Do you know The Chef in a truck ? The Netflix series, launched this week, celebrates the French chef of the Ritz, François Perret, elected "best restaurant pastry chef in the world" last year. For the occasion, he leaves the majestic Parisian palace, his large kitchen and his team, to take the wheel of a foodtruck in Los Angeles, reinterpret American desserts and offer them to Californians. If this description made you hungry, don't panic: inspired, our journalist Marion Sauveur has selected three 100% American cake recipes, perfect for the weekend!
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The Cheesecake from Juniors
It is a New York institution, which has offered the same recipe since the 1950s, with a soft cookie and a gourmet cream, but frothy and airy.
To make the dough: beat the egg yolks (2) with sugar (2 tablespoons) until the mixture is frothy and homogeneous. Add a little vanilla extract (1 teaspoon) and a few drops of lemon juice (1 teaspoon). We incorporate the melted butter (30g), before the flour (30g), baking powder (1 teaspoon) and salt (1 pinch).
We whisk the egg whites (2), and when they start to be firm we pour the sugar (75g). The whites are gently mixed with the preparation, without stirring too much, with a spatula. Then we cook this dough in a pan, with removable edges, buttered and covered with aluminum foil outside: 10 minutes at 180 degrees. Why removable? To unmold it without damaging the cake!
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For the cream, mix Philadelphia Cream Cheese (250g) with sugar (75g) and cornstarch (30g) with a spatula. We add the other 3 packages of Philadelphia, one by one, and the rest of the sugar (300g). We incorporate the eggs one by one (2) and the crème fraîche (130g, 30% minimum fat). Do not mix too much.
Gently put the device on the dough, then place the mold in a large baking dish. Water is added to this dish to bake the cheesecake in a double boiler. The water should rise to 3 cm, no more. The cake should bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, always at 180 degrees. The rim must be light golden and the top just golden.
Why do we cook it in a bain marie? To keep the heat in the oven moist, which helps the cake to bake slowly, gently and evenly. Once baking is complete, leave to cool out of the water bath for 2 hours, before releasing the cake from its mold and placing it in the fridge at least overnight, protected by a plastic film.
The real American cookie
In the United States, cookies are giant, very thick, crispy on the outside and very soft on the inside.
It is necessary to use a very soft butter (240g), ointment - it is the texture of the butter which will condition the baking of cookies - and mix it with white sugar (100g) and brown sugar (135g) with a spatula. Then add the flour (280g), the cornstarch (20g), the yeast (1 teaspoon), the baking soda (1 teaspoon) and the salt (1 half teaspoon).
We add the chocolate chips (minimum 350g - there must be chocolate in each bite), the crushed pecans (250g - they will bring the crunchiness), and we mix to distribute them well in the dough. We divide the dough into eight, forming balls: the cookies will make more than 150g each, we are in the generosity!
Leave to stand for one hour in the refrigerator, so that they are uniform when cooked. Then we bake four cookies per plate, one at a time, in an oven at 200 degrees, especially without flattening the balls. After 11 minutes, it's cooked! You have to wait another 15 before tasting ... with a glass of milk, if you want to play it American-style to the end.
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The S'more, typical of the United States
Where does the name of this cake come from, less known than the previous two? It's the contraction of "Some more": when you eat one it's not enough ... It's THE recipe for scouts, around the fire: a sweet marshmallow sandwich grilled over a wood fire and placed with a square of chocolate, between 2 cookies (Graham Crackers).
If you don't have a fire at home, don't panic! You will be able to make this American treat with your oven, in the grill position. On a baking sheet, cookies are prepared like small butter on parchment paper. On the cookies, we place a square of chocolate. And above: a marshmallow.
It remains to bake, 2 minutes maximum: the marshmallow will start to color, to give off a good smell of caramel; and the chocolate will also start to melt. This is where you have to take out the S'more and cover the marshmallow with a cookie to form a sandwich. It only remains to crunch inside, still hot.