Sunday, February 14, 2010
Oeufs Cocotte
Oeufs Cocotte (serves 1, multiply accordingly):
1 egg
2 tablespoons crème fraîche
salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 425. Spray ramekin with cooking spray. Add 1 tablespoon crème fraîche. Add egg. Add additional crème fraîche and sprinkle with salt and peper. Bake in oven, about 10 minutes or until slightly set and serve with toast.
Friday, February 12, 2010
White Russian Macarons
White Russian Ganache
227 g white chocolate
100 g cream
20g butter
2 tablespoons Kahula
1 teaspoon instant coffee
1 teaspoon water
Mix water with instant coffee till dissolved and set aside. Melt chocolate with cream, add butter and liquids. Mix till smooth. Pour onto cookie sheet covered with plastic wrap, fold wrap over making a little package and cool in fridge till set, about 24 hours.
TPT (tant pour tant)
200 grams ground almonds
200 grams confectioner’s sugar
Mix together. Sift. Let sit out overnight to dry out.
Coffee Macarons
400 grams TPT
75 grams fresh egg whites
1 tsp coffee extract
Batch B:
200 grams sugar50 grams water
1 tsp glucose
75 egg whites
Batch A: Mix all together in a large bowl to form a thick past.
Batch B: Add sugar, water and glucose to pan. Heat without stirring till it reaches 118 C. In the meantime, whip egg whites to stiff peaks. Slowly pour syrup into the egg whites. Fold together, slowly at first to incorporate, then beat violently a couple times until you've reached the proper consistancy.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Macaron tips and tricks
2.) To make uniform macarons, buy a couple of half-tray cookie sheets and make yourself a template with parchment paper and a sharpie. Place a second piece of parchment over the template on the sheet, then when you're done piping, carefully slide the template off. Repeat.
3.) Convection ovens cook everything perfectly. If you don't have one, things are gonna get screwed up.
4.) Chocolate espresso ganache is delicious.
These are coffee macarons with chocolate espresso ganache. I made them in pastry school. This weekend I'm going to try and tackle some white russian macarons, with step-by-step photos, instructions and recipes.
Espresso Ganache
375 g milk chocolate
250 g cream
60g butter
1 tablespoon espresso
1 tablespoon of Invert sugar or glucose or honey
Melt chocolate with cream, add butter and invert sugar. Mix till smooth. Pour onto cookie sheet covered with plastic wrap, fold wrap over making a little package and cool in fridge.
TPT (tant pour tant)
200 grams ground almonds
200 grams confectioner’s sugar
Mix together. Sift. Let sit out overnight to dry out.
Coffee Macarons
400 grams TPT
75 grams fresh egg whites
2 tsp coffee extract
Batch B:
200 grams sugar50 grams water
1 tsp glucose
75 egg whites
Batch A: Mix all together in a large bowl to form a thick past.
Batch B: Add sugar, water and glucose to pan. Heat without stirring till it reaches 118 C. In the meantime, whip egg whites to stiff peaks. Slowly pour syrup into the egg whites. Fold together, slowly at first to incorporate, then beat violently a couple times until you've reached the proper consistancy.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Opera Cake
Usually I don't really like coffee flavored desserts. Almost ever pastry I made in class was coffee flavored. Now I love coffee flavored things. Like this Opera Cake. You've got 3 layers of Joconde (almond sponge cake) soaked in coffee syrup. You've got coffee flavored buttercream. You've got a layer of chocolate ganache. You've got the thin, perfect chocolate glaze. And on the bottom you've got a coat of dark chocolate. Delicious, even if it does take three days to make.
Opera Cake was supposedly invented by the Patisserie Dalloyau.
For those that want to try it, there's a recipe here. Also, you'll want to get a sheet of acetate to keep the top perfectly smooth and build the cake upside down.