Daring Bakers' Challenge - October 2013: Double Crusted Savory Pot Pies

I can't believe it's the 27th of the month again. I've been a very busy bee this month. Good thing I was able to make the challenge early this month. Although I don't have enough time to blog properly, so pardon me for the sloppy pictures and post.

Blog-checking lines: Hannah of Rise and Shine was our October 2013 Daring Bakers' hostess and she challenged us to bake our own double crusted savory pot pies. Using any from-scratch crust and filling we choose, we were allowed to get completely creative with our recipe, showing off the savory flavors and fillings from our own home or region.

Since the host wanted us to have our own flair to our pie by having flavors from our own culture incorporated to our pie, I decided to add chorizo to the classic chicken pot pie. In Philippines, there is a very similar dish to a chicken pot pie called chicken pastel. There are distinct differences from a chicken pastel to a chicken pot pie, and one of them is having the presence of chorizo. So that is the twist I made to my chicken pot pie. As for my crust, I tried using a rough puff, and it worked out really well.

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Speculoos Cheesecake

I love it when I come across new flavours. Recently, someone gave me a pack of biscuits that are absolutely addictive. These biscuits have a similar flavour profile to gingerbread, but a lot lot better (I prefer it better anyway)! It is the biscuit behind the famous Cookie Butter that every food lover I know has been raving about - Speculoos. Speculoos originated from Belgium and was traditionally made around Saint Nicholas Day. Presently, Speculoos is available to munch on all year round.

In 2007, Speculoos was developed into a spread thanks to the winning entry to the show De Bedenkers (The Inventors) in Belgium; companies quickly produced the spread to make it commercially available, and indeed it sold like hot cakes!

 

I personally prefer the biscuit over the spread and find myself craving for a Speculoos or two to dip into my morning coffee. You can almost say that Oreo is for my milk as Speculoos is for my coffee! Having that analogy in mind, I remembered back when I was a teen, Oreo cheesecake was one of the 'it' desserts. So, my palate and my food loving tummy just quickly drew me to the idea of making a Speculoos cheesecake. 

I used a classic cheesecake recipe and tweaked it to showcase the flavours of Speculoos. I used the Speculoos biscuits to make the crust of my cheesecake. Then I incorporated the spread to a third of my classic cheesecake filling batter. I then gently folded the Speculoos cheesecake mixture into the classic cheesecake filling to make a marbled effect.

My speculoos cheesecake project was an undoubted success! One slice was not enough and it left me craving for more.  But I have to discipline myself to save some for the following days. In fact, I think I still have a slice left, and maybe devouring it now is a nice way to end this post!

Bisous bisous,

Charlotte