Mini-Cheesecakes

My culinary club students wanted to make mini-cheesecakes. So I went in search of a recipe...

Ingredients

CRUST:

2/3 C graham cracker crumbs

2 T sugar

3 T butter, melted

¼ tsp cinnamon

FILLING:

8 oz cream cheese, softened

¾ C sour cream

1/3 C sugar

1 egg

½ tsp vanilla

GLAZE:

½ C sour cream

2 T sugar

¼ tsp vanilla

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 325°F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Using a plastic bag and rolling pin, crush graham crackers into fine crumbs. In a bowl, mix 2/3 C graham cracker crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter and stir. Divide evenly between muffin cups, pressing firmly to bottom using a spoon or the bottom of a glass.

  

Using a stand mixer (or mixing bowl and whisk), beat softened cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Add sour cream, egg, sugar and vanilla; mix just until well blended. (DO NOT OVERMIX!!)

Divide the filling mixture over the graham cracker crust, filling each cup only 2/3 full.

Bake at 325°F for about 25-30 minutes, until the tops are set. With cheesecakes in the oven, increase oven temp to 400°F.  Meanwhile…

Make glaze: Mix together sour cream, sugar, and vanilla; set aside until oven reaches 400°F. When oven reaches 400°F, remove cheesecakes. Top each cheesecake with 1 teaspoon of glaze, spreading slightly with back of spoon; return cheesecakes to oven for 6-8 minutes. Cool for 1 hour at room temperature in muffin tins.

Serve as is, or…

            …top with your favorite fruit pie filling

            …drizzle with your favorite fruit syrup, chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, etc.

Nựớc Chẩm

a.k.a. 'awesome sauce' -- or so says Cooking Light magazine. (It's their photo.) Lots of versions of nuoc cham sauce can be found, but the sweet, salty, sour and spicy blend typically comes from some kind of sugar, fish sauce, lime and chile. Other ingredients vary. This is a fairly typical recipe...

Ingredients
¼ C water
2 T sugar
¼ C matchstick-cut carrots (optional)
3 T lime juice
4 tsp fish sauce
2 small garlic cloves, minced
1 Thai chile, thinly sliced

Directions
Combine water and sugar; stir -- or shake, in a sealed container -- until sugar dissolves. Add remaining ingredients.Refrigerate up to 3 days.

Use as a baste for grilling, a dressing/marinade for shredded cabbage, toss with soba noodles, as a dipping sauce for spring rolls...

White Chocolate Popcorn Balls (or...Easter Eggs!)

This is an adaptation of a recipe some of my Culinary Arts students tested and promoted for the "Good Citizens" treats we make and send to the elementary school at the end of each month (http://www.marthastewart.com/339168/popcorn-balls  ...with a few adaptations). Since Easter comes early this year, we added some food coloring, substituted some rainbow nonpareil "sprinkles" instead of the almonds (one of the 8 common allergens, and generally avoided in school snacks for groups of students). Achieving a true egg-shape is a challenge, especially working fairly quickly to get the entire batch shaped before the marshmallow-chocolate mixture cools too much. But I think the elementary students -- who are not severe critics to begin with -- will enjoy them!

Yield: about 56 (or so says Martha...but only if you make bite-sized tiny balls)

Ingredients
4 quarts popped popcorn
oil for popping
 tsp salt
3 Tbls unsalted butter
10 oz marshmallows
6 oz white chocolate
1/3 C sliced almonds (we used rainbow nonpareil 'sprinkles')
non-stick cooking spray
optional: food coloring

Directions
Pop popcorn in a large sauce pan or stock pot (with a lid): Using jut enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan, add corn kernels over medium-high heat; swirl and shake frequently to avoid burning. Sprinkle popcorn with salt. (Remove unpopped kernels.)

Melt butter in large pan over low heat. Add marshmallows and chocolate, stirring until melted. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring.

Remove from heat; quickly stir in almonds and popcorn and then nonpareils. Shape into balls (or semi egg shaped oblongs!) J  Transfer to baking sheet lined with parchment paper; let stand 30 minutes. We didn't find the parchment paper to be necessary, but it does make for easy clean-up.

Can be stored airtight up to 1 day.

Cranberry Orange Cheesecake Cookies

Ingredients:

½ C butter

½ C shortening

¾ C brown sugar

¾ C sugar

8 oz cream cheese

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 T frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

2¾ C flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp salt

1½ C white chocolate chips

²/₃ C dried cranberries

½ C orange juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°. Put dried cranberries to soak in a small bowl with orange juice; set aside.

Cream butter, shortening and sugars. Mix in cream cheese until blended. Add eggs, vanilla and orange juice concentrate and blend until smooth.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt. Add to creamed mixture all at once; mix until just combined. Drain cranberries. Add cranberries and white chocolate chips, blending until evenly distributed.

Drop dough by heaping teaspoons onto ungreased baking sheet, 2” apart. Bake 10-12 minutes. Cool 1-2 minutes on baking sheet, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Australian Jack (Oatmeal Bars)

Traditional Australian oatmeal 'cake'/cookie bar...

Ingredients
2 tsp water
1½ cups oatmeal
1 tsp ground ginger
½ C unsalted butter
1/3 C dark brown sugar
¼ tsp baking soda

Directions
Preheat oven to 300˚.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Dissolve baking soda in water, combine thoroughly with creamed butter & sugar.

Stir in oatmeal and ginger. Mixture should be fairly firm; if necessary add a little additional oatmeal. Knead briefly on lightly floured surface; press in a greased 9x9 baking pan or similar (dough should be about ½" thick).

Bake 35 minutes or until browned on top. Cut into wedges while still hot.

Australian Damper

Traditional bread made by Australian drovers in the outback - traditionally cooked in the coals of a campfire. (The photo isn't mine...we baked ours in round cake pans in the oven.  ...though we did serve it with vegemite!)

Ingredients
2½ C flour
5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp butter
1 tsp sugar
1 C freshly mixed powdered milk - or use water
     (I used fresh milk, not powdered.)

Directions
Combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in butter. Stir in milk to form a dough; knead briefly. Shape into flattened ball.

To cook in campfire coals, wrap in a double layer of well greased foil and place in coals of a campfire - OR - place in a cast iron skillet and 'nestle' in the the coals of a campfire.

To cook in the oven...  Preheat to 350˚; place dough in a greased round cake pan and bake for 30 minutes.

Eat in thick slices while warm, with butter, jam or vegemite. :)

Chicken Satay

 For another version... Chicken Satay with Spicy Peanut Sauce.

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

3 C coconut milk, divided

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbls + 2 tsp curry powder, divided

½ C + 1 T brown sugar, divided

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1½ lb boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders (breasts, cut into strips)

1 C peanut butter

1½ C chicken stock

¼ C lemon (or lime) juice

2 tsp soy sauce

20 (6 inch) wooden skewers

Directions

In a bowl, combine 1 C coconut milk, garlic, 2 tsp curry powder, brown sugar, salt and pepper, stir until sugar is dissolved. Toss chicken tenders/strips in mixture; cover, and marinate for 2 hours (refrigerated).

In saucepan, bring 2 C coconut milk, 2 T curry powder, peanut butter, chicken stock, and ½ C brown sugar to a simmer over medium-high heat. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until smooth and thickened. Remove from heat; stir in lemon juice, and soy sauce. (Add extra soy to taste if needed.)

Preheat grill. Presoak skewers in water. Thread chicken onto skewers. Grill 4-5 minutes per side, or until cooked through. Serve with warm peanut sauce.

Date & Raisin Chutney

(Khajoor & Kishmish Chutney)

Ingredients

2 C pitted dates

½ C raisins (dark or golden)

¼ C tamarind pulp

½ C brown sugar

½ inch fresh ginger, minced

1 tsp salt – adjust to taste

2 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp black pepper

½ tsp red chili powder – adjust to taste

2 black cardamom pods

1½ C (about) water

Directions

Soak raisins in water for about ½ hour. Chop dates into ½” pieces. Remove shell from cardamom pods; crush seeds.

In saucepan, combine water, tamarind, sugar, salt, black pepper, red chili powder, cumin and cardamom. Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer for about 2 minutes.

Add dates, raisins, and ginger. Return to boil, then remove from heat. Let sit at least 1 hour before serving. Serve at room temperature.

Chutney can be refrigerated for up to a month.

I used this as a marinade and condiment over a pork loin I roasted recently. Delicious!

Indian Vegetable Curry

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1½ lb choice of vegetables: cauliflower, carrot, okra, spinach, babycorn

1 C canned chickpeas, rinsed & drained

2 medium onions, thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 green chili, deseeded and minced

1-2 inches ginger, peeled and minced

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp salt

½ tsp mustard seed

½ tsp ground coriander

1 T curry paste

1 T tamarind purée and/or 1 T tomato paste

½ C coconut milk

oil for sautéing

Directions

Wash produce; trim and peel as needed. Medium dice all vegetables (except onions). In small bowl, combine curry paste, tomato purée and coconut milk; set aside.

Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat; sauté onion for 1-2 minutes; add garlic and chili, sauté another 2-3 minutes, stirring often. Add spices and ginger, stirring until well combined and fragrant.

Add diced vegetables, firmest first; cook, stirring often, until fork tender. Add chickpeas, cook until thoroughly warmed. Add coconut mixture, stirring gently to combine all ingredients. Cook until slightly thickened.

Serve over rice or with naan.

Pholourie with Spicy Mango Chutney

My Culinary Arts students cooked up a Caribbean feast, including Caribbean style rice & beans, Caribbean jerk chicken with tropical fruit, and these pholouries with mango chutney. They did a great job -- and my World Literature students, who were in the middle of our Caribbean Literature unit -- benefited deliciously from the C.A. students' efforts!

Pholourie Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup dried yellow split peas (soaked overnight and drained)

pinch of saffron threads

pinch of turmeric

salt and pepper to taste

½ Tbsp whole cumin seeds

1 tsp active dry yeast

½ tsp baking powder

½ - ¾ cup hot water

Pholourie Directions

Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl until a smooth and thick batter is formed. Drop the batter into a preheated deep-fryer by the teaspoon. Fry until golden brown and crispy-approx. 5 minutes. Remove from heat and place onto absorbent paper. Season with salt and serve with the spicy mango chutney.

Spicy Mango Chutney Ingredients

1 hard mango- peeled and diced

1 clove of garlic, chopped

1 cup water

pinch of salt

1 tsp sugar

1 whole hot pepper

Spicy Mango Chutney Directions

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan, bring to a simmer and continue to cook for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and remove the chili pepper. Allow to cool and serve with pholourie.

Caribbean Rice & Beans

My Culinary Arts students cooked up a Caribbean feast, including these Caribbean style rice & beans using a recipe from the Food Network. We also made Caribbean jerk chicken with tropical fruit, and pholouries with mango chutney. They did a great job -- and my World Literature students, who were in the middle of our Caribbean Literature unit -- benefited deliciously from the C.A. students' efforts!

Caribbean Jerk Marinade

I've made it often before and taken it to family dinners. So, at my brother's request, I'm posting it now. I could give you a 'from scratch' recipe (sugar, salt, onion, red pepper flakes, allspice, thyme, turmeric...) but there are good, premixed jerk seasonings available in the spice aisle at most supermarkets. There are also prepared jerk marinades (liquid, in jars/bottles). My favorite--and what I've brought to family dinners--is McCormick brand dry spice, but others will work too.  I mix it up like this:

Ingredients:

2 Tbls McCormick Caribbean Jerk Seasoning
1 Tbls oil
2 Tbls vinegar
2 Tbls brown sugar
1 Tbls soy sauce

1 to 2  lbs of chicken, pork, beef or seafood

1 or 2 15-oz cans of Dole Tropical Mixed Fruit

     (or fresh, diced tropical fruits of your choice)

Directions:

The meat can be diced or left to cook in whole portions. Place meat in a single layer in a 9x13 casserole dish. Combine all of the ingredients for the marinade. Pour over meat. This can be cooked immediately, but ideally it should marinate 2-4 hours before cooking.

Just before cooking, add tropical fruits. Adding the juice (optional) stretches the marinade, and dilutes and sweetens it. To include flavor without thinning, add 1 tablespoon of corn starch to the cold juice from each can of tropical fruit before pouring it over the meat.

Cover with foil; cook (350°) until the meat is cooked through. (45 min to an hour? depends on thickness of the meat). If marinade/juice is too thin – or there’s too much liquid – uncover for all or part of the cooking time.

My Culinary Arts students cooked up a Caribbean feast (for my World Literature students, when we were in our Caribbean Literature unit)...including jerk chicken with tropical fruit. We diced the chicken -- it can serve more people in small pieces -- but I often leave the chicken as whole breasts, thighs, or tenders.

Grilled Beef Anticuchos - Anticuchos de Carne

Anticuchos are a popular party food in South America, especially in Peru. The most traditional Peruvian anticuchos are made with beef heart, but they can also be made with chicken or steak. Anticuchos are seasoned with garlic, vinegar, cumin and aji panca, a mild red chile pepper with a smoky flavor common in Peruvian cooking. You can often find a dried aji panca or jarred aji panca paste in specialty stores or Latin food markets. Anticuchos are best if they are marinated overnight.

Makes about 12 skewers

Ingredients:
12 cloves of garlic
1 Tbls+ a pinch cumin
¼ C mild chile pepper paste (aji panca, if available)
½ C vinegar, divided
1 Tbls salt
2 tsp pepper
½ C vegetable oil
2-3 lbs steak (sirloin, tenderloin)
~  wooden skewers

Directions:

Place skewers skewers in water to soak.

Cut beef into 2 inch chunks and place in a nonreactive bowl or dish.

Mash the garlic into a paste. Add a little water if necessary to make a paste.

Make the marinade: In a bowl, mix the crushed garlic, ¼ C of vinegar, chile pepper paste, cumin, salt and pepper. Pour marinade over beef and mix well. Marinate beef overnight in refrigerator (or, if short on time, 1 hour at room temperature).

Place beef on skewers (4-5 pieces per skewer). Make a basting mixture of ½ C vegetable oil, remaining vinegar, and a pinch of cumin. Grill skewers for about 5 minutes on each side, or to desired doneness. Baste beef several times during cooking.

http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/maincourses/r/beefanticuchos.htm

Peruvian Causa

Peruvian Causa is so named because when Peru was at war -- fighting for independence from Spain -- women would make this layered potato dish, and sell it in the streets to raise money for 'the cause' and support their husbands/soldiers. The recipe below (from allrecipes.com) uses canned tuna. That may not be the most traditional form of fish/seafood, but it's easy to get and worked for our purposes in Culinary Arts.

The recipe indicates a layer of hard boiled egg slices on 'top' before inverting the causa, so they end up on the bottom. We liked it better when the egg slices -- and a sprinkling of cilantro, common in other causa recipes -- were added after the causa was inverted so that they were visible on top.

INGREDIENTS:

8 russet potatoes, peeled 1/2 cup vegetable oil, or as needed 2 tablespoons minced aji amarillo salt and ground black pepper to taste 2 (5 ounce) cans tuna, drained

1 small red onion, diced small 1/2 cup mayonnaise, divided 2 avocados, cut into thin strips 3 hard-boiled eggs, thinly sliced

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Place potatoes into a large pot and cover with salted water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain.
2.	Mash potatoes with a ricer or hand mixer until smooth. Gradually stir in oil until potatoes come together; add aji amarillo, salt, and pepper. Cool potato mixture in the refrigerator, about 20 minutes.
3.	Stir tuna, onion, and 1/4 cup mayonnaise together in a bowl.
4.	Line a casserole dish with plastic wrap. Spread 1/2 the potato mixture on the bottom of the dish. Spread 2 tablespoons mayonnaise over the potatoes, spread the tuna mixture over the mayonnaise, and place the avocado slices in a single layer on top of the tuna mixture. Spread the remaining 1/2 of potato mixture over the avocados, and top with remaining 2 tablespoons mayonnaise. Place sliced eggs over the top. Cover casserole dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
5.	Invert casserole dish onto a serving dish or baking sheet to remove potato casserole from dish. Remove plastic wrap and cut casserole into squares.

Red Velvet (White Chocolate Chip) Cookies

Ingredients:

2¼ C flour

3 T cocoa powder

1½ tsp cornstarch

1 tsp baking soda

¾ tsp salt

½ C butter, softened to room temperature

¹/₃  C shortening

1 C sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1½ tsp white vinegar

1½ tsp vanilla

1 T red food coloring

1½ C white chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°

Combine flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Using a stand mixer, cream butter, shortening and sugar until fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add egg and egg yolk. Next, add vinegar, vanilla and food coloring, mixing until just combined.

Add dry ingredients, mixing well. Stir in half the white chocolate chips.

Scoop heaping spoonfuls of dough onto parchment lined cookie sheets. Press a few extra white chocolate chips on top of each cookie, flattening cookies somewhat as you do so.

Bake 8 minutes; transfer to wire rack to cool.

M&M Cookies

Ingredients:

1½ C brown sugar

¾ C white sugar

1½ C shortening

3 eggs

1 T vanilla

3¾ C flour

1½ tsp baking soda

1½ tsp salt

3 C mini M&Ms

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°

Mix sugars, shortening, eggs and vanilla on low speed until well combined.

Add flour, soda and salt all at once. Mix until just combined. Add M&Ms and mix until well distributed.

Roll into balls, approximately 1½”. Press extra M&Ms on top, flattening cookie balls slightly with wooden spoon (or your palm).

Bake 9-11 minutes.

Yield: 24-30 cookies, depending on size.

Sauce Tomate (Tomato Sauce)

Sauce Tomate (Tomato Sauce) is one of the five French "mother sauces" that are the foundation of hundreds of other sauces. As is, it's pretty basic; but it can be seasoned to make an Italian marinara sauce, Spanish tomato sauce, a Creole sauce, and many other tomato based sauces.

Ingredients:

2-3 oz salt pork (like bacon, but not smoked; the fattier the better!)

2 T butter

1 C mirepoix (½ C chopped onion, ¼ C each chopped carrot and celery)

6 T flour

5 lbs (about 10 C) tomatoes, chopped*

1 qt white veal (or vegetable) stock

1 clove garlic, crushed or minced

1 T sugar

salt and pepper to taste

* Fresh is always ideal, but using canned tomatoes works too

Directions:

Render salt pork.  (How to “render” the salt pork: Place salt pork in a sauté pan with a tablespoon of water, cover with a lid over medium heat for 3-6 minutes, watch closely – don’t let it burn. The salt pork should nearly melt away…leaving the fat/grease. Water keeps it from browning or burning.)

Add butter, carrots and onions; sweat over medium heat for 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally until vegetables are tender and fragrant.

Sprinkle flour over vegetables, and cook an additional few minutes, stirring continually. (This is a blond roux.) 

Combine roux and tomatoes in a stock pot; continue to cook until tomatoes are soft and have released liquid. (If using canned tomatoes, all you really need to do is bring the mixture to a simmer.) Add stock and garlic clove. Cover pot with lid and simmer 1½ to 2 hours.

Add sugar (to balance the acidity of the tomatoes; not to make it sweet), salt and pepper.

Variations: If a smooth tomato sauce is desired, purée with an immersion blender. If a cream sauce tomate is desired, 1-2 cups of heavy cream can be added.

Cheddar Cheese Sauce

Ingredients:

1 pint Béchamel sauce

1 C grated cheddar cheese

½ tsp mustard powder

1 T Worcestershire sauce

½ C whole milk, hot

Directions:

In medium saucepan over medium-low heat, bring béchamel to a simmer.

Add cheddar cheese and stir until cheese has melted. Stir in Worcestershire sauce.

Add some or all of the milk to achieve the desired consistency. Serve immediately.

 Serve over pasta (macaroni & cheese), vegetables, with fries, corn chips, etc.

Mornay (Gruyère & Parmesan cheese) Sauce

Ingredients:

1 pint Béchamel sauce

2 oz grated Gruyère cheese

2 oz grated Parmesan cheese

1 T butter

¼ C whole milk, hot

Directions:

In medium saucepan over medium-low heat, heat béchamel to a simmer.

 Add Gruyere and Parmesan cheeses and stir until cheese has melted.

Remove from heat, stir in butter.

 Add some or all of the milk to achieve the desired consistency.

Serve over pasta, fish, poultry, vegetables, etc.

Béchamel

Béchamel sauce is one of the five French "mother sauces" that are the foundation of hundreds of other sauces. Béchamel is the base for Mornay and other cheese sauces, crème sauce, Soubise (onion sauce), and many others. It's used in lasagnas and moussaka and lots of other fish, seafood and poultry dishes.

Ingredients:

5 T butter

¼ C sifted flour

4 C milk

1 t salt

pinch white pepper

Optional: ¼ t ground (or freshly grated) nutmeg

Directions:

In medium saucepan, heat butter over medium-low heat until just melted. Don’t let butter brown as that will affect the flavor.

Add the flour and stir or whisk until smooth; continue cooking and stirring for 3 - 4 minutes until the mixture is a very light, golden, sandy color. This is the roux.

In separate saucepan, heat milk just to a simmer, be careful not to boil or scald the milk. Add the hot milk to the roux, one cup at a time, whisking continuously until very smooth.

Bring the sauce to a slow boil; cook an additional 8-10 minutes, stirring constantly, then remove from heat.

Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, if desired. Cover until ready to use.

* Nutmeg is great for flavor, but does spoil the pure 'white' appearance/presentation of the sauce.