Remember to DANCE & a recipe!

The best message I got on my birthday was an e-mail from Mike with a link to a you tube video. He said "its your birthday babe, remember to dance..."

Couldn't have said it better myself. I love this song and adore this video. Perfect way to wake up on my first day of 25!

Here is the recipe for the peach and hazelnut cream tart! Enjoy!!

Pate Sucre

250g flour
100g butter (room temperature)
100g icing sugar
1 egg
20g water

sift the flour.
cream the butter and icing sugar together.
add the egg. mix until smooth and homogeneous.
add the sifted flour.
if using a mixer, beat until the dough comes together.
if using your hands, use your hands or a scrapper to "frasage" the dough. basically, take a handful of dough and press it into the table while sliding your hand or scrapper so the dough smears. once all the dough has been frasaged, gather it. wrap in plastic and refrigerate 30 minutes.

Creme noisette

250g butter (softened)
250g sugar
250g hazelnut powder
200g eggs
50g flour
5g vanilla extract
50g cooled pastry cream
cream the sugar and butter together.
add the hazelnut powder and cream together.
add the eggs, one by one.
beat the mixture to "blanch" it. (make it white/lighter in color)
add sifted flour, mix.
add rum and vanilla. mix to combine. 
fold in pastry cream.cover and fridge.

2 white peaches, sliced.

roll out your pate sucree, poke the dough to make holes for steam while it bakes. line your tart ring or pan with the dough (decorate the edges if you want!) and bake until lightly golden (you are baking it again so you want it to be under baked at this point so it doesn't burn later). 

Let the shell cool for a few minutes (use this time to cut your peaches?) and then pipe or spread a layer of cream in the bottom of the shell. The cream will puff/rise a little in the oven so leave space for that. Place your peaches on top and bake again for about 20 minutes or until you see the cream browning around the edges. Let cool and bon appetit!

La Pêche

This summer season I rediscovered my love for peaches. White peaches in particular. They are so much more sophisticated than those canned and cubed yellow peaches I used to eat as a kid in my lunch box. Not that I didn't love those too.

I wish I had started eating them earlier in the season so I could have enjoyed even more but of course my stubborn mind thought I didn't really like them and didn't want to give them another try. Stupid. I love them! They are so beautiful too so I just had to make something with them.

The fruit deserves to be the star of the show so I went with a simple baked peach tart and nestled the juicy slices of peach into hazelnut cream. Wow, was it good. I wish I had some whole roasted hazelnuts to scatter on top for some extra flavor and crunch but I guess I'll have to wait until next time.

What is your favorite summer fruit or dessert?? Now its the time for apples, pears and figs!

home baking: chocolate!

Is there a problem when I spend my whole morning baking at work and then the afternoon baking at home? Maaybe? eek! Don't judge me!! :)

I warned my friends when I moved into my new apartment that I was going to go all "Julie and Julia" on their asses. Well, I wasn't lying. I made Julia Child's chocolate mousse recipe last week and it was delightful. Especially because its composed of Valrhona chocolate and Illy coffee. This is pretty simple to make and great for dinner parties. After you make it and before it is chilled, scoop it into little individual ramekins to serve your guests! Top it with some fresh whipped cream right before you bring them out. Your friends will be so impressed!

Recipe

Makes 6-8 servings

6 ounces semisweet chocolate (the better the quality, the better the end result!)

4 tablespoons strong (good!) coffee

1.5 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces and softened

4 egg yolks

4 egg whites

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup orange liqueur (I omitted this because I didn't have any)

3/4 cup sugar

Roughly chop the chocolate into pieces

Pour the hot coffee over the chocolate (as if making a ganache)

Leave to sit for a minute or two then mix and add the butter.

In another bowl, beat the egg yolks, liqueur, and gradually add the sugar while beating

Beat until thick, pale yellow and it forms a "ribbon" when it falls from the whisk

Place the egg yolks over a double broiler of just simmering water and whisk for 4-5 minutes until the mixture is foamy and warm to your touch

Remove from the heat and beat over a bath of cold water (rest the bowl in another bowl full of cold water) until it is cool, thick and forms a ribbon

Once the chocolate is cooled, fold the egg yolk mixture into the chocolate.

In a metal bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks, then gradually at two tablespoons sugar and continue beating to stiff peaks

Stir a quarter of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and then delicately fold in the rest of the whites.

Scoop the mixture into a serving dish (or individual pots de creme)

Cover and chill for several hours or overnight

Will keep (while covered) for several days

Serve with lightly whipped cream or creme anglaise.

Another little creation from last week. Chocolate and caramel tartlets. 

Until the next one...bon appetit! 

home baking with summer strawberries

In my fabulous new apartment I am happy to report that I now have a real, live, functioning oven! It is such a luxury here in the city. I am really excited to start using it once I am settled. In my last apartment I had this old microwave-oven that I had written off as a useless piece from the beginning. One night when I was waiting for my brother and his friends to get to my apartment I decided to give it a go and try to make a simple strawberry tart.

Lo and behold, the appliance wasn't useless after-all. When they arrived we had some wine, bread, meat and cheese and topped it off with this little dessert. It was a really nice evening with family and friends.

Here is the recipe if you want to give it a try. You don't have to use strawberries either. Just pick your favorite fruit!

Pate Sucre

250g flour
100g butter (room temperature)
100g icing sugar
1 egg
20g water

sift the flour.
cream the butter and icing sugar together.
add the egg. mix until smooth and homogeneous.
add the sifted flour.
if using a mixer, beat until the dough comes together.
if using your hands, use your hands or a scrapper to "frasage" the dough. basically, take a handful of dough and press it into the table while sliding your hand or scrapper so the dough smears. once all the dough has been frasaged, gather it. wrap in plastic and refrigerate 30 minutes.

Creme d'amande

250g butter (softened)
250g sugar
250g almond powder
200g eggs
50g flour
40g rum (optional)
5g vanilla extract

cream the sugar and butter together.
add the almond powder and cream together.
add the eggs, one by one.
beat the mixture to "blanch" it. (make it white in color)
add sifted flour, mix.
add rum and vanilla. mix to combine.
cover and fridge.

roll out your pate sucree, poke the dough to make holes for steam while it bakes. line your tart ring or pan with the dough and bake until golden. let the shell cool. pipe the creme d'amande into the bottom of the shell and top with strawberries. you can put the strawberries in whole or cut them in half and lay them in a spiral design. top with a sprinkle of icing sugar. store in fridge.

bon appetit!

Week 1 & 2: Tarts

The few few weeks of school have flown by already! I can't believe I am finishing my fourth week of classes today! It's unreal.

The first 2 and a half weeks we spent learning all different styles and flavors of tarts. A tart is not something that is that well known back home in Cali but here in France they are a staple in every pastry shop. There are a million different varieties. The standard apple tart can be found anywhere, and then you can find crazy flavors like green tea and matcha red beans at places like Pierre Herme.

We made a pretty good variety and I definitely had my favorites: Chocolate and Cafe.

 Apple Tart

Flan

Apple tart #2 

Almond 

 Pear with almond cream

Lemon Meringue 

Lemon 

Apple #3

Linzer: Almond cream with raspberry jam

Chocolate :) 

Pineapple and praline

Mixed fruit Daquoise 

Cafe (recipe from Pierre Herme!)

Back to School

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

My first full week in Paris was a whirlwind. It was very busy and full of fun, exciting sights, delicious food and pastries, cheap wine and jet lag. The nine hour time difference has taken its toll but I will hopefully be into the normal schedule this coming week. I have so much to tell you all about but I am going to start with the first week of being a student again! 


My hand is legit sore from taking 4 hours of notes over 2 days. If that isn't pathetic, I don't know. I have obviously been sitting at a computer screen since college and not with pen and paper. We have an ever changing schedule that consists of mainly pastry lab class (working in the kitchen). We also have bakery class (my first one tomorrow!), French lessons, French history/geography, art class (please help me!!!!),  and theory lessons. Theory lessons is where I exercise my out of shape hand.


The first two days were an orientation and then on Thursday and Friday we had our first pastry theory and lab classes. It was a blast! Once we all got over how ridiculous we may or may not look in our little uniforms we proceeded to make tartes aux pommes (apple tarts) and flan Parisian. Things are harder then our Chef makes them look because he doesn't even blink and all the sudden he has a beautifully made tart and then looks at us "any questions?" like we completely followed every movement he just made without fail. 


Our chef is SO cute though. He is one of those people who are funny just by being themselves. He is entertaining and an expert in French pastry. My classmates are awesome as well. They are from ALL over the world: Australia, Taiwan, India, Germany, Poland, China, USA, Canada, Malaysia, South Africa...it is pretty amazing!


It is going to be an awesome and intense five months and then probably even more intense when we get into our internships in the summer. I am just trying to take it a day at a time. I am really happy I made this decision to come here. I am feeling pretty distant from people at home but having my Mom here is definitely helping ward off the full blown homesickness but I just remember that I am living my dream right now! It is going to be 2013 before I know it so I am trying to soak everything about Parisian life up because it might be the most incredible place in the world!!