Matcha Cheesecake

 

I. Freakin'. Love. Cheesecake.

 

So much that I drove around for half hour today just to get myself a slice. Not to mention that said slice was so big that it was practically three servings in one. All of which, I managed to eat in like, ten minutes. There goes my appetite for dinner.

 

Speaking of dinner, there will be a cocktail reception today at my university as a goodbye of sorts to my batch of diploma students. I have mixed feelings about going, mainly because it's the last time and I might never see them again. I don't know if I'm supposed to be gratified or sad..

 

I'm not good at goodbyes. I'm awkward enough as it is, and the thought of having to say a few 'last words' to people I might never ever see again just plain scares me. I know there will be tears - oddly enough, I haven't shed any yet, but I have been known to shed only tears of anger and frustration more often than tears of sadness - and hugs and pictures taken. Hugs I can do. Pictures, I like. Saying "Bye/Nice knowing you/All the best in life" gets me all choked up. Darn it.

 

That's when I hide away in the kitchen. My kitchen to be exact. It's my happy place, the place where I can play around with baking and tempering chocolate (I hated I at first but now I can't stop - send help) and stuffing condensed milk and coffee grinds into my pralines. I just bake my troubles away and in the case of cheesecake, I proceed to eat them. Which is why I will never have those lovely long legs that I covet so much. But hey whatever, when there truffles to stuff and cakes to discover.

 

 

 

This was made when I had a matcha phase - I was putting it into everything I ate or drank. I'm surprise I haven't turned green yet.

 

 

The recipe is different from your average cheesecake but the texture is simply divine. Smooth and melty and like velvet. MAKE IT.

 

Matcha Cheesecake
Chocolate shortcrust base:
85g butter, cubed
2 tbsp. sugar
100g flour
1 1/2 tbsp. cocoa powder
1/4 cup almonds

Batter:
500g cream cheese, at room temperature
100g sour cream
1 can (450g) sweetened condensed milk
3 large eggs
2 tbsp. matcha powder

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Put all the ingredients for the crust into a food processor and pulse until you get a sandy mixture with chunks of almonds. Press into the bottom and up the sides (stopping half an inch from the top) of a lightly greased 9 inch springform pan. Bake for 25 minutes, then leave to cool.
2. Increase the oven temperature to 287C. Beat the cream cheese, sour cream and condensed milk in a stand mixer until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until each egg is incorporate before adding the next one.
3. Dissolve the matcha powder in 1 tbsp. of hot water, add this to the cream cheese mixture. Beat well. Put the springform pan onto a baking tray (to catch any drips). Pour the filling into the crust, bake in the middle of the oven for 12 minutes, till puffed. Cover with foil if it browns too quickly.
4. Reduce the temperature to 190C, continue baking until the cake is mostly firm but the centre is still the slightest bit jiggly, about 1 hour more.
5. Run a knife around the top edge of the cake to loosen it. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack, then cover and chill for at least 6 hours before springing it open and cutting.

*Double the ingredients for the crust if you want it to come up the sides. Highly recommended !

Caramel Souffles

 

I have graduated.

 

After two years of driving half an hour everyday to uni, getting stuck in traffic jams on the way home, mad dashes to the eighth floor for classes, getting in trouble for talking in class (I haven't changed since high school apparently) and lugging bags and bags of equipment to the kitchens for classes, I have graduated from my diploma program.

 

And I feel.. Sad.

 

Of course there's the happiness and joy and relief that I actually managed to get through the entire thing in the first place. I was giggling like a nutcase through the finals and practical exams while some of my friends were bawling their eyes out. Then I woke up the day after the final paper (which is, coincidentally, today) and then it hit me: I wasn't going to see my friends again.

 

I spent two years with them. There were days when I saw more of them than my family. They've seen me at my worse, at my most insecure, they've seen me when I was sick with food poisoning and just lying down on the floor, when I ate too much chocolate and couldn't stop yammering, when my boyfriend at the time left me and went on to kiss another girl about a week later. They were there for me when my car wouldn't start and I was stuck in the parking lot at 10pm at night. They've taken my stuff home, I've taken their stuff home, we've fought, laughed, lived and loved. And as cheesy as that sounds, I couldn't have made it through the 730 days without them.

 

But now those days are over and I feel kinda.. lost. I've been wondering aimlessly around the house pining for the times that I complained about not too long ago: having classes at stupid o' clock in the morning until crazy late at night. I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

 

So what am I going to do to fill the void ? Bake. I made some soufflés today and then went on to make some pistachio praline which I'm probably going to eat from the jar tomorrow. Then I am going to find a way to sell off those bakes to people so I can buy more stuff to bake with. Then I get to feed my friends while I'm at it. Um.. that made more sense in my head.

 

 

I stared at the oven like a hawk while these were baking. Despite having graduated from a diploma in culinary arts, I still felt the trepidation when they remained flat and pretty unexciting looking. Then all of a sudden, poof !

 

Lovely rise. It lasted for about half a minute so I had to scramble to get my camera to take some decent pictures to post here.

Then I dusted over come icing sugar but then they'd already begun to deflate. Boooo.

 

 

So we dug in. Me and my post-graduation loneliness, my sister who has been coughing like an old man all day, and my dog with the floppy left ear who body slammed the door until I slipped him a bite.

 

Caramel Souffles (makes 6)

2/3 cup sugar

3 tbsp. water

1 tbsp. lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup whipping cream

6 yolks

1 tbsp. cornstarch

1 tsp vanilla extract

7 whites

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

 

1. Put 1/3 cup of the sugar in a saucepan with the water an lemon juice. Bring to the boil and cook, without stirring, till it turns a beautiful amber brown. Take it off the heat and add the salt and cream. Be careful, it will bubble up. Stir till the caramel has dissolved into the cream, warming it over low heat if necessary. Remove from the heat and leave to cool to room temperature.

2. Preheat the oven to 220C. Lightly butter 6 250ml ramekins and sprinkle in some sugar, swirling the ramekin so the sugar sticks to the butter, forming a coat. Tap out the excess and place the ramekins on a baking sheet.

3. Whisk the yolks, cornstarch and vanilla extract, then whisk into the cooled caramel.

4. Using a standing mixer, whisk the whites and cream of tartar until foamy, then while whisking, slowly sprinkle in the remaining 1/3 cup sugar. Whip the whites until stiff peaks form.

5. Pour the yolk mixture over the whites, then using a spatula, quickly and gently fold them together until no streaks of white remain. Pour into the ramekins and pop them in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes, until the tops are brown and they have magically doubled in size.

6. Dust with icing sugar if you want. Serve ASAP !