Week 7: Petit Four Sec

Yes, I realize I skipped over Week 6, but all we made was jelly, and due to my birthday-induced truancy, I don't have any great pictures from the following evening. So let us move right along to Petit Four Sec.

I warned you: jam making is a yawn fest. 

I've always known that Petit Fours were cute, miniature desserts. After using my background in Latin languages and my generally high intellectual abilities, I determined that this translated to 'little four'.  I figured they were served in mini quartets and that was that. So, you can imagine my shock and awe to learn that it ACTUALLY means 'little oven' followed by a historical explanation of why (this is when the lecture turned into a Charlie Brown classroom). To those of you who already knew this: shove it. For those of you who have been misguided like me-you're most certainly welcome.

Once I got over that knowledge nugget, we moved on to baking. Our Petit Fours were basically all dry cookies, and perhaps because we are American they were WAY more than 1-2 bites. We'll all have to keep this in mind for the next 3 installments of petit four creation.

Kris & I must have had our teenage rebellion kick in when we jumped at the chance to make Cigarettes. This is hands down one of the most painful experiences I have voluntarily completed. I don't think I'll have feeling in my fingertips for another week or so, but my coworkers seemed to enjoy the cookies, which makes it totally worth it, right?

To make the cigarettes, you start with a thin, simple batter. Using a small stencil, you make a small batch of the cookies:

Next, you make some designs with the same batter, only colored with some cocoa powder:

Sneaky Kris caught me in a moment of intense concentration. I'm probably trying to remember the number of oz and tsp in a lb. 

After a quick 5 minutes in the oven, the excruciating pain begins. No photos were captured because the process happens so quickly. We used a scraper (from the hardware store) to put these on the bench and roll the flippin' hot cookies around a wooden dowel. Your room for error is about .2 seconds; needless to say the first batch didn't go so well.

After making about 15 batches of these things, our instructor kindly pointed out that we had over-buttered our pan, which was what was causing the fierce burning sensation in our hands. Thanks for pointing that out. 15. batches. later.

Now for the less painful confections of the evening. First we made some Palets Raisins with Rum Glaze. Now, the stoves at our kitchen can be a bit finicky, and often need to be lit and fanned to get going. However, our chef made all the women woo when he stomped his foot and the flame on the stove top was set ablaze. After he tutored me in making these cookies, I realized it must have been the alcohol on his breath that actually caused this miraculous feat. 

Next up were Nantais Sablee (coconut cookies):

Our classmates made the same cookies, with a slightly more sophisticated, less 'elementary school Valentine's Day' vibe: 

Almond Tuiles, formed in specialized pans or around a rolling pin:

 Sablees (Linzer cookies) were so pretty!:

Sesame & Poppy Tuille was definitely not for my palet, but our chef suggested they'd make a compliment to an Asian meal. I guess anything is better than beans for dessert...weirdos:

I'm bummed that I didn't make these Damer sandwich cookies, as they were probably my favorite of the night. Sandwiched with raspberry or apricot jam, and dipped in chocolate, they were the perfect treat to pop in your mouth (a couple of times over):

Our class is pretty inconsistent with creating a plated presentation of all of our desserts, but luckily one of the more aesthetically-inclined members of the class made this nice arrangement; it definitely looks more impressive than any of these guys do on their own:

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Petit Fours. And, if you ever want to torture someone in your life, feel free to send them my way for a personal lesson in cigarette cookie creation!

Week 5: Dessert Sauces

Because dessert sauces essentially consist of pureeing and straining various fruits, I was anticipating a rather boring blog post.

Luckily, we got to bake some items as a venue for our dessert sauces, which introduced me to my favorite activity to date: making crepes! Of the various types we tried a plain old dessert crepe dressed up with some cinnamon was by far my favorite. The chocolate and pumpkin were tasty, but much more difficulty to work with:

Start with a HOT, well buttered cast-iron pan:

Twirl the batter in the pan to create a thin coat:

Flip!

The final product:

But, because this was a dessert sauces class, we upped the ante a bit with Crepes Suzette (basically a citrus-y caramel sauce):

We also made a few different types of souffle. My instructors continue to be baffled by my lack of familiarity with all that we create. I try to explain that Danvers isn't a thriving suburb for culinary discoveries, but they will have none of it. When I tell them I've never had or made a souffle, I imagine my face when I am asked a technical question at work: part horror, part shame, and a twinkle of pity.

ANYWAY, here is a gigantic lime souffle. I'd never make this at home, but it was a fun experiment:

A less-then appetizing presentation. Plating isn't my forte!

Sunken Molten Chocoalte Cake

White Chocolate Souffle with Raspberry Coulis

Last item on the menu was the Sabayon (or zabaglione), basically a light, frothy wine dessert eaten with fruit. It's super delicate, so must be eaten immediately after the egg whites, dessert wine, and sugar are whisked together over heat for a looooong time. A few of my classmates weren't a fan of the final result, but any dessert involving champaign is alright by me:

Before I sign off: does anyone have any recommendations for a crepe pan??

Week 5: Meringues

I am DEVASTATED that I forgot my camera, because this cake involved so many elements, and came together so beautifully. Components include:

A thinly baked jaconde cake (flexible & great for jelly rolls). It is layered over chocolate that is poured onto a sheet pan and 'drawn' on with our fingers. 

Inside are layers of hazelnut dacquioise & coffee cognac mousse. 

Topped with long layers of coffee meringues, chopped into sticks. 

Finished off with bubble sugar, colored with coffee syrup. 

Here she is:

Week 4:Commercial Baking

This week in commercial baking, we learned how to take the same components (puff pastry, pate a choux, pastry cream, and fondant) to make a variety of treats:

The piece de resistance goes to the Strawberry Napoleons, made with sugary puff pastry, sweet cream, and some neon pink fondant:

Trying to eat one of these, however, is not so pretty. Ah well, I'm wearing chef's pants anyway.

Birthday Beignets

Despite the fact that I'm a couple of weeks behind on updates, I must skip ahead to tonights lesson on jams and jellies. This is partially due to anticipation (please see one of my favorite commercials) and partially due to a raging bellyache (self-induced).

While most of my classmates inquired about the proper storage for tomatoes, and other summer fruits, my first thought went to donuts. What is raspberry jam, afterall, if it's not filling a delicious donut?

Because it was my birthday, and because my lack of aptitude has forced me to charm our French Master Chef with my sarcasm, he obliged. He scrounged up some brioche that had been sitting around, revved up the

fry-o-lator, and mixed some cinnmon sugar. 

The result? Possibly the best thing (ok, lets keep it real, things) I've eaten in a long time. Behold:

What a way to ring in 26 :-) Thanks, classmates!