 | An Echo of the OrchardChef Iain Jones of The Sea Pines Resort | Hilton Head Island, SC |
This apple cheesecake was created to pair gracefully with champagne—subtly sweet, warmly spiced, and balanced to enhance rather than overpower. I’m submitting it as a tribute to the apple harvests of my childhood growing up just outside Hendersonville, NC, where fall meant crisp air and orchard visits. Using Perfect Purée Green Apple Puree allowed me to capture that memory with clarity and consistency, delivering a silky texture and clean flavor that lets the apples truly shine.
Ingredients for Brioche:
Yield: 10 3.75-ounce loaves
• 250 g. eggs
• 56.5 g. milk (70°F)
• 17 g. dry yeast
• 425 g. hi-gluten flour
• 10 g. salt
• 71 g. sugar
• 284 g. butter
Ingredients for Muscovado Sugar Tuile:
• 100 g. butter
• 65 g. honey
• 75 g. light brown sugar
• 75 g. muscovado sugar
• 125 g. egg whites
• 100 g. all-purpose flour
• 2 g. Maldon sea salt
• 3 g. Rare Cellar matcha powder
• 3 g. cocoa powder
Ingredients for Apple Glaze:
Yield: ½ quart
• 300 g. apple cider
• 30 g. Calvados
• 30 g. sugar
• 4 sheets gelatin
Ingredients for Apple Filling:
• 390 g. Sauterne
• 30 g. lemon juice
• 100 g. simple syrup
• ½ vanilla bean, split and scraped
• 4 strips lemon zest
• 4 strips orange zest
• 1 pinch salt
• 1750 g. Granny Smith apples, whole
Ingredients for Soaking Liquid:
• 250 g. water
• 100 g. sugar
• 20 g. lemon juice
Ingredients for Apple-Pernod Pearls:
• 100 g. The Perfect Purée Green Apple Puree, thawed
• 60 g. Pernod
• 50 g. sugar
• 100 g. water
• 1.7 g. agar
• 0.3 g. locust bean gum
• 5 g. citric acid solution
Ingredients for Apple Cheesecake:
• 680 g. cream cheese
• 200 g. sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 400 g. The Perfect Purée Green Apple Puree, thawed
• 118 g. cream #1
• 7 sheets gelatin
• 284 g. white chocolate
• 470 g. cream #2
• 1.5 g. xanthan gum
Ingredients for Vanilla Yogurt Foam:
• 250 g. Fage greek yogurt
• 3 g. xanthan gum
• 50 g. sugar
• 132 g. simple syrup
• 125 g. heavy cream
• ½ vanilla bean, split and scraped
• 1 g. salt
To Assemble and Serve:
clarified butter
Method for Brioche:
Bloom the yeast in warmed milk in the bowl of a mixer, then whisk in the eggs. Mix for 5 minutes. Add flour, sugar, and salt, and mix on low speed for 5 minutes with a dough hook until smooth. Adjust consistency with flour or milk as needed. Add butter in five parts, mixing 3–4 minutes after each addition and scraping the bowl each time. The dough should be homogenous and smooth. Line a quarter sheet pan with spray and plastic wrap, spread dough, cover with another lined inverted pan, and wrap in plastic. Bulk ferment at room temperature for 1 hour, then refrigerate overnight. Scale dough to 3.75-ounce portions on cold marble, shape into small logs, and place in greased loaf molds. Spray lightly, drape with plastic, and proof 3–4 hours at room temperature, rotating frequently. When risen, gently egg wash and bake at 330°F for 8 spin 5 minutes, or until dark golden brown and springy.
Method for Muscovado Sugar Tuile:
Combine butter, honey, and sugars in a small saucepan and melt slightly. Remove from heat and cool for 3 minutes. Whisk egg whites to froth, then temper into the sugar mixture. Whisk flour, salt, matcha powder, and cocoa powder together to remove lumps. Gradually add the dry mixture into the sugar base, whisking until smooth. Chill for at least 30 minutes. Spread onto lightly sprayed branch tuile molds and scrape clean. Bake at 350°F for 5–6 minutes, then cool flat on parchment. Store with desiccant packs until ready to use.
Method for Apple Glaze:
Heat apple cider, Calvados, and sugar until warm. Bloom gelatin and stir in until dissolved. Strain and cool.
Method for Apple Filling:
For the Soaking Liquid, bring water, sugar, and lemon juice to a simmer and cool. Peel apples and reserve in soaking liquid to prevent browning. Cut into ¼-inch dice. For the filling, bring Sauterne, lemon juice, simple syrup, vanilla, zests, and salt to a simmer. Strain apples, add to poaching liquid, cover with a cartouche, and simmer for 10–15 minutes, until just tender. Remove and chill. Blend one quarter of the poached apples and fold back into the cubes. Pipe into small sphere molds and freeze.
Method for Apple-Pernod Pearls:
Chill 2 quarts of oil in the freezer until it reaches 0°C. Combine Perfect Purée Green Apple Puree, Pernod, sugar, and citric acid in a saucepan and heat to a simmer. In a separate pan, heat water to 40°C, whisk in locust bean gum and agar, then bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Combine both mixtures, strain through a chinois, and cool to 48°C. Transfer to a squeeze bottle and drop into the chilled oil. Let set for 1 hour before disturbing. Strain pearls from oil and rinse with cold water. Dry on a linen towel. Citric acid solution: equal parts citric acid powder and water, heated until dissolved.
Method for Green Apple Cheesecake:
Cream together cream cheese, sugar, and cinnamon in a mixer until soft. Bloom gelatin in ice water. Combine Perfect Purée Green Apple Puree and cream #1 in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add gelatin, pour over chocolate, and emulsify. Stream the mixture into the cream cheese, pass through a tamis, and blend with a stick blender if necessary. Whip cream #2 and xanthan gum to medium peaks and fold into the cream cheese base. Pipe into mini apple molds (Pavoni GG036) until three-quarters full, then press frozen apple filling into the cheesecake mixture just below the surface. Scrape clean and freeze.
Method for Vanilla Yogurt Foam:
Combine xanthan gum and sugar in a small cup and mix well. Split and scrape the vanilla bean. In a blender, combine vanilla pulp, half of the yogurt, simple syrup, and salt. Blend on low, gradually streaming in the sugar mixture, increasing speed to high for 2 minutes. Add remaining yogurt and cream and blend briefly to incorporate. Strain through a chinois and refrigerate. Before service, shake gently, transfer to an iSi siphon, and charge once. Dispense a small test amount to check texture; add a second charge if needed.
To Assemble and Serve:
Slice brioche into ½- to ¾-inch slices and punch out 2¼-inch rounds. Brush both sides with clarified butter and toast at 325°F until golden. Remove apples from molds, skewer with bamboo picks, and freeze briefly to firm. Brush each apple with a mixture of Grand Marnier and yellow water-soluble powder, then again with Grand Marnier and red powder for streaking. Warm apple glaze to 85°–90°F and dip apples, blotting excess. Place each on toasted brioche. To plate, pipe Vanilla Yogurt Foam into the bottom of a bowl, set the apple-topped brioche at center, spoon Apple Pernod Pearls around, remove the skewer, and replace with a chocolate twig. Finish with a Muscovado Sugar Tuile on the rim.