Fiadone - Corsican Cheesecake

Sounds crazy or not, but when I have something particular in mind, its so like me to browse for recipes till I can't browse anymore, shortlist many, get all muddled up about which of those to try, procrastinate and procrastinate. Then most of the times, try the simplest of them all. The ricotta I made recently was begging to be used up before it could no longer be called fresh. An image of Fiadone caught my eye.  Okay, lets be honest, apart from the tempting images, 'easy' sounded so good, considering my really sore back. Curiosity and Google led me to Helene's Tartelette. Look no further!

Fiadone is a cheesecake from the island of Corsica, a French Island. Its made out of brocciu or brousse, which is whey cheese made out of goat's milk.  Helene's description of fiadone being a cross between a  flan and a cheesecake had me! I love flans though I can't say I have fallen in love with every cheesecake I have met. But then  a cheesecake is something I have wanted to bake since long, but never quite got to baking it. And now a promisng recipe so very easy, Fiadone it would be then!

Its entirely another matter that I made Fiadone thrice within a week, but thankfully I had company to help finish it! The first two attempts produced cheesecakes which ballooned in the oven - what on earth! Did I over beat the eggs or blitzing the ricotta for a smoother cake added to it? Wrote to Helene. Apparently nothing wrong with the procedure, oven hot spot may be?  Alright, I can’t sleep till this is right! Baked the cheesecake yet again in my old OTG and yes! the cake behaved itself! The texture was predictably more gritty in comparison to the cheesecake with the blitzed ricotta having a smoother texture (image below).

Not your usual cheesecake, but delicious nevertheless! So very easy to make, the ingredients, pantry staples.

The recipe is one you can’t forget in a hurry, barely 4 ingredients and hardly any steps. Here goes. The best part is you could bake this with ricotta or even well drained yogurt says Helene!

Fiadone – Corsican Cheesecake

Minimally adapted from here

Serves 6-9

Sugar – ½ cup minus 1 tablespoon (measured and powdered)
Eggs - 3 large / 144 grams
Finely grated lemon zest – 1 teaspoon

Pure vanilla extract – 1 teaspoon
Cornstarch  - 1 tablespoon

pinch of salt
Ricotta cheese or faisselle - 1 cup drained ( weighed about 225 grams)

Procedure : Line an 8x8-inch square pan with parchment paper, butter  lightly and set aside.  Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C / 375F and position a rack in the middle.  In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and the eggs until pale ( I did this on speed 4 of my hand mixer  for about  1.5 minutes, did not want to whip longer in case it ballooned again). Add the lemon zest, cornstarch, vanilla and salt and whisk until blended.  Add the drained cheese and whisk well ( I used a wire whisk). Pour into your prepared pan, place into the oven and lower the heat to 180 degrees C / 350F.  Bake for 40-45 minutes (mine baked in 35 minutes). The cake does not rise, it gets dark around the edges and a knife inserted in the middle should come out clean. Let cool for a few minutes before cutting into squares.

I must admit, though it may not be the done thing,  I loved the smooth texture  the blended ricotta  lent to  the cheesecakes that ballooned.  But rest assured, smooth or not,  set or ballooned, its unlikely that you will dislike this dessert.  Go ahead, give it a try! You have no excuse not to bake yourself a cheesecake when you crave for one, albeit not your usual kind.  And yes, let me know how you made it and how you liked it!

Thanks again Ajay for the pictures! Have been telling him, I should resume taking pictures or I am likely to forget how to take them :)

Cherry, Almond & Chocolate Chunk Muffins

'Muffins' we wrote with a flourish in the weekly  'menu' for the things I could make for the kids' school snack box. This snack went on the day of the week when they could take 'junk' food.  I know, if I were a kid, I would have probably wanted them at least 2 days a week to school. Too bad, we had no snack break at school and my mother did not bake either. 

My children would surely be excited to take muffins to school, home-made ones at that! I would be equally happy at the thought of starting my day with smell of vanilla and the sight of little fresh muffins materializing out of the oven in so little time with even lesser effort! The rewards - delighted kids who 'just can't wait for short break' and a happy mother. The simple pleasures of life often come in tiny packages - in this case some simple but versatile muffins. 

 Now I must include that a good, dependable muffin recipe is a must have in every home-baker's repertoire. Joy to make these little treats at a moment's notice with whatever you have on hand or whatever your kids fancy at the moment. Relatively healthy these are as is, you could sneak in some whole wheat or almond meal and some chopped  fresh fruit for some more goodness. I see more muffins landing in the snack boxes!

With cherries in season, I made some with fresh cherries, almond meal and dark chocolate. Yum!

Recipe adapted from Better Homes And Gardens Homemade Bread Book. This recipe appears as Best Ever Muffins in this book,  variations below.

Ingredients -
All purpose flour - 162 grams / 1 1/4 cup

Almond meal - 1/2 cup (or whole wheat flour or more APF)

Baking powder - 2 1/2 teaspoons

Salt -  1/2 teaspoon

Sugar, super fine - 6-8 tablespoons (read note)

Egg, beaten - 1

Milk - 3/4 cup

Vegetable oil - 1/3 cup

Vanilla - 1 teaspoon

Add ins -
2/3 cup pitted, chopped fresh cherries

Dark chocolate chunks - 1/2 cup

Procedure: Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees C / 400 degrees F. Line your muffin cups with liners (12 for this recipe).

Whisk or sieve together the flours, baking powder, salt and sugar into a large bowl. In another small bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, oil and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, dump the wet ingredients all at once in the well. Stir until just before the flour disappears. Add the cherries and chocolate. Stir till just moistened. Do not over mix.

Fill the greased liners 2/3 full. Bake for about 18-20 minutes or till risen and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Variations :

Lemon Blueberry muffins : Fold in 3/4 to 1 cup fresh blueberries or frozen berries, thawed and drained along with 1 teaspoon lemon zest.

Cheese muffins : Reduce sugar to 1/4 cup, stir in 1/2 cup grated sharp natural cheddar cheese into the dry ingredients.

Date and Orange muffins : Substitute 3/4 cup orange juice for the milk, whisk in 1 teaspoon orange peel in it. Stir in 1/2 cup finely chopped dates, 1/2 cup chopped nuts.

Fresh fruit, juice, coffee and walnuts, Nutella swirl or chocolate swirl. And of course more variations as you please.

Sugar : Add sugar according to taste and with the other add ins in mind.

PS: The pictures here are taken by Ajay, my neighbor who happens to be a very keen photographer. These are the first few  of his food photography shots. Thanks so much Ajay for the lovely pictures and all the time and effort you put into this! The chocolate chunk and mint muffins above are some this shining new baker just stepping out of IIT made for himself!

Homemade Ricotta

Say cheese and we in India are most familiar with three kinds. Mozzarella on our omnipresent pizzas. Cottage cheese without which our restaurants would be out of business! The other of course is processed cheese in slices and cubes stacked in the fridge for our white sauce and for the kids' sandwiches. The past decade or so has seen more of cheese with the culinary revolution, increasing popularity and interest in food. We can now safely say we know Parmesan, mascarpone, ricotta, quark, feta, cream cheese and Gorgonzola to name a few, at least by name. They don't sound all that much alien as they pop out of the menus and television shows all the time, we can actually pretend we know them!

The availability of exotic varieties of cheese is truly heartening with these dotting the aisles of the newer specialty supermarkets and the virtual aisles of online food stores. But truth be said, the prices kill the joy of buying them! The wallet effect apart, it would not really hurt to run to the near by store and buy a tub of fat free cream cheese for your cheese cake on the way back from work. Thankfully there are at-least some of these which are best consumed fresh - and the making of which need not be a study in itself. Home made ricotta is one of them.

Ricotta means 'twice cooked'  and is traditionally made using left over whey which is a by-product of cheese making. Below is the recipe for homemade ricotta for folk like us who have no access to cheese making by- products. Again homemade ricotta can be made using lemon juice or vinegar or buttermilk to curdle the milk, with obvious subtle difference in taste.

It was a joy to discover that ricotta is oh-so-easy-to-make with just a handful of easily available ingredients. When really fresh, it has a very soft and creamy texture. Can be made quickly subject to the availability of whole milk and cream. You could use ricotta in cheesecakes, cakes, muffins, desserts, in your savory tarts or eat just as is with a drizzle of honey and nuts. Delightful soft cheese, ridiculously easy to make, supposedly super versatile in use and very cost effective - who in their right mind will now say no to this cheese!

Adapted from here, recipe by David Lebovitz.

You will need :

Whole milk - 960 ml / 4 cups ( I used 3.5%)

Plain whole milk yogurt - 120 ml/ 1/2 cup

Heavy cream ( I have used Amul, 25%) - 60 ml / 1/4 cup (optional )

White vinegar - 1 teaspoon

Salt - 1/2 teaspoon (1 teaspoon if using the cheese for savory recipes)

Position a strainer over a large deep bowl, line with a few layers of cheese cloth. In a medium sized heavy pot, lightly whisk together the milk and cream, tip in the yogurt, vinegar and salt. Bring this to a boil ( I boiled on medium heat). It took about 5 minutes for the milk to rise and the milk to start separating around the edges. Once it comes to a boil (when it rises), boil for another 2 minutes or till the milk curdles. You can now see whey and bits of curd over the surface too. Do not boil for longer as it may make your cheese rubbery.

Pour into the lined strainer and drain for 15 minutes. Gather the cheesecloth around the cheese and squeeze gently to drain excess liquid. Guess we have to remember that you if you drain it longer it makes for a drier cheese and you only need to squeeze it gently and not actually wring it dry!

Home made ricotta is best served warm, refrigerated for up to 3 days. Not sure if this freezes well.

Please note: David Lebovitz recommends whole milk, heavy cream and whole milk yogurt - the higher fat percentage in all these contributes to the creamy texture. You may use low fat milk, yogurt and cream but can't expect the same texture. I have used milk at room temperature as I thought it would take longer for cold milk to boil ( Did not want risk boiling long along with the acidic ingredients, fearing tough cheese)

I actually have some ricotta in my fridge, lets see what I can do with it!