Cheese Cake for your Valentine

2/11/21 Cook’s Corner

From Betty Kaiser                                                                         

 

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Thank goodness. A day filled with hugs, kisses, chocolates and Cupid, is perfect to offset this year’s dreary, pandemic, winter blues.

 

Much has been written about why we celebrate Valentine’s Day. The reasons range from honoring the Roman God of Fertility to the Aztec’s love of chocolate as an aphrodisiac. Personally, I think it’s a mixed bag of traditions that have evolved over centuries and Cupid is also a great excuse to eat chocolate!

 

Right this minute, in stores around the country, bright-red, foil-wrapped, heart-shaped boxes are filled with chocolates saying, “Buy me, buy me!”  You can’t miss them sitting alongside greeting cards and fancy jewelry.

 

Some of my favorite Valentine’s Days were in elementary school. We kids decorated shoeboxes with doilies, hearts and flowers, in anticipation of all the valentine cards and candy hearts we would receive. After the card exchange, we took them home and cherished them for weeks. The day was a celebration of friendship, innocence and joy.

 

Today with our adult kids and grandsons living far away, our celebrations are still simple. Chuck and I exchange funny, silly or sweet cards. He brings me a bouquet of flowers and I whip up his favorite dessert. Unfortunately, unlike in the magazine ads, no diamonds or new cars are exchanged.

 

Hands down, Chuck’s favorite dessert is cheesecake. He’ll eat almost any kind that you put in front of him, but his favorite is “Jeannie’s Fabulous Cheesecake.”

 

For many years, we belonged to a dinner group with a half dozen other couples. It was called “Squat and Gobble.” (Thanks, Harry!).

 

Every year we all celebrated Chuck’s September birthday at our house on Labor Day weekend. After a rousing game of badmitten or Croquet we chowed down on dinner and dessert.

 

Jeannie is famous for her fabulous cheesecake and she shared the recipe with me.  Well, one year when I was in California greeting a new born grandson, Chuck got hungry for Cheesecake. He found and baked Jeannie’s recipe.

 

After years in the restaurant business the man knows how to cook. But it’s usually not dessert and this recipe could have killed him. (This was before he knew he had diabetes!) It is full of butter, sugar, eggs, whipping cream, 3 pounds of cream cheese, etc.  So, he made the dessert and ate it all before I came home! Oy!

 

I, however, am not that crazy about cheesecake. I like it but it’s a little boring for my taste buds. So, I found another recipe with a topping that features crunchy pecans and apples. It sounds yummy but I haven’t tried it yet so let me know which one you like. Enjoy!

 

 

JEANNIE’S FABULOUS CHEESECAKE

 

CRUST

1/4-pound butter

1 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

 

Preheat oven to 350° F. Melt butter. Add sugar, egg yolk and flour. Pat 1/2 of mixture on bottom of 9” Springform pan and the remaining half up sides. Bake 10 min. or until golden brown. Remove from oven and increase heat to 450° F.

 

FILLING

3 pounds cream cheese (six 8-ounce packages)

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup flour

5 eggs

2 egg yolks

1 cup whipping cream

Juice of one lemon

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 teaspoons almond extract

 

Slightly warm cheese to soften it. Add all ingredients and beat with mixer until smooth. Pour into pan. Set timer and bake for 12 min. Turn heat off and leave the cake in the oven for 2 hours. Do not open oven door. No peeking! After two hours, remove from oven and heat oven to 350° F.

 

TOPPING

1 pint sour cream

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

 

Combine all ingredients until smooth. Spoon onto baked cheesecake and spread evenly. Bake an additional 8 min. Let cool and then refrigerate 1-2 hours or until serving time. Serves 12 (or more).

 

APPLE PECAN CHEESECAKE

(Source unknown)

 

Crust:

1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted

2 tablespoons sugar

 

Preheat oven to 325° F. Line 13x9-inch pan with foil. Mix crumbs, butter and sugar; press onto bottom of pan. Bake 10 min. Remove.

 

Filling:

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 pounds (4-8 ounce packages) Cream Cheese, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup sour cream

4 eggs

 

Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in mixer until blended. Add sour cream, blend; Add eggs on at a time, mixing on slow speed after each just until blended. Pour into crust.

 

Topping:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

4 cups chopped, peeled apples

3/4 cup pecans, chopped

1 teaspoon cinnamon

 

Mix all ingredients together and sprinkle over batter. Bake 1 hour or about 65 min. Cool. Refrigerate 4 hours. Use foil to lift cheesecake from pan before cutting to serve. Makes up to 16 small servings.

 

• Read Betty's columns bi-monthly in the Cottage Grove Sentinel
  

 

 

 

 

Betty Crocker Cookbook Custards

1/7/21 Cook’s Corner by Betty Kaiser

Last week, I opened my ancient Betty Crocker Cookbook and it fell apart. Literally. I really don’t know why I was surprised. It’s old, well-used and cared for and I have others that are in better shape. But this is the one that I love even when the binding came off and the pages are torn.

 

We have history.

The first print of the Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book was published in 1950 with an initial run of 950,000 copies. It sold for $2.95. Betty Crocker was not the author. That’s a fictional name. The 2,161 recipes for the book were developed by 50 chefs at the General Mills test kitchens. More than 75 million books have sold.

 

My cookbook is the 1956 revised deluxe binder edition. It was a wedding shower gift in 1958 and is literally falling apart from years of use.  It has since been joined by at least 100 other cookbooks including another revised Betty edition that is holding on. 

 

Betty's final demise happened while I was looking for an egg custard pudding recipe. Fortunately, I was still able to find the recipes that I wanted. Of course, I could go online to find such recipes but I enjoy seeing things in the old format.

 

Among other things, these old cookbooks feature photographs, weekly menus, handy hints, and a glossary that explains cooking terminology. They even offer instructions for using those new appliances from that era like electric ranges and refrigerators!

 

So, why a custard recipe? My wonderful neighbor Delia raises chickens. They are the most beautiful fluffy little critters that I have ever seen and she generously shares their eggs with us.

 

Recently, they laid eggs in abundance. So, these days, in addition to omelets, cookies and muffins, I am also making custards and puddings.

 

Custards are pretty easy to make, but they need a little tender loving care when they bake. Slow cooking and gentle heat in a water bath helps to prevent curdling. The trick is getting a pan of hot water in the oven and then putting the pan(s) of custard in and out of the water. I have spilled the hot water more than once. Ugh. Sometimes I heat water in the tea kettle, put the empty pan in the oven and pour the water into it. Then, I place the pudding in the pan to bake. However you do it, be careful! Hot pads required! Enjoy!

 

BAKED CUSTARD

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Set out a 1-1/2 qt baking dish (I use a round Pyrex) OR 6 custard cups into a pan of hot water (1”) deep.

Beat slightly to mix:

4 Eggs

½ Cup Sugar

¼ tsp Salt

Scald or heat in microwave 

4 Cups Milk (Use glass measuring cup)

Stir milk into egg mixture and add 1 teaspoon Vanilla.

Pour into baking dish or custard cups and evenly sprinkle a little nutmeg over the top. Bake just until a silver knife inserted 1” from edge comes out clean (center sets as it stands. Immediately remove from heat and cool.

My 60-year-old cookbook recipe suggests unmolding if you like and then passing grape or other fruit juice to pour over. I prefer garnishing with whipped cream and a cherry on top! Serves 6-8.

 

CARAMEL CUSTARD

1/2 cup sugar

3  eggs, slightly beaten

1/3  cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/8  teaspoon salt

2 1/2  cups very warm milk

Ground nutmeg

Heat oven to 350°F.

Heat 1/2 cup sugar in heavy 1-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is melted and golden brown. Divide sugar syrup among six 6-ounce custard cups; tilt cups to coat bottoms. Allow syrup to harden in cups about 10 minutes.

Mix eggs, 1/3 cup sugar, the vanilla and salt in medium bowl. Gradually stir in milk. Pour over syrup in cups. Sprinkle with nutmeg.

Place cups in rectangular pan, 13x9x2 inches, on oven rack. Pour very hot water into pan to within 1/2 inch of tops of cups.

 Bake about 45 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out clean. Remove cups from water. Cool 30 minutes. Cover and refrigerate until serving or up to 48 hours.

To unmold, carefully loosen side of custard with a knife or small spatula. Place dessert dish or plate on top of cup and, holding tightly, turn dish and cup upside down. Shake cup gently to loosen custard. Caramel syrup will run down sides of custard, forming a sauce. Serves 6

• Keep it simple and keep it seasonal with Betty Kaiser’s Cook’s Corner