World's Best New York CheeseCake

Spring and Easter time holiday is here, ready or not. Do you want to bake a dessert that is fool proof and enjoyed by all? Sure you do, luckily I have the solution - my New York Style Sour Cream Cheesecake Recipe. This recipe has been adapted from a recipe that requires 90 pounds of cream cheese, yielding some thirty 10-inch cheesecakes. So, I can say that it has been well tested by thousands; plus more importantly, my own family. I hope you and your family enjoy it just as much!

P.S. Feel free to improvise and use any of your favorite kind of cake or cookie crumbs for the bottom of the cheese cake and put on your own signature.

George Hirsch Worlds Best Cheesecake

New York Style CheeseCake

Recipe Makes 12-16 servings
chefgeorgehirsch.com | George Hirsch Lifestyle eMagazine

To prepare the crumb bottom:
1-1/2 cups *vanilla wafers, grind into crumbs, or good cake crumbs
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Line bottom and sides of a 10 inch tart pan, or 9 inch spring form baking pan with parchment paper. Parchment paper can overlap sides to make removal of cheesecake easier after baking. Place cookies in food processor; process until fine crumbs form. In a bowl mix cookie crumbs, melted butter and press onto bottom of pan. Refrigerate ten minutes.

2 pounds, 4-8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup Turbino (natural sugar in the raw) sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch 
1 teaspoon vanilla 
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon zest
3 whole eggs, beaten and at room temperature
3 yolks, add to whole eggs
1 cup sour cream, room temperature

To prepare cheesecake:
Preheat oven to oven to 400°F.

At medium speed with an electric mixer cream the cream cheese until smooth. Mix cornstarch with sugar and add to cream cheese. Reduce the mixer speed to low until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating on low speed after each addition, mix just until blended. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl well after each addition. Add vanilla and sour cream in two stages, stopping mixer and scrape bowl after each addition. Pour cheesecake filling over crumb bottom.
Bake 10 minutes at  400°F.; lower temperature to 225°F and continue baking 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until center is set. 

Cool 1 hour, un-mold cheesecake carefully from baking pan, refrigerate 2 hours. 

Holiday Option: Add a Topping:
2 cups fresh mixed berries
1/4 cup raspberry jam, warm

Just before serving, arrange berries on top of cake. Warm jam in a microwave safe container for a few seconds, to slightly melted. Drizzle jam on top of berries and serve. 

Chrusciki

This time of year, particularly near Easter, reminds me of Polish Chrusciki, aka fried ribbons, angel wings and many other names. Throughout all of Europe just about every country has their own version and influence behind this easy but special treat. 

Simply, the ribbons of sweet dough are simply fried and covered with powdered sugar or honey. It is hard to have just one, but you won't be eating these everyday, so just enjoy this sweet holiday treat. BTW, good for dunking.

For My Recipe For Chrusciki

Cookie By Accident

According to MIT, America's most famous cookie was invented by accident by Ruth Wakefield. Ruth, a dietician and food lecturer, who along with her husband Kenneth, bought a tourist lodge named the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts, where she prepared home-cooked meals for her guests. 

In 1930, using a butter cookie dough, Wakefield was mixing a batch of cookies for her inn guests and was out of baker's chocolate. She substituted broken pieces of semi-sweet chocolate that was given to her personally by Andrew Nestle. She had expected the chocolate to melt and absorb into the dough to create chocolate cookies. But as you can imagine, what she was left with was a butter cookie with bits of chocolate. She called her new treat "Toll House Crunch Cookies."

The 'chocolate chip cookies' were an instant hit with her customers and word of their popularity reached back to Andrew Nestle. Nestle then went on to buy the rights to the Toll House name and to Ruth Wakefield's 'chocolate chip cookie'. For her name and recipe, Wakefield's compensation would be a lifetime supply of Nestle chocolate. I guess that's not so bad if you are a chocaholic.

Nestle printed the Toll House Cookie recipe on its package of bar chocolate that was scored for easy breaking. By 1939 Nestle began selling, small chocolate morsels (aka - chips) in a yellow bag. Of course you know by now that the chocolate chip cookie has become the most popular cookie in America!


Here's my recipe + rendition of America's cookie. My cookie is a bit chewier and less cakey than the Tollhouse recipe. It is also bakes a darker shade due to the dark brown sugar. Share with friends. Enjoy with a talk glass of ice cold milk.

George's Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe by Chef George Hirsch | Makes about 40 cookies

2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) lightly sweet butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, beaten
2 cups good quality semisweet chocolate chopped, or mini chips 

Optional: 1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat the oven to 375ºF.

Whisk the flour, soda and salt together in a bowl. In another large bowl, cream the butter on low speed to lighten it a bit and then mix in the sugars, cream for two minutes.. Add the water, vanilla and eggs to the butter mixture. Stir in the flour mixture until just combined and then fold in the chocolate chips and nuts. 

Using two soup spoons, drop the cookies 2" apart onto two parchment lined, nonstick or greased cookie sheets. Bake for eight-nine minutes, rotating the sheets after four minutes. 

Remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool, and repeat the process with the rest of the dough.

Süss

Süss is the German word for sweet.

New Hampshire's own Süss sweets specializes in irresistible all-natural caramels which are preservative free and made in an old fashioned European style - with a good story. Proprietor Tammy Fahey started out making her caramels for family and friends, and with encouragement it has turned into a labor of love. Each batch of caramel is handmade by Tammy; poured and hand cut. Süss reminds me of hand rolled candy you will find in a quaint Swiss village. Süss flavors: Vanilla Caramel, Sea Salt Caramel and Pecan Caramel. Good Stuff.

Originally only available at NH farmer's markets; Süss is now available at Dean & Deluca.

 

You Love Chocolate

TREND #4. Chocolate Ingredient

Would you like to see the chocolate menu? Who would say no to this offer? This flavorful, sometimes exotic ingredient will be added to more than ice cream sundaes and moles. What used to be considered a dessert or sweet treat will be added to more savory dishes as an ingredient. The transparency here—I really do not care for chocolate, so my personal preference didn't influence this 2012 trend pick. 

Click to see more of George's Cooking & Lifestyle Trends for 2012.

For the traditionalists who want chocolate as a sweet, here are a few chocolate dessert favorites to make this Valentine's Day!