whirlwind en francais

It's been a whirlwind week. Here's the photo play-by-play...

Orange chocolate chip cookies made last week to make myself feel better about slightly under-achieved practical. Just in case you wanted to see these.
 

Class last Saturday consisted of several specialty cakes, gateaux and pastries. First, the Dobos Torte (which we made last term with a more traditional feel), topped with caramel covered cake slices.
 

Next, the Gateau St-Honore. A French pastry made with short dough, pate choux and puff pastry. The pate choux bulbs are stuck on with sugar and the top should be dipped with sugar as well. Vanilla and chocolate crème is normally piped in the middle with a special piping tip, but we only had vanilla crème. Still, you get the picture.

Flashback to the Napoleon. Also made last term, but no one was upset to make this delicious flaky pastry again. Or devour it in large slices long after the puff pastry has turned soggy...I don't want to name any names of who did this. Starts with Gr and ends with eg.

Plus Francais? Oui! The last item of the day was a Mirabelle Pithivier. This beauty starts out with a bottom circle of puff pastry topped with a good amount of sweet almond cream filling. It's all covered up with another layer of puff pastry. Then the top is egg-washed and a design is drawn on for kicks. Also, fall foliage adds a nice touch.

Lesson of the day: whatever you do, don't say it looks like ravioli. Chef P is offended by pastry being compared to culinary items. This is just a beautiful dough ready to rise and brown to perfection.

And was it ever tasty. Perfect for every meal. We also prepped a few cakes for baking this weekend, including a Swiss roll. But the week ended with a Sunday breakfast of French toast, sausage and fruit. What better way to begin the whirlwind all over again?

who needs icing?

I practiced. I read. I prayed. And perfecting the petit four glace practical was not my destiny. What can I say? I'm better without icing. I prefer to keep things simple. Who needs all of that extra sugar anyways? Okay, you're right - it does make pretty much anything more delicious. But my clumsy, messy hands need even more practice than this.

These bites (without fondant icing) are the result of a practice round at home last Thursday. I was left with several ounces of chocolate decorations on a piece of parchment paper and even more chocolate running all over my hand from the top of the paper piping cone that I hadn't managed to fold up quite right. Greg was unprepared for operation chocolate rescue, but immediately insisted on licking both items thoroughly so none would go to waste. Good man.

My Saturday practical didn't turn out quite as I had hoped, but I gave it my best effort and now know what needs to be done for better success in the future. For example, the top layer of almond cake for the petit fours should be placed close to the bottom layer before flipping it on top to avoid the cake breaking in the middle and falling on top in pieces mid-flip. My personal flip out moment number one. Luckily I had some assistance saving that one. Also, when egg washing the tops of eclairs you should not use a fork to indent them with small lines or they will puff up and crack a bit, eventually looking like mini hot dog buns. Sigh. Here are my chocolate covered hot dog buns...with a mighty delicious pastry cream hiding inside.

And the final lesson: yes, chocolate makes anything taste better and can sometimes cover flaws, but the designs drawn on petit four glaces should be very thin and delicate. And the fondant should be thin enough to easily glide over the whole bite and cover every centimeter. Much unlike this.

The saving grace is that everything tasted delicious. And I made orange chocolate chip cookies yesterday to make myself feel better. No icing necessary.
 

bite-sized happiness

I know what you're asking yourself...Was Jaime able to bake successful petit four (aka bite-sized) cookies for her exam last weekend? And could she really keep her cookies under 6 inches?

The answer:

Yes! And I am damn proud of these cookies. I was focused and precise, and sometimes not breathing regularly, but I managed to produce some of the best cookies in class. I know, they look tiny and you're not sure they're real. Here's a closer view:

Convinced? I am convinced that I still love baking cookies. I'm not sure about the petit four glace section of the exam - coming to a kitchen near me this weekend - but I'll do my best. For this practical, we have to produce a dozen of the éclairs we made last weekend AND a dozen iced petit four cakes. We are making bite-sized almond cakes with jam in the middle and fondant icing on top. And a lovely design of chocolate. Practice results from last weekend:

One of these babies can cure your sweet tooth for the whole day. Unless you're my mother and then you need to eat three of them for breakfast...sigh. I should know better by now. Do not leave any sweets out on the kitchen table that you don't want promptly devoured. Greg wasn't too upset though because his favorite item of the weekend was the chocolate pistachio biscotti. Delicious dipped in coffee, but quite crunchy by itself.

I'm off to practice drawing with chocolate. Time to channel Picasso!