S u z y Creamcheese

Pumpkin Pie

Thanksgiving at Mary's house

My favorite pumpkin pie, and the only one I ever make, is from the back of the Libby's can. It's so good that I even follow the recipe exactly. Well, almost...because I like eggy rather than creamy custards I add an extra egg, but that's it. I never substitute cream for the condensed milk, and I always (or should always) measure the spices rather than eyeball them - the balance of cinnamon, ginger and cloves is just right. I dot the filling with salted butter before baking because I like the slightly salty flavor in contrast to the sweet pumpkin.

Because I use a large, ceramic pie pan, my cooking time is a little longer than called for in the recipe and the edge of the crust can become too dark or hard. To avoid this, the crust can be loosely covered with a strip of foil before baking. Even easier is using a pie crust shield.

 

Tip: Before making the filling, place your pie crust in the pan, decorate the edge and set it in the freezer. As soon as the custard is mixed, fill the partially frozen crust and bake. This helps the crust keep its shape and prevents it from shrinking.

____________________________________________________________________________

Libby's Pumpkin Pie

For two nine-inch pies

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees
  
• In a large bowl, lightly beat:
      4 [5] large eggs
  
• Mix in:
      1 1/2 c sugar
      1 t salt
      2 t ground cinnamon
      1 t ground ginger
      1/2 t ground cloves
      1 can (29 oz) pumpkin
           cooked, mashed fresh pumpkin could be substituted,
           but I've not tried it in this recipe and can't vouch for results
• Gradually add:
      2 cans (12 oz each) evaporated milk
• Pour into pie shells [dot with butter].
  
• Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then lower temperature to 350 degrees and bake an additional 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.
  
  
  
  
  

 

Bonus!

Katharine Hepburn's Brownies

Katharine Hepburn's Brownies

Katharine Hepburn's brownie recipe was first published in Ladies Home Journal in 1975 and it is the perfect brownie. A crispy crust and fudgy middle, full of walnuts and almost caramel-like in its richness. A unique treat with a history...and 92% of the people who make this very simple recipe say they will never make brownies from a mix again.

Tip: When baking brownies or other bar-type desserts, line the pan with parchment paper or foil, bringing it up and slightly over the edge. After baking and cooling the brownies, use the parchment/foil to lift them out of the pan, allowing you to cut them on a flat surface.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Katharine Hepburn's Brownies

Melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl or saucepan large enough to hold all of the ingredients, making this a one-bowl prep.

• Melt together:
      2 squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate
      1/4 pound butter
• Beat in:
      1 cup granulated sugar
      2 eggs
      1 teaspoon vanilla
• Stir in:
      1 cup chopped walnuts
      1/4 cup all-purpose flour
      1/4 teaspoon salt

Line 8x8 inch  pan with buttered parchment or foil, add brownie batter and bake in a pre-heated 325 degree oven for 45-50 minutes. Cool in pan, lift out and cut into squares.

Note: This recipe makes fairly thin brownies. The brownies pictured above were baked in an 8x8 pan but were made with 1.5 times this recipe and baked around 10 minutes longer.

"So long, and thanks for all the fish."

 

Salmon with Horseradish Crust

I met many nice people at a birthday party I catered last night and during one conversation my favorite line from Douglas Adams' A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy came up. The line belongs to dolphins as they are being transported away from earth, just before the planet is destroyed to make way for an interstellar superhighway. The dolphins had advance notice that this was going to happen, tried to warn us without success then rose from the oceans leaving one last message, "So long, and thanks for all the fish".

It is no surprise to me that dolphins are both thoughtful and polite. In their honor, I'd like to share the most wonderful fish recipe I know. 

Tip: Run your hand over the surface of the salmon and remove any pin bones you feel with tweezers.
___________________________________________________________________________________

Salmon with Horseradish Crust

To me, this is best served at room temperature but also very good hot or cold. The mayonnaise topping bakes into the fish, forming a deep brown crust on top.  Makes 4-6 generous servings.

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees
  
• Wash and pat dry:
       1 salmon filet, 2-3 lb
• Place salmon, skin side down, on a foil-lined baking sheet. Use non-stick foil, if possible.
  
• In a towel, squeeze dry:
       4 oz prepared horseradish
• Mix the horseradish with:
       2 c mayonnaise (Hellman's is best)
            To do this most easily, first lighten the squeezed-dry
            horseradish by mixing it with 1/2 c of the mayo. When
            the mixture is smooth, add it to the remaining mayo.
• Add to the mayo mixture:
       2 t worcestershire sauce
       1 T lemon juice
       1 t salt
       1 T dehydrated onion flakes
             I don't normally like the flavor of these, but they're
             essential to this dish.
• Spread the mayo mixture on the fish, applying it more thickly on the thicker end of the filet. If you'd like, decorate the topping by make rows of indentations in it with the back of a teaspoon, simulating scales.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the topping has cooked into the filet and turned dark golden brown. 
  
  
  
  

Veteran's Day

I hope to write a little about my father's service in WWII in the next week or so, but I wanted to get this post in today to at least mark the date.  Not food, but very important and, although I helped him with his memoir of that time, to my regret I don't think I ever acknowledged his contribution on Veteran's Day.

More cream cheese, gingerbread cupcakes and black lemon sauce

Cream cheese icing on gingerbread cupcakes filled with lemon curd

A great combination of flavors!  For clients I make these with homemade gingerbread, fill them with lemon curd and top them with cream cheese icing.  They're baked in these great mini panettone cups that are made in Italy, but they're not too expensive and can easily be ordered here for around $9.50/100 plus shipping (from NJ).

Two alternatives:

A quick and easy way to put these together involves using gingerbread mix, prepared lemon curd (often found with jams and jellies...Dickinson's is a little expensive but good) and prepared cream cheese icing mixed 1:1 with softened cream cheese.To fill the cupcakes, I cut a 'plug' out of the top of the cupcake, spoon or pipe in the curd and cover it by replacing the plug.

I actually first combined these flavors when making dessert for a party very many years ago. Then I served gingerbread squares, split and filled with cream cheese that had been sweetened, whipped and flavored with vanilla. This was topped with hot lemon sauce. The party was probably for around 30 people and to make enough lemon sauce I used my small soup pot. Unfortunately it was a cast iron pot and about 30 minutes before the guests arrived I noticed that the sauce had turned black.  It tasted fine and the addition of an entire bottle of yellow food coloring brought it back from a chemistry experiment to dessert.

Martha Stewart has recently published a simplified recipe for Lemon Curd. I'll be trying it soon, but I have no doubt that it's good and definitely easy.  The recipe below is the famous infamous lemon sauce from my party...made successfully many times since then and really delicious.

TIP: If your lemons are hard or are not giving you much juice, microwave them on high for 10-20 seconds before juicing.

_________________________________________________________________________________      Hot Lemon Sauce

• In a (non-iron) saucepan mix:
       1/2 c sugar
          2 T cornstarch
       1/8 t nutmeg (freshly grated is best)
  
• Stir in:
          1 c boiling water
  
• Bring to boil and cook for 1 minute
  
• Add to this:
         1 T butter
         4 T lemon juice
         2 T grated lemon rind
  
• In a small bowl, lightly beat:
         1 egg
  
• Temper the egg by adding 2-3 spoonfuls of the hot mixture to it
  
• Mix the tempered egg into the sauce. From this point on, don't allow the sauce to boil.
  
• If prepared in advance, cool slightly and cover, laying plastic wrap directly on the surface of the sauce to prevent a skin from forming.

 

Suzy Creamcheese

If you don't know...Frank Zappa created Suzy Creamcheese for the Mothers of Invention's first album Freak Out!, released in the mid-60s. Here is his well-known question to Suzy - first 17 seconds.

I was much more into Simon and Garfunkle than FZ, but for a long time after the album was released, I along with every other girl named Susan, Suzanne, Sue, Susie, etc. would be called Suzy Creamcheese every once in a while.

Even though it really has no special meaning for me, the name reminds me of people and events from high school and college that were generally fun and sometimes really memorable. I thought it was lucky to find it on Typepad and, surprised that a phrase iconic to people of a certain age group was available, I grabbed it.

So, Suzy Creamcheese puts a smile on my face and makes me feel cool, and that's why it's the title of this blog!

Does the world need another food blog...or another Etsy shop?

Hmm - only if the blog and the shop can bring some quality, so that will have to be my goal. This is going out to friends and family who would like to see recipes and find out what's happening here. It's going to be a resource for catering clients, showing them what sorts of dishes I'm working on. It also allows me to participate in some online activities only available to food bloggers. And, it's an opportunity to share the beginning of an Etsy shop, put together very quickly to sell Bloody Witches Finger Cookies for Halloween (7 dozen sold!), and to follow the development and hoped-for growth of that shop.

This project was conceived while I was unemployed, just before I got a great new job. I've seen many blogs that consist of a single entry, and I hope I don't fall into that category now that I'm heading back to a work schedule.  I'll post another entry right now just to eliminate that possibility!