I love Kouign Amann

Paris has a delightful array of pastry to try. The chefs are constantly competing with each other to come up with the best croissant or the best new surprising cake. Things can get pretty "innovative" and sometimes it adds up to a disappointment but when you find a pastry chef that does a classic perfectly...well, its lovely.

Kouign Amann has been popping up around the city this winter, probably because its heavy, warm and full of delicious, comforting salted butter. I remember trying one when I first arrived in Paris (not knowing what it was or what to expect) and I didn't really enjoy it. Clearly, I did not know pastry at all then! Because this pastry is so wonderful I just can't live the rest of my life without it. And I think I love them event more because they are a regional pastry from Brenton (aka: Brittany).

Thank goodness for David Lebovitz coming through with a working recipe for me to try when I get home. I take back what I said before, David.

I bought myself some individual kouign amann yesterday so I could treat myself for breakfast today and clearly enjoyed it too much to take a photo for you all. So here are photos from the shop where I bought them. I don't really recommend the shop for his chocolate or anything else (even though he is an MOF) but if you are in the city looking for a treat, stop in and pick up some kouign amann. I recommend the salted caramel. You'll die a little and go to butter heaven. *Heat these babies up in the oven for a few minutes before you eat them and it will be even more amazing.

You're welcome.

Georges Larnicol, MOF
132 Blvd. St. Germain 75006
33 1 43 26 39 38
http://www.chocolaterielarnicol.fr/

*he has many boutiques throughout Paris, this is just one location.

Update: Internship

I've now completed my third week at work, time is flying already! After my first week I posted this little doozy of a post. I was feeling really overwhelmed, frustrated, alone and just straight exhausted. The exhausted part hasn't change that much but everything else has gotten so much better. It was as if one day I walked in and it just all made sense. I fell into the flow of the kitchen and finally organized all the little bis of information in my mind and I have been enjoying it ever since. I guess I just had to pass through the learning curve.

The hours are pretty tough because like I told you, I am not the best morning person. If you ask Mike or my parents they would probably just roll their eyes at my ridiculous need for sleep. So when my alarm goes off at 5 or 6 am all I want to do is throw my phone against the wall and stay all snuggled up in my bed. By the way, you know what is better than coffee? Riding a bike 20 minutes to work in the dark and sometimes sketchy streets of Paris. Now THAT will wake you up.

And I know what your thinking. This girl can ride a bike?! Yes, its true. I have become a master. Surprising, I know!

So the verdict is that this internship will be great. I am so thankful that I don't want to pull my hair out or cry everyday like I did at the beginning. Things are looking up! It is also pretty cool to go into the store front and see something that I made sitting in the counter with a 23 euro price tag on it.

Here are some of the things that come out of our kitchen each day...

Pastry School: Entremet

We were lucky to have another week of making entremets which is everyone's favorite! We made Fraisier (strawberries and cream), Sweet Cherie (cherry), and the San Marco (chocolate and pistachio). They were all really nice. Mandy and her mom were here this week so they were subject to me force feeding them. I pretty much brought them a cake per day!

Scary thing, starting tomorrow I will have to be making these cakes in a real Parisian patisserie. I start my internship tomorrow morning! I can't believe it is already here. I'm not going to lie...I am pretty nervous! Wish me luck!!

Pastry School: C'est Fini!!

Today was officially the final day of my schooling at Ferrandi. Five months of pastry school is already behind me! I actually can't believe it. I know after everything ends you think about how time flies but it amazes me every time how very true that really is. Even though the days may seem long every now and then, the weeks, months and years just continue flying by.

I am so grateful for my time at Ferrandi and all the wonderful people I have met here in Paris. We have an incredible group of individuals and I will really miss seeing them every day. We had some really fun times in the lab together, especially with our crazy chef. It was filled with a lot of "TMI"(or TIM or MIT as our chef gets confused), bursting out in random songs (usually Beyonce inspired) and slowing stealing Valrhona chocolate from the cupboard. Oopies! It's too good to resist.

 best pastry class in history

 best picture of chef ....ever.

celebrating at a Ferrandi alumni's amazing restaurant - l'Epi Dupin

As for us students, we are now moving onto our internships. This is the scary part. We are all working in different restaurants, hotels, and patisseries throughout the city and we are all getting pretty nervous. Biggest issue? Um...je ne parle pas frances! The language barrier (and pressure to learn) aside, I am really excited to put my skills to the test. It is a fresh challenge and I am very ready for it! Where will I be working? At the newly established Sébastien Gaudard in the 9eme.

My first day will be July 3 so until then, I will be traveling! Tomorrow our class takes a three day trip to Strasbourg and then I meet my family back in Paris for the weekend (they are now in Berlin). Next Tuesday my brother and I head to Amsterdam and then Germany! It's going to be an amazing two weeks! I will have loads to tell you when I get settled in again.

Did anyone get around to making the lemon cake this weekend? How did it turn out?
Here is the chocolate cake if you are in need of another decadent treat. Bon Appetit!

Line 3 small loaf molds with baking paper.
Oven at 200C/390F to start, then 150C/300F
convert here

140 g unsalted butter
125 g heavy cream
360 g granulated sugar
125 g eggs
200 g flour
7 g baking powder
85 g cocoa powder
240 g milk

Cream the butter, heavy cream and sugar together.
Add the eggs at room temperature
Sift the flour, baking soda and cocoa powder. Add into the butter mixture.
Beat until completely combined.
Add the milk little by little until absorbed and you have a smooth batter.
Fill the molds halfway and bake at 200C/390F for 10 minutes then continue baking at 150C/300F for 40 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.
(To get a nice appearance, run a knife down the loaf when you change the temperature. There should be a light crust that formed but the rest will still be liquid. Run the knife long ways once and put back in the oven. This is form a nice pyramid/dome shape on the cake)

Decorate and serve! Or just dig right in :)

Feelin' popular slash a recipe!

First thing, thank you to Elizabeth for officially making me feel like a cool kid by being my 100th follower! I didn't think when I started this blog that I would really get into it. I figured it would be fun for a little while and then I would drift away from it but turns out, I really enjoy blogging. It is an amazing way to connect to other people. I have learned so much from other people's posts, seen so many incredible photos and I think its such a positive space. People support and encourage each other, share life experience, give advice, discuss real issues and make people laugh and smile. I'm so thankful that I have been a part of it all through this little corner of the internet. Thanks for being here!

My family is here visiting from California this week and it is just amazing. It feels really good to be with my family even if we have been sightseeing like crazy people and my hips feel like those of an 80 year old woman. I will walk until my feet are broken off if it means getting to have them here. They are headed to Rome right now and I will be meeting them there tomorrow. Today, I am headed to class for our final exam! I can't believe this is my final week of school! I am half way through my time here in Paris...so weird! There will be more on that later :)

For now, here is the delicious recipe for the Citron Gâteaux de Voyage. Let me know how this turns out for you! :)

Makes for 2 - 19cm loaf molds
Oven: 180C/ 350F
Convert grams here

375 g Eggs
525 g Granulated Sugar
225 g Creme fraîche
400 g Flour
8 g baking powder
Zest of 3 lemons
150 g Clarified butter 

Soaking Syrup
100 g Water
100 g Sugar
200 g Lemon Juice

Prep your molds with butter and flour.

Cream the eggs and the sugar together.
Mix the lemon zest into the creme fraîche.
Mix the creme fraîche mixture into the egg mixture to combine.
Add the sifted flour and baking powder.
Add the clarified butter and mix completely.
Fill molds 2/3 full and bake until a knife comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, prepare your soaking syrup.
Bring the water and sugar to a slight boil to make the syrup.
Combine with the lemon juice.
Soak the still warm cake in the syrup and then leave to cool.

Decorate the cake with a glaze/fondant or an icing sugar frosting (add lemon juice to taste). You can use candied lemons slices to make an impressive presentation!

Bon Courage! Send me photos! :)

Gateaux de voyage

A "gateaux de voyage" is very similar to a typical American style cake or breakfast bread. Think banana bread or carrot cake. It is considered a "travel cake" because they stay fresh for about a week and are pretty easy to package and handle.

It is simple work but they all turned out pretty nice. My favorites were the pound cake, lemon and of course, chocolate! Some other flavors were: spice bread, mango, earl grey tea cake, chocolate marble cake, hazelnut brownies, yogurt cake, and fromage blanc. These also make great gifts! They are simple to take and don't take too much time but you can decorate them in so many impressive ways that your friends will be amazed.

Leave a comment and tell me which cake you want the recipe for! I will post it for you so you can give it a whirl! :)

playing catch up!

It has been a busy two months. Mike came to visit and a week later my best friend came to visit and now I am prepping for my entire family's arrival in one week! It has been and is amazing. I love seeing everyone and am so happy they have come/are coming. Only problem is, it doesn't leave too much time for keeping up on my blog!

I was just going through my photos thinking.."what should I write about now?" and realized...holy motherload I have a lot to cover!

So I am going to play a game called "lets get you up to speed" and am going to throw together the past few weeks of school...well, bits and pieces.

I am in my final three weeks of classes. Can you believe it? I can't! This coming week we work with ice cream (YUMMM) and then plated desserts and then... c'est fini! It's gone quickly but I am going to enjoy these last few weeks with my classmates and my insane chef as much as I can.

 pate de fruit

 nougat

 mint marshmallows

 painting on pastillage

making praliné ...so good

 the mighty kouglof

 petit brioche

 focaccia

 Pain aux lait

 baba aux rum passion fruit and cassis

croissants

 bostock

almond croissants

All caught up? Phew, thank goodness! :)

Pastry School Homework 2

I am being such a good student. I do my homework every week. I'm so good at doing my homework I think about it constantly.

Probably not the best thing for my hips but according to my chef butter doesn't count as calories because it melts at body temperature; which means it just literally melts right off you. Yes, he is a little crazy but he is also very skinny...maybe he knows something we don't.

Here is the collection of my latest research for my internship. I can't believe I am half way through my schooling. My internship will begin in July! Which place looks the best to you??

Jean-Paul Hevin

Un Dimanche a Paris

Sebastien Gaudard

Laduree

Entremet: The rest of them

The Mogador got his own special post because it is such a delicious little creation but we also made a few other entremets that week. They were all really exciting and fun to create but not all of them were delicious.

The Black Forrest Cake was surprisingly enjoyable considering I had believed myself to hate cherries for the past 24 years of my life.

This other chocolate cake who's name I am going to admit I have completely forgotten was incredible. Good enough that I would pay for it again.

These layers of praline and chocolate mousse were so amazingly tastey that the class was practically fighting each other to get the next bite of it.  Put a really good cake in front of a bunch of hungry pastry students? Danger zone.

Then there was the Moka. Holy moly, the dreaded Moka. This is an old, old, old French "classic" and also the most disgusting flavor I have ever put in my mouth. I literally had to spit it out in the trash can like the classy lady that I am. barf. I will give it credit for being on the highly technical side. I learned a lot from this nasty thing. Mainly, not to combine rum, raisins, walnuts and coffee.