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
    + Business Media, LLC, 2007.

"Roses are Red" Cake

The Art.
     I'm quite excited to present this cake, because it might be the prettiest one I've made. I created it with the help of my Handsome Man last week, and we are shamelessly proud of ourselves. Revisiting the ever popular sugared rose petal technique, I selected deep red roses and used red sanding sugar to coat them. While adorning the cake with the petals is relatively easy, be sure to set aside ample time to sugar the roses first. An extra pair of hands wouldn't be a bad idea. I feel lucky to have someone in my life who will not only assist me in sugaring my rose petals, but also appreciates the fact that when I receive a bouquet, my first inclination is to eat it. 

The Science.
   To date, I have used three different methods to make sugared rose petals. The first is to use superfine baker's sugar, which finely coats the petals and dries into a hard, rigid coating that makes inserting them into the cake very easy. This method is good for white or very light pink petals, but darker colors won't show through the white sugar. The second way is to use regular granulated sugar, as I did for my Blooming Rose Cupcakes. Petals coated this way will not dry up as firm as with the baker's sugar, but this allows some of the flower's color to show through with a frosted look. To maintain the deep red color of these rose petals, I used red sanding sugar. The color turned out beautifully, but the petals didn't stiffen as they dried. After some investigating, I found that the sanding sugar I had used contained confectioner's glaze. This food-grade shellac has some organic compounds, which may interact with the albumin protein in the egg white and prevent it from hardening [1,2]. Obviously, the cake still turned out and the petals held up for about 36 hours, but this is something to keep in mind when using sanding sugar to coat your rose petals. 

The Recipe.

Sugared Rose Petals:
One dozen organic red roses
1 egg white
1/2 cup red sanding sugar

    As I mentioned in my previous post, be sure that your roses are organic and have not been treated with anti-fungal agents. Pluck the petals from 6 of the roses, gently rinse and pat dry. With a small paintbrush, paint a thin coat of egg white on each petal and immediately coat it with the red sugar. Allow to dry in a single layer on paper towels. Make a bouquet from the remaining roses.
    The recipes for the angelfood cake and meringue icing can be found here. Instead of making cupcakes, spoon the cake batter into two clean 6x3-inch round cake pans and bake for 30 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edge and invert cakes onto wire racks to cool completely.

Assembly:
    Place a cake layer on top of a cardboard cake round. Spread a thin layer of meringue, and place the second cake layer on top. Cover the cake in a thick layer of meringue.

    Beginning at the bottom edge, insert the largest sugared rose petals around the bottom of the cake. Continue placing rose petals around and up the side of the cake, staggering the layers slightly. As you reach the top, begin using the smaller rose petals and work in a spiral toward the center. You can consult the Blooming Rose Cupcakes for pictures of inserting the rose petals.

    The cake should be stored uncovered in the refrigerator no more than one day. Covering it will cause the petals to wilt from the condensation. The rose flavor of the cake can be complimented very well with a white or rose dessert wine. 

1. Smolinske, Susan C. Handbook of Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Excipients. CRC Press, 1992.
2. O Chef, "Beating Egg Whites into Submission." http://www.ochef.com/223.htm

Tutorial: Truffle Boxes

    Happy Valentine's Day! As I mentioned last week, I will be delivering valentines to my friends and labmates today. Since they will include the Valentine Petit Fours and the Sriracha Truffles I posted previously, I needed to come up with a way to package them. I looked up pricing for candy tins from various merchants, and I decided that someone with as little cash as I have should find a more economical solution. So, I made my own origami boxes with wrapping paper. The great thing about these boxes is you can customize their size and color, and they only cost a couple dollars. The creative possibilities abound!

Directions:
    Select a wrapping paper in your desired color and pattern. The paper folding will work best with a sturdy wrapping paper, while a shiny foil paper or clear plastic wrap will be tricky. If you can, get a wrapping paper with a 1-inch grid printed on the back, this will speed things up tremendously.
    These directions make a box that is approximately 3 inches square by 1.5 inches tall. If you wish to make a box of a different size, keep in mind that the dimensions of the box will be roughly 2.5 times smaller than the square you start out with. The square you use for the bottom of the box should also be a half inch smaller than the top square, so they will nest.

1.  For the top of the box, cut out an 8x8-inch square of wrapping paper and lay it "wrong" side  up.
     Cut out a 7.5x7.5-inch square for the bottom. You will have to make a "mountain fold" with the
     bottom piece, as shown, since the grid won't line up with the center of the paper.

 

2.  Fold the corners in to the center point of the square, following the lines of the grid. 

 

3.  Bring two edges together along the center line, then unfold.

 

4.  Repeat for the other side. 

5.  Pull out two opposite corners, as shown.

 6.  Bring one corner up 90 degrees to make the side of the box, and press the bottom edges in.

 7.  Fold the corner over and into the center of the box.

8.  Repeat on other side.

Once you have completed these steps for both squares, you have a lovely little box to put your treats in! Line with tissue paper, fill with treats, and finish off with curling ribbon.

Gluten-free Corset Cookies

The Art.
    Several months ago, I found this cute corset cookie cutter from Copper Gifts. I immediately knew I just had to get it so I could make some cookies for Miss Michelle. Miss Michelle is my dance teacher, and in addition to being Generally Awesome, she also loves embellished girly things. However, shortly after I discovered the cookie cutter, tragedy struck and Miss Michelle had to restrict herself to a gluten-free diet. If I ever wanted to make corset cookies for my dance class, I would have to delve into the mysterious world of gluten-free baking. As a baker, this terrified me. But, as a scientist, I was intrigued. Like all other aspects of my life, science had its way in the end, and I managed to pull together my first gluten-free recipe just in time for Valentine's Day. I have to say I was quite satisfied with the result. The dough was a little tricky to work with, but baked up into a sturdy sugar cookie that had a delicate flavor imparted by the white rice flour.

The Science.
    Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley flours that gives dough elasticity. It does this by aggregating to form a fibrous network that binds both water and starch within the dough, thus thickening it [1]. Without gluten, cookie dough will turn into a sloppy batter. In order to make my sugar cookies gluten free, I not only needed to substitute a gluten-free flour, but I also needed to add other ingredients to make a protein network. I selected white rice flour for my cookies, since it has a mild flavor. Then, I added in cornstarch to absorb water and thicken the dough. I also added a small amount of gelatin, because the collagen would act as a fibrous protein network in place of the gluten. I increased the number of eggs from one to two, because the albumen in egg whites aggregates much like gluten does [1]. Finally, I went back to using only butter instead of combining butter and vegetable oil in my cookie dough, because I wanted to make the cookies more dense and less crumbly.

The Recipe.

2 cups white rice flour
1 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon gelatin
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup salted butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla


     Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat butter on medium speed until fluffy, then beat in eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and stir until combined. Cover and chill dough at least one hour. Meanwhile, make two batches of royal icing. Tint one batch pink with gel icing colors.
    Preheat oven to 350°F and grease two baking sheets. Dust countertop and rolling pin with plenty of rice flour, and roll dough out until 1/4-inch thick. Cut out cookies and very carefully transfer to baking sheet. Since the gluten-free dough is delicate, your cookies will lose shape if you handle them too much. Bake cookies for 13 minutes on middle and lower racks. Allow to cool for 2 minutes on cookie sheet, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.


Decorating:

    Fill two piping bags with approximately 1/4 of the white and pink icing and add a #2 or #4 round tip. The #2 tip is good for small details, but the #4 is easier to pipe and gives a strong line for borders. Pipe a line around the perimeter of your cookies. Thin the rest of the icing with teaspoons of milk until it is the consistency of Elmer's glue. Flood the cookies with the thinned icing.

     After about 10 minutes the surface of the flooding icing will be dry, and you can begin piping details on your corsets. Be creative! If something you pipe doesn't look like it's going to work out, keep on embellishing it until it does. This is one scenario where more is more. Allow cookies to dry overnight, uncovered.

    Cookies can be stored in an air-tight container separated with parchment paper for a week at room temperature. To give these Valentine cookies to my friends, I placed them in party favor bags (Wilton, $1.99) and tied them off with pink curling ribbon.

1.  Zannini, E. et al. "Functional Replacements for Gluten." Annual Review of Food Science and Technology 2012, Vol. 3: pp 227-245.

Burnin' Love Sriracha Truffles

The Art.
    If you were to open my fridge, you would find that a good 30% of my condiments are chili sauces of some sort. I currently have four bottles of hot sauce, a jar of Thai chili paste, Indian mango chutney, and a bottle of Sriracha in the door of my refrigerator. The "Rooster Sauce" is probably my favorite. I purchase it at the Asian market so I can get it in a size that is large enough to satisfy my needs. Every day at lunch I slather my repast in chili sauce before I eat it. If a recipe doesn't call for Sriracha, I add a few tablespoons for good measure. And I'm always looking for new foods to try it on. Recently there has been a trend to add chili and cayenne pepper to chocolate truffles for a spicy kick, so I figured I'd try the same with my favorite condiment. I used dark chocolate to balance the flavors, and added just a hint of Sriracha to the ganache center. The result is truffles that aren't too sweet, and have a sneaky chili flavor that develops slowly. Since we all know love can burn, I've included these truffles in the valentine boxes for my friends. I will soon post a tutorial on how to make the paper boxes so you can present your treats in style.

The Science.
    If you've never made truffles before, there are three things you should know: 1) it's very messy, 2) it takes quite a bit of time, and 3) you must educate yourself about chocolate. Before you buy your chocolate, please visit this post and read my Melting Chocolate Manifesto in the Science section. It bears repeating that when you are buying a melting chocolate, get a good quality BAR chocolate, and not chocolate chips. This is less critical for the ganache filling, since it will be mixed with cream and will be very temperature sensitive anyway. In fact, using chocolate chips for the ganache may be better, since the emulsifiers in chocolate chips can prevent the fat from separating as it cools. I still try to buy good quality chocolate chips, however, because I think it makes the flavor of the truffles so much richer.

The Recipe.

(Makes 50 truffles)

12 oz (1 bag) Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp Sriracha chili sauce
20 oz Ghirardelli 60% cacao bar chocolate (5 bars)


     Bring an inch of water to a simmer in a small saucepan. Place chocolate chips and cream in a large bowl, and set over the saucepan to create a double boiler. Stir the chocolate and cream constantly, until melted and combined. Remove from heat and stir in Sriracha. Cover, and place ganache in the freezer overnight. Once set, the ganache should be the consistency of Play-Doh. Roll into teaspoon-sized balls, then place on parchment paper and promptly return to the freezer. Rolling ganache works best in a cool environment with cool hands, so the ganache doesn't melt.

    In a small microwave-safe bowl, heat the bar chocolate in 30-second bursts, stirring in-between, until it is melted. To coat the truffles, drop them individually into the melted chocolate, then transfer between two forks several times until the excess chocolate has dripped off. Allow to cool on parchment paper in the refrigerator until hardened. Try to work quickly so the ganache center doesn't melt. Once hardened, coat the truffles a second time, reheating the melted chocolate if necessary. Pipe a heart on each truffle in red royal icing, and allow to dry uncovered at room temperature.

     For presentation, place truffles in mini paper liners and deliver in a small box with curling ribbon.  Truffles can be stored at room temperature for a week, or in the refrigerator for up to one month.

Valentine Petit Fours

The Art.
    When I was in elementary school, everyone loved Valentine's Day. Each student brought little  valentines for their classmates, and we all consumed an obnoxious amount of chocolate. However, as I've grown into adulthood (or an approximation thereof) many of my peers view Valentine's Day with embitterment and disdain. They focus so much on the romantic aspects that I think they forget that it's still a day to show your friends that you love them. I am proud to say that I have always taken the elementary school approach to Valentine's Day, distributing homemade valentines to show my friends that I care. This year I've taken it up a notch, and my gifts will include snacks as well as gaudy paper hearts. One of the treats will be these petit fours, decorated like little conversation heart candies. I hope that by giving valentines to all my friends, they will know that I love and appreciate them--because that's what Valentine's Day is all about!

The Science.
    In keeping with the Valentine theme, these petit fours are flavored with raspberry jam. Coincidentally, raspberries are reported to be good for your heart. A recent study tracked 94 thousand healthy women over the course of 18 years, and investigated how dietary habits affected risk for heart attack. They found that women who regularly consumed berries high in anthocyanin--the pigment that gives berries their color--had fewer heart attacks [1]. Cell culture experiments have also shown that anthocyanins have antioxidant effects and inhibit generation of nitric oxide, providing insight as to how berries may prevent cardiac events [2,3]. So, if you're wondering what to get your Valentine this year, making these petit fours will show you care about his/her cardiac health and want to spend a long, healthy life together. (Nevermind all the butter and sugar. It's irrelevant.)

The Recipe.

Raspberry Petit Fours: (Makes 45-50)
1 cup cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons salted butter
3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam



    Preheat oven to 350^oF. Coat a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat butter in large bowl on medium-high until fluffy, then gradually beat in sugar. Beat eggs in, one at a time. Stir vanilla into buttermilk. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk to butter/sugar/egg mixture while beating on low speed.  Beat an additional 30 seconds. Pour batter into mold/pan and spread evenly. Lift and drop on the counter a couple times to eliminate bubbles in the batter. Bake on center rack for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes, remove the parchment paper, then place on wire rack until completely cool.
   Using a small heart cookie cutter, cut petit fours out of the cake. In a microwave safe bowl, gently heat the jam until it is runny. Brush jam over cooled cakes and allow to dry. Meanwhile, make the poured fondant.

White Chocolate Poured Fondant:
4oz Ghirardelli white bar chocolate
6 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons light corn syrup

    Heat chocolate in a large microwave-safe bowl in 30-second bursts, stirring inbetween, until melted. Stir in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, adding small amounts of water at intervals. Stir in corn syrup. Icing will be very thick. Divide into bowls and tint the icing pastel shades with gel icing colors.

Decorating:
    Balance a cake on a fork and hold it over the bowl of fondant. Spoon fondant over the cake, allowing the excess to drip off. Allow to dry completely on a wire rack, with parchment paper underneath to catch drips. Write conversation heart messages with red royal icing and a #2 tip. Petit fours can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for up to one month.

1. Cassidy, A. et al. "High Anthocyanin Intake Is Associated With a Reduced Risk of Myocardial Infarction in Young and Middle-Aged Women." Circulation. 2013; 127: 188-196 
2. Min, S. et al. "Anti-inflammatory effects of black rice, cyanidin-3-O-beta-D-glycoside, and its metabolites, cyanidin and protocatechuic acid. Int Immunopharmacol." Int Immunopharmacol. 2010, 10(8) pp 959-66.
3. Pergola, C. et al. "Inhibition of nitric oxide biosynthesis by anthocyanin fraction of blackberry extract." Nitric Oxide 2006, 15(1): pp 30–39