Heavenly, Luscious -- And Taking It Up Two More Notches

Aplogies First: Wow, do I dare say that it has been four months since I posted last! Wow! Time goes by so fast and it seemed like last Fall and the beginning of Winter just sped away somewhere. Not that I don’t know where it went; it is just that I don’t know how it went by so fast.

Needless to say, though, it isn’t like I haven’t started blogs, because I have. It is just finishing them is what I have to apologize about. But, I couldn’t let this last “thing” go by without blogging about it.

Onto The Main Event: Today we are talking cheesecakes, people! One of my favorite subjects. They are a little more tedious to make but in the end, so satisfying.

We had a “little” family gathering this past weekend on Sunday which I decided to prepare a couple cheesecakes for. Okay, maybe it wasn’t a "little" gathering, just a bunch of women (the O’Connor women, aunts, cousins, in-laws) getting together for their 1st Annual SnS (Soup ‘n Salad) Luncheon. What a party! What a great idea his cousin Mary Jean had! Outstanding soups, transcendent salads, out-of-this world breads, excellent refreshments, and, just a little dessert to finish it off.

Since I have so many cookbooks, saved recipes plus my own personal cookbooks (and lots of recipes to add to each of them yet -- and yes, before you say it, I do have my favorites indexed), digging up something new is always fun but can sometimes be time-consuming, aggravating (because my stomach growls while I look through my recipes), but so satisfying when I find just the right one. Actually, when I find the right one, sometimes I'm so excited, I usually find it hard to wait to get making it.

And this time I did. We are talking Heavenly Chocolate Cheesecake. However, I decided that the cheesecake alone was not quite appeasing enough. I decided to add a Raspberry Coulis and top it off with some Chantilly Cream.

Coulis? Coulis? What the heck is a coulis? I’m glad you asked. A coulis (pronounced koo-lee) is made by pureeing something – often a fruit or vegetable – until it is liquid enough to serve as a sauce. Good-quality frozen berries make delicious coulis (in this case that is what I went with). Pastry chefs or schooled and sophisticated restaurant chefs often store fruit coulis in a squeeze bottle so they can easily squirt the sauce in a pattern on a dessert or the plate, pool it onto plates, or add a few droplets to garnish another sauce. Now you know – if you are in a restaurant and you see some of that pureed sauce dribbled on your plate or dessert, you can say with confidence and impress others when you speak that foreign language – culinary – by uttering the word “coulis.”

Cream of the Crop: Next, what’s up with the fancy name on the cream? Chantilly cream, or crème chantilly, to use the French word and again impress your friends, is simply sweetened whipped cream flavored with vanilla (or sometimes brandy). Here in the United States, we take the sweetened part for granted when we refer to whipped cream, although, of course, unsweetened whipped cream is used to give volume and flavor to a number of savory recipes. There are those who will tell you Chantilly cream is a lightly whipped cream (that is to say, not stiff and heading towards butter), but there are those who will disagree with this assertion. Chantilly cream is often piped into decorative shapes. In this case, I took a slice of the cheesecake, ladled some raspberry coulis over that and then used my Pampered Chef Easy Accent Decorator and using the largest tip piped a dollop onto the top. It might be onto the top of the dessert, but this was just enough to take the whole thing slightly “over the top!”

No Cake Like a Cheesecake: The cheesecake by itself is just plain yummy! But as I said, adding the little extras made it magnificent. Now tell me, who can’t resist the urge to take a small piece of Heaven every once in awhile? If you do like me, I just work harder on the treadmill for the sins I just committed or am about to commit when sitting down with this dessert. It makes it all worthwhile.

And without further ado, let me share these recipes with you. I promise – you will love them as much as I do, and, hey, if you make it for a holiday, outing, gathering, etc., you are sharing it with someone else (so the devil isn’t tempting you to eat the whole darn thing by yourself)!!

HEAVENLY CHEESECAKE
•18 Oreo cookies, finely crushed (I put mine in the food processer – works faster)(about 1-1/2 cups)
•2 Tbsp. butter, melted
•3 pkgs. (8 oz. each) cream cheese (I used Neufchâtel which has less fat and calories)
•3/4 cup sugar
•1 tsp. vanilla
•1 pkg. (8 squares) Semi-Sweet chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
•3 eggs

Mix the crushed cookies and butter; press firmly onto the bottom of a greased 9-in springfoam pan.
BEAT cream cheese, sugar and vanilla on medium speed until well blended.
ADD melted chocolate; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Pour over crust.
BAKE at 325◦F for 55 minutes to 1 hour or until center is almost set. Run knife or metal spatula around side of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing side of pan. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

RASPBERRY COULIS
•1 lb. fresh or frozen raspberries
•3/4 to 1 cup sugar
•1-2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice or bottled lemon juice like RealLemon
(Makes about 2 cups)

COMBINE the raspberries, 3/4 cup of sugar and 1 Tbsp. of the lemon juice in a sauce pan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. (Don’t worry if you use frozen, they will thaw fast in the pan). Simmer until the sugar has dissolved, about 10 minutes. Taste the mixture and, if necessary, add more sugar. Continue to heat until any additional sugar is dissolved.
STRAIN the coulis through a fine-mesh sieve (or a fine-mesh strainer) to eliminate any seeds.
ADJUST the flavor by adding additional lemon juice if necessary. The coulis can be served warm or cold; it will thicken slightly when stored in the refrigerator, and keeps for up to 10 days.

CHANTILLY CREAM
•1 cup heavy cream, chilled (yes, that would be whipping cream)
•1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar (or to some “powdered sugar”)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
(Makes about 2 cups)

CHILL a stainless-steel bowl and the beaters. (I used the balloon whisk on my mixer).
POUR the cream into the chilled bowl and whip on medium speed until thickened, about 3 minutes. Increase the speed to high and gradually add the confectioner’s sugar while whipping. Add the vanilla extract and continue to whip until the cream has the desired peak according to its intended use. Soft peaks are good for dolloping cream (taking a spoon and plunking it on there), while firmer peaks are better if the cream is to be piped, used for topping, or folded into another mixture.

Getting Whipped Into Shape: Now here is the biggy, the one instruction you need to make sure you follow carefully: WARNING! WARNING!! (haha!) If your cream starts to turn slightly yellow while you are whipping, it is close to being over-whipped and turning into butter. If that happens, don’t say that I didn’t warn you – but if that does happen, simply fold in a small amount of the unwhipped cream, if you have it, to rescue the texture. Okay, students, if you take one thing away from this, it should be – keep it white!

Whipping to the Desired thickness: Always test your cream when you are whipping. Increase the speed to high and keep whipping the cream until it holds, soft , medium or firm peaks. In this case, we want slightly firm peaks – not stiff. Cream whipped to firm peaks is best for piping. Again, cream should not be whipped to stiff peaks, since it can easily turn into butter.

For the best results when whipping cream remember these simple instructions: (1) Make sure you chill the bowl, the beaters and the cream. Place the bowl and beaters in the freezer if need be, but they can also be put in the refrigerator for a couple hours prior to whipping. (2) Add your sugar gradually. Confectioner’s and superfine sugars dissolve more quickly than granulated (which is what we commonly use in baking, etc.) so you are always best to use confectioner’s. (3) Don’t overbeat the cream – remember we are making Chantilly Cream not butter. (Not that I couldn’t eat butter on just about anything but it just wouldn’t look too pretty on this dessert).

And, Last But Not Least . . .the last thing to remember, after you have plated up your dessert, gently grab your fork, eye up this resplendent creation you have composed and forewarn your taste buds that they are about to meet up with something they might just start begging for a little more often.

Oh, yah, it is that good!