Honey & Kumquat Cheesecake

This was my back up plan for Easter brunch.

See, I had made this wonderful Greek Custard Pie, a la Brown Eyed Baker on Thursday night, and packed it up to bring down with me to L.A. on Friday. I subsequently left both it and the Spanakopita I had made in the fridge at work, only realizing I had forgotten them after having driven about 150 miles.  I never even got to taste it, but my friend (who was still in the Bay Area and had access to my work's fridge) whom I pawned it off on said it was delicious. *sigh*

I wasn't quite able to pull it together for a remake on Saturday once I had arrived in L.A., but had to come up with something to replace it. I liked the idea of wrapping something in phyllo, and the orange zest that was in the other recipe sounded like a nice touch. But I'd already done something with plain ol' orange, so, why not kumquats instead? And whipping up a cheesecake is a pretty harmless venture, especially if you're wrapping it (therefore not worrying about it looking ugly when it cracks on the top because you're too lazy to put it in a water bath to bake it).

One more challenge I proposed was to make it slightly less fattening. Slightly. I'm not all that familiar with how non-fat and low-fat dairy products work in baked recipes, but I figured that so long as I was covering it in citrus and phyllo, that it could mask yet another uncharacteristic attribute of my non-conventional cheesecake. 

So, I looked up an old favorite cheesecake recipe of mine that is the cream cheese and sour cream type. I bought low fat cream cheese (couldn't find Neufchâtel when I went to the store), and non-fat sour cream. I didn't skimp on the butter that I layered the phyllo dough with, so you know, it probably balanced out. 

Honey Cheesecake

Adapted from Allrecipes 

(measurement disclaimer: I was working in a friend's kitchen and never did find the measuring cups, so I just eyeballed the sugar. It came out fine... who said baking was a precise science anyway). 

- 1/4-1/3 cup of butter

- 8-10 sheets of phyllo dough, ready at room temperature, but wrapped until ready to use

- 2 8oz. bricks of low-fat cream cheese

- 1 cup sugar 

- 2-3 tbs honey

- 3 tbs cornstarch

- 1 tsp vanilla

- dash of salt

- 1 16 oz. container of non-fat sour cream

- 4 eggs

Cream cream cheese until smooth. Add in sugar and honey and blend until smooth. Add in the cornstarch, vanilla and salt, then the sour cream. Once that is smooth, crack one egg at a time into the mixture until each one is completely mixed in before moving on to the next. Set aside until ready to fill crust.

Preheat oven to 350˚. Place a sheet of aluminum foil on the rack below the one you will put the pie pan on, just in case butter or cheese cake spills out while baking. 

Melt butter in a small dish and, using a pastry brush, begin to smother a deep dish pie pan (or whatever you want to bake this in) with butter, and continue to brush each layer of phyllo generously with butter until you've used up all the sheets. The edges of the phyllo will dry out quickly, so as soon as you've prepped the bowl, pour the batter into the dish and begin to butter and layer the phyllo edges back over the cheesecake until those are all accounted for. You should have overlap, and make sure the seals are pretty tight. I didn't have any issues with leakage, but I suspect you could if your dough is cracking before you can get the butter on it. 

Pop into the oven for about an hour (check it at 45 minutes or so). Be careful the phyllo doesn't burn, but you do want it nice and brown on top. One thing I didn't expect was the rise. I suppose I should know better from making cheese cakes before, but this was impressive. You can see from the photo up top that the cheesecake batter was mostly level with the rim of the dish when I put it in the oven, but the post baking rim is well over an inch higher than the level of the dish. Impressive! I was pretty afraid this was going to cause problems, but like I said, it never did crack or leak. 

 My "check" for doneness was by the golden top of the phyllo, and when I shook the pan, there was no giggle. I let it sit at room temperature for about 8 hours before I put it in the fridge to chill over night. 

So, while it's cooling, make some candied kumquats. I've never eaten a kumquat before, much less baked with one, so this was a gamble. They just look so darn cute, and they smell good, so why not give them a go. 

Candied Kumquats

- 1 pint container of kumquats, chopped and seeded (didn't know they had seeds... ug. That was time consuming).

- 1 cup sugar (ish)

- 2-3 tbs honey (ish)

- 1 cup water (ish) 

Boil all together until the water is reduced and the mix is syrupy. I just let it go for a while... probably 20 minutes or so. Let it cool a bit while your cheesecake bakes, then pour it over the whole thing once it's out of the oven. 

There weren't any leftovers, so I'd say it came out alright. Honestly, the kumquats were really nice. They had a pretty distinct flavor that was almost akin to Japanese yuzu, which I found very pleasantly surprising. If they didn't have so many seeds, I'd bake with them all the time!

In any case, I'm sure if you were on a mission to find a lower-fat cheesecake option, this variation (minus the oodles of butter in the crust) is a good option. I'd be curious what other people might come up with to kick it up a notch. 

Easter Baskets

For a special Easter treat, I will be making cupcake Easter baskets, available to order. A baker’s dozen of 3 mini cupcake varieties: Carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting decorated as Easter eggs, Zesty lemon cupcakes with homemade marshmallow chicks, and Chocolate malt cupcakes with ganache chocolate bunnies, all arranged in a decorative basket. 

$45, plus tax. 

Please order by this Friday, April 22. No early orders can be filled. Pick up Saturday afternoon (local orders only).

Tropical Carrot Cupcakes

Easter came a bit early this month, but I figured it was ok to accommodate the flavor of the month to it anyway. And who doesn't love carrot cupcakes? Ok, I know one person. She discriminates against vegetables in her desserts, and as much as I love carrot cupcakes and cannot be swayed against them, in a way I can see her point.

But she's missing out on these ones! A nice little variation on the original, this one boasts a variety of tropical flavors. It has pineapple, coconut, macadamia nuts, and ginger, as well as the usual carrot and cinnamon. Topped with a lightly vanilla flavored cream cheese frosting that is loaded up with toasted coconut flakes.

I was inspired by the recipe posted on epicurious but cut out the candied ginger and put a dash of powdered ginger instead. I also did my own cream cheese frosting and just added the toasted coconut on top.

Preheat oven to 350˚. Line cupcake tins with wrappers. Will make approximately 36 cupcakes.
Mix dry ingredients together in large bowl:

• 2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
  
• 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
• 1 cup dry-roasted macadamia nuts, chopped
  
• 1 tsp ginger
  
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Mix wet ingredients together in medium bowl

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups finely grated, peeled carrots
• 16 oz canned crushed pineapple in its own juice (I actually used 20 oz.)
  

Gently stir wet ingredients into dry until incorporated. Spoon into cupcake tins and bake 20 minutes.

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
8 oz cream cheese
2-1/2 - 3 C powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Trying not to make a mess, gently add in powdered sugar. After about 2 cups of sugar, add the vanilla and continue to add more sugar. I find that cream cheese frosting usually holds its own without any other liquid, but if it really seems too stiff, go ahead and add a smidgen of milk to smooth it out. But be careful, as it can get runny all too quickly.

To toast coconut, spread about 1-1/2-2 cups of flaked coconut evenly on a baking sheet. Toast in 5 minute increments on the higher rack of a 300˚ oven. I think 15 minutes total does just the trick, and 20 minutes is pushing too far, so keep an eye on it. At each 5 minutes, mix the coconut around to get the best distribution of browning.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, frost them. I had the pleasure of making mine look like little birdie baskets with robin's eggs (um, I really just was looking for an excuse to finally buy the robin's eggs, which I'd been eying all season but couldn't bring myself to indulge in). So, if you don't need to make them look seasonal, just sprinkle the coconut generously on top of the frosting.

Enjoy!