Million-dollar cheesecake

Hello ladies and gents! How many of you gave up sweets and chocolate for Lent? Hmm? And how's that going for you?

I know that giving up a favorite treat or devilishly wonderful habit builds spiritual stamina. You have more time to reflect on God when you're not eating fried foods or swearing---or is it that, perhaps like me, you talk to God exponentially more when you need extra willpower to avoid dessert?

Once I gave up soda for Lent. I remember telling myself constantly (hysterically) "It's only soda! I've got so many more important things to worry about! Ha ha ha ha ha hahahaha!" I felt like a real Puritan, a regular member of the Salvation Army Marching Band! And then I'd instantly daydream about a tall Dr. Pepper, iced, in a glass with a bendy straw. I abstained until that Easter day, when I pondered Christ's resurrection while sucking down a Coke. "Thank you, Jesus, for dying for my sins. And also for soda-pop."

I share this story not to poke fun at the millions of people who fast to unlock spiritual gifts, but to illustrate that an indulgence is only truly an indulgence when it follows

a
long
period
of
anticipation.

So if you gave up cheesecake for Lent, this post is for you. Make it, bake it, and then on Sunday, dive right in!


A few weeks ago, my friend Luci and I went out for dessert and coffee Portland's Pearl District while we waited for our 10:30 showing of Alice in Wonderland. She enjoyed coffee and a flourless chocolate tart with raspberry compote; I chose a café au lait and tiramisu cheesecake. We laughed, we giggled, we got an insane sugar buzz, and then I glanced at the ticket. $25 for two desserts!

Now I know we paid at least $15 for the softly lit cafe and attentive service because this entire cardamom chocolate swirl cheesecake cost around $8 to make...and it serves 10. I baked it for a Golden Girls-themed movie night last week and everyone loved it. (If you're wondering, yes, I am a complete nerd.) Golden Girls trivia: did you know that Bea Arthur, who played Dorothy, hated cheesecake? And over the show's seven-year run, the main characters ate over 100 cheesecakes.

I don't recommend you eat 100 cheesecakes this Easter; just the one should do.

Have a lovely weekend and thanks for reading. And perhaps while your cheesecake is baking you can answer my little survey on the right side of this page. I'd like to know when you like new posts, and how often. If it makes you readers smile, I want to give it to you.


Cardamom-chocolate swirl cheesecake
adapted from College Hill Coffee's Classic Recipes
serves 10 - 12

• 1 1/2 cups wafer or graham cracker crumbs
• 2 Tb. sugar
• 1/4 melted butter

Filling

• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate pieces
• 1/4 cup whipping cream
  
• 16 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
  
• 8 oz sour cream
• 1 cup turbinado sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. ground cardamom

Chocolate ganache topping

• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate pieces
  
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• cocoa powder for dusting (optional)

Combine the graham crumbs and sugar in a small bowl; stir in butter. Press the crust onto the bottom of a 9" spring-form pan*; bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Set the crust aside and let it cool completely. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Melt the chocolate pieces, either in a small saucepan over low heat or in 10-second bursts in a microwave. Stir in the cream and set aside.

Beat together the cream cheese, sour cream, and 1 cup sugar in a mixing bowl. Once the mixture is smooth, add the cocoa and cardamom and mix well. Add the eggs and vanilla, mixing them in until just combined. Pour half of the cheesecake filling onto the crust, then incorporate half the melted chocolate, creating swirls with a knife. Add the remaining cheesecake filling and swirl in the reserved chocolate. Bake the cheesecake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the center is almost set (the cake will continue cooking after you remove it from the oven.) Let the cheesecake cool while you prepare ganache.

For the ganache, melt the chocolate in a saucepan over low heat (or over a double boiler.) Once the chocolate is melted and smooth, remove it from heat and stir in the vanilla and cream. Smooth on the ganache; refrigerate the cheesecake for at least two hours, but ideally overnight. For easy serving, use a sharp, wet knife to cut each slice. I use a glass of warm water to clean the knife after cutting each slice.

Enjoy as-is, or use Alli's method to garnish the cake with chocolate curls!

*Your cheesecake will be fuller and taller than mine. At the time I took these pictures, I only owned a 12" spring-form pan. Nine dollars and a trip to IKEA later, I've acquired a dainty-sized pan that better serves this recipe.

If you liked this recipe, you might also enjoy:

Chocolate champagne truffles
Dark chocolate cookies with espresso

Three-minute strawberry salad

Yesterday was so crazy that I didn't get around to dinner (or photographing dinner) until about 9:30. You know how those weekend days go: you roll out of bed at 10, make coffee, and then proceed without stopping until about 1 am. And the tasks--buying groceries, going to the banks, buying cat food--are not glamorous.

Despite the errands, however, I would call yesterday glamorous. First, Raymond and I bought an exercise machine via Craigslist, from a guy who makes and repairs telescope lenses for a living. That blew my mind. What a unique profession!

Then, I worked in the garden, planting garlic, strawberries, cabbage, oregano, and re-potting my dying aloe plant. The near-death of the aloe weighed heavily on me. Aren't they supposed to be invincible? Calpurnia kitty spent most of the day in the garden as well, spying on birds and eating spearmint. She also tracked mud in the kitchen. Ah, kitty.

Later, Raymond helped our neighbor Matthew move. In return, Matthew gave us mulch, a rake, a watering can, and a new desk--plus some other things we promised we'd Freecycle for him. Matthew says he's moving to a sweet townhouse on the Willamette River.

Around that time, my ukulele came in the mail and I found a great online ukulele tuner. I can almost play "Dream a Little Dream of Me" with help from a chord chart.

So we've been busy. But not too busy to throw together a summery salad for dinner. If you have shredded veggies, a pint of strawberries, and some leftover spearmint sauce, you can have salad in under three minutes.


Three-minute strawberry salad with spearmint sauce
serves 2

• Six medium strawberries, washed
• 1/3 cup shredded broccoli and carrots*
  
• 2 Tb. spearmint sauce, or 2 Tb. light agave nectar + 2 drops spearmint extract
• 2 - 3 sliced spearmint leaves, for garnish (optional)

Slice each strawberry into small pieces and toss with broccoli and carrots. Stir in the spearmint sauce until the salad is coated. Let the ingredients "marinate" for five minutes before serving.

*The veggie base in this recipe is flexible. You can find a pre-sliced mix at Trader Joes, Kroeger/Fred Meyer, Safeway, Target, usually billed as "stir fry veggies." Asian markets may sell this or a pre-made blend of shredded carrots and daikon, a watery, mild-flavored Japanese root that substitutes well. And if you have a minute to spare, you can also julienne 2 baby carrots and a few fresh broccoli stalks for the salad.

If you liked this recipe, you may also enjoy:

Spearmint lemonade with rosewater
Kicky coleslaw with brown sugar dressing

Mad skillet pizza skills

What you are about to witness is literally a slice of heaven and wonder, sent down from the Internet gods:

Bea Arthur + mountains + pizza: the triumvirate of pop culture and class. It's like the Internet Fairy knew I'd be blogging about pizza while planning for a cheesecake + Golden Girls party later this week.

You can find the original site and more tasteful photos at beaarthurmountainspizza. All glory and credit for the above images belong there! I hope B/M/P is the brain-fruit of one person; the images' composition and the original pizza toppings give me hope that this is true. Can you imagine it? A vision to share his (or her) favorite three things with the people of the Internet: Bea Authur, accomplished actress, home-made pizza, and mountains from around the world. Cyberspace is certainly amazing.

If the creative person behind B/M/P ever does accept outside images, I'd like to submit my home-made pizza. It's got a wheat crust stuffed with mozzarella cheese, sauteed winter greens, and a healthy splash of red sauce. If Ms. Arthur was still around, I hope this pizza could be classy enough for her.


Freeze-able wheat pizza crust*
makes two crusts

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 Tb. dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water (about 120 degrees)
• 2 Tb. olive oil
• 1 tsp. dried oregano (optional)
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and lightly coat the inside of a cast-iron skillet with olive oil. In a large bowl, combine half of each kind of flour, the yeast and salt; add the warm water and oil. Beat the dough with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping the bowl sides.

Bump up the mixing speed to "high" for three minutes. Stir in as much of the remaining flour (and oregano) as you can with a wooden spoon. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in the remaining flour until you have a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic--about 6 to 8 minutes total. Divide the dough in half.

If you're saving the dough for later, lightly grease the insides of two plastic sandwich bags, drop the dough in each one and freeze for up to two months. If not, cover each dough half with a tea towel and let it rest for 10 minutes.


Shallot, crimini, and chard pizza with wine marinara
serves 2

• 4-6 crimini, button, or brown mushrooms, sliced thinly
• 1/2 medium shallot, diced
• 2 large leaves of Swiss chard, sliced into thin ribbons
• 2 cloves garlic, diced
• 2 Tb. olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 15-oz. can Italian diced tomatoes, partially drained
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 1/4 cup soft, shredded mozzarella cheese
• 3 strips of string cheese (or another 1/4 cup mozzarella)
  
• shredded Parmesan cheese to finish
• 4-5 leaves fresh basil, shredded
  

Let the dough rest while you heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a small saute pan. Pour the can of diced tomatoes, wine, and other tablespoon of olive oil into a blender; pulse until smooth. (A note for my prohibitionist friends: if you wish to omit the wine, substitute 1/4 cup of the reserved tomato juice!)

Pour the sauce into a small pan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Let the sauce reduce and thicken while you prepare the vegetable topping. Cook the garlic and shallot over medium heat, stirring occasionally. After a few minutes, add the sliced mushrooms. When the garlic and shallots begin to soften and become translucent, toss in the sliced chard. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Remove the veggies from heat when the chard starts to wilt; cover the pan and set aside.

Uncover your pizza dough and give it a quick turn. Gently roll, toss, or pull the dough into a 12" circle that's 1/4" thick. Lay the dough, centered, into the prepared skillet. You should have almost an inch of dough trailing up sides of the skillet. Split each rope of string cheese in half; create a ring of cheese along the perimeter of the dough. Fold the dough's edge over the cheese and crimp the edges down with a fork. Prick the bottom of the dough with a fork (to avoid air bubbles.)

Remove the pizza sauce from heat. Spread half of the marinara on the pizza crust and save the other half for dipping sauce. Layer on the veggies, shredded mozzarella, a sprinkle of Parmesan and fresh basil. Bake the pizza for 20 - 30 minutes, or until the crust is puffed and golden brown.

If you like this recipe, you might enjoy:

The OMFG pizza
Barbecued peach pizza
*I can't get enough of this pizza crust recipe! There's hardly any kneading, the dough only has to rest for a few minutes, and the recipe makes enough dough for two pizzas. Make one now, freeze the other for later. When you're ready for pizza number two, just thaw the dough at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Great orange!

Mike and Randall in unit 1 moved away
so Fly Guy in 11 moved to unit 1
And one girl from unit 6 moved away
so her roommate took an open one-bedroom downstairs
and another girl moved into the opposite apartment,
next to the laundry room.
So Raymond and I joined the fun
and moved to unit 6,
where the kitchen sink is pink,
the bedrooms are on the left instead of the right,
and we now have a tiny, muddy, glorious back yard!
We also live right next door to our beloved Earls
(who were a lengthy three doors away before)
and have a nice view of the Council Crest radio tower.

We're still unpacking; Raymond hooked up our TV tonight and I'm arranging books on the living room shelves. However, my new kitchen is unpacked and running at 100 percent. It's the first room I set up. (A gal must have her priorities.) As soon as we got our new keys, I started transferring jars, pots and pans, and warming up these orange rolls for breakfast.

The recipe comes, indirectly, from my Great Aunt Carmon. She blessed me with a grocery bag full of cooking magazines last summer--old issues of Cooking Light and A Taste of Home, Better Homes and Gardens and Southern Cooking. While leafing through these issues, I found tips on how to clean a kitchen with sliced lemons and baking soda butted right up against reader-choice recipes for meat loaf and Parmesan scalloped potatoes. What a gift!

Among the clip-and-keep recipes, I found these "easy orange rolls" in a Better Homes and Gardens Hometown Cooking issue. They're heavenly to eat and a joy to prepare because, unlike many yeast rolls, you don't have to fuss with kneading the dough or waiting for it to rise. Just stir it up, chill it in the fridge--for up to a day--then roll it out! They bake in an oiled muffin tin and store beautifully. Thanks again for the great recipes, Aunt Carmon.


Easy Orange Rolls adapted from BH&G Hometown Cooking
makes 12 - 16 rolls

• 1 package active dry yeast (about 2 3/4 tsp.)
• 1/4 cup warm water (105 - 110 degrees F)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, cut into small slices
  
• 1 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup boiling water
• 1 beaten egg
• 3 to 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup ground flax seed
  
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 Tb. melted butter
• 1 1/2 tsp. finely shredded orange or tangelo peel
  
• 2 Tb. orange/tangelo juice
• 1 tsp. orange oil (optional)
• 1 tsp. each of ground ginger, ground cardamom (optional)
  

In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup of warm water and let it stand for 5 minutes, until you see small bubbles on the mixture's surface.

In a large bowl, combine the granulated sugar, salt, and 1/4 cup butter. Add boiling water, stirring to dissolve the sugar and melt the butter. Let the mixture sit until it's cooled to 110 degrees Fahrenheit, about 10 minutes. With a wooden spoon, stir in the yeast mixture, a beaten egg, and 1 1/2 cups of flour. Beat until a smooth dough forms. Stir in another 1 1/2 cups of flour. If the dough is still sticky, gradually stir in more flour --a spoonful at a time--until you've got a dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Remove the dough from the bowl--plop it into one hand--while you quickly grease the bowl with cooking spray or a smear of melted coconut oil. Plop dough back into the greased bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and chill it for 2 - 24 hours. (See? No kneading or rising.)

Sometime while the dough is chilling, prepare the frosting. Mix together the powdered sugar, melted butter, orange peel, orange juice, spices, and orange oil to create a frosting consistency that you like. I ended up adding more powdered sugar to my mix, but you may enjoy runnier frosting.

Remove the dough from the fridge and punch it down. Turn the dough onto a floured counter, cover it with a tea towel, and let it rest for 10 minutes. Grease the inside of a muffin tin, then roll the dough into a 12" by 18" rectangle. Spread half of the orange icing onto the dough, leaving a 1/2" from each edge clear. Roll the dough lengthwise to create a log of dough, crimping down the long edge. Using a sharp knife, slice rolls about 1" thick. Depending on how large you make the rolls, the dough should be enough for 12 to 16 rolls.

Carefully drop one roll in each greased muffin cup, then bake at 375 for 10 to 15 minutes, until the rolls are nicely puffed and golden brown. Let the rolls cool for a few minutes, then remove then from the tins and drizzle with the remaining icing. If you do not stuff your face with these orange rolls immediately (as I recommend), let the rolls cool, wrap with plastic, and store at room temperature for several days.

If you want to make these orange rolls even more convenient, prepare the rolls as above, but instead of baking them, pop the sliced dough in the freezer for at least an hour. Once the rolls are frozen, you can wrap each one tightly in plastic wrap, then in a freezer bag, and bake the rolls at your leisure. This way, you can enjoy a freshly baked snack without having to wrap leftovers. Bliss.

If you liked this recipe, you might enjoy:

Candied orange peel with almond
Almond biscotti with lemon icing