Back in the Kitchen

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!!!!
We are now back in the kitchen and I am so so so happy for that! The new class is Laminated Doughs, and we've started with Puff Pastry. This really is not my favorite thing in the world, but I don't care because I miss being in the kitchen so much! My new chef is much more of a challange than my previous instructor. She is meticulous and demanding and it's great. I actually feel challanged for the first time. She doesn't like to hold your hand through anything. Today she gave us a list of what we had to do, which was 5 different things, and gave demo on only 2 of them. It was actually great because it forced everyone to use there brains for once to figure out what to do. Everything turned out great. Today I completed four things:

a Pithiver a Fruit Bar a Tarte Tatin,and a Napoleon(which turned out a little poofier than it should have. heh heh). None of these things are particularly difficult if you have to patience to deal with Puff Pastry.

Final Projects/Burns

I finished my class last friday. We had a big final presentation that we had to create. I know I mentioned it before. My theme was "Spices." I was actually quite pleased with how everything turned out and, aside from the 2nd degree burn from 300 degree sugar, the day of the project went on quite well. The Gateau Opera cake was a pain to lace with red chili pepper, but I was told that the few people who had a bit of it were able to taste the slight twinge in the back if your throat from the chocolate laced with pepper. My job is done. Ha ha!


I also made Cardamom cookies that were addictive, Curry Truffles, a spiced angel food cake (which everyone should have this recipe, it is surprisingly awesome), a 5 Chinese spice apple pie, Pear Ginger Tart, and Meringue shells filled with a fruit mixture of pineapple+cantaloupe+basil+mint+ Orange Liqueur. OH MAN! I'm so proud. I got a 97% for the whole thing.


Unfortunately, I was not exaggerating when I said I got a 2nd degree burn. Toward the end of my set up, while I was spinning sugar, I lost my grip on the whip it went flying into the pot of boiling sugar. Thankfully, all I got was an inch splash on my middle finger. It could have been much worse. So, I bit my lip until I got everything set up, shaking all the while. Once I was finished (as much as I could be anyway) I excused myself and went off to the urgent care clinic. I impressed the nurses. I seem to be good at that!
Enjoy the pictures! I gotta get some beauty sleep!

Oh man. I'm so sorry people.
Between trying to stay on top of school, job, and wedding demands, I hardly have time to eat, let alone have a hobby!
The past two weeks have been nothing but petit fours. We're getting into more complicated cakes that are an all day process. That's actually okay with me, because then I get more time to make things look pretty. Some people in class have told me that I always do the prettiest decorations, which makes me go "teehee."
Some of the cakes we've made this week were:


Gateau Opera. This was my favorite of the week. Mostly due to the fact that the cake is covered in ganache at the end. I was talking with a friend of mine a while back and we decided pouring ganache over a cake is, quite possibly, one of the most satisfying feelings one can have in their existence. So, if you're looking for a good feeling. Bake a chocolate or strawberry, or whatever cake, and give it one or two baths in ganache. If that doesn't put a smile on your face, then ....God. I don't know what to say to you if that's the case.
I actually made this cake twice and sent the second one home to the family for birthday weekend. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADA!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARIA!!


The other cake that was really of note this week was the Battenburg. Made in honor of Princess Victoria's wedding, this cake is a pain in the butt with not much pay off! I was not fond of the flavoring! It's just spongecake with marzipan. Unless you are a big fan of marzipan, this cake will not interest you. And it took FOREVER. Lots of measurements. It looks kinda cool....but I was not excited, by any means.
Unfortunately, I believe school is going to take a much more technical and way less fun turn next "quarter." We are going to be in a classroom doing nutrition and kitchen management and such. So no major baking for me for 3-6 weeks! Ppthhhhh. I may go crazy.

Oh Man.
Macaroons. Macaroons. Macaroons. Guess what I've been doing!
There is a visiting Chef from French Canada in the school for a couple weeks and he was nice enough to do a demo for our class this morning. Aside from the near impossible, thick French accent the man speaks with, talking with him as been very informative. He demoed 3 different flavors of bite size macaroons today. His technique is totally different from our teacher, which is weird. For example, Macaroons have a body relatively reliant on fluffed egg whites, and chef stressed the need to keep as much body from the egg whites as possible. Not Monsieur Chef! He just beat that stuff together like nothing I've ever seen! It was pretty funny.
The other hilarity about Monsieur Chef is that he stresses, constantly, the the way to make the money. He doesn't some much talk about "This is how to make yourself a good pastry chef" he talks about "This is how to make the bucks." Which, isn't all bad. It's good to know what people are looking for, which (by the way) is experience across the world. You name a country, this guy has been to it. It's impressive.


Anyway! So, Macaroons. Very light and fluffy. Mostly egg white with sugar. Awesome, as most things are, when chocolate is involved. We have to make an almond macaroon for our final this Friday. I seem to suck at getting them to the correct size. I try so hard to make them circular, that I completely missed the whole, Petit Four size idea (2 bites). They are way to small. Sigh. Anyway. These things are cheap and easy, good thing to remember, cause people still charge a bundle for them!

Hello!!!
Sorry again for the absence. There's a lot going on right now. Between school, Harry Potter, weddings, Harry Potter, work, Harry Potter, and so forth, I have been having a hard time keeping up. However! I have the afternoon off and have reserved the time to post a few things and maybe read some Harry Potter. Have I mentioned that book?

We've moved off a bit from pie's now. Today we did a Linzer Tort, which is such a tasty and easy dish I had to find a home for it right away so I didn't just sit down and eat it all. Linzer dough is only tricky if you have no way to get powdered Hazelnuts. It's one of those pain in the butt specialty items Cub probably won't carry. It's filled with Raspberry jam, whatever you're particular favorite raspberry jam or preserve will work, with a lattice top. It's simple and really, really pretty. I was quite pleased with this.

We also finished up a pan of Baklava that was started yesterday. People are really either heads or tails with this. It's either too sweet for you or it's what your life was missing. I'm rather fond of this desert, but only when I have a cup of coffee with me. I ate half of one of these things and thought my mouth was disintegrating from the sweetness. So! FYI coffee + baklava = Happy!
We also have been in the process of making petit four every chance we get. For those who don't know petit four is used to describe deserts that are no more than 2 bites sized. Our final project will actually be creating a desert platter of various petit four. The entire school is suppose to be invited to sample. The platter has to be designed off of some kind of theme. Some people did birthdays, date night, chocolate, tropical fruit, and so on. I've been kicking around ideas and I have to come up with a tentative theme by Friday. If anyone thinks they might have a good idea for a desert platter theme, please feel free to suggest it! I'm looking for something awesome and creative. No pressure!
Anyway, here's an example of some of the petit four that we've been working on. These are actually pecan diamonds. They are, if possible, even sweeter than pecan pie. I actually put chocolate on top to cut the sweetness.

Hi!!
Sorry it's been such a while. I was on break for a week and then the camera was hi-jacked by someone for a work trip last week. I'm back in the rythum now! However, I am starting a new job today that has weird hours leading into 11 pm. I wonder how this will work out with getting up at 5:45 am every morning. I'll keep you posted!
Anyway, here are some of the treats we've been making in class from last week.
Enjoy!!

We had our final for the the class. I've had a lot of fun making all the different kinds of bread, but (oh man) I can not TELL you how happy I am to be done with it. I think I'm going to es-plode if I have to knead one more dough lump this week. Which is good, because with finals out of the way, we get an entire week off! I haven't had a full week off in years! I don't know what I'll do with myself! If we face reality, I'll be cleaning the apartment from top to bottom, but lets just pretend I'm doing something exciting like budgie jumping.. I don't know.
Also, I seem to have made enough puff pastry to no longer find it a daunting task for the home baker. The dough is only: Flour, salt, water, & butter. (No yeast to throw curve at you!!!) Then you fold an appalling amount of butter into the chilled dough, but it makes such a pretty pastry!! I love it! I was actually thinking today that I would love to make this for the wedding, but I think I have more sanity than to try and make 300 o'rdourves the day before my wedding. If I had the resources, I'd totally do it. It's so much fun.
This pastry puff:
is a 2'' round base and a 1 1/2'' cutter crust. These babies are bite size and totally delectable. I made 6 for my final and consumed them as soon as the grade was given. The filling is feta with half and egg, 2 teaspoons of milk, dried basil, and ground pepper. OH MAN. You have no idea how awesome these things are. I may be bias since I incorporate feta cheese into at least one meal every day, but still...it's tasty.


The second puff pastry is filled with raspberry jam, topped with 1/2 of a fresh raspberry, and drizzled with milk chocolate. Also delectable, also consumed at record speed. I have to say I was very happy with todays final. I was deducted only 5 points because my pinwheels were slightly underdone. Stupid pinwheels.


Now I have a week off to analyize past baking experiences and ready for the next section which will be mostly pie's and some cakes. At least these are unlikely to fill up my freezer making me unable to pull out the ice tray with out an avalanche!