Engagement Party Madness: Secondo Parte

As relaxed and intimate was my parents' engagement party, the engagement party my fiance's arents threw for us was out of this world. His parents covered all the bases and hit quite a few homeruns in the process. These are the wonderful details my future family thought of:

It was at their home in Rochester, so they bought a propane heater for the back deck to expand the gathering space (even though we TOTALLY lucked out with the unseasonal 50 degree weather). They hired a professional pianist, bar tender, and caterer that made delicious, delicious food.

They rented small bistro tables and had ADORABLE centerpieces (with little mini-engagement rings from Michael's).

My future mother-in-law made a small album of us to share with the guests. Chocolates AND m&ms with our names and the wedding date on them and a two-tiered cake perfect for a wedding. (Sorry I don't have a better one of the cake. ) Isn't the little present cute? The caterer was Grand Finales Catering in Rochester. The cake was a moist sour cream cake with caramel & hazelnut praline filling.

Wedding Tradition Tip: When cutting one's engagement party cake, the bride makes the first cut on one side and the groom makes the second cut to complete it, rather than the two holding the knife at the same time.

And then during the toast, my fiance's parents almost made me cry with their sweet sentiments. I would have cried if they hadn't presented us with our present, a watercolor of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, the location where Mike proposed to me. His mother actually saw it at the art gallery the day after we became engaged, which was the same 8 years later that we first sat there with our when we met.

I felt so special during that evening and my family felt so welcomed and assured that their daughter was marrying into a wonderfully loving and caring family. I don't think I could name one favorite detail from the whole night, but if I had to, it would have to be the strong sense of family that permeated everywhere.

Baklava Cheesecake Recipe

Ingredients:

Crust

1 pound phyllo pastry sheets (I prefer the cheaper Wegmans brand because the sheets are bigger)

1/2 cup melted butter

Filling

32 oz. Philadelphia cream cheese (room temperature)

1 cup Greek thyme honey

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

6 eggs (room temperature)

Topping1 ½ cup walnuts

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ cup butter, melted

½ cup granulated sugar

½ tsp. nutmeg

¼ cup water

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 (1 1/2-inch) cinnamon stick

1 tablespoon cognac or brandy

Directions:

Filling:

Position rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Beat cream cheese in large bowl of mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually mix in honey, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Beat in eggs one at a time until just incorporated. Set aside.Crust: Brush 10-inch springform with butter. Arrange 1 phyllo pastry sheet with long edge partially to edge of surface (cover remaining sheets with damp towel.) Brush left half of sheet with butter and fold right half over. Brush top with butter. Place in prepared pan, buttered side up, leaving 5 inches over-hanging at one end. Cover with another dampened towel. Butter and fold second phyllo sheet and arrange in pan, overlapping first sheet by 3 inches. Repeat with 4 more sheets, covering entire pan. Wrap remaining pastry airtight and refrigerate. Stir through filling and pour into crust. Cover filling with overhanging phyllo, squaring at edge of pan. Bake until pastry is light brown and cake is firm to touch, about 50 minutes.

Remove pan sides. Using a wooden pick, poke 12 holes in top of cake to allow steam to escape. Cool completely on rack. Refrigerate 2 days to mellow flavors, covering after first day.

Topping:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cover baking sheet with 2 pieces of parchment. Coarse grind all nuts with 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon in processor. Stack 10 reserved pastry sheets on work surface. Set rim of springform atop pastry. Cut around inside of rim through entire stack using a sharp knife, making 10 rounds. Cover rounds with damp cloth. Set pan rim on prepared baking sheet. Brush parchment and inside of pan rim, with butter. Place 1 pastry round in pan rim brush with butter. Repeat with 4 more rounds. Spread nut mixture evenly over pastry. Top with remaining 5 pastry rounds, brushing each with butter. Using ruler as guide, cut pastry into 16 wedges with sharp knife. Sprinkle lightly with water. Bake until crisp and golden, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile heat 1/2 cup sugar, water and lemon juice in heavy small sauce pan over low heat, swirling pan occasionally until sugar dissolves. Add cinnamon stick, increase heat to medium and boil until syrupy, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat. When bubbles subside stir in Cognac. Flatten pastry atop cake. Remove pan rim from topping. Set topping on cake, using a large spatula. Re-cut wedges. Replace pan rim on assembled cake. Immediately pour on hot syrup. Cool 1 hour. Refrigerate for 1 to 6 hours. Let cakes stand for 20 minutes before serving.

Makes 16 servings

This recipe was adopted from ThatsMyHome.

My notes:

I find it's better to stop mixing the cheesecake filling when incorporating the eggs - less air in the mixture the better. Also, feel free to add nuts to the phyllo dough crust (I do) or a dash of cardamom to give it a more exotic flavor.

Apple Picking Follow-Up

I made apple crisp (3x) since my fiance loves it and it was a good way to use up the apples. The recipeI used is from Epicurious.com.

Cinnamon Apple Crisp

(Bon Appetit, March 1993)

Ingredients:

1 c. firmly packed golden brown sugar

1 tbsp. ground cinnamon

3.5 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, sliced (into 1/4 in. slices to make them crunchier)

1 c. all purpose flour

1 c. sugar

1 c. (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter 13x9x2 inch glass baking dish. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in large bowl. Add apples and toss to coat. Transfer apple mixture to prepared dish.

Combine four, 1 c. sugar, and butter in medium bowl. Using pastry blender or fingertips, blend ingredients until coarse meal forms. Spread flour mixture evenly over apples.

Bake crisp 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake crisp until apples are tender and topping is golden brown, about 30 min. Let stand 15 min. before serving.

Serves 10.

My notes / revisions:

• Served warm with vanilla ice cream! (Cool whip also works, but it has a different consistency.)
• I didn't butter the baking dish - this wasn't necessary.
• I also combined all the ingredients in a bowl without the apples. I spread the apples in the dish and spread the topping mixture on top. This concentrated the flavors in the crisp and allowed the apples to complement the topping, preventing the apples themselves from getting too sweet.
• I used 1 - 1.5 c. of brown sugar, sprinkling it on top to add to the caramelization.
  I also roughly chopped 3/4 c. of walnuts and spread them on top of the crisp mixture rather than mixing it into the crisp. This allowed the nuts to actually toast in the oven. No one likes soggy nuts.

A close-up of the crisp:

Baked & Wired Report

At my job, we always conduct research on food we want to include at our event. As many of you in the DC Metro area may have noticed, we have had a rash of cupcakeries pop up. My first report will be on Baked & Wired, a great that started out focused on coffee and baked goods, but has really expanded its cake line. My wonderful boss was in Georgetown on Friday and surprised me with the latest issue of Town and Country Weddings and this adorable box:Inside were these little beauties: Red Velvet and Strawberry from Baked & Wired in Georgetown.

Note the adorable pearl of sugar on the red velvet. Aren't they so sweet? I love the little paper "wings."

So, how did they taste? Delicious. The cakes were denser than some cakes I've had. The frosting -- not too rich.

Red Velvet's cream cheese frosting wasn't too cream cheese nor too sweet. His cake wasn't too sweet and rich like you'd be afraid some red velvets would be.

Strawberry was very succesful as a Strawberry. Bits of strawberry inside her cake gave her an authentic fruit taste wihout being too fruity. She also was reminiscent of the red berries in Capn' Crunch Cereal - but in a god way.

All in all, very well done. I also love the presentation of the cakes. They'e not overly made up so that you'd question whether the goods were as good as their looks and the paper wrapper makes them easier to eat.

Chocolate looooove

I'm no where near deciding what we want for our reception food, but I've always loved the idea of a creative dessert bar - more interactive than say cute hurricanes filled with jelly beans and chocolates. Yes, I know. Martha does wonderful settings of them, but I feel like the guests will appreciate something more interactive - and the tastier the better! Behold, Exhibit A:

Photo Cred

Vosges Haut-Chocolat has added a special events division. How fun are these adorable shooters and truffles? I lurve anything mini or in shooters. Tres chic! They also make chocolates in exotic flavors, like chili peppers and spices! And they can do tastings and pairings. Mmmm.

PS - I also wrote this for DCNearlyweds.com