Chocolate Bliss

Truffles are one of those little secrets you can pull out of your sleeve to delight people. They are incredibly easy to make.... can be flavored a zillion different ways... and packaged in a small box or cellophane bag, are a lovely little gift.
Here's a perfect bittersweet chocolate truffle recipe from Alice Medrich. It uses an egg for its silken texture, which is craftily cooked for people who object to eating raw eggs.

Bittersweet Chocolate Truffles

8 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
6 Tbsp butter, chopped
1 egg yolk, room temp
¼ cup boiling water
1/3 cup cocoa powder

To make truffles, place chocolate and butter in bowl set in a skillet of barely simmering water. Stir frequently until melted and smooth. Set aside, but leave skillet on low heat.

Place egg yolk in small bowl. Gradually whisk in boiling water. Place bowl in skillet and stir constantly until yolk mixture thickens slightly to the consistency of light cream and registers 160-degrees. Remove and scrape mixture over melted chocolate. Stir gently, just until egg is completely incorporated and mixture is smooth. Pour through strainer into clean bowl. Chill 2 hrs.

To form truffles, sift cocoa into pie plate. Dip melon baller or small spoon into hot water, wipe off water, and scrape across surface of truffle mixture to form a rough 1” ball. Pinch into shape if necessary; these should not be perfectly round. Deposit truffle into cocoa powder, coating it.

Store in refrigerator up to 2 wks or freeze 3 mos.

(from Chocolate Holidays by Alice Medrich)

Just Desserts

Man, it was hot this week for pastry chefs. My poor pastry students battled the elements when San Francisco turned into LA Monday night and boasted 95+ degrees at 6:00pm. They valiently tried to line tart shells with pate sucree... with very little success. It would have been the perfect bread-baking kitchen!

So tonite... when San Francisco returned to its cool, foggy, breezy self... we tackled the tarts once more.

Such lovely results. Students sheeted pounds of sweet pastry.... arranged fresh fruit on frangipane or pastry cream... poured ganache or lemon curd into shells to bake.

Their patience and attention to detail paid off as their creations began to line up in the front kitchen, one by one. Maybe it just takes a slogging-through-the-mud day like Monday to appreciate the beauty of Wednesday's tarts!

A Passion for Gadgets

My father is a mad inventor. He has a passion for gadgets, and the best gadgets of all are the ones he makes himself out of recycled materials found at garage sales.... things with wheels or latches or automatic watering systems. So it came as no surprise when he ordered this hand-cranked apple peeler-corer-and slicer... a really ingenious little gadget. This baby made him a whiz in the kitchen--he could get a dish of sliced apples, sugar and cinnamon in the microwave (ovens are way too slow!) in a matter of minutes! The apple machine was a big hit with the grandkids, too, who loved to see the whole apples magically turn into slices with no pesky seeds!



I, of course, had visions of buttery French tarts when I saw the perfectly sliced apples... the crisp puff pastry and rich almond cream framing a fan of beautiful apples.


I was in heaven when I opened my birthday gift this year and found my very own hand-cranked apple peeler-corer-slicer. Now every time the inspiration hits me, I can whip up an apple tart, cake, or crisp... the slow way, in the oven. And, I admit, I think it's a little bit magic, too.
Thanks, Dad!

A Sweet Night!

I had the pleasure tonite of being the guest teacher at a Dessert and Pastry Class, part of an evening series at Tante Marie's Cooking School. What a great time! The theme was American Desserts, and the students produced an amazing array of delicious treats. It was like all the comfort desserts of your childhood, together at last!





The students made Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and Caramel Centers.... Black-Bottom Cupcakes (remember those? with the cream cheese and chocolate-chip filling?), Spicy Gingersnaps, a beautiful Gingerbread with Poached Pears, Apple-Walnut Crisp with Vanilla Bean Icecream... a tangy Lemon Pound Cake with Roasted Strawberries.... just to name a few!




Everyone was really interested in the Roasted Strawberries (hmmm.... roasting seems to be a theme with me...) that I first had with Buttermilk Panna Cotta at Delfina. I never forgot them, and am now on a mission to make sure everyone tries these lush beauties.


Roasted Strawberries

30 whole strawberries, hulled
1 Tbsp water
Few Tbsp melted butter
3 Tbsp sugar

Place strawberries stem side down in baking pan. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp water in the pan. Brush berries with melted butter, sprinkle with sugar. Can add vanilla bean to the melted butter if you like.
Roast at 400-degrees until soft.

Variation: any soft fruit, can also change it up by replacing some of the sugar with honey, adding herbs or zest.

Thanks to everyone for such a fun class! Hope to see you all soon in the Professional Pastry Course!

Roast It!

I love roasted vegetables. I love the way they soften, sweeten and caramelize when they're roasted at a high temperature. At a private cooking lesson I gave last week, we tried all different combinations: sliced fresh fennel with tarragon and a squirt of lemon.... new red potatoes tossed with olive oil and fresh rosemary... asparagus with balsamic vinegar.... root vegetables tossed with cumin... and my personal favorite, butternut squash with red onion, thyme and chile flake. They all use the same technique--cut the vegetable into the desired shape, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, add flavorings (herbs, spices), spread on a sheet tray in one layer, and roast at 400-degrees.

Play with different herbs--they taste completely different if you add them before roasting or use them as a fresh garnish after roasting. Citrus zest is also a lovely addition.... capers, garlicky breadcrumbs... my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Pastry Night Owls!

Welcome to my awesome new group of Professional Pastry students at Tante Marie's Cooking School. They're the "night owls" of the school... putting in a full day at work, then arriving at school ready for action at 6pm.

It's only the second week of school, but already they've baked some killer cookies (Cornmeal with Currant & Rosemary and Whole Wheat Cocoa Nib Sables were two of my favorites...), then they tackled Pate a Choux and Pastry Cream, then it was on to the scones!

On their second go-round, the students were already coming up with some beautiful flavor combinations for their scones, like orange-cardamom and lemon-raspberry. One student turned his ginger scone into a ginger-pear shortcake with softly whipped cream!

Check out those Chicks!

It must be getting close to Easter... we're making buckets of meringue at Patisserie Phillipe and creating flocks of chicks.Phillipe, of course, can crank out these babies at lighning speed...while I painstakingly pipe on wings, beaks and Elvis top feathers.
The Easter chicks are just a little sidebar to the rest of the morning schedule: almond croissants, coconut macaroons, fraisier cake, sheeting tart dough, puff and cinnamon rolls.
Check out Patisserie Phillipe's site... http://www.patisseriephilippe.com/. He is my pastry mentor and truly the master of all things French!