Mini Oreo Cheesecakes

For the past year or so, I've been on a major Oreo kick.

It's actually mostly a baking kick--I mean, I like them fine on their own, but basically any recipe that has Oreos in it is about 320% better.

I'm also a big fan of cream cheese and (of course) cupcakes, so I thought--why not combine all three?

I based this recipe on from Brown Eyed Baker (and by "based," I mean I adjusted the baking time and some of the techniques). I've never done cheesecake before, so I pulled out the first pan a bit before they were done.

However, they are insanely delicious (and equally caloric).

Oreo Cheesecake Cupcakes (adapted from Brown Eyed Baker)

makes 24 cheesecake-cupcakes

For the crust:

23 Oreos

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake:

12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs, at room temperature

6 tablespoons sour cream

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

13 Oreos, coarsely chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line muffin tin with cupcake papers.
2. Make the crust: Divide the Oreos between 2 quart-size bags and crush cookies with a rolling pin until they are finely crushed with only a few chunks. Mix cookie crumbs with the melted butter until moist. Divide crumbs evenly among cupcake papers (approx. 1 tablespoon per cupcake). Press into bottom of the paper. Bake for 5 minutes (leave the oven on).
3. Make the cheesecake: Beat the cream cheese on medium-high speed until smooth (1 1/2 - 2 minutes). Gradually add the sugar and mix until incorporated. 
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the sour cream and vanilla, and mix until thoroughly incorporated.
5. Fold in chopped Oreos. Scoop approximately 1/4 cup batter into each cupcake paper.
6. Bake until the edges are set, but the cupcake is still jiggly in the center, about 12-15 minutes.
7. Let cool 5 minutes in muffin pan before moving to a wire rack to cool for an additional 20 minutes. Move to refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes to 1 hour before serving. Store in airtight container in fridge.

As I write, they are being polished off by my floormates (who, by the way, have a vlog now).

Genuine Tex-Czech Kolaches

 Obviously, Texas is pretty well known for its take on Mexican food.

But, someone who has never visited the state may not know that we've also adapted a traditional Czech pastry and made it our own.

They may or may not bear much resemblance to the original koláček, but Texans will get up in arms over the poor imitations put out by national chains (not naming any names).

Before we get into the recipe, a quick grammar lesson. The multitude of small, fruit-filled buns we call "kolaches," would actually be referred to in Czech as koláčky (kolachky), the plural of koláček (kolachek)--which signifies an individual size pastry. A true koláč (kolach, pluralized koláče/kolache) is a cake-sized version of the common "kolache." But seriously, nobody will really care if you call them kolaches.

(I got all of this info from The History Kitchen, so blame them for any mistranslations ;) )

I was fortunate enough to have my Grandma (daughter of Czech immigrants) to help me with the kolaches, so they have that authentic touch.

The recipe below is from the West Heritage Cookbook, originally compiled for the 1986 Texas sesquicentennial (150th anniversary, there's some SAT vocabulary). Unfortunately I couldn't find a link online to order it, but it should be available at the annual Westfest.

Kolaches, recipe by Georgia Montgomery of the excellent Village Bakery

Makes approx. two dozen kolaches

For the rolls:

1 package active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 3/4 to 4 1/4 all-purpose flour

2 eggs

1 recipe apricot filling (below, make ahead or while dough rises)

  

1. In a bowl, add yeast to water, stirring to dissolve yeast. In a saucepan heat milk, butter or margarine, sugar, and salt to just warm (115 to 120 degrees), stirring til butter almost melts.
2. In a large mixing bowl stir together 2 cups of the flour and beat in the milk mixture. Add softened yeast and eggs, beat well.
3. Stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can mix with a spoon. Turn out lightly onto floured surface. Knead in as much of the remaining flour as necessary to make a moderately soft dough. Continue kneading til smooth and elastic, 5 minutes. Shape into a ball. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl; turn once to grease surface.
4. Cover; let rise til double, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Punch down; turn out lightly onto floured surface. Divide dough in two portions. Cover, let rest 10 minutes.
5. Divide and shape each half into 9 balls. Place 3 inches apart on greased baking sheets.
6. Flatten each of the balls into a 3-inch circle. Cover; let rise in warm place til double, about 45 minutes.
7. With your fingers, make a depression in the center of each.
8. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of apricot filling evenly into each depression.
9. Bake in 375 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes or til golden brown. Remove pastries to wire rack, cool completely.

kneading the dough

dividing the dough to to shape the rolls

making the depression for the filling

For the filling:

2 cups coarsely snipped dried apricots

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon butter or margarine

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Enough water to cover apricots in saucepan

1. In a saucepan combine dried apricots and enough water to come 1 inch above apricots.
2. Simmer, covered, for 10 minutes; drain.
3. Stir in sugar, butter, and nutmeg. Cool.

We also included a somewhat-improvised posypka (struesel) topping, though we all agreed that the consistency wasn't quite right. If you're keen to try it, these are a few recipes that look promising: one, two, three.

Macarons: The Fancy Oreo

It took me over a year and several awful recipes before I finally turned out a decent--even good--batch of macarons.

The final product is my own recipe, but I worked from this tutorial and these two recipes to get started. (I really recommend looking at the tutorial if you're confused about any of the steps!)

Now that I've mastered the chocolate macaron, I'll probably try some other flavors. Rose and matcha green tea have always intrigued me...

Chocolate Macarons
makes about 30 assembled sandwiches

For the shells:

3/4 cups almond flour/meal
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
4 egg whites, room temperature (I set mine out for about an hour before I started, and that worked fine)
8 tablespoons granulated sugar

1.  Sift together almond flour, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder in a medium bowl. Mix well and set aside.

2.  In a large bowl, whip egg whites with a mixer until frothy (about 30 seconds). Add granulated sugar and continue to whip until mixture is white and glossy and does not move when turned upside down (about 5 minutes).

the meringue should look something like this when it's finished.

3.  Sift dry ingredients into the meringue. Fold the dry ingredients into the meringue with a rubber spatula.(It will seem difficult at first, but keep going.)

4.  Once the dry ingredients are mostly incorporated, begin to deflate the meringue by pressing it into the sides or bottom of the bowl with the flat of the spatula. When completely incorporated, the batter should resemble molten lava.

5.  Transfer batter to piping tool. Pipe 1-inch circles onto parchment paper- (not wax paper!) covered baking sheets.

6.  Rap each tray on the counter (hard), rotate, and repeat. This will get rid of air bubbles and prevent cracking.

7.  Let the cookies rest for about 30 minutes to let a shell form. If the cookies appear matte and can be lightly touched without transferring any batter, the shell is formed. Preheat oven to 325F.

8.  Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes. Cookies are done when they can be removed from the parchment paper without leaving much residue.

Ideally, your cookies should have these little "feet," but it may take a few tries.

For the ganache:

1/2 cup heavy cream

4 ounces semisweet chocolate

2 tablespoons butter, room tempeature

1. In a saucepan, bring the cream to boil.
2. Pour over the chocolate and mix until the chocolate is completely melted.
3. Add the butter and mix until melted.
4. Put the ganache in the fridge until it is firm enough to pipe.
5. Pipe ganache onto cookies and sandwich.

ta-da!