Chik's Crib

22 March 2024

Basque Cheesecake Recipe

March 22, 2024 0
 Basque Cheesecake Recipe

How many times have I obsessed over Le Creuset cookware? The bright iconic orange, the tints of reds, and the blues. Staub too, often found on the adjourning shelves, looking just as lovely. How many hours have I spent just walking around department stores and browsing through their displays? So bear with me, as I posed the cheesecake in my sister’s Staub. I most assuredly didn’t bake this cheesecake in it, but the Staub's too pretty not to photograph it every chance I get.




But let me get back to this Basque Cheesecake. After two less-than-stellar results from other recipes, I finally struck the proverbial gold the third time around. The top is a deep burnished mahogany surrounded by a ring of deep brown without burnt spots. The inside, soft and creamy. 


This cheesecake is chilled for 8 hours before serving, making it the perfect make-ahead dessert for a party.  For us, I finished baking it by afternoon, and stuck it in the fridge. I had planned to turn in early for the night, but somehow, time slipped on by. When midnight came around, we were still sitting around the kitchen, drinking wine and chatting. So I pulled the cheesecake out of the fridge, and we shared a single perfect slice for supper. 


Basque Cheesecake Recipe

Adapted from RecipeTin Eats 

Makes a 7-inch cheesecake 

The cheesecake, baked until deeply-bronzed, is rich and flavourful. My favourite New York cheesecake recipe from Stella Park uses goat cheese as a secret ingredient to booster a cheesecake's richness further. For my subsequent attempts, I'll be interested to see how adding 100g of goat cheese would do for the recipe


INGREDIENTS

450g (2 blocks) cream cheese, at room temperature 

120g granulated sugar 

1/4 + 1/2 cups heavy cream

2.5 tbsp all-purpose flour 

0.5 tsp vanilla bean extract

3 large eggs (about 1/2 cup), at room temperature


STEPS

1. Preheat oven to 220°C. Set a rack in the middle of the oven.


2. Crumple up a 15-inch piece of baking paper, then smooth out the baking paper to be used to line the inside of a cake pan. If one piece of baking paper isn't enough to cover the sides of cake pan, you may need a second piece of a 15-inch baking paper, set perpendicularly to the first piece of baking paper. Fold the baking paper(s) outwards over the rim of the cake pan. 


3. In a large bowl, whisk cream cheese on medium speed until smooth, for about 2 minutes. Add sugar and continue to whisk on low speed for 10 seconds.


4. In a medium-sized bowl, combine 1/4 cup of heavy cream and flour until a smooth paste forms. Slowly drizzle in the remaining half cup of cream while continuing to stir until just combined. Then add vanilla. 


5. Drizzle the cream mixture into the cream cheese bowl while whisking on low speed, just until combined. Add the eggs until mixed in, then stop whisking. 


6. Pour the cheesecake batter into the cake pan. Gently rap the cake pan against a cloth set on a table to bring any air bubbles to the surface, and then pop the air bubbles with a spoon or butter knife.  


7. Bake until the surface is a deep golden brown, or about 30-32 minutes (although for some, it may take much longer. Go by visual cues instead of fixed timings. It should look browned but not burnt.) Rotate the baking sheet midway to ensure even browning. The centre will still be wobbly - that's alright!


8. Remove the cheesecake from the oven at let cool in the cake pan for 2 hours at room temperature. (The cheesecake will sink and lose height as it cools.) Refrigerate the cheesecake uncovered for at least 8 hours before serving. The cheesecake can be served straight from the fridge, or be allowed to bring up to near room temperature. 

15 March 2024

King Arthur's Recipe of the Year (2023): Supersized, Super-Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies!

March 15, 2024 0
King Arthur's Recipe of the Year (2023): Supersized, Super-Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies!

There's nothing quite as delightful as pulling out a perfectly-baked tray of cookies from the oven as its rich aroma fills the kitchen, or biting down into a still-warm cookie. 


That said, I don't often bake cookies. Cookies are baked in batches, and I'm hampered by my stovetop oven that is half the size of regular ovens. I don't have the required patience to pull baking trays in and out every 15 minutes all day.


When I had the chance to visit my sister and use her full-sized oven, these huge chocolate chip cookies, the winner of King Arthur's Recipe of the Year in 2023, was the first recipe on my listThese cookies are good. Like, crazy good, and the best cookie that I've had. They're huge and soft, and tasted like how I remembered my childhood Subway cookies to be like. I was having Anton Ego-esque flashbacks.  


These pictures don't quite capture the cookies' hugeness. This (below) is a half-size sheet pan is 18"x13", which fits about 5 cookies. My regular home oven fits quarter-size sheet pans (9"x13"), which probably means I would be baking 2 cookies each time, if I try. (Spoiler alert: I won’t). 


At the end of the trip, it was hard for me to leave her house, partially because I know I won't be having any more of these beauties, not until at least after I upgrade my oven. But when I do, this King Arthur recipe remains at the top of my list.


I usually adapt recipes to include clarifications or to streamline some steps, and post my revised recipes here. But for this recipe, I decided I’ll just link to the original recipe on the King Arthur websiteFor sure, this recipe has many steps, far more than other cookie recipes. Some of the steps can be convoluted. (Yes, I would rest the dough for the full 72-hour. I baked two batches: one at the 24-hour mark, and one at the full 72-hour. The latter was lovelier, with a nuttier, almost-caramelised accent.) But each step was written in a clear manner, and wouldn't dare to mess with any of the instructions in case the quality suffers. 


For on that sunny winter morning, what came out of the oven was pure perfection. 

09 March 2024

Seared Octopus - It's Really Easy!

March 09, 2024 0
Seared Octopus - It's Really Easy!


I was at Costco with my sister one day when I visited Boston, and we happened to walk by the seafood section. I’m a huge fan of octopus, and despite their hefty price tag, I’m always tempting to order at restaurants. We saw that octopi were on sale and decided to get some first, and figure out how to cook the octopus second.  

One quick lookup over at the Serious Eats's guide on octopus and we were ready to roll. We didn't even have to salt the octopus - it was naturally salty, perhaps because of the seawater? It's incredibly easy to cook and yields spectacular results on our first try.


Seared Octopus

INGREDIENTS
1 octopus, about 800g-1kg
1-2 tablespoons of Olive oil, plus more for drizzling 
Lime or lemon wedges, for serving (optional)
Coarse salt, for serving (optional)

STEPS

1. Set the octopus into a pot of boiling water set over high heat and bring it to a simmer. Cook until a paring knife is able to pierce through the thickest part of the tentacle easily. An octopus weighing 1kg would take about 1 hour; ours was about 800g and took 40 minutes. Turn off the heat, remove the octopus from the boiling water and let the octopus cool completely. 

2. Refrigerate the octopus. This ensures the fragile purple skin doesn't get rubbed off, and should be done even if you plan to serve the octopus warm subsequently. When refrigerated, the octopus can be kept for up to 3 days. 

3. When ready to serve, the octopus can be carved up to separate the head from the tentacles. The tentacles can be sliced into 3-4 inch pieces. On the underside of the head, you will find the hard beak of the octopus - it should be cut and thrown away. Eyes should be removed. The octopus can be served cold as it is now, or seared (step 4). 

4. Over a frying pan set over high heat, add olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the octopus slices. Sear one side until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes, then flip it over to sear the other side. Serve immediately, with wedges of lime or lemon for seasoning. It goes well as a dish by itself, or as part of a salad.