goat. cheese. cake.

I'm starting on my Christmas break to-do list, which will now include a TON of baking & cooking because...
     1. We have an oven & a boat load of spices.
     2. I bought a French cookbook with Christmas money. (Forgot to
     picture that one, Mom & Dad!)
     3. We have every spice imaginable.

For dinner last night with our dear Metz-dwelling friends before they head back to the States, I wanted to try out a special recipe. They were incredibly generous & gave us, along with a world of spices & miscellaneous kitchen supplies, their small oven. The "purpose" of their visit was to give us all of the things still cluttering their apartment & give them a special, hopefully relaxing, night of relaxation, snacks & euchre.

Lauren & Michael will be back to the State before Christmas, which they're excited about after nearly two years in France. After the holidays, they'll be moving to St. Louis... so it was really exciting to share our (limited) knowledge of the city where Joe spent two years & I spent a summer (& lots of great weekends) while he finished graduate school. 

So we had lots to celebrate: the holidays, our growing friendship, Michael's new job, the next step in their honeymoon years of marriage. We decided on our favorite foods–ratatouille & smoked salmon spread with creamy cheese & capers–& an adventurous dessert. Okay, there was also a bonus dessert. Lauren introduced us to these murderous brownies.

I was introduced to tourteau fromagé  (goat cheesecake) on their blog & was baffled by its blackened crust & dome-like shape. This blog has great pictures of goat cheeses & an explanation of the very French version of the American favorite, cheesecake. Unfortunately, I don't have a pan small enough to make it as puffy. Fortunately, the oven they've given us was able to scorch the top out of that tourteau!

The celebrations looked something like this: the finished cheesecake; Joe's innovative way to stiffen egg whites without a mixer; snowflakes made by Lauren; our new furniture and living area, courtesy of Lauren & Michael.

So here we go. My first ORIGINAL recipe, a mix of several I found in French & am converting to ingredients/measurements that should work for you back in the U.S. or wherever you happen to me.


Ingredients for Crust
2 cups flour
one cup of room temperature, unsalted butter
pinch of salt

Sift the flour and salt. Cut the butter into the flour until you have pea-sized pieces. Add a splash of water and fold it into the dough until you get a slightly tacky dough. Add more water as needed, without letting it become elastic or sticky. Refrigerate for two hours. Grease pie pan, press dough into pan and return to fridge while preparing the cheese filling.

Resist the urge to use a spring-form pan. Use a pie pan.

To start, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Move the oven rack as close to the top as possible with the pie pan. Trust me.

Ingredients for Cheese Filling
1.5 logs of soft goat cheese–the kind without the rind, or 2 of those with the rind (cut the rind off)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
6 eggs, separated
2 ounces milk
teaspoon vanilla

Cut goat cheese into small pieces. Mix cheese, milk and 1/4 cup sugar until an even consistency is achieved. Mix in egg yolks one at a time. Add in flour and vanilla. In separate GLASS bowl, beat egg whites and remaining sugar until stiffened. Carefully fold into cheese mixture. Pour into pie crust.


This part is important. Put pie into oven until the cheese develops an even, black BLACK layer on the top. Move the pie and rack to the middle of the oven & bake for 35 minutes.

Kitchen at Camont describes the cake as light, with a texture like angels' food. Mine, which is a mix of several recipes & methods, came out more like a custard. I think this is because of the hand-mixed egg whites & the difference in cheeses. Camont used fresh goat cheese, while we used the logs. Regardless, the light custard with the snap of goat cheese flavor is delicious.