fandomhigh | Baking Workshop 8/14, Monday Morning

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cooking

Baking Workshop 8/14, Monday Morning

"Good morning," Piper greets as the students arrive. "Today, you're going to make cheesecake. I brought a sample as well as muffins. Take whatever you want."

"I'd like each of you to bring a recipe of your choice next week. That's what you'll be making," she continues. "Try not to use a recipe that requires open flames."

She hands them a list of ingredients and instructions. "As always, I'm around if you have questions."

Equipment Needed

Measuring Cups

Measuring Spoons

Bowls

Springform Pan

Mixer

Knife

Crust Ingredients

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 tablespoons sugar

Filling Ingredients

3 packages cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

2 cups sour cream

2 teaspoons vanilla

Topping Ingredients

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

Heat oven to 325°F.

Combine all crust ingredients in medium bowl.

Press onto bottom and 1-inch up sides of ungreased 9-inch springform pan.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool.

Combine cream cheese and sugar in large bowl.

Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy.

Gradually add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Reduce speed to low; add 1/2 cup sour cream and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Beat until well mixed.

Pour cream cheese mixture into baked crust.

Bake for 80 minutes or until set 2 inches from edge of pan.

Meanwhile, combine remaining sour cream, 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla in small bowl.

Evenly spread over top of hot cheesecake.

Continue baking for 7 minutes.

Loosen sides of cheesecake from pan by running knife around inside of pan; remove sides of pan.

Cool completely (about 2 hours).

Leave uncovered until completely cooled. Store refrigerated.

[ooc: ingredients and instructions from here]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Hey Setsuna," Alphonse greeted. "Want to try conquering the kitchen again?"

Sakurazaki was in the middle of trying to figure out how to soften the cream cheese which, for her, meant whacking the packages with a meat tenderizing mallet. It seemed to be working well. She frowned at the smashed ingredient as Alphonse approached her, brandishing her cream cheese covered weapon doubtfully.

"...Beats having it conquer me," she replied after a moment, thoughtfully, wondering what else needed to be attacked next before cheesecake could be made.

"... You sure you should be beating the cream cheese like that?" Alphonse asked, watching the mess being created.

"How else is it supposed to be softened?" Sakurazaki poked at the package; in truth, she wasn't sure, but her method felt pretty good for her current mood. "But it is softened now." Her eyes scan the instructions to find what else needs to be done. She quickly noted that the graham crackers needed to be crumbs. The meat tenderizing mallet set to work again demurely.

"Um..." In actuality he wasn't entirely sure himself, but he also couldn't argue that the cream cheese was already softened-- or at least he thinks it is, anyway. "You want to try making the crust, and I could try the filling? Or do you want to do the filling?"e

"Umm..." Sakurazaki paused her graham cracker mashing for a moment to consider the options. She'd rather not do either, but, since she was already working on the graham crackers. "...I'll take the crust, I guess." Bam.

Alphonse was beginning to throw everything that was needed into the bowl when he turned his head towards Sakurazaki; usually she was in a much cheerier mood during class. "Something the matter?"

Sakurazaki carefully used a paper plate to push the nice little pile of graham cracker crumbs she'd piled up on the counter into a bowl. She plopped the butter into the bowl before setting it heavily back onto the counter. "Several things," she replied with a very brief frown, focusing on the bowl as she added the suger, not really paying much attention to how much she was putting in.

"Oh, um," Alphonse paused briefly, catching Sakurazaki's reluctance to do much of anything. "I don't mind doing both if you're not up for it."

"No, it's okay," Sakurazaki smiled a little bit at Alphonse to show that it really was. "It'll kind of help me think about something else for a change."

She considered the next step in the crust making, blinking a little. She shrugged, though, and began. "All this smashing and pressing is pretty stress relieving, too..."

"Alright," Alphonse resumed mixing the filling. "Well, we'll have some cake in the end, so maybe it'll make your day a little better. Oh, and once you're done with that, we'll need to bake it for a little first before I can put this in."

Sakurazaki nodded, choosing not to dispute Alphonse's point about cake because cake when she was feeling like this would only make her sick. But she could offer it to others, maybe, which would at least earn her some good karma. Some desperately needed good karma.

She finished pressing the crust (which ended up being more like punching) and it was terribly uneven, but she went to slip it into the oven quickly before Alphonse could notice. She didn't feel like redoing it, but she also didn't feel like having him correct her mistakes. "There we go," she announced idly.

"Aaaand done with this," Alphonse added to her announcement. He stared into the bowl, musing, "Wonder if this stuff tastes as good as dough..."

Sakurazaki slid an eye shut as she considered. "Maybe? I don't know. These ingredients sound like they'd taste odd together, but there's only one way to find out..."

She looked at him expectantly. She certainly wasn't going to try it.

"It sure does, but... tradition," Alphonse said the last part as if he'd be sad to break it. "Here goes nothing." He poked a finger into the mix and quickly popped it into his mouth; after a quick moment, he made a face of disguist. "Ack, no. Definitely not as good as dough."

Sakurazaki didn't so much allow herself to grin a little and chuckle at that as it sort of forced its way through. "You're a brave man, Alphonse," she nodded her head respectfully, smirking.

"Well, they say you learn something new every day," Alphonse grinned, even if he still had an icky taste in his mouth. "Today? It is don't eat cheesecake before it's baked. I think I can wait."

Sakurazaki's head tilted slightly, still grinning a bit. "It's not quite the same as you getting sick, but I think I can still claim some sort of victory here."

"Aww, that's no fair," Alphonse mock-pouted at her. "It tasting bad doesn't mean anything."

"Yes, it does," Sakurazaki insisted in a very matter-of-fact, yet grinning, manner. "It means that you shouldn't eat things raw..."

And then she remembered something and her shoulders slumped. "...Says the Japanese girl who loves sushi. Never mind."

"Ha! See," Alphonse said teasingly. "There's plenty of things you can eat raw."

"Yeah, yeah, but the next time I have eel sushi, you can say nothing to convince me that you can't eat ..."

Sakurazaki's eyes grew wide suddenly as she remembered something else. "The crust!" She hurried to open the oven and extract the pie crust. Her face filled with red as she set it on top of the stove, looking much more than golden brown, rather black around the edges. "It's not...too badly burnt....is it?"

"Aw... crap," Alphonse muttered to himself. "Can't believe I forgot about it, too." He eyed between the crust and the cream cheese mixture. "I hope not, 'cause we gotta put it in the oven for longer, too. But with the mix in it, maybe it won't overbake, either."

Sakurazaki blinked at the crust. She really did not feel like remaking that crust. "...We can only hope so?" She glanced over the instructions. "Eighty minutes! The crust has gotta be okay to go back in if it could withstand eighty more minutes....Arg, baking makes no sense!"

"That's a sentiment I have to agree on," Alphonse said. "As another very clichéd saying goes, only one way to find out..." He took the bowl and poured it into the crust, then, very carefully, for some reason, slid it back into the oven. "... Now we wait for an hour and twenty minutes."

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