, I promptly threw it out and called in a pinch hitter: the tried-and-true white chocolate raspberry cake recipe. 'Nuff said. Here are some pics:

Those Three Words

Ah, the magic of those three little words. No, not those three words...the other three: chocolate chip cookies. (Am I betraying my singleness on multiple levels right now? Ah, well.)

So, are you interested in this topic? Yeah, I thought so. (If not, we need to talk.)

I've tried a lot of recipes over the years--my guinea-pig roommates could attest to that--and here's a little not-so-secret secret I've picked up: pretty much every recipe has the same ingredients. So why in the world are there so many different recipes and different kinds of chocolate chip cookies?

Well, several factors effect what emerges from the oven after you've dumped all those ingredients together and baked them: ratios and amounts (how much brown sugar to white), methods (melted, creamed, or cold butter?), baking temperature/time, etc. This is how a cookie winds up thin and crispy or thick and chewy, more or less chocolaty, and so on.

But those are issues of preference, right? I mean, I like (and when I say "like," I mean "passionately adore") gooey, chewy, thick cookies that are slightly underbaked. (A couple of those plus vanilla ice cream = mmmm.) But that's just me.

So if you ask me, "What's THE best chocolate chip cookie recipe?" I can give you my favorite, but it might not be yours, too...which means you're just going to have to do what I did and try about 53 recipes to figure it out. (And yes, yes, it's worth it).

That said, though, I do have a few tips that apply to every chocolate chip cookie. These are just a few little things that, together, can take any cookie from "good" to "could eat 25 of them without blinking an eye."

And so, in no particular order and without further ado, I present to you "Amber's Chocolate Chip Cookie A-Team":

1. REAL vanilla extract. Not, not, not the "imitation" stuff. (Ew.) My favorite is Mexican vanilla, but anything real/"pure" is good.

2. Coarse-grained sea salt. The coarse grain makes it so that you actually can taste the salt, and that sweet/salty taste contrast in a cookie is mmm...

3. European butter. Now, let's talk about this for a minute. Margarine is cheap, yes, I know. Four sticks for a buck make it really appealing. But it is NOT butter. It is not butter's less glamorous younger brother. It is not even butter's third cousin twice removed. No, no, no. While margarine might be an acceptable substitute for smearing on a piece of toast, it makes cookies (and me) cringe. Really. Butter--real butter--is the only way to go. And European butter is like European chocolate--far better than American. You usually can't find it at the regular grocery store, and it's a little more expensive, but it's worth it.

4. Instant coffee. Yep, no kidding. Cake bakers know that adding brewed coffee to chocolate cake batter really adds a great level of flavor to the baked cake. Instant coffee granules do the same thing for chocolate chip cookies. Don't use too much, or you'll end up with a coffee flavor to your cookie; just a generous pinch or two is enough to enhance the chocolate without adding any coffee flavor to the final, baked product. Oh, and cheap coffee is fine for this.

Oh, and cute little heart-shaped measuring spoons are never a bad touch. (Thanks, Amy!) Because chocolate chip cookies always should be made with love. (Awwww...!)

And, just because, here's my latest favorite chocolate-chip recipe, with a fun twist.

Caramel Treasure Chocolate Chip Cookies

¾ cup + 2 tablespoons flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 generous pinch instant coffee granules
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons butter-flavor Crisco
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
1 small egg, room temperature
¼ cup mini chocolate chips
12 caramel-filled chocolates (I like Dove)

1. In small bowl, stir together dry ingredients; set aside.

2. In separate bowl, cream butter, Crisco, and sugars. Add vanilla and egg; beat well.

3. Stir in flour mixture until just incorporated. Stir in chocolate. Chill dough at least 1 hour.

4. Preheat oven to 350°.

5. Remove dough from fridge. Form into balls, flattening centers and pressing a chocolate into each; gently press dough up around to cover chocolate completely. Place 2 inches apart on parchment-lined sheets. Bake about 10 minutes.

6. Cool cookies on sheets a few minutes; then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 1 dozen large cookies

Enjoy!