I Know, I Am So Fired...

So, you have all probably given up on me now.  I obviously did not get any writing accomplished during my staycation.  It's crazy how much there is to do with an additional 6-ish hours every day!  I caught up on some much needed sleep too.

I think that, though I liked them, I am going to skip the last 2 classes for now and talk about my current class that is INSANE but super fun!  Just after summer break/Fourth of July, I started my first advanced pastry class.  Instead of 3 weeks, the advanced classes are 6 weeks.  This one is Advanced Patisserie Techniques, aka - Plated Desserts.  We are spending 6 very intense weeks learning how to make a 4 star restaurant dessert from start to finish - meaning it could be served to a paying customer.  Rather than a test every Friday, we have 8 major plated dessert tests, a sauce test, one written test, a High Tea service, random homework and reports and one CRAZY PANTS final exam that I am already stressing about.

The first plated dessert was Custards.  I made Orange Pot de Creme with candied pistachios, candied orange zest, berries in coulis, orange dust and pistachio tuile.

We have about 3 hours to make and plate everything, which I know, seems like a long time but scaling, organizing, making, cooling, baking, straining, cleaning and all that jazz takes a lot more time than you think!  This one went very well for me and I like the clean, simple lines of the finished product.  We just thought this one was hectic - the tests have gotten progressively more difficult indeed.


The second test was the Chocolate Plate.  I made a Chocolate-Raspberry Mousse Drum with a flourless chocolate cake base and a tempered chocolate band, dark chocolate sorbet, chocolate sauce, chocolate filagree and fresh raspberries.  I wish I had taken a better picture, as my plate really was pretty.

We have also been learning how to quenelle, which I am guessing will be fun-ish once I get the hang of it a little better.  I just need to find my groove.

That is all for now.  Stay tuned for the phyllo plate up and the pear-apple trio when I sliced my fingertip off!  Let's just hope I survive to bake another day.
Until then, ciao!

-QoT-

So Much to Say, So Little Time...

Smokin' the Chocolate

Well friends, I have done it again.  I am now six weeks behind in keeping you posted on what I'm up to at school.  I have completed two different classes that I really enjoyed and just have not managed to write a single word.  I guess that perhaps some of what I loved about these classes was the gentle rise in difficulty and intensity, which has lessened my time and energy to write.  Luckily for you (and me), I start my summer staycation today and will have 6+ extra hours each day next week.  YAY!!  Everyone in my class is seriously ready for this break.

Mango Bavarian with Raspberry Glacage and tart Blueberry Coulis

Here is a little bit of what you have to look forward to from International Patisserie, Custards, Fillings & Creams and Introduction to European Cakes and Assembly Techniques.

This Bavarian was SUPER fun to make.  I really enjoyed making the striped pate decor.

Framboise Cake

Sad to say that the Framboise Cake looks better than it tasted, to me.  The jam at school is much to sweet for me!  I needed some tart!

Hopefully the staycation goes well and we all live to bake another day.  Until then, ciao!  -The QoT-

Mother's Day Macarons

I really love making French macarons.  Really.  I do.  To some that may sound weird, but I love the method and how precise it can be.  It is rather relaxing to macaroner, to come up with flavors and colors.  I love the idea of this fluffy little bite of almond and any flavor you would like.  I made macarons for Mother's day because they were such a hit at Easter.  I made a giant tray of the cookies and French buttercream in four flavors the day before.  Here are the little cookies ready to be filled and sandwiched:

The creamy white-ish ones were soo delicious.  They were going to be filled with coffee French buttercream, so I put some coffee extract in the cookies as well.  YUM.
Here they are all filled and ready to be eaten:

Strawberry, Apricot, Coconut and Coffee.  Tasty and Delicious.

In the spirit of baking, manfriend - who CANNOT cook to save his life (he actually tried to make fried rice once) has become obsessed with making pancakes.  After watching one million episodes of Man vs. Food, he decided that's what he wanted to make.  So, I stocked the refrigerator with buttermilk and showed him what to do.  I think he made pancakes every day for about 2 weeks.  It has slowed down some, but I don't really know what he does in the kitchen while I am at school for 6 hours every day.  The buttermilk sure does go fast...

whisking mancake batter

I am currently doing lab experiments in the kitchen coming up with a Salted Caramel Mousse to fill a cake I am creating for class.  Keep your fingers crossed!  Hopefully it will be yummy and I will survive and live to bake another day.  I will keep you posted.  Until then, ciao!

-The Queen of Tarts-

Lost Photos

So, I was looking through my email and found the photos of the Tarte Tatin and the Mille Feuille.

 The Tarte Tatin has a puff pastry crust topped with apples and caramel.  It is made upside down in a skillet and was a bit tricky to get out, but we managed!  It is delicious and pretty simple to make - if you buy the puff pastry.  ;-)
The Mille Feuille is three layers of puff pastry, filled with two layers of pastry cream, topped with fondant.  Very sweet and kind of difficult to eat.  I took the Oreo approach and pulled the layers apart.

Coming soon:  International Patisserie, Custards, Fillings and Creams.  My favorite class and chef so far!  You will want to eat anything you see!

Let me know if you are interested in recipes or technique for any of the items you see.  I am always happy to share.  May I live to bake another day.  Until then, ciao!!

-The Queen of Tarts-

Slacker...Only Regarding the Blog

So, as you, my one reader, may have noticed...it has been awhile.  I'm not sure if I have just been so busy going to school and running FancyPantsPet, or if the end of April + the beginning of May were just not my favorite weeks.  Maybe I just did too much celebrating around my birthday.  Who knows.  In light of my neglect, the three weeks spent in Viennoiserie and Laminated Doughs are going to be communicated primarily in photos.  You will have to just make do without my witty comments.

We did have some good news at the beginning of the block - we are now down to 10 students.  I don't have to say who is not longer with us, just that we are all happy to be a class of 10.
Viennoiserie and Laminated doughs encompass all things puff pastry, danish, croissant, phyllo, strudel, brioche and various breakfast pastries baked and fried.  It was an interesting class, not my favorite.  It was also a kind of weird and difficult 3 weeks.

I learned that there is a reason a good, all butter croissant can be so expensive and why many places do not make their own puff pastry.  I also remembered why I have never made puff pastry at home.  Talk about time consuming.  I don't really have the counter space for it either. I should have taken photos of the process involved with some of these products as the rolling and stacking and rolling and folding and rolling and folding...you get the idea...is quite extensive.

Chaussons aux Pommes

Pithivier

Week one was all puff pastry.  Classic puff pastry, reverse puff pastry and blitz puff pastry.  They are all made with basically the same ingredients, just put together in different ways and used for different purposes.  For the most part, they are interchangeable for look and feel.  As one might imagine, blitz puff pastry is the quickest and easiest to make, it just does not puff quite as high.  With these 3 types of puff pastry we made Chaussons aux Pommes (apple turnovers), Pithivier (2 rounds of puff pastry filled with frangipane), Tarte Tatin (puff pastry topped with sauteed apples and caramel), Mille Feuille (Napoleons - small rectangles of puff pastry layered with pastry cream and topped with fondant).  Somehow, there are either no photos of the Tarte Tatin and the Mille Feuille or I did something with them.  That was a difficult day, so maybe I didn't take photos.

Salmon en Croute

During week one, we were also able to make puff pastry with savory applications.  Lobster Newburg was very tasty along with Salmon en Croute and Brie en Croute.

Lobster Newburg

Baklava

Danish Pinwheel

Danish and Croissant

Week two was filled with Danish dough products and Croissants.  Danish in various shapes with various fillings were fun to make and delicious to eat!  We also made croissant au buerre, pain au chocolate, almond croissant and 3 kinds of savory croissants.  That Thursday we worked with phyllo dough to make Spanikopita and Baklava and made Crepes Suzette, which were delicious but very orang-y for me.

Spanikopita

Crepes Suzette

 Week three was primarily Brioche products along with Hot Cross Buns, Palmiers, Apple Strudel, Doughnuts and Beignets.  We made Nantere, Galette, Saucisson, Pain Perdue, Pain au Raisin, Courrone and Modane with brioche dough.  The strudel was interesting to stretch and I wish I had a photo of that.  We had to stretch that dough with a partner so thin that you could almost see through it.  I ate so many beignets (fried dough) that my gall bladder-less self didn't feel too great the rest of the day.  No fried foods for me for a bit.  The Pain Perdue was DELICIOUS.  I wanted to eat all of it.  The brioche products were interesting and pretty tasty, with all that butter in the dough, of course they were!

Beignet

Courrone

Galette

Nantere

Pain au Raisin

Palmiers

Saucisson

Doughnuts

Modane

Pain Perdue

I did very well in the class and am maintaining my 4.0 while learning a lot!  Thanks for reading, I won't fall so far behind again.  We are on to International Patisserie, Custards, Fillings and Creams, so I will write about that very soon.  Hopefully I will survive to bake another day.  Until then, ciao!

-The Queen of Tarts-

Petit Four Final

This was a very intense week.  Monday was thankfully a holiday.  FancyPantsPet was very busy at the Houston Pet Expo on Saturday, so having an additional 2 days totally saved me!

Petit Four Poster

On Tuesday we turned in a full scale poster representation of what we wanted our Petit Four final tray to look like.  It was actually a fun project to complete and made plating the actual products much easier because I already had a plan.  We also made large macaroons for the Cafe.  As usual, there was a bit of an altercation with the crazy lady in my class.  There are just no words to describe what we deal with in regard to her.  I didn't realize that people actually behaved the way that she does.  It really is as though she is the only person in the class.  Anyway, that is enough about that.

We also created a plan of action and went over what items could be made on what days.  Obviously, you can't make Italian Meringue on Wednesday morning and hope to use pipe it onto tartlets on Friday.  Everyone made their own version of a production list.  I typed out all my recipes in the order I needed to make them with notes and tips.  Being organized certainly made all the difference.  We had 3 days (a total of 11 hours) to make 6 different Petit Fours, 10 of each.  The 10 of each had to be identical in every way.  For these 6 items, we made about 15 separate components.  The true purpose of this exercise was time management and making a plan.  I completed my tasks for each day with no problem and was able to finish on Friday with time to spare, so it really ended up not being too stressful for me.  I really enjoyed the fast pace of having so many tasks to do.  Deadlines always work for me anyway.  I like all the intricate detail that goes into making the Petit Fours as well.

Here is the finished product:

Chef was impressed overall and said that I should be very proud of my work.  She was especially impressed with my Lemon Tartlets, which seems appropriate.  I am the Queen of Tarts, after all.
The few points that were taken off were from small mistakes like shaky hands or inexperience.  While a number of my classmates did not enjoy the experience at all, I really had fun working on this project.  I received a high A on the final as well as for the class.  So, my 4.0 is intact and I am glad for that.

Next week we start Viennoserie and Laminated doughs - puff pastry, danish, croissant, etc...  We even get to work on some savory applications for puff pastry, which is exciting.  We are all looking forward to having food to eat at the end of class again.  All these little desserts didn't do much for us when we are starving at 10:30 am!

I wish everyone a happy Easter and hope that I survive and live to bake another day.
Until then, ciao!

-The Queen of Tarts-

Petit Fours Week 2

On Monday we made brownies, blondies, magic bars and trail mix for the cafe.  We also tempered some chocolate to practice piping Happy Birthday and to make chocolate filigrees.

Tuesday was sponge cake day.  We made 3 different types of sponges for 3 different petit fours.  The Petit Four sponge is for the Petit Fours Glaces, the Battenburg sponges for Battenburg Petit Fours and the Jaconde Biscuit is to make up the cake layers of the Opera cake.

On Wednesday, we made Almond Macaroons and French buttercream for the filling.  I'm not talking about coconut macaroons with the bottoms dipped in chocolate.  I'm talking about true french macaroons - crispy, chewy little circles of tasty deliciousness held together with decadent french buttercream.  I have always wanted to make them, but there is this air of mystery and difficulty surrounding most recipes.  They are a little tricky and the method is macaroner (French) - to slightly overmix in order to melt the sugar and avoid peaks.  This is done by spreading the batter (sugar, powdered sugar and egg whites - meringue with almond meal and powdered sugar folded in) around a bowl with a spatula, gathering it all back in the middle and repeating the process until it is just right.  I chose to make pistachio macaroons because I love how the green pops and pistachio buttercream is tasty and nutty.  French buttercream is whipped egg yolks whipped some more with cooked sugar until cool.  Then you whip in about a pound of butter.  That is why it is so tasty.  We also made ganache and were supposed to build our Opera cakes, but one of our classmates had a seizure during the demo, so we had a bit of delay with helping her and EMS arriving.  She is ok.

Thursday was crazy busy.  We were one cake behind and had to completely build the Opera cake and make a glaze for the top.  The Opera is the most delicious little morsel ever.  The base is a thin layer of melted chocolate topped with a layer of thin Jaconde Biscuit, soaked in coffee rum syrup, topped with coffee flavored French buttercream, topped with another layer of caked soaked in syrup, topped with ganache, topped with another layer of soaked caked, topped with coffee buttercream with a dark chocolate glaze poured over the top.  It is cut into little squares and finished with a coffee buttercream rosette and a chocolate filigree.  This is why Petit Fours are so pricey - they are tedious and take forever to make!  We also assembled the Battenburg, which is pink and yellow sponge put together in a checkerboard pattern, layered with apricot jam and covered in marzipan.  We got to use the torch again to bring out the crosshatch design on top.  We also assembled the Petit Four sponge by spreading a thin layer of jam between two layers of petit four sponge cake.  The cake is then cut into little squares and covered with poured fondant.  The idea is to match the color of the fondant to the flavor of the jam.  We chose apricot for ours. Normally, delicate little designs would be piped in chocolate to finish the squares, but we had about 1 minute to finish, so the piping didn't turn out so great.  Whew.  I'm tired just thinking about that day!

The test on Friday was pretty straightforward and I didn't miss any questions on the written exam.  We made macaroons with french buttercream, tempered chocolate and piped 3 different filigree designs  and piped "Happy Birthday".  Everything came out perfect!  I can hardly believe we survived the week - it was pretty crazy!  Luckily, we have Monday off because next week is going to be even crazier.  Hopefully I will survive and live to bake another day.  Until then, ciao!

-The Queen of Tarts-

Busy Little Bees

Last week, Tuesday through Friday, was pretty busy.  They weren't kidding when they warned us that Petit Fours would be non-stop.  The thing about Petit Fours is that, for the most part, each tiny little dessert has about a million components.  It is part of why they taste so good, and can be so pricey at times.

Tuesday we rolled out Pate Sucree and shaped mini-tartlet shells.  They were baked, filled with yesterday's pastry cream and topped with artfully (if I do say so myself) arranged fruit.  The hardest part of this process is the glazing at the end.  In order to make the fruit shiny and to preserve it just a bit, the top of each tartlet has to be glazed with just the right amount of watered-down-heated-up apricot jelly.  This small task is harder and more frustrating than it sounds.  Note to self:  when making fruit tarts, skimp on the blueberries.  Those little suckers roll all over the place while being glazed.  KG and I decided we are going to invent a spray of some kind.  Stay tuned for our invention!

We made Cherry Almond Diamonds (some people made Pecan) which is a sheet of Pate Sucree rolled out on a half-sheet pan, par-baked and filled with a butter, sugar, honey, cream, almonds and dried cherry filling (the pecan is similar to pecan pie).  We baked those off and saved them until Thursday when we cut and striped them with tempered chocolate.  They are a little sweet for my taste.

We also made Spritz cookie dough and piped rosettes that were dotted with a bit of raspberry jam.  And cut and baked the linzer cookie dough.  Those were sandwiched with a bit of raspberry     jam as well.  The linzer dough had cinnamon and nutmeg in it and was not my favorite.  I prefer plain sugar cookie dough sandwiched with lemon curd or Nutella.

Wednesday was full of tarts and meringue.  We made more Pate Sucree to be used for our practical on Friday and then rolled out more of the old dough for Whiskey Pecan Tartlets and Lemon Tartlets.  The whiskey pecan tartlets were pretty tasty and may be a nice alternative to regular pecan pie this Thanksgiving.  I, of course, LOVE the lemon tartlets as the filling we made is quite

lemon-y.  Delicious.  I learned how to make a meringue that I have never made before:  Italian Meringue.  You basically whip your egg whites to soft peaks while boiling sugar.  When the sugar reaches 240 (softball stage) you slowly pour it into the whites while whipping.  Once all the sugar is in, you whip on high until the bowl is cool and you have glossy, thick meringue.  It is very stable and pipes beautifully.  We used it to top the lemon tartlets and make Vacherines, which are little piped meringue cups that are dried out in the oven then dipped in a bit of tempered chocolate.

Thursday we learned about chocolate and that it has a temper, I mean how to temper it.  First we made Madeleines (one of my favorites to make).  If you have never tried a Madeleine, do so immediately.  If you bake at all, buy a Madeleine pan and wow your friends with this elegant little cake.  It's easy!  We dipped those in the tempered chocolate as well - at an angle with a clean line that seems impossible to get.  Maybe one day...

Chocolate takes forever.  Seriously.  You melt it and heat it up, then add fresh chocolate and cool it down, just to heat it up again.  And all the temperatures have to be exact or you have to start all over again.  It's interesting and fun but very time consuming and takes a bit of patience.  We also learned some fun facts about it like what is made of and all that jazz.  I'm looking forward to the chocolate block, though that is months away.

Friday, as always, was test day.  And what a day it was.  I didn't sleep too well the night before and was on text patrol (texting chronic over sleepers so they wouldn't miss the test), so I was at school by 5:45.  We took our written exam and I didn't think I did so well.  Then we were busy, busy, busy.  Our practical test items were lemon tartlets topped with piped meringue and Madeleines dipped in tempered chocolate.  So, we had to roll out dough and shape and par-bake the shells, make and bake the Madeleines, make the lemon filling, fill the shells, bake them off, temper the chocolate, dip the Madeleine, make the Italian meringue and pipe it on the tartlets - each one had to be identical.  Oh, and I can't believe I forgot the best part!  We go to use the torch this week.  Yes, they gave me fire in the kitchen.  We have a butane torch, which how we brown the top of the meringue.  It's really fun.

Chef Courtney is a tough grader with good critiques and tips, which is exactly what I need.  I think she was a little hard perhaps, but it will only make me a better chef.  I turned everything in on time and did well on the practical.  It also turns out, though I didn't find out until today, that I did really, really well on the written test, so my grades remain intact.  Whew.

Since today was Monday, we really only did production work for the cafe again.  Brownies, Blondies, Magic Bars and Trail Mix.  We also started piping practice with this nasty gel but then tempered some more chocolate and piped filigrees with that.  It's fun, but is going to take a lot of practice.  So, if you call and I don't answer - I'm probably piping!

Here's to hoping we all survive and live to bake another day.  Until then, ciao!

-The Queen of Tarts-