French Silk Cheesecake 5/5 Spoons

Okay, so I love cheesecake and I love chocolate. So it is always only logical to throw the two things together and make something so decadent, delicious and INSANE that you will dream about it.

I am entering a cheesecake this summer into the Great Wisconsin Cheese Festival and have started to work on and think about what I could make so I can win! I mean as a first-time entrant, I doubt I will win, but it doesn't hurt to try! So one morning I was watching Cook's Country and they made French Silk Pie. Whoa. I haven't had a slice of French Silk Pie since going to Perkins in high school. I was sitting here and thought to myself, "What if I made a layered French Silk Cheesecake???" and thus a star was born. That one right below.

The French Silk Pie was no bake so I had to find a no-bake Cheesecake recipe that would mimic the smooth, mousse like texture of the chocolate and found this one. Although there were a few steps to making, waiting and assembling everything, overall every step was easy. You just need patience and when it comes to something as delicious as this, I had no problem waiting.

Here are my notes:

Cheesecake part -

-- Um, nothing. It's perfection, don't change it.

French Silk pie part -

-- I cut the recipe in half because I didn't want an extremely tall cheesecake and I think it worked out well. I cracked three eggs in measuring cup and only poured half into my bowl. Make scrambled eggs with the rest!
-- Make sure your bowl and beaters are very cold. Put them in the fridge for 10-15 minutes before beating your cream. Trust me, it helps a lot.
-- Use good chocolate. It will be worth it. I used a 4 ounce bar of Ghirardelli's 60% Bittersweet Chocolate. It's my (affordable) favorite. (Oh use baking chocolate instead of chips, chips have stabilizers and you don't want anything potentially ruining your silkiness.)
-- Wanna hear something dumb that totally ended up being absolutely okay? I forgot to add the butter. I could not even believe it. I took such time to get the butter at room temp and I forgot it! But to be honest with you, the French Silk mousse was AMAZING. So yeah, I recommend doing it my way because I just saved a lot of calories getting rid of those 4 T. of butter, ha.
-- So, I didn't bother to bring my egg mixture to 160 degrees. Yup, I was sick of hand mixing it over the stove and potentially electrocuting and setting myself on fire at the same time. I mixed it for about 7 minutes until it was light and fluffy and then mixed again for about 2-3 minutes off the heat. I am not worried about raw egg like perhaps I should be, but we only live once right?

The only negative I will say is that I think the chocolate overpowers the cheesecake part too much. They are delicious but I found myself eating the chocolate part and then the cheesecake part. That is not going to fly at the festival. So back to the drawing board. But if you want an insanely impressive dessert with not a ton of fuss but with a lot of fancy, I would recommend trying it my way.

PS - A springform pan is kind of the best thing in the world. And I found mine for $3 at a thrift store!

Up next, something healthy! I swear.

Vegan Pumpkin Pie 5/5 Spoons

Ok, I am finally back. And you will probably get like 3 posts today, so deal with it!

I've been searching for an ultimate vegan pumpkin pie for awhile now (ok, let's say about a month) and this one from Vegetarian Times (which if you didn't know, has a crazy wealth of recipes) seemed to come the closest and be the easiest of all the ones I found.



(Photo courtesy of Vegetarian Times)

First off, I will admit that I used a store bought deep dish crust. Whatever. We all cheat sometimes. Some on their wives and me on making freshly made pie dough. The dough was not vegan but as a new years revolution, I'm trying really hard to make my life about 85% vegan. I don't think I can ever really do 100% but I know I can do 85%. So buy a pre-made crust or make one of your own. I have a hand written vegan pie crust recipe that I swear by, ask if you would like to get your grubby little hands on it.

So let's see, just focusing on the filling, I really barely made any changes here. The only thing I can see is that instead of allspice, I just used 1/2 t. of nutmeg instead of 1/4. Oh, and I just used granulated sugar, not that cane syrup stuff. It turned out perfectly well with just plain ol' sugar. This pie is sweet and has a spicy kick with the help of the ground ginger. I thought it was too sweet at first but after letting it cool overnight in the fridge, it mellowed out. I would suggest keeping it in the fridge because it keeps the filling nice and firm.

And if you are thinking of leaving out the molasses, I would advise against it. It gave it a really nice deep dark flavor that you can't get from any other sweetener out there. And molasses is always nice to have around if you are like me and have a hankering occasionally for cookies. So grab a hunk and top with a big dollop of whipped cream, especially Soyatoo, which totally rules (seeing as I wore a beard of it one lovely Fakesgiving after perhaps having too many spirits).

I give this recipe:

5/5 spoons!

Next up, Sushi and Egg Rolls!