All posts tagged baking

Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake

By Paula is QuiteCurious On April 12, 2009 In In the Kitchen With 4 Comments Permanent Link to Lemon Ricotta CheesecakePermalink

Cheesecake just got exciting. The texture of this cheesecake is light and fluffy, yet rich, like a cheesecake should be. It’s creamy, but tangy. Sweet, but not too sweet. Better than the regular old cheesecake? You bet.

I was inspired by a baking disaster I had a few months ago. I made Lemon Ricotta Tarts from Gourmet Magazine, just to find that the results were satisfactory for the amount of time I spent on it – slaving away in the kitchen for hours, following every detail in the ten-step process. I asked myself, how could it be that complicated – isn’t this just a basic cheesecake, but replacing cream cheese with ricotta instead, and adding lemon flavor?

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Basic Apple Tart

By Paula is QuiteCurious On April 3, 2009 In In the Kitchen With 10 Comments Permanent Link to Basic Apple TartPermalink

Finally, a solution for having too much fruit: eat it in pie form. My mom goes to the local farmer’s market every weekend (rain or shine), and whenever I come home to visit, she exclaims, “These [insert fruit or vegetable here] looked gorgeous, so I bought two cases! Here, take one.” – and shoves it towards me. I’m more than overjoyed at the sight of a box of beautiful, locally grown produce, but after a week of my bunny and I munching on it, the rest ends up forgotten in the produce drawer, or even worse, the garbage.

But now, lo and behold – the magic of making a fruit tart. It’s just 5 ingredients (which don’t include lard, or that strange goopy stuff found in American pies – what IS that?), involves very little work, and best of all, no more sugar rush from attempting to finish the rest of my fruit in a single day. It came out so well, I can’t wait to make a pear tart, peach tart, raspberry tart…

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Making Thin Mints

By Paula is QuiteCurious On March 14, 2009 In In the Kitchen With 21 Comments Permanent Link to Making Thin MintsPermalink

For some reason, everyone starts drooling anytime Thin Mints are mentioned. It’s like some kind of holy dish people only get to indulge in once a year. I’ve always thought, “They’re good, but aren’t they just processed cookies?” I’ve seen the back of the box before, and in my opinion, if there’s ingredients that are more than thirteen letters long – that’s definitely a sign that it isn’t good for you.

I buy one box from my neighbor’s daughter every year (at $4 a pop, which according to my friend, is a steal), but I would probably buy more if they were organic, all-natural, or homemade. I hate to burst the Girl Scout cookie bubble, but they’re made by Interbake Foods, LLC. There’s nothing really that cute about it.

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