A Visit From Montana : Vanilla Bean Cheesecake Cupcakes

Nearly 12 years ago, a long time (think high school) friend of my mothers gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Montana, named after a state that holds a special place in her mothers heart. That baby was a little gift that nobody saw coming. You see, none of my mothers old high school pals, at least none that I had grown up knowing, had chosen to have children. Many of these friends were her closest, so, as an only child myself I spent most of my time either around adults, or in my own world of make believe. I was in my teens when Montana was born, so while she wasn't the promise of a playmate I would've likely wished for a few years prior, she was the most exciting addition to the group to come along for as long as I can remember.  

Tana is likely the most down to earth, calm, sweetest 11 (almost 12) year old you'll ever meet. She's polite, well spoken, considerate, and always has something interesting to say. She also adores being in the kitchen, my kind of girl. With this in mind, I invited her up for a girls sleepover. I imagined 11 year old me, and how cool I would feel if a 25 year old I looked up to invited me over to their house for a sleepover. 11 year old me would've thought that was pretty awesome. . . 

So, when I called her mother to finalize plans, you can't imagine my excitement when the first thing I hear from Montana's lips is 'we have to make cupcakes'. 25 year old me was thrilled. I knew our evening together would be full of sugar and flour, whisking and mixing. An afternoon, for me, could not be spent in a better way.

*montana's photograph*

Upon her arrival I pulled out my arsenal of cupcake recipes, cookbooks and cards and urged that she find the cupcake she most wanted to make. Narrowing it down to, oh, about 15 at first, then slowly chipping away at the pile of recipes until we landed on this, absolutely amazing, cupcake recipe. Moist vanilla cake topped with vanilla bean, lemon kissed cheesecake batter, and (yes, and) brown sugar crumbles. As if that wasn't over the top enough, each one is finished with a pile of fresh berries and a dusting of powdered sugar. A cupcake recipe could not be more perfect. And, little did I know it, not until we sat down, peeled back the waxy rapper and began devouring our hard work, that these were the quintessential end of summer cupcake as well. Light, spongy, cheesy, crunchy, and bright. A perfect crown on a pretty perfect summer, and an amazing evening. 

Not only did Montana helm the baking of these gems, but she excitedly shot the picture above. I wonder, do we have a budding baker, photographer, dare I say food blogger on our hands?

Vanilla Cheesecake Cupcakes 

from Cupcakes by Elinor Klivans

Cake: 

1 1/4 cups unbleached ap flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 cup sugar

1/2 canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup sour cream

Cheesecake: 

1 8 ounce package cream cheese at room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

1 large egg room temperature

1 teaspoon lemon zest

juice from one small lemon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Crumble:

1/2 cup ap flour

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions: 

Cake: 

Preheat oven to 325 F.

1. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into medium bowl, set aside. 

2. Using an electric mixer w/a paddle attachment, on medium speed beat the egg, yolk, and sugar until thick and light, appx 2 minutes.

3. Scrape bowl as needed (and now), on low speed add the oil and vanilla. Mix well to combine. Add sour cream and mix well, yet again.

4. Finally, mix in the flour mixture on low speed, mixing until just combined. 

Filling: 

1. Rinse out your electric mixer, no need to an intense clean. In an electric mixer w/the paddle attachment, on low speed, mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth. 

2. Add egg, lemon zest, and juice, mix well. 

3. Set mixture aside.

Crumble: 

1. In a small/medium sized bowl mix flour, brown sugar, salt and melted butter until crumbly.

Assembly: 

1. Line a 12 count muffin tin with liners. Your oven will have been preheated to 325 F.  

2. Fill each liner about 1/2 way with cupcake batter.

3. Top each cake with a large spoonful of cheesecake batter. 

4. Now top each with a tablespoon of brown sugar crumble. 

5. Place the whole shabang in the oven for 25-30 minutes. 

6. Remove from the oven when cupcakes are cooked through and allow to cool in pan an additional 25 minutes.

7. Remove cakes from pan, place on wire rack, cool completely. 

8. Garnish with fresh berries and dusting of powdered sugar. 

9. Try to resist eating them all! 

Thank you for a wonderful day lovely girl. Your overnight visit was a sheer delight.

It All Started with Marshmallows : Vanilla Bean Chocolate Ice Cream

It all started with smitten's marshmallows. You see, I've always meant to, always wanted to, try my hand at homemade marshmallows. Every winter I dream of large hot cups of homemade cocoa, topped with large spongey squares of homemade mallows. And each summer I ponder on how lovely it would be to sit around the fire roasting marshmallows I made. 

Well, this year was it. Fourth of July rolled around, and a party was to be hosted at my house. . .

For dessert I first considered shortcakes piled high with whipped cream and cascades of fresh berries. Red white and blue. I also toyed with the idea of a lovely large white layer cake, stacked high, also filled with a variety of fresh red and blue berries. But no. This year was the year of the homemade s'more. I was partly fueled by the fact that a few months ago the daring bakers challenged us to make homemade graham crackers for our nanaimo bar crust. I ended up loving the graham crackers, which was a surprise to me because I'm an avid hater of the store bought crackers. Homemade are nothing like the dry cardboard you buy at the store. They're soft, crunchy, sweet, dark, and molasses laden. Much different, and much, much better. So whip up marshmallows, bake sheets graham crackers, and buy yourself some damn fine chocolate. Viola, a dessert that's sheer summer perfection, and delights guests to no end. 

Regardless of how irresistible gooey, sticky homemade s'mores are, they're quite rich. Two per person, max. Unless you dare go into sugar shock. 

So, July 5th rolled around and I surveyed my leftovers.

What to do? What to do?

With July 5th came the heat. Believe it or not, the first summer weather we've experienced here at the tip of the Northwest this year. 4th of July we were lucky to break 60 degrees. 5th of July rolled around and we were up to the 80's. So, what's a girl to do with all these leftover treats, stacks of marshmallows, piles of crackers. . . . and a lone jug of local Twinbrooks chocolate milk. . .  

A-ha! That's it! S'more ice cream! Genius I thought. So, I toasted up marshmallows, smashed crackers, and set to turn David Lebovits' incredible vanilla ice cream into chocolate. Sure, I could use his chocolate ice cream recipe, but, why make it that easy on myself? I wanted to experiment a little. 

Regardless of it being so hot that I had to use two cold bowls to churn it. Or the fact that as soon as I got it into a bowl to photograph it turned into a dark chocolatey puddle in a matter of seconds. . . it was the best chocolate ice cream I've ever tasted. Smooth. Not too rich, or dark. Creamy. Sweet. Chilled chocolate heaven in ice cream form. It was so good in fact, that I absolutely could not bring myself to add the toasted marshmallows, graham crackers, or chunks of chocolate. This ice cream needed to remain pure. I swear the ice cream spoke to me. It didn't want all that other stuff churned up with it. I did keep the vanilla bean from the original recipe, because come one, chocolate and vanilla bean, well they're just meant to be.

I must've made the right call because this batch didn't last long in our freezer. After a day, maybe two of 85+ degree weather, it was long gone.

So, here it is. The adapted vanilla into chocolate ice cream recipe, that worked out oh-so well for this girl. It all started with marshmallows, but ended up pure chocolate ice cream. And I'm ok with that.

Heavenly Vanilla Bean Chocolate Ice Cream

adapted from David Lebovitz Vanilla Ice Cream 

Ingredients: 

1 cup of incredible chocolate milk (seek out the 'good' stuff folks, no darigold here!)

pinch of salt

1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons sugar (because the chocolate milk has added sugar)

1 vanilla bean split, beans scraped into milk

5 egg yolks

1 1/2 cups heavy cream w/ 1/2 cup of chocolate milk added (totaling 2 cups liquid) NOTE: you could use two cups of heavy cream, I was just 1/2 cup shy so I substituted with additional chocolate milk

2 Tablespoons unsweetened powdered cocoa 

Directions: 

1. Heat chocolate milk, sugar, and salt in a saucepan. Place split vanilla bean and scraped beans into the saucepan. Set over low/medium heat. 

2. Whisk egg yolks in a bowl, then add a bit of the warmed chocolate milk liquid, whisking continuously. Pour the warmed yolks into the saucepan with the milk and vanilla bean. 

3. Cook mixture over low heat stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat resistant spatula, until custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spatula.

4. As mixture cooks place your heavy cream/chocolate milk/and cocoa powder into a large bowl, whisking gently to combine.

5. Strain custard into heavy cream. Rinse vanilla bean and place it back into the custard/cream mixture. Chill mixture thoroughly (I chilled mine about 7 hours). Remove vanilla bean. 

6. Freeze in your ice cream maker according to manufacturers instructions. 

The Daring Get Light : Daring Bakers June 2010

The June 2010 Daring Bakers Challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the daring bakers to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard. 

As I mentioned earlier this month I've sort of (okay, really) fallen in love with cherries this season. Standing in my kitchen, cutting each one in half, pitting them, feeling the red juice on my fingertips, plus, they're absolutely gorgeous to look at it, no? Deep, dark, almost sinful. To me, they spark many of my senses; taste, visual, tactile. It only seemed natural that cherries would make the perfect accompaniment to this airy, yet rich chocolate pavlova. 

Pavlova's are like clouds. Chocolate, vanilla, doesn't matter. Topped with generous portions of whipped

cream these simple egg white based desserts are like a cloud on your tongue. A show stopper, and a crowd pleaser. They take mere minutes to whip together, and a few hours cooking to dry them out in a very lightly heated oven. Making them (in my opinion) a perfect dinner party dessert. Whip together, then forget about them in the oven for a few hours until you're ready for dessert. I couldn't have been happier with the way my chocolate puffs turned out. To make my variation on this months daring bakers theme simply dip one end of each of your pavlovas after they have baked and cooled in melted semisweet chocolate. After filling with the chocolate mascarpone cream, crown each one with freshly whipped heavy cream sweetened lightly with a bit of honey, sprinkle with split bing cherries (I macerated mine with a bit of vanilla bean sugar), and finish with a few pan toasted almonds (and if you dare, more of that melted chocolate for drizzle). Crunchy, creamy, light, rich, and smooth. Textures and flavors abound, desserts rarely get much easier or more gorgeous! 

Chocolate Pavlova Meringues

Ingredients: 

3 large egg whites

1/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon of sugar

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/3 cup cocoa powder

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 200 F, placing rack in the center. Line baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper and set aside. 

2. Place egg whites in a medium bowl, and whip on high until medium/soft peaks form. With beater moving slowly (about 1 Tablespoon at a time) add your granulated sugar. 

3. Increase speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form (stiff but not dry).

4. Sift cocoa powder and powdered sugar over stiff egg white mixture, then slowly fold in. It may take a minute or two to come together, but I promise, it will. Just be patient, gently folding chocolate into egg whites. 

5. Instead of filling a pastry bag and piping out my pavlova, I used a standard ice cream scoop to make nice individual sized desserts. My batch made about 8 pavlovas. Scoop of pipe onto prepared baking sheet.

6. Place pavlovas in oven and cook for 2-2/12 hours, until crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside!

7. Remove from oven and top with mascarpone cream (recipe below), whipped cream, and whatever garnish your heart desires!

Chocolate Mascarpone Cream

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

zest of 1 lemon

9 oz 72% chocolate

1 2/3 cup mascarpone 

2 Tablespoons grand marnier (optional) 

pinch of nutmeg

Directions: 

1. Heat 1/2 cup heavy cream and the zest of a lemon in a medium sized saucepan until hot (just boiling). 

2. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth and well combined. Set aside. 

3. Place remaining cream, and mascarpone in a bowl with the nutmeg and whip on medium speed until mascarpone has loosened up a bit. Add the grand marnier and whip until the mixture holds soft peaks (being careful not to over beat as the mixture will break). 

4. Mix about 1/4 of the mascarpone mixture into your chocolate mixture to lighten. Fold remaining mascarpone into chocolate. 

5. Dollop or pipe onto the top of each pavlova. 

Viola! Another great month for the Daring Bakers!

Daring Bakers : March 2010

Daring Bakers : March 2010, originally uploaded by miss.mallory.

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

This is going to be an uber quickie post, so, don't be offended, it has nothing to do with the dessert itself, I'm just super tired and frankly, not feeling much up to writing/posting. As you read above, Jennifer chose Orange Tian for this months DB challenge. Something I have never even heard of (is that a shocker?) nevertheless attempted to make. Funny enough, this challenge was due the same day as my cooking clubs Fusion dinner with an Asian theme. I knew I didn't have the patience for two desserts (though in the end I did end up with both this and a strawberry/wonton napoleon) therefore I needed to meld this challenge with my dessert for that night. Two birds, one stone. My take on the Orange Tian; layers of jasmine and matcha filling, topped with sectioned navel oranges & texas red grapefruit on top of a pistachio pate sablee (although, I used a different pate sablee recipe than the one Jennifer provided because I wanted the pistachio flavor, I cannot attest it's a true sablee). Hope you enjoy my take on this months challenge, my version may be a bit 'out there' compared to the original, but, it was fun and tasty and I couldn't be more pleased with the way it turned out!

For the Pate Sablee:

Ingredients U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for Ingredients
2 medium-sized egg yolks at room temperature
granulated sugar 6 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon; 2.8 oz; 80 grams
vanilla extract ½ teaspoon
Unsalted butter ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams ice cold, cubed
Salt 1/3 teaspoon; 2 grams
All-purpose flour 1.5 cup + 2 tablespoons; 7 oz; 200 grams
baking powder 1 teaspoon ; 4 grams

Directions:
Put the flour, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.

In a separate bowl, add the eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale. Pour the egg mixture in the food processor.

Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogenous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.

Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a ¼ inch thick circle.

Using your cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on a parchment (or silicone) lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.

For the Marmalade:

Ingredients U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for Ingredients
Freshly pressed orange juice ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams
1 large orange used to make orange slices
cold water to cook the orange slices
pectin 5 grams
granulated sugar: use the same weight as the weight of orange slices once they are cooked

Finely slice the orange. Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes.

Blanch the orange slices 3 times. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices.

Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool.

Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them (using a knife or a food processor).

Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar . If you don’t have a scale, you can place the slices in a cup measurer and use the same amount of sugar.

In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice and the pectin. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency (10-15 minutes).

Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.

For the Orange Segments:

For this step you will need 8 oranges.

Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.

[See YouTube video in the References section below for additional information on segmenting oranges.]

For the Caramel:

Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredients
granulated sugar 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
orange juice 1.5 cups + 2 tablespoons; 14 oz; 400 grams

Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it.

Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments.

Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tians.

[Tip: Be very careful when making the caramel — if you have never made caramel before, I would suggest making this step while you don’t have to worry about anything else. Bubbling sugar is extremely, extremely hot, so make sure you have a bowl of ice cold water in the kitchen in case anyone gets burnt!]

For the Whipped Cream:

Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredients
heavy whipping cream 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
3 tablespoons of hot water
1 tsp Gelatine
1 tablespoon of confectioner's sugar
orange marmalade (see recipe above) 1 tablespoon

In a small bowl, add the gelatine and hot water, stirring well until the gelatine dissolves. Let the gelatine cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream. Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Add the confectioner sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then add the cooled gelatine slowly while beating continuously. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade.
[Tip: Use an ice cold bowl to make the whipped cream in. You can do this by putting your mixing bowl, cream and beater in the fridge for 20 minutes prior to whipping the cream.]

Assembling the Dessert:

Make sure you have some room in your freezer. Ideally, you should be able to fit a small baking sheet or tray of desserts to set in the freezer.

Line a small tray or baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Lay out 6 cookie cutters onto the parchment paper/silicone.

Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel.

Have the marmalade, whipped cream and baked circles of dough ready to use.

Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.

Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills the cookie cutter in an even layer. Leave about 1/4 inch at the top so there is room for dough circle.

Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each circle of dough.

Carefully place a circle of dough over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.

Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.

Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cookie cutter, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately.

Daring Bakers : March 2010, originally uploaded by miss.mallory.