Pate a Choux Exam

Well I just had my second exam. I didn't make any stupid mistakes like I did last time, and I finished on time, so good on both those counts. However, the presentation of all my items was slightly off. The eclairs were slightly wonky shaped (though the chef did say overall they were good) and the coffee glaze was too hot when I used it and the chocolate was too cool. At least he said they were well filled and the cream filling was perfectly lightened. The Paris-Brest wasn't filled high enough and the filling came out the inside too much. He did say the filling's taste and texture was right on. And my choux was well made and well cooked, also good.

Overall, not a stunning success, but nothing too bad either. I'm happy.

Croquembouche

My finished croquembouche.

Well this was very hard, but kind of fun and bordering on pretty darn amazing. A croquembouche, for those of you who don't know, is a traditional French wedding cake made of cream puffs stacked to form a conical tower. Since we were just practicing technique we didn't fill the cream puffs, which saved time so that we could finish it in one class.

Decorated choux puffs waiting to be stacked.

To make a croquembouche make small choux puffs (as it turns out mine were a little too big) and fill with cream (if you are going to). Then dip the choux in caramel and (if desired) in nuts, cocoa nibs, pearl sugar, coconut, etc. Using caramel as glue, stick the puffs in a ring on a base (we used pâte brisée). Then stack a ring on top, but slightly off set so (at least in theory) you use one fewer puff to complete it. That makes the cone eventually come to a point. Continue to do that all the way up. Decorate with choux that you pipe into different shapes (if desired) and that's it, an impressive showpiece.

My croquembouche before I added the choux decorations.
I think I actually like it plain more.

Unfortunately it's easier said than done, and mine came out ever so slightly lopsided and with large gaps between the choux (I assume that's because my puffs were too big, so it was harder to fit them together.) Still, I'm proud of mine. It looked pretty and relatively like it was supposed to, so I'm happy!

Gateau Saint-Honore

My unfinished Gateau Saint-Honore

Yikes this was hard to make! Unfortunately much of the class didn't even finish theirs (and I was among that bunch.) Basically it's a cake made of choux piped onto a tart dough base topped with a ring choux puffs that are filled with crème chiboust (a pastry cream mixed with gelatin and Italian meringue) and decorated with caramel. In the middle of the ring is a decoratively piped layer of more chiboust. Honestly, I'm sure it would have been good and very pretty had I finished, but I'm not terribly enthralled with it, so I'm not too upset that I didn't finish. At least I finished the grougeres. They were excellent!

Grougeres

The photo does not do these justice.

Basically a cheese puff, these savory choux puffs are amazing. They're simple to make and absolutely delicious. All you do is make a batch of pâte à choux and, while it's still slightly warm, mix in finely grated gruyere and (if you want) salt, black pepper, ground chili pepper, and/or dried mustard. They are light and crispy and just amazing!

Paris-Brest

Named for a bicycle race from Paris to Brest, this choux paste cake is meant to look like a bicycle wheel. I don't think that it is terribly wheel-like, but it is really pretty. And it tastes really good too. Basically it's a ring of choux (eclair or cream puff dough) covered in almonds, filled with praline crème mousseline (pastry cream with butter and praline paste), and dusted with powdered sugar. It's not the easiest thing to make and it's definitely hard to make it look perfect. I don't mind though, it was excellent and relatively fun to make, even if it wasn't easy. The only problem with mine was I ran out of cream for the filling because the ring spread a little too much (probably because I didn't do a great job piping it, so it was slightly flat and wide.) Still, as I mentioned, it tasted very good!

Profiteroles

Yum! The were little choux puffs filled with fresh vanilla ice cream and topped with chocolate sauce (both the ice cream and the sauce were made by the chef and were excellent). Since the ice cream wasn't transportable, I had to eat them in class. That wasn't a problem; they were delicious. Basically they were the same choux we've been using, made into nice small rounds. Cut the top off (just a small amount, not the whole top half), put a scoop of ice cream on the bottom and top with the top and chocolate sauce. So good!

Cygnes (Swans)

Yes, I made swan shaped cream puffs. They are really very fun to make, and surprisingly not hard. First you pipe a tear drop shaped choux puff and some almost "s" shaped choux decorations (for the neck and head). Then, after baking, cut the top third (or so) off the tear drop and cut the top part in half length wise. Now there's a body to fill and two wings. We filled the body with pastry cream and then piped whipped cream on top to make it swan-like and full. If I do these again, I'd probably leave out the pastry cream, it's kind of overkill and I like whipped cream so much. Then we stuck the neck/heads in the whipped cream, dusted the wings with powdered sugar and stuck them in, and voila, swans!

Eclairs

This was not an easy lesson! It was our first attempt at pâte à choux. For me at least, the choux wasn't too terrible to make, mine took the right amount of eggs at least, so that was a good start to the day. Unfortunately after that the wheels came off the wagon. It not easy to pipe one even eclair shape, let alone a whole half sheet pan of consistently sized and shaped eclairs.  It could have been worse though. Then we made the three flavors of pastry cream (vanilla, coffee, and chocolate). That was fine, a different recipe, but still the same principle as the pastry cream I've already gotten used to making. The problems came when we piped the cream into the eclairs. It was messy and sticky and I ran out of time and cream. Then we had to dip them in pate à glacé (chocolate glaze) and vanilla or coffee fondant. They were hard to melt without over heating them and then they were messy and we were running out of time. I didn't end up doing the vanilla fondant, instead I did chocolate on the vanilla cream filled ones (and obviously on the chocolate) and coffee fondant on the coffee). I actually like the chocolate glaze more than the fondant, but I know that wasn't quite right. Ah well, it saved time so I was actually able to finish glazing them.

I have to say for all the effort, they were really good. I'm not sure they were worth all those hours (yes, they took hours) of work. Ah well, I did really enjoy eating them, so that's something!

Coffee eclair

"Studying", con't

Oops, forgot pictures of what I made when I was studying. Here they are:

Nectarine and Raspberry Tart with Pastry Cream

Gingersnaps

Candied Lemon Peel

Mini Lemon Tartlets with Candied Lemon Peel

"Studying"

I love that this is studying. Yes, there are written exams and I do have to study for those like for any other written exam. But baking, something I love to do, is actually studying!

I made lemon curd, tart shells, pastry cream, a fruit tart, candied lemon zest, mini lemon tartlets, and gingersnaps. In one afternoon.

The lemon curd came out pretty darn well, though perhaps a little less thick than it should be. The large tart shell didn't come out great...it cracked in places. I think I may have rolled it a bit too thin. Ah well, it still tasted good! The little tiny shells I made (I did them in mini-muffin tins) came out quite well. They did puff a little on the bottom, but that's because I was too lazy to attempt to properly weigh down such tiny shells. The pastry cream came out way too think. I think the book's suggestion of substituting cornstarch for pastry cream powder by increasing the amount by 1/3 wasn't quite accurate in this case. It tasted good, but the texture was wrong. At least that's just an issue with too much starch...nothing that can't be fixed with the right ingredients. The fruit tart looked excellent, but since it was made with the slightly defective shell and too think pastry cream, it wasn't great. That didn't stop me from eating it though, since it was still good. The  candied lemon zest was perfect! I rolled it in cane sugar while it was still tacky, so it's great to eat plain, not just as a garnish. The lemon tartlets were also quite good, basically they were lemon curd piped into the mini tart shells and topped with a piece of the candied zest. What isn't good about that?! Lastly the gingersnaps came out quite well. Granted, I'm not a huge gingersnap fan, so I can't be sure that these are great (because nothing with ginger will ever seem great to me). Still, the texture, while not snappy, was just what the recipe said it should be, they looked pretty, and they tasted quite nice.

Overall a successful and very edible study session!

My First Exam at the FCI, con't

Here's the photo I promised:

Don't they look good!?

My First Exam at the FCI

I practiced a ton for this, this weekend. I'll post what I made later. Let me tell you, I'm really glad I did because I ended up getting the recipes I practiced for. Basically the practical exam is structured so that you are randomly assigned one of four sets of recipes and you have to make them in the allotted time. You don't know the recipe set you'll get until you walk into the exam. Right there, yikes. Of course there was one set that was much harder than the others (I'm not the only one who thought that, by the way.) So that's what I practiced. And of course, knowing my luck, that's what I got for the exam.

I had to make a lemon curd tart, two banana cream tartlets, and gingersnaps. I managed to do this almost in the 3 hours and 15 minutes; I only went five minutes over. My cookies came out perfectly! I'm very happy about that, because I love making cookies! My tarts came out nearly perfect, except for one giant, stupid mistake: I accidentally made one banana cream tart and two lemon curd tartlets. That's how we'd done them in class, and I just spaced. 

I was the last to present my tray to the chef and I did so thinking I was in big trouble because of that mistake. Well I was...sort of. He said that that mistake would cost me. He then went on to say that my tart dough was the best he'd had all night! I was the last person to go so, other than the hand-full of people judged by the other chef, mine was the best in the class! I'm really happy about that! My gingersnaps were good, cooked just the way he likes them, apparently. Another plus! My rosettes on the banana cream tart were even and the way I smoothed the cream and then made a little swirl in it got praise. He liked the meringue on the lemon tartlets, although I should have covered them completely, rather than leaving bits of the lemon underneath showing. That'll cost me a little, I'm sure, but still not too bad. He even approved of my candied lemon peel, which I was worried wasn't quite right.

All in all, I would have done really well had I not been so stupid and switched the tarts, but I still think I did okay. I hope my excellent tart dough and cookies coupled with my nearly perfect decorations will begin to make up for my mistake. I think it will, since the chef did say that overall he was happy with what I presented.

In any case, it's done and over with, and I have a nearly perfect lemon tartlet waiting for me for breakfast.

P.S. I'll post a photo of what I presented tomorrow.

Savory Onion Tart, take two

I loved this the first time, so I made it again. Not for practice (though obviously it was practice) but for fun. This time I used more onion and tomato (and a much less expensive blue cheese.) It was very, very, very good!

Quiche Lorraine

These were excellent! They were a very plain quiche lorraine; just the eggy base with bacon and gruyere. I think in future I may try to add sauteed onion or perhaps scallions. Although maybe not, they were really good this way!

Possibly the best thing about these is that they are really easy to make. I would never have thought that a quiche would be easy to make, so that was a pleasant--and delicious--surprise.

Linzer Tart

This is not an easy tart to make, but it is well worth the effort. First you have to make the linzer dough, which is a very nice dough and not too difficult to make. Then you have to make the jam. That's right make the jam, from scratch.  Granted, you could use regular bakers jam, but this is so much better! And jam making while tedious is very satisfying. You also have to make almond cream, delicious. Finally, you compile the tart. That's done by lining the tart ring with a round of the dough (which by now you've let chill and have rolled out...it's a soft dough so that's no easy feat.) Put a thin layer of almond cream in the bottom, then spread the completely cooled jam on top of it, taking care not to smudge the almond cream with the very thick jam. Then cut another round of dough into strips and make a lattice pattern--not to be confused with a basket weave in which the strips are woven rather than just laid in one direction than the other. Egg wash the dough on top, but not the jam. At that point it goes into the oven until browned (hard to tell since the dough is already brown...). Let cool and enjoy. Phew, done!

See what I mean about not being easy. Well at least it tastes absolutely superb! The nutty, spiced dough pairs so well with the raspberry jam and the almond cream. It's almost like a linzer cookie, but better!

Bourbon Pecan Cookies

Sorry, not the best picture, but you get the point.

These are really good!  They are tender, crumbly, and nutty with a lovely, but not to strong, bourbon flavor. And the whole pecan on top is a nice touch. They are pretty easy to make as well, so that's nice!

The coolest thing is that we have to give a bunch of the cookies to the FCI to use at events and in the restaurant. My cookies are going to feed real people! Of course that means I get fewer cookies, which is unfortunate, but good for my waist line I suppose.

Tarte Tatin Facon Rapid

Meh. These weren't my favorite. Firstly, I don't love tarte tatins at their best. Secondly, these were not tarte tatins at their best. Yes they had the traditional slightly burnt caramel flavor, there were apples, and they had lovely tart crust bases. However the apples were too soft and overripe and ended up disintegrating making the tarts look messy. Plus the crust was too thin, I think. At least I prefer a thicker crust on a tarte tatin. And the caramel oozed all over the place making them impossible to budge from their cardboard rounds in order to plate them. Granted none of that stopped me from eating one of them, hot out of the oven and right off the cardboard, with dinner!

Tarte aux Noix Caramel

According to the chef my caramel nut mixture didn't come out quite right, and I see that it was lighter and more opaque than most people's. But I don't care; it was incredible! Seriously, I'm not even a huge caramel fan (I like it, I just don't go crazy for it) and I thought it was amazing. Also the nutty almost cake on top of the caramel was really great. So to sum up: YUM!

I'm sorry I'm not being more articulate tonight; but it's late and I just had a large slice of this tart, so I'm a little wired but should really be asleep.

Apparently the half glazed, half sugared look is the traditional way to decorate this tart.
Unfortunately it was still a little too warm, so the glaze soaked in slightly and the sugar
melted a bit. That didn't affect the taste though!

Chocolate Bavarois Tart

A bavarois or bavarian cream is made of three main components: a crème anglais (or fruit puree) base, gelatin, and whipped cream. You can add flavoring to it; in this case we added chocolate, which we melted into the crème anglais. While not officially a mousse (after all it's a bavarian cream) it is quite similar in taste and texture, though because of the gelatin this is somewhat denser and smoother while still being light and airy. We spread the cream into a full baked tart shell, decorated the top with chocolate shavings and sweetened whipped cream, and voilà an incredible, light, delicious, chocolate tart. Yum!

I actually bought a plain white plate so that the food shows
up better in photos. I think it worked well!

Tarte au Ganache Chocolat

This was a tender, not-too-sweet tart shell filled with rich, bittersweet chocolate ganache...need I say more? Seriously, this was amazing! Unfortunately my crust fell apart a little, but no matter, a bit of melted chocolate used like spackle to fill in the cracks and we were good to go.

The decorations on top were surprisingly easy to do. We learnt how to make a coronet to pipe melted chocolate and then all we had to do was pipe a pretty design. I admit I wasn't very creative, I just did what the chef had done in his demo. I think it's really pretty though!