Individual Apple Bread Puddings

After the success of the waffle and chocolate-hazelnut ice cream, I decided to have fun and make another plated dessert at home. I had slightly stale sourdough bread and some lovely but somewhat bruised apples so I made bread pudding! I made each mini pudding in a well buttered ramekin so I could turn them out onto plates a bit like a baked Charlotte.

I topped the warm bread puddings with vanilla-yogurt cream, apple caramel sauce, and some crushed oat and walnut "nougatine". I put quotes around nougatine because typically it's made of slivered almonds coated in caramel; this is a granola-y version. This breakfast-y but still very dessert-y plated dessert was delicious and, perhaps, a bit whimsical (beiWng breakfast inspired and all that)!

Thanksgiving Desserts (Number Three)

Alright, this is really just dessert number one--the apple crumble pie--again. But this time I decided it really needed ice cream. And not just any ice cream: homemade bourbon pecan ice cream!

Thanksgiving Desserts (Number One)

I made apple pie with a crumble topping. It was delicious. Sort of a cross between a crumble and a pie. The cinnimon-y, buttery topping was crumble-like and the apples were tender but held together in a pie-like manner. I served it with an apple caramel sauce. So good! Although it could have used some vanilla (or, perhaps, cinnamon) ice cream.

Hamantaschen for Purim

There are many different explanations for why we eat hamantaschen on Purim and why it's triangular. I'll always go with the story I heard: the pastries are triangular to symbolize Haman's hat (which had three corners, three corners had his hat--we used to sing that at the Purim carnival at synagogue.) I'm not sure why we would be eating the villian's hat, but I like hamantaschen, so I don't argue.

Glazed Pumpkin Scones

I'm sure I've mentioned these before. They are Alice's Tea Cup's famous pumpkin scones. I've made them before and they didn't work quite right. This time around I paid more attention. They add absurd amounts of spices. I'm sure they taste delicious with a 1/4 cup of each type of spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger, if I remember correctly), but that quantity of spices costs a lot of money. The first time I cut down the spices and the dough was far too moist. This time I used about 1/8 cup of each spice and topped each up with 1/8 cup flour (so there was still the same amout of dry ingredients). I also added about 1/8 cup extra flour since it was a damp day. That was about right and the dough was usable, though still on the wet and sticky side. It was a bit of a pain to work with, but the scones rose and cracked perfectly (they look just like the ones at Alice's) so I wouldn't add any more flour.

French Toast with Caramel Sauce

I forgot to post this last year. When our friends came round (and we baked cookies) the girls had a sleepover while the parents got some alone time. Alaina and Tegan are great kids and I wanted to surprise them by getting up early and making a special breakfast. Unfortunately they are morning people (at least Tegan is) so I couldn't really surprise them. But I still banned them from the kitchen, so at least the type of food was a surprise.

New Year's Eve "Party"

I was invited to New Year's parties, but I don't do New Year's parties. Ever. My family has a rule that you must wear stretch waist pants on New Year's Eve. We eat snacks and party food and go to bed at 12:01 (which is earlier than we normally go to bed, but that's not the point...) The point is, this year my mom, my friend Adriana, and myself stayed in and ate our way into the new year.

Thanksgivukkah

As I'm sure you heard, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah overlapped this year (on the 28th of November), a rare occurrence that (apparently) complicated things for American Jews who had to have celebrations two nights in a row. Since I'm currently studying in the UK, I had class on Thursday until 6:00pm, so no chance of a proper Thanksgiving regardless of the timing of Hanukkah. So we combined both celebrations and pushed them until Saturday so that our British family (who had to work Friday) could come over, enjoy the day, celebrate Hanukkah and, of course, eat lots of turkey.

Plated Dessert for the Jewish Holidays

I made this dessert (honey milk chocolate semifreddo on apple almond cake with caramel apple sauce, milk chocolate almond bark, marzipan and nougatine) for the Yom Kippur break-fast meal this year. Yom Kippur was in mid-September, but I guess with all the excitement of starting school, I forgot to post this.

The beautiful thing about this dessert is it could be for almost any Jewish holiday! I had been away from home for Rosh Hashanna so I decided to use the traditional flavors from that holiday--apple and honey--as inspiration for my dessert. Since some of my cousins can't eat gluten- the whole dessert is gluten free and is therefore suitable for Passover (obviously if you keep Kosher there are other considerations besides leavened goods and flour, but in my household that's pretty much the extent of Passover.)

Almost Healthy Pantry Apple Crumble ~ With Recipe

The last weekend I was with my friend Sophie we went to her place upstate. It was lovely and we picked up some beautiful peaches and apples at a local farm stand. I picked up some oatmeal at the store and planned to make a peach crumble, but it turns out all the peaches had been eaten...oops! So I decided on apple crumble instead.

Valentine's Day Pancakes

I didn't want to go out to a restaurant on Valentine's Day. My pops was out of town so my mom felt the same way. So we decided to do Valentine's Day dinner at home (after a lovely Valentine's Day lunch at my new favorite burger place). For fun we had breakfast dinner! I made sautéed pink lady apples (very much like my stove top baked apples but without the vanilla and a bit less sugar) and homemade chocolate pancakes. Pancakes are actually surprisingly easy to make from scratch and they really a better than when they're made from a mix. I decided to make them heart shaped. It wasn't terribly easy since I don't have a mold (I used to have a heart shaped pancake shaper/mold thing, but it disappeared a year or two ago.) Basically I just used a spoon to carefully drop/drizzle the batter in a heart shape. It was tedious and time consuming, but it wasn't too tough and it was worth it because they looked incredible! The cocoa-y pancakes and the sweet yet tart apples were delicious together with just a drizzle of pure maple syrup.

Mince Pies

Aren't they pretty?

I'm sure I've mentioned that I have a cousin who can't eat gluten. Well I happened to spending Christmas with him and his family (they are my family too, obviously) in London. Apparently the non-celiac part of the family loves mince pies and can never find decent gluten free ones, so my cousin never eats them. They were making dinner, so I promised to bring desserts (including mince pies). I made a traditional apple filling, which is simple enough (and already gluten-free.) The problem was the crust. I wanted to try a shortening based pie crust, but I couldn't find crisco, so that plan went out the window. My next idea was my favorite crust, pâte brisée. Unfortunately I cannot find my favorite gluten free flour here in the UK, so I'm experimenting with other brands while I visit. The brand I happened to be trying is heavy in potato flour and my pâte brisée tasted like potato. Yuck. Third time was the charm, happily. My pâte sucrée didn't come out perfectly but it was good and not strongly potato-y. Plus the filling was the real star. (Get it, star? Because I made little stars on top... Okay, bad joke, I know.)

Anyway, everyone seemed to like them. The whole family thought they yummy even compared to mince pies with gluten in them--and coming from Brits, that's high praise!

Thanksgiving

As you may have noticed from past years, we are very into Thanksgiving. This year was no exception. In fact we really went above and beyond the usual because we invited our English family for their first Thanksgiving. It was really lovely!

We made the usual turkey with all the trimmings, including mom's incredible stuffing, cranberry sauce (the jelly kind that holds the shape of the can, of course--is there any other?), and gravy. We. Also had two kinds of potatoes: mashed potatoes with a hint of sour cream and sweet potato and yam casserole with mini marshmallows. We also had Brussels sprouts and green beans with lardons and homemade buttermilk biscuits.

For dessert I made, as per usual, a trifle. This year, since my kitchen aid is on the fritz (long story) I decided not to go with my usual pound cake recipe and instead modified the lemon loaf cake we made at the FCI to be a vanilla loaf cake. It wasn't as dense and delicious as a pound cake, but it was pretty darn good (and it was for the inside of a trifle, so it actually may have been better a little lighter.) I layered the cake with my usual chocolate mousse, a vanilla whipped cream/crème fraiche mixture, and sliced strawberries. Delicious!

One of my cousins can't eat gluten, so I also made individual gluten free trifles with gluten free, lemon cornmeal loaf cake, the whipped cream/ crème fraiche mixture, and fresh blueberries. The chocolate mousse was gluten free, but it didn't seem to work with the lemon cornmeal loaf. I didn't taste the whole thing, but the elements were good and it was a hit. By the way, I made the individual portions in martini glasses--a cute trick to make a trifle (gluten free or not) a bit more elegant.

I also made apple tart with a gluten free, walnut shortbread crust and pumpkin seed toffee brittle. The tart came out wonderfully. The toffee came out delicious, but not quite right. I think I mixed it a bit too much so it started to cool and turn opaque before I poured it out. It was absolutely incredible taste wise, so I didn't really mind that it looked slightly wrong.

Overall, all the food was a great success, the night was a ton of fun, and I think we may just have a new family tradition!

Apple Chamomile Bread Pudding~with recipe!

The great thing about bread pudding is that it is the perfect vehicle for whatever's you have lying around. You can use any stale bread you want: white bread, rye bread, brown bread (although probably not the grainy kind), pecan bread, croissants, etc. The custard is versatile as well. Want a coffee bread pudding? Stir in some brewed coffee or even instant espresso granules. How about vanilla or orange or cinnamon? Use extracts or scald the milk, steep with vanilla beans, orange peel, cinnamon sticks, you name it, and allow to cool before stirring in the eggs. Then you can add any number of things, from coconut to cocoa powder from raisins to fresh apple.

In this case I had a half a loaf of stale sourdough bread and a new box of chamomile, honey, vanilla tea that smells delicious but is a bit odd to drink plain. I thought it needed something to cut the sweetness of the tea and sugar so I sliced up a Granny Smith apple to mix in. Delicious!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 loaf stale crusty white or sourdough bread
• 2 large eggs
• 1 firm, tart apple (such as Granny Smith)
• 1 cup milk (skim is fine)
• 2 camomile, vanilla, honey tea bags (or camomile tea bags, plus 1 tsp honey and 1/4 tsp vanilla extract)
• 1/4 cup sugar

Method:

1. Lightly butter a loaf pan or spray lightly with cooking spray
2. Scald milk, take off heat, put in tea bags (or tea, honey, and extract), cover with plastic wrap and allow to steep for 15 min)
3. In the meantime cut bread into approx 3/4 inch cubes and place in medium bowl
4. Beat eggs lightly to break yokes and whites
5. Put bread and eggs into a bowl and mix to coat
6. Add milk and toss to coat every piece, making sure to add enough to have a bit left over in the bottom of the bowl (you may have left over flavored milk or you may need to add a bit extra milk depending on the staleness of the bread)
7. Let sit for 30 min on counter (or if you are squeamish about leaving raw egg mixture at room temperature, in the fridge for 60 min)
8. Slice the apple into very thin (approx 1/8 inch) slices, just before you are ready to use the bread/egg mixture
9. Add 1/2 the sugar and the sliced apple, toss
10. Stuff into the prepared pan and sprinkle the top with the rest of the sugar
11. Bake at 350 until browned and crisp on top and cooked throughout, about 25-35 min

An Apple for the Teacher

I have a friend who is getting a masters in education. She started student teaching this week and I wanted to bake her something special to celebrate--so I made apple cookies.

No these aren't apple flavored, they are a delicious butter cookie dough (I've used it before) that I flavored with a hint of cinnamon and orange zest. I used a pumpkin cookie cutter from a Halloween cookie cutter set since I don't have an apple cutter. It worked perfectly.

I decorated them with royal icing, piping a border and then flooding them in. For the stem I made piping consistency royal icing and used a wide tip to pipe it on, sort of dragging/cutting off the top end to make it more natural looking.

They were a hit with my friend and, apparently, the other teachers she shared them with. I have a couple new cookie cutters and some leftover dough and royal icing so stay tuned for more cookies soon!

 

A Lesson in Seasonality

I mentioned seasonality when I discussed my menu project, but I'm not sure I fully explained the concept. Making a seasonal menu means using ingredients that are in season. For example, using apples in the fall. Here is a very abbreviated list of seasonal ingredients:

• Spring: 
• Rhubarb
• Fresh Herbs
• Red Berries (late spring)
• Summer:
• Stone Fruits--plums, nectarines, cherries, etc
• All Berries
• Melons
• Mango and other tropical fruit
• Fall:
• Apples
• Pears
• Blueberries (early fall)
• Winter:
• Apples
• Tangerines and other citrus

Interestingly citrus tends to be at it's peak season during the winter but, presumably because it is so refreshing, we tend to use it in summer cooking a lot. This is facilitated by the import of food from regions where growing seasons are different. Happily non-produce items, like chocolate, are good all year round!

When creating a menu, seasonality also refers to the types of dishes you put on it. For example, people are more likely to order a heavy bread pudding when it's cold outside. Conversely, people are more likely to order frozen desserts or light dessert soups during the summer. 

I think that about sums it up. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments. 

Chef Jacques Pepin Bones a Chicken a.k.a. Why I Studied Pastry

Chef Jacques Pepin:
It's hard to see, but between those two women's heads
is a pound of butter with a butter rose perched on top. 

Remember in Julie and Julia, when Julie is freaking out that she's going to have to bone a duck? I've always sympathized with that. I like to know where my food comes from and I'm not terribly squeamish about the fact that meat was once part of a living, breathing animal. That said, I really don't want to pull a chicken's flesh off its rib cage like "chicken pajamas," as Jacques Pepin described it. 

Boning a chicken--or potentially doing
something else with meat, I was in the back row
and I can't quite make out exactly what he'd
doing in this photo.

I will admit, I was very impressed with Jacques Pepin's skill at boning the chicken. He was so quick--less than two minutes while explaining what he was doing--and made it look so easy; though judging by the incredulous laughter of the culinary students in the audience when he said that it isn't very hard at all and the applause when he finished, I'm guessing it's not nearly as simple as Chef Jacques made it look. 

There was, of course, more to the demo than how to bone a chicken. Chef Jacques was discussing the basics--everything from how to hold a knife to what types of pans you should have in your kitchen, from how to pick asparagus to how to make a flower out of a block of butter (okay, I suppose that last one isn't a basic, but it was amazing!)

He talked a lot about produce, including how to break down an artichoke to get to the hearts. He suggested peeling the broccoli stems to get to the more tender inside and then eat it raw. Interesting fact about asparagus, you should look for the fat stalks with tight buds (the leaf like things at the top of the stalk). I always thought the thin ones were the way to go--a very common mistake, apparently--but the thick ones are apparently more flavorful. If they are too fibrous, you can peel the bottoms of them a little.

He gave some random tips. Use a non-stick pan to make omelets. You should always clean copper pots with salt and vinegar. Speaking of copper, a copper bowl is the best thing to whip meringues in. And while we are on the topic of meringues, you should always separate eggs by hand--it's much more reliable than trying to use the shell.

A perfectly sliced apple.

For me the most awe-inspiring thing that Chef Jacques showed us was how to slice an apple. I know that after discussing the awestruck culinary students' cheering Jacques Pepin after he boned a chicken this must seem somewhat dull. The thing is, slicing an apple is one of the first things we learn to do in the pastry arts course--we have to slice apples for our apple tarts, the first thing we make. I believe we sliced apples the second class. It wasn't easy. Don't get me wrong it's not like boning a chicken, but when you are new to professional cooking/baking quickly slicing an apple into thin, even slices while avoiding doing the same to your fingers is a challenge. Honestly, after all the apples I've sliced I've gotten better than I was during that class, but I'm not half as fast as Jacques Pepin was. I swear he had the entire apple sliced in under 30 seconds. I can't even imagine the amount of apples he must have sliced to get that good. (I will point out that Jacques Torres joked during one of his demos that you should never lend a pastry chef a knife because they will kill it. Apparently, we pastry chefs are notorious for our bad knife skills. So I guess I shouldn't feel too bad that I can't slice apples as well as this master chef.)

Overall, the demo was not quite as much fun as other demos I've been to, but definitely the most informative one I've seen. Honestly, it could have been dull as a box of rocks and I still would have enjoyed myself--just being in the same room as Chef Jacques Pepin was enough to thrill me! 

Pain Perdu

Our menu project is coming up. I'll explain the project in more detail later, but for now suffice it to say that we have to design a restaurant/bakery, write a menu with at least eight desserts, and prepare two dishes from the menu (chosen by the chefs). Since we have to be able to produce any two dishes we need to, at least in theory, be able to make everything on the menu before we hand it to the chef for him to "order" from. Yikes. I thought it would be a good idea to test out some of the desserts that I was putting on the menu. I knew I wanted a pain perdu--the French name for French toast--on the menu, so I figured I'd practice making it. There are a couple of recipes and techniques I like, so I combined a few to make my own and gave it a shot. Luckily I had slightly stale homemade brioche from fry day. For the menu, I plan on serving the pain perdu with summer fruits or berries but all I had at home was apples, so I sauteed them in butter until they just started to get soft, then added some vanilla sugar to the pan so they got nice and caramelized. I topped the pain perdu with the apples and some good quality, real maple syrup. Since this happened to be breakfast, rather than dessert, I served somewhat larger portions than I will do for the menu. It was great! If the chef orders this, I'll have to try it again with the correct fruit, blackberry sorbet, and a maple blackberry sauce. Ah well, the life of a culinary student can be hard but I suffer through it!