HOME COOK : Cheese and Crackers Get Glamorous

If someone invited you over for cheese, crackers and a baked apple, you probably wouldn’t run to get there, at least for the food. But these cheese, cracker and baked apple recipes are very different and much better than you might imagine. For instance, the cheese is homemade.

I found the cheese recipe by chance when I was working on “The Breakfast Book” about six years ago. I had been hunting for an easy-to-make cheese recipe but some of the five or six versions I’d tested required such exacting steps that they weren’t suited for making at home, and none had the clean, wholesome dairy taste I was looking for.

When I had just about given up, some friends shared this recipe with me. It’s very simple recipe, almost foolproof.

The Oatmeal Crackers are coarse and crunchy with a nut-like taste. The recipe calls for only three ingredients--oatmeal, water and salt--and, like the cheese, it is almost foolproof. The two critical points when making these crackers are to roll the dough very thin and to watch the timing when baking. They must be slightly golden, but they can burn quickly. The best way to keep these fresh is to put them in plastic food bags and freeze.

The Wine-Baked Apples are also easy. The English Custard does take a bit of careful watching while making, but this rich sauce blends well with the tart-sweet wine sauce that cooks into the apples while baking.

Rome Beauties are the best variety to use for baked apples. The critical point is not to overbake, lest they collapse, turn mushy and lose their shape. The English Custard is really a sauce, not a custard, so cook it only until slightly thickened. It is better to remove it a little too soon than too late. In a jar, it will keep refrigerated about three days.

WINE-BAKED APPLES WITH ENGLISH CUSTARD

4 apples, cored, but not completely through bottom

3/4 cup red wine

1/2 cup sugar

English Custard

Place apples in baking dish. Combine red wine and sugar in small saucepan. Heat briefly until sugar dissolves. Pour over apples.

Cover snugly with foil and bake at 350 degrees until apples are tender when pierced with fork, about 40 minutes, basting with syrup every 10 to 13 minutes. Do not overbake. Serve with about 2 tablespoons each of English Custard. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

340 calories; 116 mg sodium; 277 mg cholesterol; 7 grams fat; 60 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams protein; 0.7 grams fiber; 19% calories from fat.

English Custard

1 cup milk

4 egg yolks

1/4 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Place milk in small, heavy-bottomed pan. Heat until tiny bubbles form around edge. While milk is heating, beat egg yolks in bowl until blended. Stir in sugar and salt and mix well.

Add hot milk slowly to yolks, beating constantly. Return milk mixture to pan and cook custard over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat when slightly thickened. Strain into bowl. Stir in vanilla. Cool. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Note: If not sweet enough, add 1 more tablespoon sugar.

Making cheese involves heating milk that has been cultured with a “starter” (usually buttermilk or yogurt) to the point of coagulation, when the curds (solids) and whey (liquid) separate. Then the curds are drained, and the manner determines the final moisture and texture of the cheese. This recipe makes a cheese that is firm enough to spread and has a slightly sour but pleasing taste. It will keep about two weeks refrigerated.

HOMEMADE CHEESE

1 quart milk

1/2 cup cultured buttermilk

Mix milk and buttermilk together in stainless-steel or glass bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature at least 1 full day.

Choose pot large enough to contain bowl. Add enough very hot tap water to come up sides of bowl at least as far as level of milk mixture when bowl is placed inside pot. Set pot on burner (not turned on) and place bowl containing milk mixture inside pot. After 2 to 3 minutes, water will begin to appear around edges of milk mixture.

Turn on heat, start timing and heat 5 minutes, keeping water just below boil. White, curdy mass will form. Remove bowl from pot, set on rack and cool 1 to 2 hours.

Ladle contents of bowl into cheesecloth or fine strainer. Drain at least 2 hours. Pack cheese in jar and refrigerate. Makes about 1 1/2 cups, or 6 servings.

Each serving contains about:

108 calories; 101 mg sodium; 23 mg cholesterol; 6 grams fat; 9 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams protein; 0 fiber; 47% calories from fat.

These crackers tend to curl a little around the edges. You can prevent this by occasionally pressing the edges down with a spatula while they are baking.

OATMEAL CRACKERS

2 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup cold water

Salt

Stir 2 cups oats together with water in bowl until dough forms cohesive mass. Sprinkle work surface with 1/4 cup oats and set dough on top. Use rolling pin to roll dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Move and lift dough during rolling and sprinkle both dough and surface with more oatmeal so that top and bottom are amply coated and dough does not stick to surface. If dough cracks during rolling, use fingers to push together and seal cracks.

Trim edges and cut dough in half. Lifting dough with spatula, place each half on 1 ungreased baking sheet. Lightly sprinkle salt over top and use knife to score dough, without cutting through, into 1 1/2-inch squares. Bake at 275 degrees 30 minutes, turn crackers over with spatula and bake 15 to 20 minutes longer. Remove from oven and cool on racks. Break into individual squares and serve. Makes 40 (1 1/2-inch) square crackers.

Each cracker contains about:

19 calories; 59 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 0 grams fat; 3 grams carbohydrates; 1 grams protein; tr. fiber; 15% calories from fat.