Publick House Desserts

No, craft beer drinkers, not that Publick House. I'm talking about the colonial-style inn and restaurant in Sturbridge, MA. My family had our Thanksgiving dinner there this year, and the sumptuous 4-course meal plus the general holiday cheer of the place were really worth the 3-hour round trip. The dessert course involved a liberal slice of pumpkin pie topped with an even more liberal dollop of fresh whipped cream. The pie was smooth, pumpkin-y, and  thoroughly spiced.

The restaurant kept on giving after the meal, too…and not just with turkey leftovers. We stopped by their top-notch bakery and chose 6 treats to bring home! We stretched them out over multiple days by cutting each dessert in threes for all to try. Here they are in their bakery box; please excuse the occasional wax paper obstruction.

I really enjoyed the majority of the desserts! The reviews are below, starting with the bottom right of the picture and moving counterclockwise.

• Oreo roll cake – The first treat I tried ended up being my favorite. Here we have a slice of a fudgy chocolate cake log that had been rolled with a layer of sugary vanilla buttercream. That refrigerated filler frosting made for a particularly smooth, creamy, and refreshing eating experience. (Perhaps it was PH’s approximation of Oreo filling?) Said glorious slice was placed on its side, and coated all around with a lighter, more whipped vanilla frosting. The “side” of the cake was then rolled in Oreo crumbs, which stayed dry and crunchy despite their moist environment. Then, its “top” was finished off with a large dollop of Oreo buttercream! It had an occasional crunch from the cookie crumbs tossed on top, but overall it was like eating an Oreo…in frosting form. Seriously, the perfect cookies ‘n’ cream confection.
• Turtle cheesecake – What a delicious miniature dessert! Its base was a thin graham cracker crust, topped with a slightly thicker layer of bittersweet chocolate fudge. The cheesecake itself had a good, creamy consistency, and a lot of subtle flavor; it was sweet and a tad tangy, with caramel notes. The whole thing was then topped with chopped walnuts and a pool of gooey caramel. Of course, the best forkfuls incorporated crust, fudge, cake, and caramel! Mmm, so many distinct yet complementary flavors in one bite.
• Key lime pie – This little pie had a very sweet custard filling with a hint of lime flavor. It wasn’t nearly as strong as I like citrus desserts to be. You can see that it had a squirt of airy whipped cream on top, with a small piece of lime candy. The crust was made of (flavorless) sugar dough – sturdy, yes, but oh so boring to eat.
• Spice roll cake – This dessert had so much promise! – but I was disappointed. It consisted of dry, crumbly spice cake rolled the thickest cream cheese frosting I have ever encountered. The cake was barely spiced, with no lingering flavor, and the frosting was barely distinguishable from actual cream cheese! Hardly any sugar or milk must have been added. The cake’s exterior was a bit better; we had whipped vanilla frosting coating the entire slice, which in turn was dusted with graham cracker crumbs.
• Carrot cake – This cake showed me that PH can get cream cheese frosting right! The frosting here was much lighter and sweeter, without sacrificing cream cheese’s pleasant tang. The cake was moist and robustly flavorful, with lots of spices, visible nut crumbles, and plenty of tender carrot gratings. No raisins, huzzah!
• Gingerbread bar – I was most excited to try this, since it looked and smelled so unique! I didn’t like it at first, but each bite grew on me to the point that I’d rate it a close second behind the Oreo roll.  Three layers of dry, spicy gingerbread were separated by moister, slightly sweeter fillings, and topped with cream cheese frosting dotted with cranberries and drizzled in white chocolate. Fillings included sweet, chewy caramel; tart, juicy cranberries; finely-chopped nuts; and gooey molasses. This hearty dessert’s flavor range was one of the greatest I’ve experienced, straddling from the very sweet to the nearly savory. Textures were similarly varied. A distinct offering worth eating again.

So, if you’re ever passing through south-central Massachusetts, I’d recommend a diversion to this bakery. (The restaurant, too, for hearty American fare.) Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cheesecake

The August arrival of Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte is at first an unwelcome harbinger of fall, but as the mornings grow crisper and the evenings grow darker I find myself embracing this coziest of espresso beverages. It seemed only natural to try and express the comfort of the milky liquid in the stability of a dairy solid - so, enter the Pumpkin Spice Latte Cheesecake.

I used this recipe, and followed it exactly for my first pass. I did not triple the cinnamon (gasp), as I could count on the extremely moist cheesecake environment to heighten all spices’ intensity. Also, the pumpkin and latte flavors are more important. I liked Sprinkle’s suggestion for “authenticity” and used the strongest Starbucks Via packets to suggest the latte’s espresso.

I was pleased with some aspects of this first pass. I particularly liked the crust, which is crafted from wheat flour, almond flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter. It was dense and cookie-like, and the almond flavor gave it a nutty little twist. I had never used almond flour before this recipe, and had no idea that it was simply finely-ground almonds! Then, I liked the texture and mouthfeel of the cheesecake. It was smooth and creamy, but not too heavy. I could eat a slice without feeling belly-bombed. However, the original recipe calls for the separation of pumpkin and coffee.

The first issue with this was purely logistical. The pumpkin portion formed the majority / base of the cake, and the significantly smaller coffee portion was meant to be spread on top of the pumpkin layer. This may not be a problem for larger portions - layered cheesecakes are fairly common, after all - but it was difficult to spread the minimal amount of coffee-cheese mixture over the still-fluid pumpkin base. The final distribution was not as even as I would have liked. Secondly, such an approach seemed strange since the inspirational beverage's flavors are evenly mixed. The pumpkin part had a weak taste somewhere between pumpkin pie and plain cheesecake, and could have used something to kick it up a notch. The latte part was essentially espresso cream cheese, with more of a flavor punch than any espresso I’ve sipped. This flavor disconnect was, quite frankly, jarring, so I decided that any future attempt at this recipe would involve one mixture of…pumpkin spice latte cheesecake.

Fortunately, a pre-Thanksgiving potluck provided the perfect opportunity to re-test this recipe! I did not meddle with the already-perfect crust. Then, I threw all cheesecake ingredients together in one bowl while keeping the measurements the same. I am very glad I did this, as the end result was significantly superior to my first attempt. My test subjects...er, potluck attendees...definitely enjoyed it!

The cheesecake is a pretty brown latte color, with visible spice flecks. Flavor-wise, the pumpkin and coffee tastes integrate perfectly, and there's just a hint of spice to suggest the season. The mixture tames the overly assertive espresso flavor of the separate latte part, and is a much better approximation of Starbucks' fall treat. The pumpkin seems less wimpy when tasted in this context. So, the moral of this story is...if the drink is mixed, let its dessert be also!

We will see if these pages chronicle a future attempt at a Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate or Peppermint Mocha dessert...

A New Use for Goat Cheese

I added a springform pan to my bakeware arsenal this past weekend. What better way to inaugurate it than to make a cheesecake, and an unconventional one at that? A love of goat cheese and cranberries inspired the latest dessert to emerge from my kitchen. The recipe was begging to be tried for several reasons:

• The from-scratch crust requires a food processor. Is there a new food processor currently sitting in my kitchen? Yes!
• You get to candy your own orange peel. I am now slightly more experienced in making garnishes; also, why not apply this skill toward making orange chocolate in the future?
• The cranberries become an enticing drizzle when coated in warm honey. I’ve wanted to use some Napa Valley honey, obtained in October 2009’s California trip, for a few months, and here was my chance. My cranberry love goes without saying.
• Goat cheese in a dessert – need I say more?

Here's the finished cake, along with the orange and cranberry garnishes. Highlights of the production process include making the sugared and spiced graham cracker crust, something I have always enjoyed eating yet have not made until now; mixing turbinado sugar in the cake over granulated sugar, with the goal of giving the cake a grainier sweetness; peeling oranges with a vegetable peeler and sauteeing the julienned peel in melted sugar; and removing the pan's side after refrigerating the cake overnight – yes, it actually worked!

Most of the resulting tastes and textures were unexpected. The cheesecake itself looked runny, but it held its shape. It then melted instantly on my tongue. This strange state did not last – the cake has dried out since its weekend baking, and its texture and firmness have come to approximate "regular" cheesecake. The goat cheese flavor was not very distinct, with the finished product resembling ricotta cheese and cannoli filling more than the cheese I used. The turbinado sugar initially added graininess to the cake, but that roughness disappeared as the granules dissolved in the days post-mixing. Both versions of raw-sugar sweetness were enjoyable. The candied orange peel looked great on the cake, and it was pleasantly tangy for the first few chews – however, after that, the innate bitterness of the peel revealed itself. I don't know if we should have peeled thinner swaths of zest, or if the julienned strips should have been boiled longer. Either way, I was disappointed in this garnish and would like to improve or refine the process going forward. The honeyed cranberries were a delight, and were the one outcome of this recipe that tasted as I had expected. The extreme sweetness and tartness was perfect with the cheesecake, whose flavor profile sat squarely between those extremes.

This dessert gets a high score for creativity, though I plan on exploring traditional cheesecakes with my newly-initiated springform before I return to the goats' pen.

An Ode to Athan's

Athan’s Bakery was originally a curiosity to be observed from the windows of the C line while traveling downtown from college. Since then, I have realized its utility as a perfect way to complement meals eaten (or beverages purchased) in Brookline’s Washington Square. Regardless of what type of dessert you want, and what quantity, Athan’s has something that will make you happy. Cakes, mousses, butter cookies, gelato, chocolates, candies, Greek pastries, and cream desserts are all there, along with café beverages to wash them down. I can’t help but rave about the sweet treats I have had there.

Let's start with the Cookie Crème confection (above left). Light, airy barely-chocolate cake alternates with smooth, deeply-flavored, and well-whipped chocolate mousse to create a pleasing dessert of various chocolate textures. The dessert is shot through with miniature chocolate chips and small chunks of chewy cookie dough; both of these exist in a higher density at the center. Dark chocolate ganache frosting drizzled with a thinner chocolate sauce enrobes the cake and mousse layers, and the whole thing is topped with a dollop of vanilla cream and a chocolate wafer. With so many chocolates, how can this dessert not deliver? I was very pleased with its rich flavors and deceptive lightness. The cheesecake, to the right of the Cookie Crème, is another example of a heavy cake made light and bearable. The packed graham cracker crust is covered in a layer of strawberry cream, which in turn is topped with sweet, whipped meringue cheesecake. This airy, creamy confection was a true delight, especially after the filling cheeses I had eaten with my dinner before! I cannot advocate enough for a bakery that creates lighter yet equally flavorful versions of traditionally-filling desserts.

Athan’s chocolates, on the other hand, are black holes that fit in your hand – but one would expect that from fine truffles. The chocolates’ best advantages are their size and truffle fillings. These confections are larger than the average piece of chocolate, but smaller than a candy bar, brownie or cookie. In other words, if you want something sweet after a filling meal, and don’t want to burst but still feel like you had a legitimate dessert, these are the way to go. Also, the flavors! I have seen Nutella, fig, mint, amaretto, marzipan, caramel, and ganache fillings in these truffles. The Nutella filling was delightful, and I have a mint truffle awaiting me at home. I’m sure it will be delicious…just like I’m sure I will be back for more. I may not be in college anymore, but the C line is still worth traveling for these treasures!

So Much Goes to New York

Your blogger spent a recent weekend in New York City, and must share two noteworthy dessert instances with you!

To start, imagine my glee while wandering near Union Square on a Thursday evening, and stumbling upon a truck dispensing a variety of free desserts! Yes, that's right - the Dessert Truck had just finished taping an episode for the Food Network, and they had a truck's worth (ha) of desserts left over that staff were giving to passersby. It didn't matter that we were on our way to dinner - we nabbed brownies, a chocolate cupcake, cheesecake, and a waffle with vanilla creme fraiche. The waffle, creme, and cupcake were tasty, but average; the other two desserts were definitely superior and memorable. The brownie was fudgy and melted in my mouth, and packed a lot of chocolate flavor in a small square; the cheesecake was smooth, light, creamy, and moist. We had so much dessert...for so little! New Yorkers and visitors to the city, check the Dessert Truck's website for upcoming locations. Enjoy the desserterie-on-wheels concept as long as you can! (Boston, please start something similar?)

The other dessert experience was much more conventional. Magnolia Bakery, on Bleecker Street in the West Village, earned some level of popular awareness thanks to SNL's Lazy Sunday skit and a Sex and the City episode. The merits of snacks for the Chronicles of Narnia aside, the bakery's biggest draw, in my opinion, is their exceptional frosting. This sweet buttercream icing comes in a range of pastel colors (standard buttercream flavor) and a rich chocolatey brown (chocolate).

Ever loyal to my favorite color, my preferred Magnolia cupcake is a chocolate cake with purple buttercream frosting - but, I had to settle on pink frosting during this most recent visit when they ran out of purple. Much like the Dessert Truck cupcake, the cake itself is average if not slightly disappointing; however, the quality of the frosting more than makes up for any batter shortcomings. The best way to eat such a cupcake is to eat away at the base of the cake, leaving a thin layer for consumption with a mouthful of frosting.

The vanilla cupcake with yellow frosting was similarly average, but a hint of lemon in the batter proved to be a pleasant surprise.

I would go to Magnolia again to enjoy the frosting, but several native New Yorkers have recommended both the cake and frosting available at Sugar Sweet Bakery. Next time...