Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake

I decided to serve a raspberry swirl cheesecake as the dessert for a recent pop-up dinner.  I didn’t have an exact recipe at hand, but I have a basic cheesecake formula that I like to tweak for most cheesecake type preparations.  I figured that I could look around at what others were doing by way of incorporating the raspberry swirl (or marble) to get some ideas…and then adjust my recipe accordingly.

As is almost always the case when I search for “what others are doing,” I find one main thing that most people are doing…and then a few outliers that are quite different.  I should say up front that my experience is that there is no guarantee that the thing most people are doing is correct…or will even work at all.  It is a sad fact that in our food blogging world, anyone can post a recipe…and if something is beautiful in a picture or done by a widely read blogger…that many people just post it again—whether it works or not.  

My main question as I looked at recipes was about whether or not to cook the sweetened raspberry purée.  Most people cook the purée (one or two even used jam).  But I didn’t find anyone who explained why they did it one way or the other.  From my perspective, the main argument in favor of not cooking the raspberry purée is that it will remain thinner and won’t tend to want to sink in the batter.  Creating a marbled batter is not always a straightforward thing.  If one of the components is a lot thicker/heavier than the other, it will sink…and you will end up with two layers of batter rather than two batters that are marbled.  Most cheesecake batters are sort of thin and pourable, so a thinner purée makes more sense.

The argument against using fresh, uncooked purée is that the flavor isn’t very concentrated.  And since there is nothing in the purée to make it “set” during the cooking process, you can’t add a lot of it.  It literally needs to be a thin ribbon—a suggestion of more.  In many marbled cakes/cheesecakes/etc. the portion being marbled in is a quarter to a third of the total batter.  This would never work with a fruit purée (the resulting cheesecake would fall apart when cut). 

You could of course mix some of the cheesecake batter into the raspberry purée/sauce/jam—and then marble this fruit batter back into the main batter.  (This is how chocolate marbled cheesecakes are made.)  But since I wanted my raspberry swirl to have a deep, jewel-tone character, this didn’t appeal to me.

At the other end of the spectrum from fresh purée is jam.  Jam’s flavor is concentrated and would therefore give you a lot of flavor punch for the quantity…but jam is cooked until quite thick and heavy.  I was certain it would sink. I didn’t even consider using jam for this reason.

So…in the end…what “most people” were doing was what I went with:  a lightly cooked sweetened purée of raspberries. It gave me a more concentrated flavor than fresh…but was still thin enough that it didn’t sink.  If you cook it too long (making it too thick and heavy), you can always add water back in. 

As far as the actual process of adding the swirl, I added it in two layers.  The reason for this is that you can add more purée if you tuck some of it in the middle.  Part of what makes marbled things beautiful is the contrast on the surface (one of the reasons I baked my cake in a wide shallow pan is to give more surface area).  If you add all of the purée to the top (where it will stay since you’ve gone to lengths to keep it from sinking) you won’t have as much “swirl”—you’ll have “blobs” of raspberry instead. 

To add the raspberry purée in layers:  First, add a scant half of the cheesecake batter to the prepared pan over the crust and spread it out into an even layer. Drizzle about a third of the purée evenly over this first layer of batter (I use a squirt bottle—but a drizzling from a spoon will work just fine).  There is no need to swirl this part in…adding the rest of the batter and swirling the second addition of raspberry will be sufficient. 

The tricky part is adding the remaining batter.  You can’t just pour it on and spread it out.  You have to add it a spoonful at a time, holding your spatula/spoon/(whatever you are using to transfer the batter) just above the batter and moving it as you do (sort of like laying paint on a surface), so that each addition covers a wide section of the drizzle.  When you are done adding the batter, you shouldn’t need to spread it—other than a nudge here and there—since you were effectively spreading it as you laid it in the pan.  All the drizzle should be covered.

Then, use the squirt bottle or a small spoon to dollop the remaining raspberry puree evenly over the surface.  Use the tip of a table knife or small palette knife to marble in the puree.  The marble/swirl is best made with wide sweeping motions…zigzags and loops that sweep from one side of the pan to the other. You only need to do three or four passes one way…and then three or four the other…with a possible final swirl to “correct” any solid blobs of raspberry or spots of cheesecake that need a bit of raspberry swirled into them.

Finally, you will notice that there is white chocolate in the cheesecake batter…but not in the name.  I suppose you could call it “White Chocolate Cheesecake with a Raspberry Swirl” if you wanted to.  But to be honest, it doesn’t really taste like white chocolate.  I mostly add white chocolate because it adds an unidentifiable ”something-something”—in both the texture and the flavor.  You will notice when you add it, that it gives the batter more body and a slightly pearly sheen.  It also adds a bit of sweetness that compliments the raspberry particularly well.  I think you could probably leave it out…but I wouldn’t.

Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake

Graham Cracker Crust:
5 oz. graham crackers, finely ground (to make a scant 1 1/2 cups crumbs)
3 T. granulated sugar
2 oz. (4 T.) unsalted butter, melted

Line a 9-inch square baking pan with 2 crisscrossed sheets of foil, leaving an overhang. Butter or spray the pan. Combine the crust ingredients until homogenous and press into the pan in a compact even layer. Bake in a pre-heated 350° oven until just beginning to brown—10 minutes. Cool.

Filling:
125 g. white chocolate, chopped
3 8-oz. packages cream cheese, room temperature
165 g. sugar (3/4 c. plus 1 T.)
2 T. all-purpose flour, sifted (15 g.)
1/8 t. salt
1/2 c. sour cream (121g.)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 t. vanilla
95 g. raspberry sauce (about 1/3 c.)

Set a large pot of water over high heat. When it is steaming, reduce the heat to very low and place the white chocolate in a bowl that is wider than the pot and place the bowl over the steaming water. Let the chocolate melt. Remove the bowl from the pot and set aside in a warm spot while you make the batter. Bring the pot of water to a boil and keep hot.

Briefly beat cream cheese to break up. Beat in the sugar until smooth; scrape the sides. Beat in the flour & salt; scrape the sides. Add the sour cream and beat in. Scrape the sides. Beat in the eggs and vanilla in two or three additions, just until smooth and fully incorporated. Add a quarter to a third of the batter to the melted chocolate and quickly stir in until smooth. Add this tempered white chocolate batter to the main batter and mix until thoroughly combined.

Scrape a scant half of the batter (a little over 500 grams) into the prepared pan. Using a squirt bottle with a medium tip, drizzle a couple of tablespoons (30 g) of the raspberry sauce over the batter. Carefully spoon the remaining batter into the pan…covering the drizzle completely. Using the squirt bottle, squeeze small dollops of the remaining 65 g of sauce evenly over the surface (6 by 6 works well). Use a table or small palette knife to swirl through.

Place the pan on a half-sheet pan and place on the oven rack in a pre-heated 325° oven. Pour in the reserved hot water to come up at least half as high as the batter in the pan. Bake until just set—about 50 to 55 minutes.  Lift the foil that is wrapped over the edges of the pan so that it is free to move as the cake shrinks while cooling. 

Cool the cake to room temperature (about 2 hours). Chill, uncovered, until cold (at least 2 hours, but cheesecake may be baked a day or two ahead…or even frozen).

To portion, lift the cold cake out of the pan using the overhang of foil. Cut the cake using a sharp, thin knife dipped in hot water (and wiped dry) in between cuts. First, trim the edges. Then cut into three strips. Cut each strip evenly into 3, 4 or 5 pieces depending on whether you want 9, 12 or 15 portions. You may also cut 18 buffet-sized portions by cutting 9 squares and then cutting each square in half on the diagonal.

If you like, drizzle some of the sauce on each plate and top each portion with a rosette of whipped cream and some fresh raspberries.

Raspberry Sauce

6 oz. raspberries, fresh or frozen
3 T. sugar
1/2 t. lemon juice

Purée and strain the raspberries. You should have a half to two-thirds cup of purée. Add the sugar and lemon juice and bring to a simmer in a small saucepan. Simmer for a few minutes until slightly thickened and darkened in color. Cool. Makes a scant half cup or 125g. sauce. If you have much less than this, simply add a little water to thin the purée back out.

Printable Version

White Chocolate Cheesecake Tart with Lemon Curd Topping…and an announcement!

Yesterday was Easter Sunday. As has frequently been the case with me over the past few years, I am posting the holiday appropriate recipe after the fact. Three or four years ago I posted my recipe for Hot Cross Buns after Easter had passed. But as I pointed out at the time…the holiday happens every year. Posting the recipe while it is fresh and new works well for me…and makes the recipe available to all when the holiday does come around again.

In the case of the dessert that I made for yesterday’s festivities, the white chocolate and lemon flavors will be appropriate for many occasions. Mother’s day…for example (and which happens to be right around the corner). So in the long run, I don’t feel too bad about my tardiness…and I hope others won’t mind it too much either.

Yesterday’s dessert was mostly the serendipitous result of my continually changing pantry of leftovers. Due to some over-purchasing for some recent events, I had cream cheese, lemons and graham crackers on hand. All of this of course suggests cheesecake. But since I’m usually not in the mood for a tall slab of rich cheesecake after a holiday meal, I opted instead to make a “cheese tart,” (similar in style to the Marbled Chocolate & Pumpkin Cheese Tart I shared several years ago). The thin flat tart allows you to cut attractive, wider portions—without serving a dessert that is just too rich.

Because my favorite cheesecake happens to be white chocolate cheesecake, I decided that I would make a base layer of white chocolate cheesecake and top it with a thin layer of lemon curd. I thought the contrast in tastes: tangy cream cheese and sour cream…sweet white chocolate…and tart lemon—would be fantastic. And they were.

The tart is very straight forward to make if you are familiar with making cheesecake. There are no surprises in the crust…and the main thing to be careful about when you are making the batter is the addition of the chocolate. White chocolate is even more temperamental than chocolate and can seize or clump pretty quickly. When you add it, don’t mess around: add it all in one go and immediately whisk it in by hand so that it is fully distributed as quickly as possible.

If you have never made lemon curd, check out my post on the classic Tarte au Citron. You will be making half of the recipe described in that post. Applying the curd to the tart is the trickiest part of making the cheesecake tart. It must be applied to the cheesecake base while it is still warm, soft and wobbly. The surface tension of the mostly baked cheesecake will work in your favor, but you must be careful to apply the curd by holding your spoon/spatula/ladle very close to the surface—without  touching the surface—and apply it in a sweeping sort of motion (basically laying the curd in slabs/strips rather than plops). If you are too far above the surface of the tart when you apply it…or you apply it all in one spot…the weight of the curd will penetrate into the tart and you won’t have even/level layers of cheesecake and curd. Once all of the curd has been laid down on the tart, using a small offset spatula, go back and gently smooth it out to the edges, filling any holes left from the application process.

I was very pleased with this tart. Sometimes when you make something with flavors you think will be happy together, you can be disappointed when they all somehow manage to mute one another rather than enhance each other. I’m happy to report that this tart tastes of all the things you expect: cheesecake…white chocolate…and lemon. And it is just as delicious as you would expect. Berries, sweetened lightly with sugar, are an excellent garnish.

Announcing!

Finally, in the title I promised an announcement. Starting this month, I am offering a subscription newsletter! I am calling it “Notes from For Love of the Table.” I will be publishing once a month. There will be recipes…techniques…and of course, my opinions. For now I envision it as being primarily focused on the needs of those of us living in small households. Recipes will be mostly calibrated to one or two portions. And I will have a lot to say about how to go about organizing food preparation in a small household so that it isn’t wasteful or repetitive. If you have been reading my blog for very long, you know that this is right where I live. (Frequently the recipes I post have been inspired by the current contents of my pantry and leftovers. Today’s tart is a perfect example of that.) If you would like to read more about the newsletter, you may do so on the public “about” page. Subscribers will receive discounts to all my online classes…and right out of the gate will receive a free archived Zoom class of their choice.

I am excited about this newsletter. Charging a subscription fee (only $30 for a full year) will allow me to return to doing what I love to do best—developing recipes and writing about them. My focus will be on the newsletter, but if all goes as planned, I will also be able to post more here, on my blog (which will remain ad free and public).

I hope you will subscribe! You may do so here: Notes from For Love of the Table.

Lemon & White Chocolate Cheese Tart

Graham Cracker Crust:

167 g. (1 2/3 c.) finely ground graham crackers

40 g. ( 3 T.) granulated sugar

70 g. (5 T.) unsalted butter, melted

Cheesecake Base:

14 oz. (1 3/4 packages) cream cheese, room temperature (see note)

1/2 c. sugar

Pinch of salt

1/2 c. sour cream

2 eggs, lightly beaten

4 oz white chocolate, melted

Lemon curd:

100 g. (1/2 c.) sugar

75 g. (1/3 c.) strained lemon juice

2 eggs

2 oz. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Make the crust: Butter a 10-inch removable bottom tart pan. Combine the crust ingredients until homogenous and press to the bottom and up the sides of the pan in a compact even layer. Place on a baking sheet and transfer to a pre-heated 350° oven. Bake until set and beginning to brown—10 to 12 minutes. Cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 325°.

Briefly beat cream cheese to break up. Beat in the sugar and salt until smooth; scrape the sides. Add the sour cream and beat in. Scrape the sides. Beat in the eggs in two or three additions, just until smooth and fully incorporated. By hand, quickly whisk in the melted chocolate. Scrape the batter into the prepared crust.

Bake the tart in a pre-heated 325° oven until just set—about 30 minutes. The filling will be just beginning to soufflé up a bit around the edges and the center will appear jiggly.

While the cheese tart bakes, make the lemon curd: Combine the sugar and lemon juice in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the eggs until homogenous. When the lemon syrup boils, whisk it into the eggs in a thin stream. Return this mixture to the saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir constantly until the mixture is visibly thickened—this will only take a minute or two. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter, piece by piece. When the butter is fully incorporated, strain the filling into a small bowl and set aside.

When the cheesecake base is done to the point described above, remove it from the oven. 

Gently lay the lemon curd on the surface. Do this by carefully spooning it on with the spoon held very close (but not touching) the surface. If you just pour the curd on from too high above the tart, it will make holes/divots in the surface since the cheese custard will still be very, very soft. Don’t worry about making the curd perfectly smooth…or covering the entire surface…as you put the curd on the tart. Just get it on the tart so it is fairly evenly distributed. Then, when all the curd is on the tart, use a small offset spatula to gently smooth it out and make sure that the whole surface is covered.

Return the tart to the oven and bake until the curd is just set (like the cheesecake, it will still be a bit jiggly in the center)—about 8 to 10 minutes.

Cool to room temperature (about 1 hour). Chill, uncovered, until cold (at least 2 hours). Once cold, cover with plastic wrap.

To portion, remove the sides of the tart pan. Cut the tart using a thin, sharp knife dipped in hot water (and wiped dry) in between cuts.

Serve accompanied by fresh berries. Serves 10.

Note: If you don’t like it that this recipe uses a portion of a package of cream cheese, you may adjust the recipe to use 2 full packages (l pound) and then reduce the quantity of sour cream to 1/3 cup. If you follow the recipe as written you will have a little cream cheese left…to spread on toast/a bagel…make a half recipe of marbled cheesecake brownies…or maybe fold into some macaroni and cheese….

Printable Version

Piña Colada Cupcakes

It has been a while since my last post (more than a month!).  I’m guessing that no one is surprised by this.  I think life has been pretty crazy for everyone this year.  The main reason I mention it is that I want to assure people who have been reading my blog for a long time that I’m still here…and I’m not planning on going anywhere.  I just haven’t been able to get to my blog as much as I had wanted to this year. 

As is the case with so many in my profession, a lot of my normal avenues of work have disappeared.  One would think that this would give me more time for the blog.  But in order to stay afloat I have found myself pivoting…and reinventing…and creating work where ever and however I can.  All of this takes up a lot of mental energy that I might normally devote to my blog.

As unfortunate as all of this has been, good things have been coming out of it.  Many of you know that one of the first things I did in the early days of the pandemic was to start teaching online classes through an olive oil/kitchen store called Olive Tree.  I have continued with these classes and will be doing more through the fall and holidays.  They are low-key, fun and interactive.  If you like online classes, you should check them out.

In July I started preparing curbside pick up dinners through Olive Tree.  We have aimed for simple, seasonal and accessible menus. It has been a pleasure to cook for people again and these meals will also continue for the foreseeable future.

Today I am sharing the recipe for the dessert I served as part of my September dinner.  The dinner fell on the last weekend of summer and I wanted it to have a beach vacation kind of feel to it.  I thought the dessert was perfect for the occasion:  Piña Colada Cupcakes (it’s hard to get more beach vacation than a Piña Colada!)

I was going to use the recipe that we use occasionally in my friend Nancy’s bakeshop to make miniature cupcakes.  It is a nice reliable recipe that hits all the right Piña Colada notes:  pineapple…coconut…Malibu rum…and a rich and creamy finish courtesy of fluffy cream cheese frosting.  But when I made them in my giant cupcake liners they didn’t turn out right.  They were kind of damp and heavy.  For whatever reason, cake recipes that work in one pan size sometimes don’t work in another (this can be due to a needed adjustment in the quantity of leavener to account for the different pan size…although, in this case, I think it might have been my oven…which I am still getting used to…).  However, it doesn’t happen often enough to prepare me for the pan of cake pucks that I pulled out of the oven.  To make matters worse, the dinner was only about a week and a half away…and the menu had been published.  I had to come up with something pretty quickly. 

I looked around a bit on line for a likely recipe, but none of those that I saw had all the flavor components of the original recipe that I liked so much (most didn’t include Malibu).  I was also not really in the mood to try a bunch of recipes from unknown and untried sources.  In the end I decided to take one of my tried and true sour cream cake formulas and alter it to include the flavors I wanted.  I chose a sour cream cake base because sour cream has almost as high of a fat content as coconut milk and I thought that by subbing coconut milk for some of the sour cream…and then reducing the fat by using Malibu and pineapple juice to make up the rest of the “liquid”…that I would have a recipe that performed in basically the same manner as the sour cream cake. 

And in just one try, it did.  My insty Piña Colada Cupcake recipe had everything I had originally planned on—the flavors of a Piña Colada in a rich, moist, fine-grained miniature cake.  Crowned with a generous swirl of Malibu spiked cream cheese frosting and a shower of toasted coconut, they were the perfect conclusion to a South of the Border menu. 

So if you are still not ready for summer to end…  Or you didn’t get to take your summer vacation this year….  You should whip up a batch of these cupcakes.  You’ll have a miniature summer vacation on a plate.  And since these cupcakes freeze beautifully (with or without the frosting), you can make a batch to enjoy some now…and load the rest into the freezer…providing a stash of tropical dessert vacations to be enjoyed during the cold and dark months ahead.

Piña Colada Cupcakes

200 g. (1 3/4 c.) all-purpose flour
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
121 g. (1/2 c.) coconut milk
28 g. (2 T.) Malibu rum
56 g. (1/4 c.) pineapple juice (from can of crushed pineapple)
90 g. (1/2 c.) very well drained crushed pineapple (see note)
75 g. (3/4 c.) sweetened coconut
114 g. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
200 g. (1 c.) sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 t. vanilla
Cream Cheese Frosting
Toasted Coconut 

Line a 12 cup standard muffin tin with 10 tulip style muffin liners, leaving the center 2 muffin cups empty. (In my limited experience with the tulip liners, if you try to bake 12 large cupcakes in a standard muffin pan, the ones in the center will not bake at the same rate as the ones on the edge).  Set aside.  Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

Combine the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a small bowl.  Whisk to blend.  In a measuring cup, combine the coconut milk, Malibu and pineapple juice.   In another bowl, combine the crushed pineapple and coconut, fluffing until the coconut and pineapple are uniformly combined. 

Cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy (about 5 minutes using a stand mixer).  Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides after each addition.  Beat in the vanilla. 

Fold in the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the liquids in two additions.  Add the pineapple and coconut when the final mixture of dry ingredients is almost fully incorporated, 

continuing to mix just until the batter is homogenous.

Using a large ice cream scoop, divide the batter among the muffin liners.  (Each cupcake should weigh 95 grams.)

Transfer to the preheated oven and bake until golden and springy and a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean—about 22 to 25 minutes.

Cool the cupcakes completely before topping with 50 grams of cream cheese frosting each.  Garnish with a little toasted coconut.  Makes 10 large cupcakes.

Notes:

• Drain the crushed pineapple well: Place the contents of the can of pineapple in a sieve and us a rubber spatula or ladle to squeeze out most of the juice. A 20 oz. can of crushed pineapple in juice (not heavy syrup) will yield 8 oz. of well-drained/squeezed pineapple (about 1 1/4 c.) and 12 oz. of juice (1 1/2 c.).
• I used “Tulip” style muffin liners in the 4 oz. size for these cupcakes. At this size the recipe produces 10 cupcakes. I assume you could make them in standard size muffin liners, but you will obviously need to use less batter per muffin (60 to 65 g)…which will make 15 to 16 cupcakes.
• Use full fat coconut milk. I don’t know how the recipe would perform with the low fat version. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

6 oz./1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 lb. (3 cups) powdered sugar
1/2 T. Malibu
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature and cut into 8 cubes

Place the butter, powdered sugar and Malibu in a mixing bowl.  Using the paddle attachment, mix on the lowest setting until the powdered sugar is mostly absorbed.  Increase the speed to high and beat for 2 or 3 minutes, or until very light and fluffy.  Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Beat again on high, adding the cream cheese with the machine running.  Beat just until the cream cheese has been smoothly absorbed. (Overbeating cream cheese frosting can cause it to become too soft.)  Makes enough frosting to generously frost 12 large cupcakes.

Printable Version

Cranberry & Cheese Filled Yeasted Coffee Braid

In my previous post I mentioned that I had taught a class aimed at helping the holiday host prepare a bountiful table for overnight/out-of-town guests.  The idea for this class came to mind when I was thinking about one of my own favorite holiday memories. 

For the first decade of my life I lived in the same city as both of my sets of grandparents.  This made seeing everyone for the holidays easy.  I have wonderful memories of that time.  The holidays basically meant getting to spend time with my grandparents…but still being able to sleep in my own bed (an ideal situation for a kid as far as I’m concerned).

Around the time I turned ten my dad was transferred to Minneapolis—which was about 8 hours (by car) away from all of my grandparents.  I don’t think we even considered not making the trip back that first Thanksgiving.  On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving we got in the car sometime in the early afternoon and headed “home.”  About the time we crossed the Minnesota-Iowa border, we ran into some bad weather.  A rain-snow mix that hit at just the right temperature turned the interstate into a sheet of ice.  The roads were of course filled with holiday travelers, and traffic from the border to Des Moines began to move at a crawl…sometimes stopping altogether.  This was in the days before cell phones.  It was a tense situation.  I don’t know if my parents toyed with the idea of spending the night in Des Moines or not, but after calling my Grandmother when we finally made it to Des Moines we decided to press on.  We were assured the storm was mostly north of I-80…and I believe the rest of the drive was uneventful.

When we finally arrived at my Grandmother’s house it was probably past midnight.  As we walked in the door she was just pulling a jam and cheese filled pastry out of the oven.  Looking back I suspect it wasn’t part of her original plan (originally, we would have arrived in time for a late dinner).  But since she would have had another four hours (at least) to wait after we left Des Moines, I’m guessing she decided to bake.  Doing so would provide an activity for her while she waited…and would provide exhausted travelers with a very special treat.  And I will never forget it.  Going from being tired, stiff and a bit chilled to sitting in her warm kitchen, around her table at an hour when I was normally not allowed to be out of bed, eating a sweet pastry with all of the adults (who were so relieved that everyone was safe), was a treat indeed. 

I have no idea if she ever made that pastry again.  I don’t think I have ever come across the recipe in her files.  But when it came to mind recently I remember thinking about what a wonderful hostess—and cook—my grandmother was.  And how good food is one of the best things you can provide for your guests.  The trick of course is to figure out how to provide this without wearing yourself out.  And this is where my class comes in.

I had to include a jam and yeast filled coffee braid in this class.  In looking around for a recipe I found that the most likely candidate was one at King Arthur.  I have adapted it quite a bit to suit my preferences…and also to make it so that a preparations schedule will slide easily into a busy host’s schedule. 

The original recipe is made with a very traditional schedule:  make the dough, let it rise, form the braid, let it rise, then bake.  The rich dough takes a long time to rise and the process from start to finish takes about four hours (not including baking).  This makes it so you either have to make it the day before and serve a day-old breakfast pastry to your guests (not the end of the world…but why not have freshly baked if you can?)…or make it for an afternoon, evening or late night treat (which would have been what my grandmother did). 

But beyond these logistical and timing difficulties, I have to admit that I never make a butter and egg rich dough that has to be rolled out thinly, filled and manipulated with cuts and twists, without giving it a long cold rise in the refrigerator first. Doing this firms up the butter and makes it so the dough is extremely easy to work with.  I learned this the hard way the first time I ever made a Babka.  I couldn’t believe the difference chilling the dough made.  So when I make this dough, I make it at least 8 hours before I want to use it and let it rise very slowly in the refrigerator.  You could even make it two or three days ahead and it would still work just fine.

The second rise, after the dough has been formed, takes an hour.  This too is a bit off-putting for the host.  Personally, I am in the habit of rising early, before the rest of the house, so it would not be a problem for me to get up, pull out the chilled dough, roll the dough and form the braid and then do other things while everyone else is still asleep and I wait for the braid to rise.  But for this dough, I found that I like the result even better if I roll and form the braid and let it rise over night in the fridge.  In the morning, I just pull it out of the refrigerator and set it in a warm place (mostly to take the chill off of the sheet pan) while the oven preheats and then bake.  You don’t have to get up early at all.  The braid will bake in the time it takes to make coffee and tea, set the table…and pull out everything else that you want to serve.  For the non-early riser, this is clearly the best way to go. 

As it turns out, the texture of the loaf that rises for an hour or so at room temperature and the one that rises overnight in the fridge are a bit different.  Both are delicious.  Neither loaf will look like it has done anything like rising—let alone “doubling in size”—when  it is ready for the oven.  The one that proofs at room temperature might have a slightly puffed look…but you have to look closely to see it.  And this one—the one that is allowed to proof at room temperature—will have more the character of a filled loaf of bread….basically slightly sweet, soft bread with a bit of jam and cheese (pretty tasty). 

The one that spends the night in the fridge will have the flatter aspect of a traditional Danish braid and the bread portion will be less prominent…basically more like a jam and cheese pastry.  

As I mentioned above, this latter version is actually the one I prefer.  Since the recipe makes two braids…and once you have made the dough you can make the braids any time you like…you should try both methods and see which one you prefer.

When I made this recipe for my class I filled the braid with a cornstarch thickened commercial jam (like my Grandmother’s).  But when in the week following the class I decided I wanted to have the braid for Sunday breakfast, I made a thick cranberry compote to use instead.  If you have a few minutes to make it, I have to say that this is the way to go.  The bright, tangy cranberry flavor is set off very well by the sweet cream cheese.  It is of course seasonal and festive too.  I am including instructions for both, as well as recipes for a couple of other fillings from Beatrice Ojakangas’s Danish recipe in the book Baking with Julia (a quick berry jam and a compote of dried apricots...both are delicious).

Finally, I have added a drizzle of a simple powdered sugar glaze to the finished and cooled braid.  You can make and serve the braids without adding this, but I think it adds a beautiful finished, appetizing look.  Just the thing to greet your hungry travelers—whether they are coming in the front door after a long day on the road…or crawling out of bed and looking for something to get their day off to a sweet start.      

Cranberry & Cheese Filled Yeasted Coffee Braid

1/4 c. (56 g.) lukewarm water

2 1/4 t. active dry or instant yeast

1/2 c. (121 g.) sour cream

4 T. (56 g.) unsalted butter, sliced 1/4-inch thick and softened

1 large egg

3 c. (360 g.) unbleached all-purpose flour, divided

3 T. (37 g.) sugar

1 t. salt

8-oz. package cream cheese, softened

1/3 c. (67 g.) sugar

Zest of one orange, optional

1/2 t. almond extract or 1 t. vanilla

1 egg yolk

2/3 c. (200 g.) fruit filling (see below)

1 large egg white beaten until frothy with 1 T. cold water

Turbinado or coarse white sparkling sugar, for sprinkling

Place the water in a mixing bowl and scatter in the yeast.  Whisk or stir to dissolve.  Add the remaining ingredients in the order listed, 

adding only 340 grams of the flour and making sure the salt doesn’t touch the yeast-water mixture directly. 

Mix and knead (by hand or mixer fitted with a dough hook) until you have a smooth, velvety dough.  The dough will be very dry at first; resist the urge to add more liquid. It'll come together and smooth out as you knead.  Once the dry ingredients are absorbed (and this only takes a minute or two) the dough may begin to stick.  Use small increments of the extra 20 grams of flour…and the help of your bench scraper…to keep the dough from sticking.  It is unlikely that you will need all of the reserved flour.

Place the dough in a lightly buttered bowl or other container, 

cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight (and up to three or four days). It may or may not look risen when you pull it out to use it.  That's OK.

When you are ready to bake, make the filling: Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, zest (if using), extract and egg yolk.  Set aside.  If the fruit filling is very stiff, give it a stir to smooth it out..

Divide the chilled dough into two pieces. Working with one piece at a time (and keeping the other chilled), flatten/pat/roll it into a 10" x 15" rectangle.  Transfer the rectangle to a piece of parchment paper.

Spread half of the sweetened cream cheese down the center third of the rectangle.  Leave 1/4- to 1/2-inch of dough bare at each end.  

Spread a thin film of the fruit filling over the cream cheese…being careful to not let it drip over the edge of the cream cheese. You will be tempted to add more fruit filling…but don’t.  A third of a cup is plenty. 

Using a pizza cutter (or a sharp knife), cut 12 to 13 slightly slanting lines down each side—angling the cuts from the edge of the filling to the outside edge of the dough.  The cuts should be a generous one inch apart and should start about 1/4- to 1/2-inch away from the edge of the cream cheese.   

Fold the strips of dough over the filling, criss-crossing the strips by alternating a strip from the left with a strip from the right.

Lightly press/pinch at the two ends to seal. 

Transfer the braid to a sheet pan and cover loosely with greased/sprayed plastic wrap.

Repeat the process with the remaining piece of dough.  Transfer the braids to the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight.  Pull the braids out of the fridge and let them warm up a bit (20 minutes or so) while the oven preheats.  Or, let the braids rise at room temperature for 60 minutes (if you want to bake them the same day you form them). Whether you choose a traditional rise at room temperature or an overnight cold rise, the loaves will not “double in bulk.”   They might look a bit puffy, but that is all.  This is how it should be.

To finish and bake: Brush the egg white/water mixture over the loaves. Sprinkle generously with the coarse sugar.

Bake the coffeecakes in a preheated 375°F oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until they're puffed and golden brown.  The fruit filling and/or cheese might be bubbling or oozing a bit.  This is fine.   Remove the loaves from the oven, and place them on a rack to cool slightly. Serve warm.

Store any leftovers, well-wrapped, in the freezer. To serve, thaw, and then reheat in a 350°F oven, tented with foil, for about 10 minutes.

(Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour’s Jam-Filled Sour Cream Coffee Bread)

Notes: 

• Although you can put both of the loaves on one sheet pan, I find that they bake best on two sheets.  When one is done, just slide the second one into the oven…or bake on separate racks, rotating half way through the baking time.
• If you like, drizzle the finished braids with a thick glaze made from 1 c. powdered sugar mixed with 1 1/2 T. (or so) of milk.  When drizzled with icing, the loaves also look pretty with a few sliced, toasted almonds sprinkled over (especially if you have used almond extract in the cheese filling).
• I prefer to make this recipe with a final, overnight, cold rise (rather than a traditional room temperature rise).  The finished loaf isn’t quite as puffy…and looks very much like a traditional Danish when done this way.  It also fits beautifully into a busy schedule.  Just make the dough in the morning of the day before you want to serve.  Put the dough in the fridge.  Then, form the loaf/loaves right before you go to bed.  In the morning, all you have to do is bake and eat/serve.  (But the loaf is delicious either way.)

 

Fruit Fillings

Cranberry-orange (my favorite for the holidays): Place 12 oz. of cranberries in a saucepan with 1 c. sugar and the juice of one orange (about 1/3 c. juice).  Bring to a boil.  Simmer briskly until most of the cranberries have popped and the mixture is thickened—about 6 minutes.  Makes a scant 2 cups thick compote.  Chill before using. 

Dried Apricot:  Place 1 cup of dried apricots in a saucepan with 3/4 cup of water and 1/2 cup of sugar.  Bring to a simmer and cook until the fruit is puffy and any remaining liquid is syrupy (about 15 minutes).  Transfer to the food processor and process to form a coarse purée.  Taste and add more sugar or lemon juice to obtain the desired sweetness.  Add 1/4 t. almond or vanilla extract, if desired.  Chill before using.  Makes about 1 cup fruit purée.

Quick Berry Jam: Place 3 cups of berries (fresh or frozen) in a saucepan with 1 c. sugar and 1 T. lemon juice.  Crush the berries if desired.  Bring to a boil.  Skim off and discard any foam that comes to the surface.  Simmer briskly until thickened—about 8 to 10 minutes (a candy thermometer will read 218° to 220°).  Makes about 1 1/3 cups jam.  Chill before using.  You may also use commercial jam.  If the jam seems drippy or thin, dissolve 3/4 t. cornstarch in a small amount (1 t. or less) of water and stir it into 2/3 cup of the jam before spreading over the cheese.

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