Cute Little Cheesecake for Two

The first time I made cheesecake, it was over-baked and over-browned on the top. When my husband took the first bite, he said "Its good. Is it a brownie?". That's hardly ever a good sign. But anyway, I blamed the recipe for the disaster. That's what happens when one scales down recipes from 16 servings to 2. And that's most often the case, because I am surely not going to use four 8 oz packages of cream cheese for just the both of us (I would never admit it, at least). So when I stumbled across a wonderful cheesecake recipe for just two people, it was immediately bookmarked. My cheesecake recipe is adapted from this awesome site. I used a Wilton Mini Springform Pan which turned out perfect for this recipe. You could also use individual ramekins if you don't like sharing. The secret ingredient here is lemon juice, which increases the sourness and departs a beautiful tangy-sweet flavor to the cheesecake. 

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Crumbs - 1/4 cup

Granulated Sugar - 1 Tbsp (for the crust, we'll need some more later)

Butter - 1.5 Tbsp, melted

8 oz pack of Cream Cheese - 1, at room temperature

Granulated Sugar - 1/4 cup

Vanilla Extract - 1/4 tsp

Egg - 1

Lemon Juice - 1 Tbsp

Procedure

1) Start with preheating the oven to 350 F.

2) Mix together graham cracker crumbs, butter and granulated sugar. It should have consistency of wet sand. If it is too dry, throw in some more butter.

3) Grease the sides and base of the springform pan.

4) Cover the base and sides of the pan with aluminium foil. This will prevent water from seeping in the pan.

5) Press the graham cracker mixture at the base of the pan. Set aside.

6) In a bowl, beat together cream cheese (which should be at room temperature), sugar, and vanilla extract with electric mixture on low speed (you could also do this by hand, for a little longer). Continue beating for a minute or so, until the mixture is nice and fluffy. 

7) Add the egg and beat for another 30 seconds on low speed.

8) Add lemon juice and mix together gently with a spatula.

9) Fill a cake pan with hot water enough water to go up to about half the height of the springform pan. This will be your water bath. Trust me, for a crack-free amazing looking moist cheesecake, you need this.

10) Pour the mixture in the springform pan. Place the pan carefully in the water bath.

11) Bake for about 40 minutes (keeping a watch in between), or until the cheesecake is firm around the edges, but wobbly in the center. No toothpick inserting, please!

12) Remove and let it cool until it comes to room temperature. It will start leaving the sides of the pan.

  

13) After the cheesecake has cooled completely, refrigerate it for at least an hour. 

14) Serve it as-is or garnish it with berries or cocoa powder. I added sliced strawberries and also drizzled some chocolate sauce. You could optionally make raspberry or blueberry sauce by heating the preserves, and bringing it to room temperature to pour it over the cheesecake.

15) Enjoy! And don't forget to tell me how it was :) 

Garlic-Cilantro Pull-Apart Rolls

I love following food blogs. My Google Reader has 30+ blogs subscribed to. There are so many talented people out there and being a new blogger, I feel like a tiny speck in the blogosphere. But I hope to learn and be able to contribute some great recipes.

Out of so many recipes that I read everyday, there are many that don't fit into the "categories" of what I can try. For instance, they contain red meat (which we don't eat), or fancy ingredients, or something that requires equipment that I don't posses (ice cream machine, for example). Or some are just way too much work and I don't have the strength or patience to do all that (Swedish Princess Cake, anyone?). However, there are many recipes that I instantly fall in love with and "bookmark" them to try out later. Garlic Cilantro Pull Apart Rolls was one of those. It was delicious, filling, and pretty easy to make. These would go very well with Italian Vegetable Soup and Herb Olive Oil, which I will post soon.

My recipe is an adaptation of Divya's whose inspiration was Pratibha.

Ingredients

For the Rolls

All purpose flour or Maida - 1.5 cup
Whole wheat Flour or Atta - 0.5 cup
Lukewarm Water - 1 cup (divided)
Sugar - 2 tsp
Salt - 2 tsp, or to taste
Active Dry Yeast - 1.5 tsp
Butter - 2 tsp, melted

Olive Oil - 2 tsp

For the Garlic-Cilantro Mixture

Garlic Cloves - 4 

Cilantro - 0.5 cup, roughly chopped

Green Chillies - 3-4, depending on your taste

Butter - 2 tbsp, at room temperature

Procedure

1) Take half a cup of lukewarm (not hot!) water (or microwave regular water for 30 seconds), add sugar, 1 tsp salt and mix well. Then add yeast and let the water sit for about 10 minutes, until the yeast starts to bloom. If your yeast has not bloomed, maybe its too old and you need to toss it out and get another one.

2) In the meanwhile, mix together whole wheat and all purpose flour in a large mixing bowl. Throw in 1 tsp salt and mix again. 

3) Add the yeast-water mixture and start kneading, gradually adding 1 tbsp water as required. You may or may not need the whole cup. The dough should be sticky (but not too much). Add water if it is too dry, and little flour if it is too sticky.

4) Once you have reached the desired consistency, add the olive oil and knead again.

5) Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and put in a dark, warm spot in your kitchen (such as inside the oven). Walk away for 45 minutes to an hour. You may need more time if the temperature is less as the yeast may take some time to unleash its action.

6) Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

7) Throw together garlic cloves, chopped cilantro and chillies in your food processor and grind them to a paste. Remove and mix with 2 tbsp butter. Set aside.

8)  Peek under the kitchen towel and be happy to see how quickly and how much your dough has risen. Ideally it should be almost doubled in size. Puncture it and knead again, for a minute or two. 

9) Divide dough into two large balls. Flour your rolling surface and start rolling. You don't need to make a perfect circle. Oblong shape is fine too. Don't roll too much, it should not be thin.

10) Take half of the garlic-cilantro-butter mixture and apply evenly. In the meanwhile, please excude the poor quality of my pictures.

11)  Start rolling from one end and go all the way till it is all nicely wrapped up. Divide this into four smaller rolls by cutting with a knife.

12) Do the same for the other dough ball. 

13) Grease your baking pan (I used a circular one) and place the rolls in it. Be careful not to place it too much near the edges, if you want a nice uniformly baked rolls. At this point you may choose to apply a coat of egg wash or milk to the top of the rolls, to make them nice and shiny.

14) Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. 

15) Remove from the oven and apply a coat of butter (because you are worth it).

16) Be flattered by all the compliments.

We enjoyed these for dinner with soup on a cold day. They were filling, warm, and delicious. We devoured two left over rolls the next morning with tea, and they tasted even better! I am already looking forward to making the next batch...YUM :)