Fromage à la Crème

Cheesecake in a glass

I have a set of ‘made in Japan’, adorable glasses which came with plastic lids that I would like to bake purin (Japanese term for  pudding) in. I don’t know with certainly that they are oven proof.… I dug up an old cook book (Michiyo Kumabe’s Rich Sweets) for inspiration. This cheesecake I made with relative ease…maybe a bit out of season – ish though the fair weather we’re having justified the chilled dessert?

I made chiffon cake for the base. Substitute store bought pound cake or crashed graham crackers are nice shortcut. Feel free to omit base all together for gluten free version also for less calories (that’s what I should have done). I used blueberries though any other berry will do. Now raise your glass, say Santé (Cheers!).

Ingredients and Instruction for 1-12x8 sheet cake (Print recipe here

) Skip this process for gluten free version.

Necessary equipment: food thermometer, hand held mixer

Preparation: line *cake pan with parchment paper. *Use smaller size for thicker cake.

• 2 egg whites
• 80g granulated sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 60g low viscosity flour (薄力粉) sift twice
• 4 Tablespoons milk
• 20g unsalted butter at room temperature

1. Pre-heat oven to 338F. Beat egg white and sugar with hand held electric mixer in a large bowl till stiff peaks form.
2. Add egg yolk and blend in with rubber spatula.
3. Sprinkle flour in 1/4th at a time. Scoop batter from bottom of bowl and over to combine but do not over mix.
4. Put milk and butter in a small microwave proof bowl and microwave for 10 seconds at 50% power. Check the temperature and repeat the process to warm milk mixture up to122F.
5. Put 1 ladleful of batter into the milk mixture and mix well then put whole thing back into the bowl (process #3) and combine.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, tap the bottom of pan to remove air trapped in the batter. Bake for about 20 minutes. Check the doneness by inserting a wooden skewer. When it’s done, drop pan from a half-foot above the counter. This helps to keep the cake from shrinking. Remove cake from pan. cool cake on the rack. Wrap the slightly warm cake with plastic wrap to prevent drying out.
   

Ingredients and Instruction for cheesecake (enough to fill 10 – 6 oz. glasses)

• 6g sheet gelatin
• 2 egg yolks
• 80g sugar
• 4 teaspoons water
• 250g cream cheese, room temperature
• 50g sour cream
• 300g heavy cream

1. Soak sheet gelatin in a large bowl full of icy water.
2. Put egg yolks and sugar in a large microwave proof bowl. Whisk until pale yellow. Add 4 teaspoons water and mix well.
3. Place the yolk mixture in a microwave (no need to cover) and microwave for 40 seconds at 50% power. Mix well with whisk. Repeat the process 2-3 more times until the mixture gets a little thick.
4. Squeeze the moisture from the gelatin and add to the still warm egg yolk mixture combine well.
5. In another bowl, mix cream cheese and sour cream well and add to the egg/ gelatin bowl. Mix well and set aside
6. Whip heavy cream till soft peaks form. Combine with egg yolk/ gelatin mixture
   .

Assembly

• Sheet cake  See the recipe above.
• Jam – any but perhaps coordinate with the fruit of your choice – I used homemade blueberry jam
  

1. Cut out sheet cake with round cookie cutter or biscuit cutter to fit bottom of your glasses. You may want to freeze the cake scraps to use later.
2. Drop a teaspoon of jam onto the cake.
3. Fill with cheesecake leaving some space on top for fruits. Note; pastry bag with large tip will make it easier to fill. Tap bottom of the glass to remove air.
4. Chill 3-4 hours in refrigerator and decorate with fruits.

The granola version…loved the crunch!

On Instagram try Today’s TAPAS (#todaystapas) to coordinate with calendar, on Valentine’s Day was theme of red…petit four style sandwiches. The beetroot bread I used here is recipe from Charles’s Five Euro Food.

Then on Chinese New Year -  spicy chicken pot stickers mimic fortune cookies. Homemade lantern and embossing the money envelop with lucky Chinese character (it says double joy)….was fun project!

Belated Valentine’s Day gift from our daughter arrived a few days ago…CHOCOLATE SHOYU (soy sauce) CARAMELS made in San Francisco…Unique! Definitely Wafu (Japanese style)! 

We don’t know what that is…This flower was only a half-foot tall with tight buds when church friends brought it. Only a week later it grew more than a foot and bloomed. It has storing mediciney scent. Striking isn’t it?

Spring is not so far away.