La Bete Noire

French for The Black Beast
Bon Appetit-September 2006
















1 Cup Water
3/4 Cup Sugar
9 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, diced
18 Ounces Milk Chocolate Chips
6 Eggs

Chocolate Ganache
1 Cup Heavy Cream
8 Ounces Milk Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350. Butter 10-inch spring form pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment round; butter parchment. Wrap 3 layers of heavy duty foil around outside of pan, bringing foil around outside of pan, bringing foil to top of rim.

Combine water and sugar in small saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Melt butter in large saucepan over low heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Whisk sugar syrup into chocolate; cool slightly. Add eggs to chocolate mixture and whisk until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Place cake pan in large roasting pan. Add enough hot water to roasting pan to come halfway up sides of cake pan. Bake cake until center no longer moves when pan is gently shaken, about 50 minutes. Remove from water bath; transfer to rack. Cool
completely in pan.

Chocolate Ganache
Bring whipping cream to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Pour over top of cake still in pan. Gently shake pan to distribute ganache evenly over top of cake.

Refrigerate cake in pan until ganache is set, about 2 hours. Run knife around pan sides to loosen cake; release sides. Cut cake into wedges and serve with whipped cream.

Keylime Cheesecake with Mango Ribbons

Gourmet Cookbook




















5 Ounces Graham Cracker, crumbs
3 Tablespoons Sugar
1/4 Cup Unsalted Butter, melted
2 Large Mango, firm-ripe
1 Tablespoon Key Lime Juice
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream, chilled
1 Tablespoon Sugar
2 Packages Cream Cheese , at room temperature
1 Cup Sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
3/4 Cup Key Lime Juice
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla
2 1/2 Tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
3 Large Eggs

Make crust:
Preheat oven to 3500F and butter bottom and side of spring form pan. Stir together crumbs, sugar, and butter in a bowl with a fork until combined well, then press evenly onto bottom and one-third up side of pan. Bake crust in middle of oven 8 minutes and cool in pan on a rack.

Make filling:
Reduce oven temperature to 3250F. Beat cream cheese with an electric mixer at medium speed until fluffy, then beat in sugar. Add lime juice, sour cream, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Mix in flour and salt at low speed, scraping down side as needed, until just incorporated, then add eggs all at once and mix just until incorporated. Pour filling into crust and set spring form pan in a shallow baking pan. Bake cake in middle of oven until set in center, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Cool completely in spring form pan on rack. (Cake will continue to set as it cools.) Run a thin knife around edge of cake and remove side of pan. If desired, transfer cake with a large metal spatula to a serving plate.

Make topping:
Peel mangoes and, leaving fruit whole, slice very thinly lengthwise (slightly less than 1/8 inch thick) with slicer (use caution-peeled mango is slippery). Halve wide slices lengthwise. Gently toss mango slices with lime juice. Beat cream with sugar in bowl with electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks, and then spread over top of cheesecake. Bending and curling mango slices, arrange them decoratively over
cream

Homemade KC Masterpiece BBQ Sauce

2 Cups Ketchup
2 Teaspoons Onion Powder
2 Teaspoons Garlic Powder
1 Tablespoon Liquid Smoke Flavoring
4 Teaspoons Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tablespoon Molasses
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

Mix all ingredients together

Basic Cheesecake

Junior's, New York

1 Package of Graham Crackers
2 Tablespoons Sugar
6 Tablespoons Butter

3 Packages Cream Cheese, 8-ounce packages
1 1/3 Cups Sugar
3 Tablespoons Cornstarch
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
2/3 Cup Heavy Cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and generously butter the bottom and sides of one 9-inch spring form pan (preferably a nonstick one). Wrap the outside with aluminum foil, covering the bottom and extending all the way up the sides.

To make the crust put the graham crackers in the food processor until there are no chunks. Place graham cracker into a bowl, add sugar. Add the melted butter. Put into the bottom of the spring form pan.

Put one package of the cream cheese, 1/3 cup of the sugar, and the cornstarch in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low until creamy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl a couple of times. Blend in the remaining cream cheese, one package at a time, scraping down the bowl after each. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat in the remaining 1 cup sugar, then the vanilla. Blend in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after adding each. Beat in the cream just until it's completely blended. Be careful not to over mix!

Gently spoon the batter into the foil-wrapped spring form and place it in a large shallow pan containing hot water that comes about 1 inch up the sides of the spring form. Bake the cake at 350 degrees F until the edges are light golden brown and the top is slightly golden tan, about 1 1/4 hours. Remove the cake from the water bath, transfer to a wire rack, and cool in the pan for 2 hours, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate (while still in the pan) until it's completely cold, about 4 hours.

Maple Bacon Ice Cream

Tastes like breakfast!

1/2 Pound Bacon
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
6 Cups Milk
3 Cups Sugar
2 Teaspoons Vanilla
6 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream
1 Teaspoon Maple Extract

Place bacon on a cookie sheet with parchment paper underneath, cover the bacon with the brown sugar. Bake until bacon is fully cooked and brown. Let cool completely. Chop bacon up into little pieces.

Mix the rest of the ingredients together, Place in ice cream maker until frozen.

Ice Cream

Makes 4 Quarts

6 Cups Milk
3 Cups Sugar
2 Teaspoons Vanilla
6 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream

Mix all ingredients and place in ice cream maker.

Honey Citrus Glaze

1 tablespoon onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke flavoring
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon paprika

Place onions and garlic into a saute pan with a little oil. Cook until the garlic sweats. Remove from saute pan and place in bowl. Add everything else to the bowl and mix well.