TWD: Brown Sugar-Apple Cheesecake

Here's to my first TWD recipe!! Jaime of Good Eats n' Sweet Treats chose Brown Sugar-Apple Cheesecake (pages 218-219) for this weeks' recipe and boy what a great job she did choosing! I'm a lover of all-things-cheesecake, albeit I've only made cheesecake a number of times. I'm always nervous to make cheesecake because there are so many ideas about the best techniques for the best cheesecake: waterbath vs. no waterbath, cool the cheesecake in the oven vs. on the counter, baked vs. no-bake, a crack should be there vs. shouldn't...you get the point. But because I'm such a recipe-follower, I wasn't too nervous about making this one. I know that Dorie's recipes are tried and true and that all I would need to do is follow her recipe. Easy enough.

Easy? Yes. Quick? No. It took me 1 and 1/2 hours to prep this cheesecake because I was so afraid of screwing it up...and lord knows I didn't want to screw up my first TWD recipe! I had to take extra precautions to be sure that everything I did was right...that the crust was browned enough but not too much, that the apples were cooked enough without burning the brown sugar, that the cream cheese was soft enough so the batter wasn't lumpy, that the springform pan was wrapped tightly enough so no water would leak into my masterpiece. It certainly was a process but the proof was in the pudding...err cheesecake...that my precautions and all that extra time yielded one hell of a cheesecake...and a cheesecake WITHOUT a crack!! This was a first for me and was the first indication that I felt that I really did everything right. The only little blemishes on the top of the cheesecake came from the aluminum foil that stuck to the cake as it rose in the oven - no biggie!

Because I made the cheesecake last night (Monday night), I had to let it chill overnight before cutting it which was fine because I feel more comfortable taking pics during the daylight rather than at night...and coincidentally, I hadn't had breakfast this morning before cutting the cake and taking pics. Aww shucks....cheesecake for breakfast? What a bummer! Well, somebody had to taste it in order to write this review!

Dorie certainly was right - this is a substantial cheesecake. Not heavy and dense like NY cheesecake, but creamy and almost light...but substantial in taste it is. The cheesecake never fell in the middle while cooling and resulted in this beautiful dessert flecked with cinnamon as the highest (thickest?) cheesecake I've ever made. I did have to restrain myself from eating a whole piece this morning because I did only cut it 8ths but it was oh so good! (And in the future, I will definitely use dental floss again to make the initials cuts and then a hot, clean knife to finish them off.) I offered to put a piece in Kyle's lunch today but he said that he'd wait until tonight to try it and I almost feel bad about not waiting for him...almost.

Check out how everyone else did here!

Brown Sugar-Apple Cheesecake

source: Baking: From My Home to Yours

For the Crust

• 30 gingersnaps (or a scant 2 cups graham cracker crumbs) I used cinnamon graham crackers and ground them into crumbs myself
• 2 tbsp light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
• 1/2 stick (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted

For the Apples

• 1/2 stick (4 tbsp) unsalted butter
• 3 large Golden Delicious or Fuji apples, peeled, cored and cut into eighths I used Golden Delicious
• 2 tbsp (packed) light brown sugar

For the Filling

• 1 1/2 pounds (three 8-ounce packages) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
• 6 tbsp sugar
• 3 tbsp apple cider
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• Apple jelly, for glazing, or confectioner's sugar, for dusting (optional)

To Make the Crust:

1. Butter the bottom and sides of a 10-inch springform pan. Put the gingersnaps in a food processor and whir until you have crumbs; you should have a scant 2 cups. (If you are using graham cracker crumbs, just put them in the food processor.) Pulse in the sugar and cinnamon, if you're using it, then pour over the melted butter and pulse until the crumbs are moistened. Turn the crumbs into the springform pan and, using your fingertips, firmly press them evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan as far as they'll go. Put the pan in the freezer while you preheat the oven. (The crust can be covered and frozen for up to 2 months.)
2. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the pan from the freezer and wrap the bottom tightly in aluminum foil, going up the sides. Place the pan on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, or until the crust is set and lightly browned. Transfer to a rack to cool while you make the apples and the filling. Leave the oven at 350 degrees F.

To Make the Apples:

1. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. When the foam subsides, toss in half of the apple slices and cook, turning once, until they are golden brown, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle the apples with 1 tablespoon of the sugar and cook them, turning, just until coated, another minute or so. Scrape the apples onto a plate, wipe out the skillet and repeat with the remaining apples. Let the apples cool while you make the filling.

Getting Ready to Bake:

Have a roasting pan large enough to hold the springform pan at hand. Put a kettle of water on to boil.

To Make the Filling:

1. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese on medium speed, scraping down the bowl often, for about 4 minutes, or until it is velvety smooth. Add the sugars and beat for another 2 minutes. Beat in the cider, vanilla, and cinnamon. Reduce the speed to low and beat in the eggs one by one, beating for 1 minute after each egg goes in. Finally, beat in the sour cream and heavy cream, beating just until the batter is smooth.
2. Pour about one third of the batter into the baked crust. Drain the apples by lifting them off the plate with a slotted spoon or spatula, and spoon them into the pan. Cover with the remaining batter and, if needed, jiggle the pan to even the top. Place the springform pan in the roasting pan and pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan.
3. Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour and 30 to 45 minutes, covering the cake loosely with a foil tent at the 45-minute mark. The cake will rise evenly and crack around the edges, and it should be fully set except, possibly, in the very center--if the center shimmies, that's just fine.
4. Gently transfer the cake, still in the pan, to a cooling rack and let it cool to room temperature, then refrigerate it for at least 6 hours; overnight would be better.
5. Run a blunt knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the crust, open the pan's latch and release and remove the sides.

Apple Crisp

What would fall be without our favorite apple crisp recipe? I discovered this recipe years ago in my mom's old (read: vintage) Women's Day alphabetized volumes of recipes - yes, you may have seen them either in your mom's or grandmother's kitchen or at yard/tag sales. As much bad press as some vintage cookbooks have gotten in the "foodie" community, this collection of recipes continually has provided me with tried and true recipes. One of which being this fantastic apple crisp recipe. It really is the only apple crisp recipe I've ever used and Kyle and I love it so much that I don't ever feel the need to find a new one to try. Our love for this recipe is so great, in fact, that our wedding reception centerpieces were classy buckets full of apples (DIY) and we gave out this recipe (my slightly modified version of it) for our guests to take home. (and if I remember when I get home later, maybe I'll post a pic of the centerpieces here)

Apple Crisp
source: adapted from the Women's Day collection of recipes

• 2 lbs cooking apples, peeled and sliced (about 5 1/2 cups) I recommend Macoun or Granny Smith
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp cinnamon plus extra to sprinkle on top
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup cold butter, diced

1. Put apples in a shallow 2qt casserole; add water.
2. Combine sugars, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and flour in a separate bowl. Cut in butter with two knives or a pastry blender. Spoon mixture evenly over apples. Sprinkle additional cinnamon on top (to taste).
3. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and back for an additional 30 minutes.

Prep time: 15-20 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour

Serves: 6-8

Apple Crostata

Autumn's abundant apples!! I love the fact that my grocery store sells little totes of apples (1/2 peck) because it allows me to generally have apples in the house all the time during the fall. Mostly I eat them for a snack during the day but sometimes I need to splurge, ya know? So when I feel the need to splurge, rest assured, apples will most likely be involved.

I stumbled across this mouth-watering Ina Garten recipe last week and after seeing her make it a couple of weeks ago, I decided to have a hand at it. Let it be said that I've never, ever, made my own pie or pastry dough but Ina has a way of making dough preparation look so easy. So as many times as I've watched her make dough, I decided that I worked up my confidence enough to give it a shot....

As you are all my witnesses, I vow to never buy another store-bought pie/pastry dough again. This really was as easy as Ina has made it out to be and by allowing the dough to chill in the fridge for a couple of hours thereby breaking the recipe prep steps in half, the recipe was all that much easier to prepare. The dough came together in a snap, even when using my crappy and difficult to use 7 cup Black and Decker food processor - purchased years ago. :: Note to self: put 11 cup Cuisinart food processor on Christmas list :: And because I made sure to use cold (read: nearly frozen) butter, the crust came out perfectly flaky and just sweet enough to complement the apples and crumble topping. In the future, I will double the pastry dough recipe and freeze one to have on hand for another time.

Ina's apple crostata is a keeper in my house from here on out. It is an easy and more rustic alternative to apple pie (not to mention a few less calories because there is only a bottom crust) and can really be whipped up quickly in case of unexpected autumnal house guests. Once again, another wonderful Ina recipe!!

Apple Crostata

source: Ina Garten

Inspired by George German & Johanne Killeen Cucina Simpatica

For the pastry:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons granulated or superfine sugar (I used granulated)
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 pound (1 stick) very cold unsalted butter, diced
• 2 tablespoons ice water

For the filling:

• 1 1/2 pounds McIntosh, Macoun, or Empire apples (3 large)
• 1/4 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup granulated or superfine sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I used 1/2 tsp)
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced

1. For the pastry, place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse a few times to combine. Add the butter and pulse 12 to 15 times, or until the butter is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water all at once through the feed tube. Keep hitting the pulse button to combine, but stop the machine just before the dough becomes a solid mass. Turn the dough onto a well-floured board and form into a disk. Wrap with plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (I chilled the dough for about 3 1/2 hours.)
2. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
3. Flour a rolling pin and roll the pastry into an 11-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Transfer it to a baking sheet.
4. For the filling, peel, core, and cut the apples into 8ths. Cut each wedge into 3 chunks. Toss the chunks with the orange zest. Cover the tart dough with the apple chunks leaving a 1 1/2-inch border.
5. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and allspice in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is crumbly. Pour into a bowl and rub it with your fingers until it starts holding together. Sprinkle evenly on the apples. Gently fold the border over the apples to enclose the dough, pleating it to make a circle.
6. Bake the crostata for 20 to 25 minutes (mine needed about 28-30 minutes), until the crust is golden and the apples are tender. Allow to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Active prep time: 20 minutes

Inactive prep time: 1 to 4 hours

Cook time: 25 - 30 minutes

Serves: 6-8

Apple and Onion Stuffed Roasted Pork Tenderloin

HELLO FALL!!!! Ah....this is the day I've been waiting for since June 21st. Bring on the sweaters, pumpkins, foliage, and of course, fall-inspired foods. I celebrated the first day of this glorious season with a nice hearty meal - apple and onion stuffed roasted pork tenderloin with roasted butternut squash and sweet potato on the side. The smell of this cooking alone was enough to make me want to throw on a sweater and light a fire in the fireplace!

This wasn't a recipe I found anywhere, but my own "concoction" and I'm proud to say that it turned out really well and was SO easy! Kyle says that he isn't a fan of sweet potatoes ("sweeties" as I sometimes call them), but once again, I was able to hide them in a dish...and he ended up going back for seconds. Roasting them with the butternut squash, you can't at all tell the difference between the two. You might think that the squash and sweet potatoes together in the same dish might seem a little odd but by adding some herbes de Provence, salt, pepper, and a wee bit of garlic powder, the combo of the sweeties, squash, and savory seasonings proved to be a definite winning combo. I'm not sure where I got the idea for the tenderloin but since it was in the freezer, I decided to do something "fallish" with it.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Sweet Potatoes

• 1/2 butternut squash, diced (1" pieces)
• 1 large sweet potato, washed, peeled and diced (1" pieces)
• herbes de Provence
• salt, pepper, garlic powder
• olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 415 degrees F.
2. Place squash and sweet potato in an oven safe dish (8x8 or 7x11).
3. Drizzle with a little olive oil. Sprinkle a couple pinches of herbes de Provence, pressing herbes to release oils as you sprinkle. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a little garlic powder.
4. Cook for 45 minutes, flipping squash and potatoes occasionally to prevent sticking. You might need a little extra salt and pepper when serving, but taste first before you add more.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes

Serves: 4

Apple and Onion Stuffed Roasted Pork Tenderloin

• 1 apple, cored and diced (1" pieces)
• 1 medium onion cut into chunks
• 1 shallot, coarsely chopped
• 1 pork tenderloin
• olive oil
• 1 tsp herbes de Provence
• salt and pepper

1. While the squash and potatoes are cooking, pat tenderloin dry and season with herbes de Provence, salt and pepper.
2. Cut a slit lengthwise on the top-side of the tenderloin, making a pocket, being careful not to cut through to the bottom. Stuff pocket with a little shallot, some onion, and some apple pieces. Put the remaining shallot, onion, and apple on the bottom of a roasting pan and drizzle with a little bit of olive oil. Secure tenderloin opening with a couple of toothpicks.
3. Carefully place tenderloin on top of apples and onions. Cook for 30-32 minutes at 415 degrees F.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 30-32 minutes

Serves: 4

Goin' to the fair

It's summer fair time in Connecticut and although Kyle and I don't usually frequent the "fair circuit" until the harvest fairs in September, our church's annual fair is today. In addition to helping to set up tables during the week, I thought I'd pitch in this year and do a little baking. Pies and baked goods were needed and although I'd never actually made a fruit pie before, I figured, what the heck! I've been making apple crisp for years but have always had some strange aversion to putting the apples between two pieces of dough. Well, the aversion is still present because I decided to make an apple pie with crisp topping, rather than dough - more like an apple crumble pie but slightly different. I used Martha Stewart's apple pie recipe and my old-time favorite apple crisp topping that I've modified from my ancient Women's Day cookbooks (both are below). Modifications have *s and are below the recipes. The full Martha recipe can be found through the link above - I've modified it here.

I also made a double batch (4 dozen) of Paula Deen's Double Chocolate Gooey Butter Cakes that have been made and raved about by a number of ladies on the cooking board I frequent. I've made peanut butter version a few months ago which were very good, but I wanted to make something a little more "allergy-safe" since they would be sold at the church fair (I omitted the nuts that the original recipes calls for). The recipe and photos are below the pie.

Apple Crisp Pie
For the Apple Filling:

• 1/4 cup (spooned and leveled) all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling dough
• 1 recipe (2 disks) basic pie dough*
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, (from 1 lemon)
• 4 pounds (8 to 10) apples, such as Empire, Granny Smith, Gala, Cortland, Winesap, or a mix*
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces*
• 1 egg*

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. with a rack set in second-to-lowest position. Remove first circle of dough from refrigerator and carefully unroll over a 9-inch pie plate. Gently lift edges and lower dough into the pie plate so it hugs bottom and sides. Avoid stretching the dough, which will make it shrink during baking. Refrigerate.
2. Place lemon juice in a large bowl. Peel, core, and cut apples into 1/4-inch-thick slices; halve crosswise, and add to lemon juice (to keep them from turning brown) as you work. Add sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt; toss to combine.
3. Remove dough-lined pie plate from refrigerator. Fill with apple mixture, gently packing apples and mounding slightly in center.
4. With floured fingers, fold overhang under itself to form a thick rim; pinch between thumb and forefinger to form a uniform edge around the rim of the pie plate.
   To crimp edges: With thumb and index finger of one hand, gently press dough against knuckle of other hand (see photo through the Martha link above); continue around pie. (Deep indentations anchor dough on rim and prevent it from sliding down sides of pie plate during baking.)
5. Place pie plate on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Brush dough edges with eggwash. Bake 20 minutes; reduce heat to 375 degrees. and bake until crust is golden and juices are bubbling, 50 minutes more. If edges brown too quickly, cover with aluminum foil*. Cool completely, at least 6 hours, before serving.

For the Apple Crisp Topping:

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup cold butter

1. Combine sugars, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl. Cut in butter using a pastry cutter or two knives until butter becomes pea-sized.
2. Carefully spoon mixture over apples.
3. Sprinkle topping with a little more cinnamon.

Modifications:

1. I made two pies so I doubled everything. There was some filling and topping leftover (I didn't want to overfill the pies) and I put them in a separate oven-safe bowl covered with aluminum foil and baked for 30 minutes on 350. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 30 minutes.
2. I used Pillsbury pre-made dough rounds.
3. The filling recipe calls for 8-10 apples for one pie but because I didn't use a top dough, I reduced the apples to 5 (and still had a little left over - see #1). I used Empire apples.
4. I didn't add any butter to the filling because there is more than enough in the crisp topping.
5. Egg is not part of the original recipe - I used it as an egg-wash on the dough edges before baking.
6. I covered the pies with aluminum foil for the first 30 minutes, then kept the edges covered with foil for the remaining 40 minutes.

Double Chocolate Gooey Butter Cakes

• Butter, for greasing pan, plus 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) butter, melted
• 1 (18.25 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
• 1 egg, plus 2 eggs
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 3 to 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 13 by 9-inch baking pan. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, 1 egg, and 8 tablespoons (1 stick) melted butter, and stir until well blended. Pat mixture into prepared pan and set aside.
2. In a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the remaining 2 eggs, and the cocoa powder. Lower the speed of the mixer, and add the powdered sugar. Continue beating until ingredients are well mixed. Slowly add the remaining 8 tablespoons (1 stick) of melted butter, and the vanilla, continuing to beat the mixture until smooth. Spread filling over cake mixture in pan.
3. Bake for 40 to 43 minutes. Be careful not to overcook the cake; the center should still be a little gooey when finished baking. Let cake partially cool on a wire rack before cutting into pieces.

Modification:

As mentioned above, I doubled the recipe and used two 13"x9" pans. I cut the cakes into 24 pieces each and put each piece inside a round paper muffin cup for easy transport of individual servings.

This is who I caught pigging out while I was making my pies!