Ahhhhh, finally the Baked Brie recipe!

This is one of the most requested items come fall. Back when Martha was doing her baked Brie en Croute in puff pastry, I was immediately revolted by the all the fat oozing off the plate. The fat content of the melted cheese was enough for me but add the buttered rich puff pastry and instant gag. Then there was always the issue that in order to get the cheese to melt then the pastry would burn. If the pastry looked good then the cheese was tepid at best. In those days bread bowls for soup was consider genius and somehow they became one for me. So here it is….

BERWINDS BAKED BRIE

Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Cooking time: 2 hours
Yield: The 2lb. brie can feed a crowd of 25-35 as part of a hors d’ouevre table.

INGREDIENTS:

2 lb. Coal, Tuscan, Peasant or other round crusty bread, unsliced. Must measure at least 10” in diameter.
2 lb. Brie
1 to 1 ½ cups chopped toasted Pecans
1 – 1 ½ cups dried Cranberries
1 1 ½ cups dried Cherries
1 ½ - 2 cups Light Brown Sugar
4 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. grated Nutmeg
1 tsp. ground Tonka Bean or Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla (a Nielsen Massey product)
French Bread cut up or Crackers (or both!)

DIRECTIONS:

• Cut a circle into your bread large enough to fit the brie. Remove interior of bread from both the lid and the “bowl”. (Save this bread to either make croutons or bread crumbs either drying it out for dried breadcrumbs or grinding it and reserving in an airtight container in the freezer.)
• Remove the paper off the brie saving the wrapping for later in this step, and place onto a cutting board. Insert a serrated knife halfway beneath the top of the brie. With your other hand placed on top of the brie, gently move your knife in a circular way to remove the top rind off the cheese. Place this top onto the reserved paper.
• Now I use my hands for most of this and don’t think amounts matter so very much…as long as there is PLENTY of “stuff” used….so… Place a handful of brown sugar on bottom of hollowed out bread. Top with a scattering of dried cranberries, dried cherries, pecans, a sprinkling of cinnamon and a grating of nutmeg.
• Place Brie on top of this and repeat above.
• Place lid of brie on top of this and repeat once more, using up all ingredients.
• Place bread lid on top, gently pressing down.
• Wrap the bread in two thicknesses of aluminum foil. I use the extra long, extra heavy 18” width Reynolds Foil
The Brie can be frozen at this point or stored in the frig for a day or two. If you freeze it remove from freezer 2 days before baking and let defrost in the frig.

COOKING:

Bake at 350 degrees for at least an hour and a half and up to two hours. I know this sounds very long but it really does take that long for it to melt all the way through. You can test this by opening the foil and removing the lid, insert a thin knife directly through the center and leave there for a moment. Withdraw the knife and check the blade temperature. If noticeably warm, you are done. If not, return the lid to the bread, rewrap and back into the oven for another bit.

TO SERVE:

Have a platter or board large enough to fit your brie ready. Cut up some French bread and open up some good crackers. Carefully remove foil and with protected hands transfer the hot bread to the platter. Take the lid and cut it up into bite size pieces. I place these directly on top of the bread. Scatter the crackers, etc around the platter and serve. I’d also apply some lipstick here as everyone will be looking at you as you bring this out!

NOTES:
1- You may want to increase, decrease quantities of anything. Substituting nuts and fruits-all good.
2- Smaller bries and smaller breads are available. The cooking time will be between an hour fifteen and an hour and a half.
3- Breadcrumbs. Fresh breadcrumbs, toasted, can elevate a simple oil and garlic preparation of pasta and are considered a must have ingredient here. As far as dried breadcrumbs, there is no good reason to ever buy them. Make your own, they take an extra couple of minutes and taste so much better due to the variety of breads that will go into them. Worth the minimal extra time involved.
4- Tonka Beans are available at Caribbean grocery stores and the Neilson Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla can be had at www.Amazon.com in the Grocery & Gourmet section.

November 2011 NOTE:



I had a comment recently that the cooking time I have listed is too long. The cooking time is based on 2pound brie, bread that is at least 12 inches in diameter and has been previously frozen. If you are making this same size without freezing it cooking time would be about an hour and if you are making this with smaller brie then even less time. As with all of cooking, a little common sense needs to come into play and that includes checking on your items in the oven. Please keep those comments coming!

Recipes

Refreshing Summer Sparkler
When citrus fruits are plentiful, buy a bunch. Peel and dry the zest as outlined in the Cognac Currant Cheesecake Hints section and juice the fruits, freeze the juice. Make your syrup when the mint is abundant in your garden and freeze that. When guests drop by, you have the components already at hand for a beverage that looks like you planned for their visit.
Ingredients:
· Mint Syrup (recipe follows)
· Fresh Lemon Juice ( Grapefruit, Lime or Orange juice also works well)
· Club Soda ( or Pellegrino-still water will also make a refreshing drink
Fill pitcher with ice. Splash in a little lemon juice in, sweeten to taste with mint syrup and fill with club soda. Garnish with lemon slices and springs of fresh mint.
Mint Syrup:
I make this all summer long when the garden produces copious amounts of mint then enjoy it at my leisure!
INGREDIENTS:
· 2 parts sugar
· 1 part water
· Fair amount of mint.
Preparation:
1. Bring the water to a boil.
2. Dissolve the sugar into the boiling water, stirring constantly.
3. Once the sugar is dissolved completely, boil a minute and remove from the heat.
4. Stir in handfuls of mint.
5. Allow to cool completely and thicken, then bottle.
I make this all summer long when the garden produces copious amounts of mint then enjoy it at my leisure!

Savory Cognac Currant Cheesecake
Yield: 1 small cheesecake which can serve up to 20 depending on other items served
INGREDIENTS:
7 Tablespoons toasted Almonds (chop 5T. 1/8”and reserve 2 T. for garnish)
1 cup currants macerated in cognac to cover (approx ¼ cup cognac)
2/3 lb cream cheese- room temperature
2/3 cup ricotta or sour cream- room temperature
2 extra-large eggs + 1 yolk- room temperature
1 Tablespoon orange zest (no white pith)-finely grated (a microplane works great for this)
2 teaspoons sugar
Light ¼ teaspoon ground Cardamom
Pinch of ground nutmeg (try to use whole nutmeg and grate with microplane or better yet, nutmeg grater….the flavor cannot be compared to the sawdust purchased in those small expensive jars)
Pinch ground white pepper
Pinch of salt
¼ teaspoon almond extract
6”- 8” spring form pan with bottom wrapped in foil.

MIXER METHOD:
Measure all dry spices/sugar, almonds, grated zest and put aside.
Beat cream cheese till smooth, scrape down sides of bowl. Add eggs, one at a time till incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl after each egg.
Add spices/sugar/zest/almonds and lightly mix in, scrape down sides of bowl.
Add ricotta (or sour cream), till incorporated, scrape down sides of bowl.
Drain currants (reserve liquid – see Tips) and stir in.
Add extract, beat till all mixed in. Do not overbeat.
FOOD PROCESSOR METHOD:
Measure all dry spices/sugar and put aside.
Peel ¼ of orange and chop till fine, and almonds and chop coarse (remember, they will continue to be ground up as you add other ingredients)
Add cream cheese and pulse till mixed smooth; add eggs, 1 at a time till each egg is incorporated periodically scraping down sides of work bowl.
Add ricotta or sour cream and spices/sugar. Pulse a couple of times and scrape down sides of bowl.
Add extract and pulse till incorporated. Drain currants (reserve liquid-see tips) and pulse VERY lightly to mix in. Do not over process. You may have to additionally stir manually to mix currants in so they do not become chopped.
BAKING:
Pour into prepared spingform pan.
Bake at 300 degrees 30- 40 minutes depending on your oven. Try not to open your oven door for the first 20 ish minutes, use the light to check the action and see Tips and Hints for determining when your cheesecake is done. Turn oven off and leave cheesecake in oven for at least 1 hour, I have left it in till the oven has cooled. Chill for 1 day. Remove cheesecake from pan by removing foil from pan. Gently release latch of pan. Run knife along the interior of the pan. Release the sides of the pan all the way.
At this point I remove the cake from the bottom of the pan and move onto a bakers cardboard round. These are available at party stores and craft stores like Michael’s.
SERVING:
For the Tour I spread the top with our own Meyer Lemon Vanilla Bean Marmalade. Other garnish ideas could be:
a quality store bought orange marmalade
sour cream mixed with a bit of orange zest and a touch of sugar would work
and for the lazy day-leave it alone!
After dressing the top, holding the cheesecake from the cardboard disk underneath (or a plate) gently press the reserved almonds into the sides.
Serve with crackers, thinly sliced baguettes, sliced apples or pears and definitely cocktails!

TIPS, HINTS & THOUGHTS
1. How to tell when your cheesecake is done.
Don’t open your oven door more than you have to during baking. Watch the action by using your oven light. Once the cheesecake rises a bit, this is when you can turn it.
2. You want the center of the cake to not completely set during baking. When you gently shake the pan, the middle should – ok, pardon me for this one, and try not to laugh too loudly- the middle should move like a silicone breast implant- not that I have firsthand experience with this….. The sides of the cheesecake also look like they have set and have JUST begun to move away from the pan.
Once you have achieved this state, shut the oven off, close the door and leave the cheesecakes to come down gently in temperature. This should prevent cracking.
Save the cognac which the currants have macerated in. You can add more currants for the next time you make this, add this liquid to a sauce for winter meat dishes, use for a winter dried fruit compote or vegetable stew.
3. I have tripled and quadrupled this recipe when needed. If you are heading into entertaining season or want to bring something along during the holiday parties, make these ahead and freeze them UNGARNISHED. Pull them out a day before and place in the refrigerator to defrost and garnish the day of.
4. My original recipe was for ricotta, in the midst of making the m for a catering, I realized I had to ricotta; hence the sour cream version was born. Please do not be afraid to substitute. No oranges, use lemons. Use dried peel. No almond extract, try orange or lemon. EXPERIMENT!!!
5. If your cake split and you really don’t want to put it out the way it looks, change the shape of it. Use it as a spread, smoosh the cheesecake into an attractive bowl and surround with the crackers and fruits. Same can be said for leftover cheesecake.
6. DRIED PEELS. Citrus is essential to my cooking. Sometimes I need tons of juice and have no use for the peel, when that happens, first I lightly peel the fruit and place this peel (no white pith) on a sheet pan and place in my turned off oven for a couple of days. Once the peel has dried, I pulverize it in the food processor and jar it up for that day when I may have run out of that particular fruit or I just need something extra! Uses for dried citrus peel are ENDLESS! Mix with salt and pepper and place on chicken or fish for grilling or broiling. Add to salad dressings, stews, sauces. Use in baking.

Won Ton Cup Recipe

Won Ton Cups

This idea began as a recipe in Gourmet magazine a couple of years ago. We adapted it and have turned this into one of our pantry staples. A “go to” item that we can change around at will.

The following recipe and photos will hopefully get you on your way!

Mise En Place:

Mini Muffin Pans

Pam

Shanghai style won ton wrappers *

Vegetable Oil

Pastry Brush

Savory: Herb Seasoning, Sesame Seeds, Salt OPTIONAL

Sweet: Sugar, Cinnamon, Cocoa OPTIONAL

*They are the thinnest yet are still easy to work with. If you do not have an Asian market in your area, the super market now stocks a serviceable brand.

A Swellegant Birthday

As with everything in life it takes all kinds, this past week end I had the best of that. The call for this event came in just prior to Christmas about the clients 40th birthday. Something elegant, soignée, I labeled it swellegant and we went on to the planning. Miss M, the birthday girl, choose a substantial menu of passed hors d’oeuvres and wanted a trio of cakes to end with a celebratory note. I called upon one of the bakers we use regularly because of her very fresh ways of decorating and her very tasty cakes.

Erin McGinn (www.cakeflourllc.com) made the delivery at the appointed hour and they were above and beyond all expectations. Seems our budding entrepreneur had time on her hands and her creative juices were flowing, not willing to let an opportunity go by, Miss McGinn went to town on our order turning the request for simple layer cakes into something truly memorable. Upon seeing the cakes the design idea for the stationary display completely changed. We took Lucite boxes, filled them with new pairs of the hostesses own shoes, small light packs and roses, taking a minimalist (for us anyway!) approach to make the cakes the feature throughout the night rather than bring them out just for dessert.

Our hostess/birthday girl has a Parson’s design background which was evident throughout her newly renovated home. Miss M choose warm toned roses, vases of flowering quince and many many candles to create an ambiance that spoke of the January evening. Her husband, extremely knowledgeable in wines and spirits, added to the evening with signature cocktails prepared by a master mixologist and rare cordials to complement the cakes. A truly unforgettable evening.

Here is Miss M’s menu:

Stationary Display

Baked Brie with Dried Fruits and Nuts
Crudites with Orange Feta Dip, Smoked Cheddar Bacon Dip & Fresh Herb Dip
International Cheeses with Seasonal Fruits, Dried Fruits, Breads & Crackers featuring Stilton and Parmesan

Passed Hors D'ouerves

Baby Lamb Chops with a Spicey Mint marinade and served with Dried Cherry Chili Chutney Dipping Sauce
Bacon Grissini
Crab Cakes with Spicy Remoulade
Goat Cheese "Quenelles", Figs & Honey Glazed Pecans on Endive Petals
Shrimp & Sesame Sticks with a Sweet Dipping Sauce
Smoked Salmon on Black Bread
Sweet Potato Fritters with Pear Chutney
Zucchini Pancakes with Basil Chive Cream
Sliced Beef Tenderloin with Arugula Horseradish Cream

Desserts

A Lemon Cake, A Mocha Cake & a Coconut Cake.