So what have I been up to? Mostly we've been making petit fours, which are bite sized desserts made of cakes, cookies, tarts, mousses, etc. Lots of good stuff. The most fun out f what we've been doing in class is that a lot of our petit fours are ones which we've got to "invent". We have had to come up with flavor combinations, cake vs. cookie vs. tart, decoration style, and even determine the shapes and sizes of our petit fours. It has been an absolute blast getting to do this kind of stuff.
Before we got around to petit fours we did some pate a choux (pronounced "shoe"). This is the dough/batter with which eclairs are made, profiterols, cream puffs, etc. I am definitely not a fan of pate a choux, I find it to be so boring, and Chef was sure he was going to turn me (as he has with many other things we've made) however it didn't happen this time. I did get pics though:
Here we have some eclairs, regular & coffee flavored (I guess coffee flavored eclairs are quite popular in France). Above the eclairs are a pastry called Salambos. They are the pate a choux filled with pastry cream (very similar to an eclair) and then dipped in caramel (and I actually did, accidentally, put my finger in the ridiculously hot caramel!!! OMG)
Cream puffs; a classic. Pate a choux filled with a bit of our homemade jam (of which we have a ridiculous amount & I think Chef just tells us to put it in things we normally wouldn't just to use it up) and a Chantilly cream, topped with chocolate sprinkles. Aren't they so pretty?
As we approach our mid-term most of us are present to how intense this program is and find as many opportunities to goof off and reach for sanity! This was Karla's step towards the light. She's drawn our entire class in cariacature. On top is Chef, of course (the big hat gives that away) then from left to right is; Bob, Jordan, me, Karla, Breanna, Alex, and Dannica. Along the way Karla made commentary about certain people which I won't go into detail about here because of the comments she made, none are nice...oops!
Jordan, my partner, and I made this delightful treat! It's got a cookie base with an apricot mousse and a whipped cream rosette. About a week ago I told Chef I was burnt out on rosettes and couldn't make anymore. He didn't seem to like that response...too bad, almost everything we make gets topped with a rosette...I require much more variety in my day/life/work, etc. Eh, se la vive!
Here's a caption of a few other petit fours made in class that day...lots and lots of chocolate!
While we're not yet at the part where we got to make up our own petit fours this one is by far my favorite one before that point. The petit four itself is pretty basic; cake, fruit jelly, mousse, another rosette (oh my!). Chef showed Jordan and I how to do this marbling effect on the glaze so we had some great depth to the cake and each piece was a little bit different (which I, personally find appealing. Shhh, don't tell Chef). Then as Jordan and I further explored decorating we got this crazy circus look going and I just fell in love with it.
Here's another class sample. Everyone was making really incredible stuff!!!
Now we're getting to make up our own...this is my Sushi Jelly Roll. First off I wanted to make a jelly roll and I wanted it to be coconut then Chef helped me put some finishing touches on it and recommended I go for a "sushi" look. I had no idea what he was talking about until I started to put everything together. I fell in love with this one too. Each individual pieces was too large to be a petit four so I got to figure out how to cut them smaller without losing the sushi look. It too some work but I pulled it off. With a little more time and attention I could've really cleaned them up and had really professional pieces...these aren't so bad though and totally cute!
...and when I told Chef what I wanted to do with these he didn't seem as much on board! Gianduja mousse (a chocolate & hazelnut combo) and cake glazed in chocolate! I love 'em!
Class photo, everyone smile!!!
THIS is our piece de resistance. Jordan and I got to create a petit four together and he had this great idea for a strawberry shortcake. While I loved it I didn't want anything plain. We built the structure together, going upwards, and I suggested we make it with a banana mousse. OMG, it was delicious...every single one that I ate! Once we told Chef what we were going to make he suggested we wrap the tall petit four in a chocolate cage. What! You can do that?!?!?!? So once we built our yumminess Chef taught us how to make the cages and we went to town. Not only was it fun I truly think this was the best petit four I was a part of making!
This pic is a class sample. That petit four, second from the left, is also mine and Jordan's. He and I both lived in Hawai'i and he thought it would be fun for us to make a dessert in homage to Hawai'i. We had this create idea of a cookie base with coconut mousse and sauteed pineapple in brown butter. While it all sounded nice in our heads a few things went awry along the way; the coconut mousse wouldn't set and while it was going to be the top of our piece it quickly became the bottom, then I put too much gelatin in the pineapple and it was super gummy and kept tearing coming out of the mold. While it wasn't what we wanted to present we were still pretty sure the idea was great!!!!
So many colors and flavors!Our mid-term is consisting of breads, cakes, tarts, cookies, & petit fours. Things are coming to me a lot easier than in previous tests, which is a great sign! This time I want to post some of my test items...hopefully this time they will be post worthy!!!
Be well, eat happy!
Love.
Be well, eat happy!
Love.
