Variations on a Theme–Chiffon Cheesecakes

My grandmother had a good thing a’goin’!

Sometime in the late 1970’s or early 1980’s my grandmother came up with a lemon cheesecake recipe. It was light and fluffy and a bit tangy. She tweaked it into the following:

2 sticks butter
8 oz cream cheese
2 C sugar
2 large cans cream, chilled (Pet or Carnation evaporated milk)
3 small lemon Jell-O
1 1/3 C hot water
Graham Cracker Crust
Mix cream cheese and sugar together. Add the water to the Jell-O and set aside. Add cream cheese and sugar to the Jell-O and whip until blended. Whip the cream one at a time and add to the mixture.
Stir all together and pour into crust.
Chill, covered with foil, in the refrigerator.

That recipe leaves out a good bit of information. Like that this recipe fills a 12″ x 18″ pan. Or that if the evaporated milk isn’t very very very cold, it hardly whips. Or that it takes a box of graham cracker crumbs to make a crust that large. This is frequently the way with vintage recipes – not everything is written down.

I’ve tweaked and updated the recipe and morphed it into the following versions – with, I think, easy to follow directions. There are future plans for a chocolate version and hopes for a blueberry version.

Lemon Chiffon Cheesecake

Lime Chiffon Cheesecake

Orange Creamsicle Cheesecake

Whipped Cream made from Evaporated Milk

 

 

Evaporated Milk Whipped Cream

Can you whip evaporated milk? You betcha!

Whipping evaporated milk seems to fail for many of my online brethren. Reports of sweetened soupy cream abound. There are two things going on here.

I think it is mostly a temperature thing. Just like regular whipping cream needs to be cold, so does evaporated milk, only more so. You really have to refrigerate the evaporated milk. It has to be cold. Put it in the coldest part of your refrigerator and let it stay there overnight. Put your mixing bowl and beaters right beside it. Yes. Really. Overnight.

The second difference between whipping evaporated milk and regular whipping cream? Fat. Whipping cream is approaching 40% fat, whereas evaporated milk is only about 7%. It takes all that fat to emulsify into a stiff whipped cream. Whipped cream made from evaporated milk will never be as stable as whipped cream made from heavy whipping cream.

You can take a look at the following video for evidence that this really can work. Notice that the splash ring on my [easyazon-link asin=”B0016KU16G” locale=”us”]Bosch mixer[/easyazon-link] has condensation on it from it having been in the ‘fridge overnight.

Also check out my chiffon cheesecake recipes for my primary use for this whipped cream:

Lemon Chiffon Cheesecake
Lime Chiffon Cheesecake
Orange Dreamsicle Cheesecake

 

Double-Chocolate Apricot-Pecan Cookies

“That’s a damn fine cookie.”

110 grams all-purpose flour
55 grams cocoa powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
98 grams butter
4 eggs
325 grams sugar
3/4 tablespoon vanilla
338 grams pecans
390 grams dark chocolate chips
390 grams white chocolate chips
450 grams milk chocolate
345 grams dried apricots

Preheat oven to 330 degrees Fahrenheit.

Chop apricots and pecans.

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder.

Melt together milk chocolate and butter.

Beat together eggs and sugar until foamy. Add vanilla and melted chocolate mixture.

Add dry ingredients and apricots. Then stir in pecans and chocolate chips.

Scoop dough onto parchment-lined sheet pans and bake 12-15 minutes until top looks a little dry and cookies appear to be set.

(Using a [easyazon-link keywords=”number 30 disher” locale=”us”]number 30 disher[/easyazon-link], this recipe yielded 54 cookies.)

Ginger Spiced Peach Jam

4 cups finely chopped peaches
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
7-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
2-3 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
1 pouch [easyazon-link asin=”B004SQUNR2″ locale=”us”]Certo Fruit Pectin[/easyazon-link]

Add spices, sugar, peaches, lemon juice and ginger to an [easyazon-link asin=”B000FNLT8E” locale=”us”]8 – 10 quart, heavy-bottomed kettle[/easyazon-link].

Bring to a full, roiling boil, over high heat, stirring constantly.  Add pectin and return to a roiling boil.

Boil one minute, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and skim any foam (if desired; I don’t bother).

Process according to USDA recommendations for jams and jellies for a shelf-stable product:

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can7_jam_jelly.html

Hint ‘O Ginger Peach Jelly

3-1/2 cups prepared peach juice
1 cup  water
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
7-1/2 cups sugar
1 – 2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
2 pouches [easyazon-link asin=”B004SQUNR2″ locale=”us”]Certo Fruit Pectin[/easyazon-link]

Simmer / steep ginger in water for 10 – 15 minutes.

Strain ginger solids, adding the ginger water to the peach juice, lemon juice and sugar in an [easyazon-link asin=”B000FNLT8E” locale=”us”]8 – 10 quart, heavy-bottomed kettle[/easyazon-link].

Bring to a full, roiling boil, over high heat, stirring constantly.  Add pectin and return to a roiling boil.

Boil one minute, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and skim any foam (if desired; I don’t bother).

Process according to USDA recommendations for jams and jellies for a shelf-stable product:

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can7_jam_jelly.html