Thanksgiving Dessert

            As promised, here is my Thanksgiving-dessert post. Here are some of the things I am thankful for this year, other than the “family, friends, a roof over my head, good food” spiel—not to disparage those things, but I am thankful for them everyday and I’d like to get a little creative.

• The fact that this was my first Thanksgiving where I wasn’t planning and cooking around a school break;
• My bachelor’s degree;
• All the sweet comments left for me on my Mad Tea Party post—I reread them when I need a pick me up, and they never fail to warm my heart;
• This year’s religious education class of fourth graders—their spontaneous hugs and their excitement to be in my class every week also never fails to warm my heart;
• Today’s rainy day, which is perfect for movie watching, baking, Christmas decorating, and blog posting (it also happens to be my dad’s birthday);
• Gran Hotel on Netflix, which is like Downton Abbey on steroids in Spanish; and lastly,
• Irish cream whipped cream, which leads me to… 

My mini pumpkin cheesecakes with Irish cream whipped cream. A Bailey’s Pumpkin Cheesecake my mom used to make every Thanksgiving when I was little inspired this dessert. It was amazingly delicious, but it was one of those really dense, heavy cheesecakes that you could only have a few bites of before you were put into a food coma. I remember the batter was so thick that it used to slow down the beaters of our old hand mixer to a disturbingly sluggish chugging. That being said, I’m able to make these mini cheesecakes by hand.

My absolutely favorite part, though, is the Irish cream whipped cream. I could eat it straight from the bowl with a spoon. I also love that since these cheesecakes are small, you can eat two…if you want.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes with Irish Cream Whipped Cream (Yield: 14)

Crust:

2/3 c. graham cracker crumbs

2 tbsp. brown sugar

2 tbsp. melted butter

1. Line 14 wells of a muffin tin with foil liners and preheat the oven to 325º F.
2. Mix the ingredients together in a bowl until thoroughly combined.
3. Press 1 tbsp. of the mixture into each well, lightly pressing it with the back of a spoon to make it flat.
4. Bake the crust for 5 minutes and then take the pan out to cool while you make the crust. 

Filling:

8 oz. package of cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 c. pumpkin puree

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. cloves

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

1. Raise the temperature of the oven to 350º F.
2. Cream together the sugar and cream cheese in a large bowl until thoroughly combined, then add the eggs, mixing after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.
3. Fold in the pumpkin puree until there are no longer streaks of orange and the batter is homogenous. Stir in the spices.
4. Fill the crusts about three fourths of the way to the top and bake the cheesecakes for 25 to 30 minutes. 
5. Let the cheesecakes cool to room temperature and then refrigerate them until chilled.

Irish Cream Whipped Cream:

1 c. heavy whipping cream

1/3 c. sugar

2 tbsp. Irish cream

1. Place the heavy whipping cream and the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Mix on low speed until the sugar and cream are combined and then raise the speed slightly and allow the cream to thicken slightly.
2. Raise the speed to high. When the cream holds a soft peak, pour in the Irish cream and continue beating the whipped cream until it holds a firm peak.
3. Spoon the whipped cream onto the tops of the chilled cheesecakes before serving.

The Post Where I'm a Hot Mess

I harbored visions of grandeur with this post. I had meant to get it on the blog for Halloween. There was going to be an epic All Hallows’ Eve bonfire, and my photo lineup would be abundant with pictures of sparkling autumn-themed decorations—not to mention the beautifully gooey s’mores roasted over an open fire. In my head it was glorious.

So I spent the day of Halloween making marshmallows and graham crackers with an adorably Goth-themed Canadian children’s cartoon on in the background (thank you, Netflix!) and prepared for the multitude of trick-or-treaters (who never came—it was an undersized handful of toddlers and their parents)…and then the evening turned. Normally Halloween weather is pretty mild, but this year we had “a dark and stormy night”—appropriate for the holiday, but not conducive to bonfires.

Before I knew it, I got caught up in law school applications, upcoming stories for the OC Register…and I got lazy. I also just got sick. But then I got a craving for something sweet, and since I just happened to have some leftover s’mores paraphernalia, I decided to get off the couch and throw away my mountain of used tissues and take the opportunity to age a few pieces paper with coffee for a backdrop, roast some marshmallows, and get pictures.

I got a headache in the process, as well as sticky hands and great smears of chocolate on my chin. Put simply, I was a hot mess, but my craving was satisfied. There really is no cute way to eat a s’more, especially when you currently have no other choice but to breathe through your mouth, but what can you do? Also…

Homemade graham crackers > Store bought graham crackers, and 

Homemade marshmallows > Store bought marshmallows

So if you put homemade graham crackers together with homemade marshmallows and throw in some good quality chocolate, you can only imagine what happens.

Homemade s’mores will change your life. The little bit of salt in the graham crackers adds just enough salty to balance the sweetness of the marshmallows, which are much fluffier and lighter than store bought. I love seeing flecks of vanilla bean in things that are vanilla flavored, so they’re also a tad prettier than the ones sitting in plastic bags on the store shelf for who knows how long. And going back to the graham crackers…these aren’t crumbly squares of cardboard. They are soft and nutty and slightly sweet. Trust me, it really is worth the effort.

I suggest making everything ahead of time, especially the marshmallows as they need to set for a few hours in order to transform from fluff into something sliceable. As for the chocolate, I used Godiva’s 72% Dark Chocolate Bar.

I hope you enjoy my post-Halloween offering. I do have something planned for Thanksgiving…here’s hoping that I can get it posted while it’s still November!

Homemade S’mores

Vanilla Bean Marshmallows: (adapted from Ina Garten)

3 packages gelatin

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 c. light corn syrup

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped with a small paring knife

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 c. powdered sugar

1/4 c. cornstarch

1. Place the gelatin along with 1/2 c. water in the bowl of a stand mixer, and let it stand while you make the sugar syrup.
2. In a medium-sized saucepot, combine the sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 1/2 c. water and cook it over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Then turn the heat up to high, and cook the syrup for 7-8 minutes, or until it reaches 240º on a candy thermometer. Immediately remove the pot from the heat.
3. Turn the stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, on low speed and then slowly and carefully drizzle the hot syrup down the side of the bowl in a steady stream. Be careful that you don’t pour the syrup directly onto the whisk—it will turn the sugar syrup into hard spun sugar.
4. Once you have poured all the syrup into the bowl, put the mixer on high speed and whip the mixture for 14 minutes. It will transform before your eyes into a beautifully fluffy, shiny, cloud-like mass.
5. Pour in the vanilla and tap the vanilla bean seeds into the bowl and continue mixing the marshmallow fluff for one more minute. (The vanilla bean pod can be placed in jar of granulated sugar to make vanilla sugar.)
6. Whisk together the powdered sugar and cornstarch in bowl. Spray a 9x13” dish with cooking spray, making sure to get all the corners and sides, then dust it with just enough of the powdered sugar mixture to evenly coat the entire pan.
7. Spray a rubber spatula with cooking spray and use it to scrape the marshmallow fluff into the pan. The fluff will be too sticky to get all of it, but do the best you can—you can always save the leftover fluff to snack on while the marshmallows set.
8. Dampen your hands with a little bit of water and pat the top of the marshmallow block to smooth it out. Sift more of the powdered sugar mixture onto the exposed surface. Allow the marshmallows to set at room temperature for at least four hours and up to overnight.
9. Cut the marshmallows into squares with an oiled knife, and then toss each square in the powdered sugar mix to cover all the sticky edges.

Graham Crackers:

1 c. whole wheat flour

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 c. butter, cold and cubed

1/4 c. honey

1/4 c. milk

2 tsp. vanilla

1. Preheat the oven to 350º F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the two flours, brown sugar, salt, and baking soda.
3. Cut in the butter, rubbing the butter with your fingertips or using a pastry cutter, until the mixture becomes grainy.
4. Pour in the honey, milk, and vanilla and stir until the mixture forms a dough.
5. Dump the dough onto a floured surface and roll it to 1/8” thickness. Cut into squares, or whatever shapes suit your fancy. Place them on the baking sheet and freeze until the oven is ready.
6. Bake the graham crackers for 15 minutes, until they are darkened at the edges.

To melt the chocolate: Break up your chocolate bar, either milk or dark, into pieces and place them into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 1 minute, then take it out and give the chocolate a stir. Then zap the chocolate for 30-second intervals, stirring after each interval, until the chocolate is smooth.

To assemble the s’mores: (As if you need help with this, but just for the sake of being thorough…) Turn on one of your stovetop burners to medium heat. Skewer one or two marshmallows on metal skewer and toast the marshmallows to your liking. Slather some of the melted chocolate onto a graham cracker, and then slide the marshmallows on top. Smear whatever marshmallow fluff remains on the skewer onto a second graham cracker and gently press the two cookies together.

Prepare to get utterly messy, and then stuff the s’more into your face. 

After Three Months Away...

            I can’t believe it—my last blog post was over three months ago! How time flies. Since July, I have studied for and taken the LSAT, participated in four different belly dance performances, taught burlesque classes (and choreographed a piece for my students for the studio’s upcoming open house), written articles for the OC Register, and started teaching religious education again. I’ve also done a lot of pleasure reading, which has been amazing. There was some baking as well, but for the most part, I was too tired to experiment with anything new. I even resorted to cake mix on a couple of occasions, which was intensely satisfying.

            Another thing that has happened since my last post is Rubbing Sugar has turned one year old! I can’t help but beam with pride when I look back at my very first blog post and recipe for baklava. I never imagined so much would have happened in the last year.

            When thinking of a recipe for this post, I considered making a big birthday cake. What could be more appropriate for a blogiversary? But to be honest, there are times when I would gladly choose pie over cake, and this happened to be one of those times. So I will be sharing my recipe for apple galette, which is like apple pie’s low maintenance sister. I swear I looked at over ten recipes to come up with this recipe, and then it took two tries to get it just perfect. (Many of these pictures are from my first attempt.)

            First I used Gala apples, but the acidic zing and crunch of Granny Smiths was much more satisfying. I found that when making the crust, you really have to be careful with not overworking the dough. I recently bought a pastry cutter and was so excited to use it, it resulted in overzealous butter cutting. The second time I made the galette, I just used a sharp knife to hack at the butter chunks until they became small nuggets. This time, the crust was flaky, buttery, slightly crunchy heaven. The walnut meal scattered beneath the apple slices is really just delicious insurance—protection against a soggy bottom crust.

            A couple things I love about galettes—you don’t have to worry about making it look perfect, and it can be eaten sliced like a pizza with your hands once it has come to room temperature. As just about every galette recipe states, this baked good is supposed to be “rustic.” It doesn’t need to formed into a flawless circle, the crust doesn’t need to be crimped, and no one will fault you for not taking the time to arrange the apple slices in concentric circles (although it does add some aesthetic appeal). And if the apple juices leak out of the crust during baking, it simply adds character. And lastly, I love eating with my hands. That’s why God gave us fingers, yes?

Apple Galette

Crust:

2 c. flour

3 tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 sticks, butter, cold and cut into cubes

4-5 tbsp. ice water

Walnut filling:

1/4 c. walnut halves

1 tbsp. brown sugar, lightly packed

Apple filling:

4 Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced into ¼” slices

3 tbsp. lemon juice

1/4 c. granulated sugar

1/4 c. brown sugar, lightly packed

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. allspice

2 tbsp. flour

1 tbsp. butter, cut into pieces

1 egg, beaten

1 rounded tbsp. apricot preserves

1. First make the crust. Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Cut in the stick and a half of butter with a sharp knife until you have a shaggy, crumbly mixture, with roughly pea-sized chunks of butter. Pour in four tablespoons of water, stirring with a fork. If the dough is still too dry, add in the last tablespoon of water. Bring the dough together with your hands, wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate it for about 50 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, make the walnut filling. Combine the nuts and brown sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process until the walnuts are ground into a chunky rubble. Set aside.
3. Next, toss the apple slices together with the lemon juice in a large bowl. Mix in both sugars, the spices, and flour, and combine it gently with the apples until they are evenly coated.
4. Then, take the crust dough out of the refrigerator. Roll it out into a large, roundish shape on a floured board, turning and flipping it every so often to make sure it doesn’t stick.
5. Transfer the dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, and preheat the oven to 400º F.
6. Sprinkle the walnut and sugar mixture into a circle at the center of the dough, leaving a couple inches of dough bare on all sides.
7. Arrange the apple slices over the circle of walnuts. Fold the dough up over the edges of the apples and then carefully pour whatever excess juice remained at the bottom of the bowl over the apples.
8. Dot the apples with the remaining pieces of butter. Lastly, brush the beaten egg over the crust. Bake for 45 minutes.
9. After removing the galette from the oven, combine the apricot preserves with a touch of water and microwave it in a small bowl for about 30 seconds. Mix it until it’s smooth and then brush the preserves over the apples for an extra sheen.
10. Let the galette cool for about 20 minutes. Slice and serve the galette warm or at room temperature.