Thin Mint Cheesecake Bars

 The Art.
     It is Girl Scout cookie season in my region, which usually means that I will gorge myself on Samoas and Thin Mints whilst watching Downton Abbey. This year, I managed to practice some restraint and only bought two boxes of cookies, so I had to do some rationing. The mere fact that I left an entire box of Thin Mints untouched for baking research purposes demonstrates how dedicated I am to this blog. Said baking research resulted in these delicious cheesecake bars, so I guess it was worth the sacrifice. They have a dark, crumbly crust of crushed cookies that is complimented by a fresh, minty mascarpone filling, then drizzled with melted chocolate and garnished with sprigs of mint. If anything ever embodied the understated decadence of the Thin Mint, this cheesecake is it.

The Science.
    Cheesecake filling is traditionally made with mascarpone cheese, sugar, and eggs, then baked until the filling begins to set. A common problem when baking cheesecake is that the edges of the filling will cook more quickly than the center, causing them to puff up and become overdone. This happened to me the first time I took at stab at making this recipe, but I solved this problem by taking measures to ensure that the filling heats up evenly throughout the pan. The first thing I did was reduce the baking temperature from 350°F to 300°F, and increase the bake time. This gives the center of the cheesecake time to heat up without scorching the sides. I also used my heavy glass 9x13 Pyrex pan, because having a thicker pan will insulate the edges from the high heat. Finally, I placed that pan inside a water bath, to further draw the heat from the sides and allow even baking. Altering my recipe in this way resulted in a beautifully set, creamy cheesecake filling that I was quite happy with.

The Recipe.

Crust:
1 package (10 ounces) Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies
4 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:
16 ounces cream cheese, softened
8 ounces mascarpone cheese
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
green food color

Decorations:
2 ounces dark chocolate, melted
fresh mint leaves

    Preheat oven to 300°F. Place cookies in a food processor and pulse until finely crumbled. Pour crumbs into a glass 9x13 pan, add butter, and stir to combine. Press mixture firmly and evenly into the bottom of the pan. In a large bowl, beat together cream cheese, mascarpone, and sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Gradually beat in cornstarch. Add peppermint extract and a few drops of food color to make the filling a minty green. Spoon filling into pan and smooth with a spatula. Place in a slightly larger pan filled with water, and bake on center rack for 40 minutes. Center of the cheesecake should still be a little bit jiggly. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature, then chill overnight.

    To decorate, cut cheesecake into squares and place on waxed paper. Fill a sandwich bag with the melted chocolate, snip off the bottom corner, and drizzle the chocolate over the bars.

    Garnish with sprigs of mint and serve. Cheesecake bars can be refrigerated for 4 days, or frozen in an airtight container for one month.

Irish Soda Bread

The Art.
    As someone who does not enjoy beer, whiskey, nor crowded pubs, I wasn't particularly looking forward to St. Patrick's Day this year. My feelings soon changed when Roommate Susan introduced me to Irish soda bread. Finally, I have a way to celebrate Irish culture that doesn't include drinking a green brew. Soda bread uses baking soda to leaven instead of yeast, to accommodate the "soft" wheat flour produced in 1800's Ireland [1]. The upshot of this is that you can toss all the ingredients together and have a beautiful loaf of bread in under an hour--no rising or kneading required. Now, the Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread (yes, this actually exists) is very adamant that traditional soda bread should only contain flour, buttermilk, salt, and baking soda. They believe that any additional flavors are a stain upon their beloved heritage. I'm not Irish, so I snubbed my nose at tradition and added dried currants and caraway seeds, simmered with a splash of whiskey to release the aromatic flavors. The SPISB may consider it a crime, but I bet the Irish would have done the same if they hadn't been in the middle of the Potato Famine.

The Science.
     When making bread, a leavening agent must be added to the dough so the bread will rise. Most bread recipes call for live yeast as the leavening agent. The yeast metabolizes sugar within the dough and produces carbon dioxide gas, making the dough rise and become light [2]. However, it takes about an hour for the yeast to produce enough carbon dioxide in the raw dough to make a nicely leavened bread. On the other hand, quickbreads use baking soda and/or baking powder as the leavening agent. In combination with an acidic component, such as buttermilk, the baking soda also creates carbon dioxide bubbles within the dough. This reaction occurs quickly in the oven, and does not require a rising time before the dough is baked. Since this Irish soda bread is a quickbread, it is an ideal project for impatient bakers who want to make homemade bread.

The Recipe.
1 1/4 cups dried currants
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
3 tablespoons whiskey
1 tablespoon water
2.5 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2  teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten



     Preheat oven to 350°F and coat a cookie sheet with baking spray. Place currants, caraway seeds, whiskey and water in small saucepan and simmer on low heat until most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat and set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add butter, and crumble into flour mixture with fingertips until combined. Add buttermilk and egg and stir until combined. Fold in currants and caraway seeds. Form dough into a ball and place on cookie sheet, scoring a cross into the top of the loaf. Bake on center rack for 40 minutes, or until tester comes out clean. Soda bread is best served warm, with butter or jam.


1. "Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread," http://www.sodabread.info/index.htm
2. Young, Linda and Cauvain, Stanley. Technology of Breadmaking. New York, NY: Springer Science
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