New York Cheesecake

Did any one saw Friends episode that called “The one with all the cheesecake”? Where Rachel and Chandler were stealing the cheesecake from their neighbor, I don’t know if they are good actors or the cheesecake was really really good!

Rachel was describing it in that way: “it had a buttery crumbly crust with very rich yet light cream cheese filling”! U see what I mean!

Sooooo !

I searched for the best New York Cheesecake recipe , I tried Joy Of Baking recipe – with minor modifications - and turn out to be soo SOOO good !

Pretty ladies, grab ur aprons and march straight into the kitchen coz u r gonna enjoy what coming out the oven today!

( CRUST )

• 2 cups (200 grams) finely crushed Digestive biscuits.
• 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar.
• 1/2 cup (114 grams) unsalted butter, melted.

:

Place the rack in the center of ur oven & preheat ur oven to 350ºf .

Mix crumbs , sugar & butter in one large bowl until u end up with a wet crumbs.

Grease a 9 inch springform pan and press the crumbs over the bottom of the pan and a little bit up the sides.

Cover , refrigerate and start working on ur cream cheese filling.

( FILLING )

• 32 ounces (1 kg) cream cheese, room temperature (use full fat, not reduced or fat free cream cheese)
• 1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
• 3 tablespoons (35 grams) all purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) heavy whipping cream
• 3 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

:

In ur free standing mixer , combine cream cheese , sugar , flour.

Break the eggs in a separate bowl , Wisk together with the vanilla , then add the egg mixture to the cream cheese mixture in 5 batches , mix well after each addition.

Then pour the mixture on the prepared crust and in to the oven for 15 min.

After, lower the temperature to 300º F and continue baking for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. ( Now , I recommend that u constantly watch the cheesecake coz u don’t want to over bake it , if u see that the edges are firm and the center is wobbling a little bit when u shake the pan then its done ! )

Remove from the oven and run a knife around the edges to prevent it from cracking as it cool.

When it reaches the room temperature, refrigerate it for 8 hours or more.

Serve it plane or heat some jam and spread it on ! ( or u can always eat it straight from the pan as I do *Ooops* ! )

Enjoooy <3

Dana ,

A Piece of Palmiers !

Its elegant name is Palmiers (French for palm tree) and its cuddle name is Elephant Ears. This is possibly the easiest and most flexible treat that you can make. The best part of all is that it’s made by my favorite dough, flakey Puff Pastry <3

If you have some visitors that are coming soon and you have no time to do anything, just dust your kitchen counter with sugar, roll a puff pastry sheet and cut. Yes ! It’s that easy.

I made my palmiers with a little spicy twist and a refreshing Arabic splash of rose water (just love it). I also like to use Demerara brown sugar for this recipe because it gives a nice crunch. This sugar acquired its name for the region it originated from in the South African Republic of Guyana.

I like serving those palmiers with tea with mint. The nice thing about palmiers is that there are no precise measurements. It's all according to taste.

You need,

::Basic::

A sheet of Puff pastry

Demerara brown sugar

::Filling::

Mix together:

100 g nuts of your choice finely chopped

Table spoon melted butter

Table spoon rose water

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

:: Glue ::

1 lightly beaten egg

:: Syrup ::

Honey

2 tablespoons rose water

How it’s done,

1. Preheat oven to 325°F and place the oven rack in the center.

2. Cover a baking tray with parchment paper.

3. Spread the Demerara brown sugar on your kitchen counter.

4. Place the pastry sheet on top of the sugar and press with your hands or with a rolling pin to make the sugar stick to the pastry sheet.

5. Spread your filling leaving boarders at two sides like I did or even on the whole sheet. It makes no difference.

6. Fold the two blank boarders brushing the edge of one to slightly stick on the other with the beaten egg

7. Fold each side once again and brush with eggs to glue them.

8. Optional: It helps when you’re cutting to put this formed cylinder back in the fridge for 15 min.

9. Cut into half inch slices.

10. Place on the parchment paper on the baking tray leaving a space of 2 inches between pieces.

11. Bake until it becomes puffy and golden.

12. Sprinkle with some syrup while still hot.

13. Leave on rack to cool.

Filling: Sweet & Savory

I usually use pistachios, pecans and walnuts. You can use any other type that you prefer. You can also use any other type of filling you want, perhaps even just sugar. These palmiers can also be transformed into a savory appetizer by eliminating the sugar coat (use flour in this case) and using some savory spreadable filling.

Puff Pastry..

Brand: If you’re in Qatar or in the same region, the puff pastry that I use is Al-Sunbula. I tried several other brands, but they didn’t give me the taste or the texture that I’m looking for.

Size: If you can’t find a large sheet of puff pastry, use a couple or two of rectangular ones and spread them with a rolling pin to create 1 sheet of the size you want.

Here's a nice informative video for more illustration.

Bon ِِAmusement

--Nora