
My Coiffeuse Wants A Cheesecake Recipe

Sometimes when you travel, the urge to eat something familiar causes a craving. Craving cheesecake? When it came up in a conversation, I realized that (1) I wanted a piece of cheesecake and (2) it seems to be quite popular in Paris. I decided it is time for a cheesecake project: Start making a list of cheesecake places in Paris! Good ideas begin in the most unusual places.
Hair salon conversation covers a wide range of subjects. Chez Glamour, my coiffeuse, Anita, and a client touched on light subjects: actors and cheesecake. The women in the salon agreed that the transition from child actor to adult actor is difficult. We shared good opinions about Johnny Depp and Leonardo di Caprio, and decided that they are two successful examples. Then the conversation moved on to a weightier topic: cheesecake.
Anita, who owns Glamour, has a desire for American cheesecake and wonders what kind of cheese to use. If she wants to make a New York cheesecake, where can she buy the American ingredient Philadelphia Cream Cheese? And where does she find a recipe?
Two of us agree that frommage frais will work for her and suggest adding some frommage blanc (Jockey or Fjord–two types of light sour cream). The two cheeses are essentially the same thing.
The search mission of the project begins as I roll my caddie shopping trolley along (as if I am still a flight attendant) to go grocery shopping, I jump on bus 69 and head over to the Marais area close by. Schwartz’s Deli carries the Philadelphia Cream Cheese for Anita’s baking project. With one 200 gram pack in my Schwartz’s brown bag, I head back to the Bastille and deliver it to Anita. (Later, I discover that Monoprix rue Saint-Antoine near the Saint-Paul metro carries the cream cheese as well). The next step is to translate a recipe for her.
I volunteer to translate one of my recipes. For all francophiles out there, you can thank goodness for Quebec! KraftCanada has all the cheesecake recipes in French. The task at hand just gotten easier. All I have to do is email her the link! Cheesecake takes some time to prepare. (I hope I can try a piece when she is done.)
In the meantime, it may be easier to just take her a piece of cheesecake from Schwartz’s where they use the Philadelphia cream cheese. This project has turned into a dégustation of cheesecakes! The three cheesecakes I have tasted in the Marais are delicious. Schwartz’s is the most traditional of three Marais cheesecake makers.
The other two shops/restaurants, Sacha Finkelsztajn (the yellow boutique) and Pitzman (with the Grand Central clock hanging outside) make cheesecakes in the frommage blanc style, both slightly different and delicious in their own right. To read more about French style cheesecake, visit Saveurs du Monde and use Google Translate.
Like the rind flora on a cheese, the types of cheesecake, the shops and the cafés selling them keep multiplying. Up the street from Schwartz’s is a shop distinctly designed for girls who like pink, Princess Crêpe. While visiting the museum, I noticed that the café at the Jacquemart-André is another place to try various styles of cheesecake.
What began as a request for cream cheese and a recipe is turning into a never ending delicious project and calls for more sit ups!
Glamour Coiffure
Anita Loiseau
46 rue de la Roquette 75011
01 48 06 86 95
Mention Colleen’s Paris: 32 euros for your first visit instead of 39 euros
Open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Saturday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Carte de fidelité (eight visits, your ninth costs 18 euros; valid for 18 months)
Anita: “For a style and cut suited to you, even if it is just the bangs, hair color, or a “brushing” (shampoo, blow-dry and comb out), with or without a reservation…come to GLAMOUR! We have a cozy, modern and bright salon. Anita, Laura, Johanna and Coralie are dynamic, smiling and receptive stylists, who will take the time to listen to your hairstyling wishes.”
Editor’s note: I can add that watching the interaction among them, resembles girls getting together, working together, enjoying their job and their environment. Always making sure to help one another and keep the salon spic and span.
Qype This is a useful site generated by Internet users and business owners to find restaurants, bars, art galleries, products, boutiques, etc. (Use Google Translate)
Blues Bar-B-Q – real Philadelphia Cream Cheese cake
1 rue Sedaine 75011 Paris
Open: Tuesday to Thursday noon – 10 p.m.
Friday and Saturday: nooon to 11 p.m.
Sunday: 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. (Closed Monday)
Mo makes the best cheesecake and it has variety. The cheesecake comes out different each time – in a good way. You know it is home made. He decorates it with the swirls of strawberry sauce.
Blues Bar-B-Q also serves real hickory chip cooked barbeque for that taste away from home. If you want their home sauce (vinegar and pepper) on the pulled pork, don’t say anything. If you want the meat plain, ask for it plain. They are American and speak English.
Sacha Finkelsztajn – cheesecake variety; frommage blanc style
27, re des Rosier 75004
01 42 72 78 91
excellent apple strudel! large variety of Central European Yiddish and Russian food
Closed Tuesday
Open: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Annual vacation: mid-July to mid-August
Schwartz’s Deli – real Philadelphia Cream Cheese cake
16 rue des Ecouffes 75004
01 48 87 31 29
Deli-style diner – look for the swirling barber pole outside
Open seven days a week
Weekdays: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m./lunch between noon and 3 p.m.
dinner: 7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Weekends: lunch: noon to 5 p.m./dinner 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Pitzman – frommage blanc style
8 rue Pavée 75004
open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. (they close at 2 p.m. on Fridays)
Kosher pizza, bagels, pitas, etc.
Princess Crêpe – have not tried it yet
3 Rue des Ecouffes 75004 Paris
Open 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Closed Monday and Thursday
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4 Comments
Colleen's Paris
Thanks Forest Queen for the feedback. In Paris it is true, cupcakes and cookies are everywhere now since the past few years. Of course, I like mine from the Nestle’s Dessert Noir recipe. Inside that brown wrapping is a recipe for gateau chocolat. The modified receipe calls for changes to the original recipe. If you are ever in France, I recommend picking up the chocolate and trying that recipe. Chocolate shops and macaron shops as well have sprouted up in every neighborhood! Colleen
France
Colleen,
I loved the article.
A few years ago I got a craving for cupcakes so I searched Paris high and low and found about 7 places where a could buy them. None compared to Buttercup Bake Shop nor Magnolia in New York, but you have to sometimes make do. Now they are all over the place including the MacCafe at MacDonalds.
The same thing happened in the U.S with macarons. A few years ago I could only find them in a little bakery near the French School on the UES of Manhattan. Now they are everywhere including in stores in California where I spend a lot of time.
Colleen's Paris
Hi Barbara, Thank you for the yummy-sounding recipe. Save me a piece of the pie!!
I am posting it on my comments so others can profit from it. The fluffy version sounds like the French frommage blanc recipe.
It appears that you brought your US measuring devices with you. If you ever redo it with European measurements, please send it to me or in the comment so I can let my French readers know. Thanks!
Also, I found Philadelphia Cream Cheese at the Monoprix Saint-Paul, at a better price that Schwartz’s Deli.
Colleen
Barbara
Okay, so we just moved to Paris. My husband has THE best recipe on the face of the planet. My French colleague said she loved cheesecake. After investing (4.50 Euro per 8 oz and we needed 4!) in ingredients – Philadelphia Cream Cheese at Bon Marche – we proudly served it to my colleagues just before Christmas at our apartment. We titled the invitation “Champagne and Cheesecake”. My husband was dismayed (and I was laughing out loud) when my colleague took her first bite and would have loved to spit it out! Evidently her favorite cheesecake is light, fluffy and not baked. It could have come from a box. Herewith I submit the recipe to die for:
(and it is possible to source most of the ingredients a Paris)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Ingredients:
Crust:
1 ¾ cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup melted butter
¼ cup sugar
Filling:
2 lbs cream cheese – not too cold
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
Topping:
2 – 1 oz. Squares of semi-sweet chocolate
¼ cup heavy whipping cream
To Make:
Crust: Butter the bottom of a 10” spring form pan. Thoroughly blend crumbs, butter and sugar. Press firmly against bottom and up sides of the pan. Not all crumbs may be required. Don’t make it too thick! Discard (or eat!) the leftovers.
Filling:
Beat cream cheese (but not too much ), gradually adding all remaining ingredients, a little at a time. Spread on top of the crust.
To keep top from browning, cover the pan with a brown paper grocery bag that you’ve loosely cut to fit the top.
Bake for 70 minutes at 350 degrees. Leave the cheesecake in the oven. Turn off the oven and leave the oven door slightly ajar (open). Allow cheesecake to remain in the oven for 45 minutes. Cool in the pan. When it’s removed from the oven, wait 30 minutes before putting the chocolate topping on it.
Topping:
Melt the chocolate over low heat on top of the stove adding the cream to mix. Spread almost to the edge of the cake, after you have cleaned up any excess graham cracker sides. ( I take the cake out of the spring form sides to do this step) Again, you may not use all of the chocolate mixture, although it does a good job of filling any cracks in the cake. Put the cake back in the spring form and cool in your refrigerator for at least 8 hours. More time in the refrigerator is better.
ENJOY!!!!!