Friday, April 16, 2010

Champion of Cheesecake Challenge

Kandice: Hey, remember us?

Josh: We live!

Kandice: We want to thank you all for being patient while we had a little...unsceduled hiatus.

Josh: Between Kandice's schedule change...

Kandice: ...and Josh being sick...

Josh: (Flu and double ear infections... I didn't want to touch anyones food.)

Kandice: Not to mention we had 2 major snowstorms before all of that. We really kinda had no time to get things done.

Josh: But now we're back, so you can stop rioting in the streets now.

Kandice: We have a few recipes planned out and lined up, so we have plenty of material to throw at you.

Josh: And today, for this post, we decided to set it up slightly different.

Kandice: For the first time in JK history we're going to let you, the reader, vote on your favorite dish.

Josh: We wanted to try something a little more... 'contest-ish'. Is that a word?

Kandice: No.

Josh: Okay.

Kandice: So today, we're going to present you with two recipes with two pictures of the finished product.

Josh: Each of us chose a recipe, made the dish, and designed and plated however we saw fit.

Kandice: So what we're asking of you, is to vote on the dish you like best. You can base your vote on the recipe, the plating, the taste (if you make the recipe), and/or any other criteria you see fit.

Josh: We might end up doing this type of thing more in the future, so any feedback is greatly appriciated.

Kandice: For this week's dish we both made a cheesecake. Please check them both out and then comment on the blog, vote in the poll, or comment on our facebook page, telling us which one you think is best!

Josh: So please help us decide which of us is the CHAMPION of CHEESECAKE!

(Recipes and pictures will be labeled either 'A' or 'B', so when you vote, you can just state a letter instead of trying to describe the cake you're voting for. As always, comments, questions, suggestions, and the like are all welcomed, even if you dont vote.)

Italian Cream Cheese Cake with Raspberry Sauce

Ingredients:

Cream Cheese Cake:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
8 tbsp butter, melted
2 cups ricotta cheese
8 oz cream cheese, softened
5 eggs
¾ cup sugar
½ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

Raspberry Sauce:
12 oz fresh raspberries
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp brandy

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9-inch spring form pan; set aside. Mix together all of the ingredients for the crust: the graham cracker and butter, and press into the bottom of the pan.

Beat the ricotta cheese and cream cheese together until smooth. Add the eggs, sugar, salt, and vanilla, and mix well.

Pour the filling into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until center is set. Remove from oven and allow to cool.



For raspberry sauce: In a food processor, combine berries, sugar, and brandy. Process until smooth. Place in a bowl and refrigerate. Spoon the raspberry sauce over the cheese and cut and serve.



Royal Raspberry Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Crust:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
6 tablespoons butter
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup milk

Raspberry Sauce:
12 oz fresh raspberries
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp brandy

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar and lemon peel. Cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in egg yolk and vanilla. Pat 1/3 of mixture on the bottom of a 9-in. springform pan with the sides removed. Bake at 400* for 7 minutes or until golden; cool. Attach the sides of the pan; pat remaining crust mixture 1-3/4 in up the sides. Set aside.

For filling, beat cream cheese, lemon peel and vanilla until fluffy. Combine sugar, flour and salt; add to creamed mixture, beating well. Add eggs and yolk; beat at a low speed just until combined. Stir in milk. Pour into crust. Place on a shallow baking pan in oven. Bake at 375 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until center appears set. Cool for 15 minutes. Loosen sides of cheesecake from pan with a spatula; cool 30 minutes. Remove sides of pan; cool 1-2 hours longer. Chill thoroughly.



Meanwhile, for sauce, combine all ingredients in a food processor. Process until smooth. Place in a bowl and refrigerate. Just before serving, top cheesecake with sauce and whole berries.



Josh: So there we go. Both recipes and directions… with pictures included! What more could you want?! Now it's as simple as letting us know which one you think is overall better. Let us know in any way you want. You can send us a vote, explanation, or a rating system. Like stars or something. They seem to work well for movies and cars. Why not cheesecake?

(Note: We will refer to the first recipe as 'Cheesecake A', and the second recipe as 'Cheesecake B'.)



Kandice: Thanks again for reading and commenting! You can always reach either of us from our Facebook fan page, or E-mail us! jkdailyspecial@gmail.com.

Keep a watch out for a new special!