And We're Back...

So I am a horrible person, but I have been crazy busy this last month. To briefly recap: I volunteered for Lee Anne Wong (former Top Chef contender and all-around awesome lady), advanced to Level 2 (which means I'm 1/3 of the way through my program), and went to the career fair to get an internship but managed to get a job instead. Needless to say, lots going on.

The volunteer position was to help cater an event for The Women's Project held at The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Joan Osborne, Suzanne Vega, and Laurie Anderson were honored before the dinner, while we set up and got tacos. I hoped for some kind of serenading, maybe a verse or two of "One Of Us", but no such luck. So we had to sing to each other. A karaoke session is desperately needed.

Level two is a great deal more relaxing. Well, we work a lot harder (even through lunch), but the trade-off is that we have more freedom for creating our own schedule. As long as it's done at the end of the day, we're fine. I'm just happy we're done with boot camp. Although I do miss the slower pace every once and a while.

Our career fair is held twice a year at the school. Four floors of potential employers that you can run around to in just over an hour. A little hectic and crazy, especially in heels, but worth it. For those about to graduate, it's great for jobs, and for those of us still in school, it's perfect for finding that hard to get internship. Well, I ended up talking to a restaurant that I didn't even plan on talking to (mostly because I thought I had no shot) because their booth was next to one I was interested in. I did two trails and they ended up liking me so much, I'm now a part-time employee. I'm still trying to process how quickly all of this happened, but I'm definitely enjoying the ride.

Lesli, your recipe is coming. I should have it up shortly, so do not worry. Any other requests are always more than welcome. If I don't have one, I'll try to find one or make something up. And you will love it.

Work in the morning, but ready to go. Here's to slinging cookies and pies for a living!

Pot Luck

The other night, a bunch of girls from class got together and did a pot luck dinner. The idea was to study, but we ended up having a great time talking, so we just bonded. And I learned more than I ever thought I wanted to know about shampoo.

So in the spirit of that dinner, and because I'm tired of talking about myself, here are a bunch of my fallback safety dishes that I could make with my eyes closed. All well tested, all fairly simple, and all delicious. Much like the dinner (Thanks girls!).


Oven-Roasted Potatoes

2 lbs. small new potatoes, quartered
3 Tbsps. olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. rosemary

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. In a large roasting pan, toss the ingredients to coat the potatoes. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring once, until the potatoes are tender.

** Use a large enough pan so that the potatoes are in a single layer, to ensure that the potatoes brown evenly. Other fresh veggies can be roasted too, in any desired combination. **


Wild Rice Soup

2 cups chopped onion
2 cups chopped carrots
6-8 stalks celery, chopped
1 (15 oz.) can cream of chicken soup
1 (14.5 oz.) can chicken broth
1 (8 oz.) can golden mushroom soup
1 (4 oz.) can mushrooms, pieces and stems
2 cups cooked wild rice
Meat from one smoked pheasant or 1 1/2-2 cups smoked turkey

Sauté the onion, carrots, and celery in butter. Mix with other ingredients. Cook in a crockpot on low for about 5 hours.

** If you don't have a crockpot, it can be heated in the oven at 200 degrees F for an hour or two, to heat it through and allow flavors to blend. **


Golden Parmesan Chicken

1 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/3 cup butter, melted
3 lbs. chicken pieces, preferably legs and wings

Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Grease a glass baking pan. In a shallow bowl, mix parmesan and pepper. Dip the chicken pieces in melted butter, coat with the cheese mixture, and place (skin side down) in pan. Pour the remaining butter over the chicken. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Turn the chicken and bake uncovered for 20 minutes longer or until done.

** Reheats well and is good hot or cold. **


The ego trip and school report will return to normal next time, but until then, enjoy!

Emily And The Chocolate Factory

When I was figuring out what to write for my next blog, I had every intention of recapping the most awesome field trip I have ever been on (we went to a bar and learned about cocktails). Then on Friday, I found out about this incredible volunteer opportunity to work in a real kitchen. For Jacques Torres.

If anyone out there doesn't know who Jacques Torres is, he is a world renowned chocolatier, is the youngest recipient ever of the M.O.F. medal (from the Meilleur Ouvrier de France, awarded to the best craftsmen in the country), has worked with Julia Child, and was the pastry chef at Le Cirque (that restaurant I wrote about going to earlier) for 11 years. And he's the Dean of my program at the FCI.

Chef needed some volunteers to come and help finish a wholesale order for Easter that they were behind on. I figured it would be the same old, same old kind of internship opportunity. Billed as a chance to work in his factory, I thought we'd be packing up chocolates into boxes. More grunt work than anything else. And certainly not making anything.

Well, I started the day making chocolate and I finished the day making chocolate.

Granted, I didn't temper or pour any of the chocolate, but I did pretty much everything else. Once the molds were prepped, we vibrated them to make sure they covered every side of the mold, cooled them down on a rotating machine called the spider, put them in the freezer, unmolded them, placed them on sheet trays to finish setting, and packaged them. For nine hours.

I can't remember the last time I felt so tired. Everything ached and I could barely walk when I went home. I think I shuffled home. I wanted to crawl. I loved every second of it.

Really hoping all this chocolate comes out of my uniform.

The best part for me was the chance to work for such a great group of people and see how much they loved and cared about what they did. Chef would interact with the people who would walk by outside and look into the factory, handing out chocolates, and goofing around with everyone working. He bounced parchment paper off my head into a garbage can. I was so nervous I didn't know what to say half the time. But he asked us if it would be okay if they called us to come back again, so I guess I did something right.

Chef also pays well. In chocolate.

My paycheck.

I love my life.

On Fire And Eating Boldly

Since we're in a student kitchen in New York, space is at a premium. Needless to say, it can get a little crowded in there and it can be a little tough to find counter space. So today, someone left a plastic wrap box on top of a pilot light. It caught on fire. Guess who got to put it out? I wasn't the one who noticed it or was the first one on the scene, but I did get the water. Made for an exciting day and was much more cool than when I decided to set my towel on fire during the practical exam yesterday. Whoops.

So my friend, David, and I have been trying out a series of restaurants around Manhattan. Usually we just do brunch on the weekends, but we decided to branch out and do dinner tonight. We settled on Co., a pizza place started by Jim Lahey, the man behind Sullivan Street Bakery (yet another place I have to go try). They imported a wood-burning oven from Modena that bakes the pizzas at 700 degrees F. I want one.

Still fairly new, the place was packed on a Wednesday night at 8:30. I figured this was a great indicator as to quality, but it would have been nice if I could have been able to hold a conversation with my friend. Although our neighbors on either side were REALLY interesting.

To be greedy and try as many things as possible, we ended up ordering two pizzas and a bowl of soup. The Ribolitta soup was delicious with all the veggies and gave the illusion of me being healthy. Our Popeye pizza did the same (lots of spinach). But we also had another pizza, which I ended up being the most jazzed about, was the Fennel and Coppa pizza. You could barely taste the fennel, but the coppa (aka "gabagool") and lemon zest (yes, it really had it on there) and the blends of cheeses were really great. Not exactly the most immediate choices in pizza toppings, but I can't wait to eat the leftovers.

We also stopped off at Billy's Bakery. David bought me a vanilla daisy cupcake with chocolate buttercream frosting. And sprinkles. It was great, but a little rich for my blood. I think the eating dessert all the time thing is starting to get to me.

On the way back to the subway, we saw the Empire State Building. No matter where you look at in the city, it always looks different. Maybe someday I'll climb it and battle airplanes.

The chameleon itself peaks out amongst the buildings on 23rd and 8th.

If The Choux Fits, Fill It With Pastry Cream

Hello and welcome to part two of this Choux/Eclair extravaganza. Pastry Cream and Eclair recipes to follow.

Not much to say except yum!

So there were two somethings I forgot to mention yesterday in my studying-induced delirium. Something number one: Don't dry out the choux paste too long, otherwise you will give your dough a reddish tinge. Does not look good and can mess with the quality of the end product. Something number two: The ovens we use at school are convection ovens, which means they're fancy and have fans and all that jazz. Normally, I adjust the temperatures for you all like I do with the measurement conversions (we work in metric, I give you U.S. standard). I forgot to do that.

Generally speaking, the rule is to add 25 degrees F to all convection oven temps (makes up for the lack of fan). All previous recipes have done this, I just forgot to do it yesterday.

HOWEVER, with a conventional oven, you can put the choux in at 450 degrees F and bake until browned (fixed in today's recipe). The reason we turn the oven off in a convection oven is because the fan could collapse the choux dough. Plus this way you don't have to mess with temperatures and all that nonsense like I do. Hooray for simplicity.


Crème Pâtissière (Pastry Cream)

474 mL milk (2 cups)
125 grams granulated sugar (3/5 cup
1 egg
2 egg yolks
50 grams pastry cream powder (1/4 cup)

* This is for a half recipe and makes 1 pint. To make the full 1 quart recipe, double everything.

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, combine the milk and half the sugar. Place over high heat and bring to a boil. Mix the egg, egg yolks, pastry cream powder, and the remaining sugar together in a seperate bowl and whisk smooth. When the milk misture has boiled, temper the egg mixture by adding at least 1/3 of the boiling milk to the egg mixture and whisk to combine (brings up the temp of the egg mixture so the eggs do not cook when added to the milk). Add the tempered mix to the rest of the milk in the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly (read: whisk like mad until your arm is about to fall off, this indicates the cream is done). Boil while stirring for two minutes constantly. Remove from heat and allow to cool (ideally poured into a bowl over an ice bath). Cover with plastic wrap pressed directly on its surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate once the cream has reached room temperature if not being used right away (can last for 3-4 days if refrigerated).

Éclairs

Pâte à choux
150 mL heavy cream (3/5 cup)
Crème pâtissière (1/2 recipe)
Fondant, pâte à glacer, caramel, or powdered sugar, for finishing

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Pipe the choux, using a #5 plain tube, into 1-inch wide and 4-inch long pieces onto a parchment-lined sheet pan. Try to make them evenly and in straight lines, leaving plenty of space between each (they puff up about 2-3x their piped size when baked). Brush the tops of the éclairs with an egg wash and score the tops of the éclairs with a fork (cracking happens on the sides instead of the top and makes them easier to glaze). Place the pan into the oven and let it bake until thoroughly browned (even in the cracks). Do not open the oven doors for at least 30 minutes, otherwise the choux will collapse. Pull the éclairs when done and set aside to cool.

Poke two holes in the bottom of each éclair, large enough to pipe filling into (a #0 plain tube works great). Prepare a crème fouettée with the heavy cream (whisk the cream in a mixer to soft peak). Lighten the crème pâtissière with the crème fouettée to make a crème légère. Pipe the lightened cream into the éclairs, completely filling the inside (pipe until cream comes out of both ends and you can feel the weight of the filled éclair in your hand), with a #3 plain tube. Scrape off excess cream with a small spatula. Glaze the tops of the éclairs with fondant, pâte à glacer, caramel, or dust with powdered sugar.

You can flavor your creams (add flavoring to pastry cream before mixing with the crème fouettée) and icings (add coffee to fondant and mix well), if you want. The plain Jane vanilla ones taste amazing too.


That's all for tonight. This week promises plenty of fun with a cocktail tasting field trip, more dinner out, and I will absolutely recap the Jacques Torres lecture I went to at school today.

Aww Choux-t

I screwed up on Friday. In a big way. I forgot to make an entire part of one of my projects. And I'm okay with it.

If this had happened to me a week ago, I think I would have had a complete meltdown and run screaming from the building. But I've finally wrapped my head around the idea that it's just a pastry. I'll live.

And so once again my groove is found, hopefully here to stay this time. Plus my sainted classmates saved my bacon and gave me their extras so my partner and I could finish ours. For that, I owe each and every one that helped my undying gratitude. And a drink.

Part of the problem I think comes from the fact that, before this last week, I had never piped a single thing in my life. My background in decorating is knife + frosting = finished. It's taken a lot of practice, but I can finally do better detail work. This stuff is deceptively easy.

Check out the decoration work on the Croquembouche! All me, baby.

It just goes to show that Mom was right: practice does make perfect. Just don't let it go to your head, lady.

So you all can start practicing your piping like me, here's the recipe for the dough. Tomorrow, we'll give it some purpose and I'll give you the recipe for eclairs. I would do it all tonight, but I've got a test to study for! Details and drooling tomorrow.

Pâte à Choux (Cream Puff Dough)

473 mL (1 pint) water (2 cups)

250 grams butter, cubed (just over 1 cup)

3/4 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. granulated sugar

350 grams bread flour, sifted (about 3 cups)

10 to 12 eggs

Put the water, butter, salt, and sugar into a saucepan and place over high heat. When it comes to a boil, remove from the fire and stir in the flour (use a wooden spoon). Put the pan back on the fire and cook the paste to dry it out (there'll be a thin layer of film; takes about a minute). Pour the paste into a mixer and paddle at a low speed to cool the mixture (steam will escape, you want this).

About the time the steam stops, the temperature should reach about 140 degrees F, and you can begin to add the eggs (ONE AT A TIME). ** The temperature of the dough needs to drop so that the added eggs don't cook. You don't want scrambled eggs, unless you want to be weird and have a breakfast eclair. ** The dough has been hydrated correctly when a spatula lifted from the bowl forms a ribbon connected to the batter, a dollop of the batter curls over on itself to form a hook, and the all important finger test through the dough leaves a channel that fills in slowly but still holds an edge. ** The finger test is the most accurate. **

From here, you can pipe the dough into whatever shape or size you would like. You can also flavor the dough (like adding cheese to make Gougéres, aka Cheesy Poofs!) Brush the dough with an egg wash (not optional) and score the choux (optional). Put the dough into a preheated 500 degree F oven, turn the oven off, and bake for 15 minutes. Turn the oven back on to 350 degrees F. ** DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN TO CHECK THE CHOUX FOR AT LEAST ANOTHER 15 MINUTES, OR 30 MINUTES TOTAL FROM START TIME. ** Bake until well browned and baked through. The dough is done when the areas inside the cracks are browned as well as the outside.

A quick note: Do not keep adding eggs if you don't need to. If the mixture only needs eight to be properly hydrated and can pass the tests, don't add more.

Running The (FCI) New York City Marathon

Hooray, the first test is over! By the end of the six hour marathon yesterday, I could barely move. I was still feeling it this morning. I can't remember the last time I worked that hard. Painful, but a good pain.

So here's the way this all works. We have one entire class period where we do a written test as well as a practical one. There is a 45 minute window for the written portion, where we answer questions on conversions, recipes, and techniques. During the practical, we have to replicate products that we studied during the unit, drawn at random.

For some reason, I decided to move at a snail's pace and not finish the written portion, confuse a Tarte Bourdaloue (poached pears and almonds over a cream) for a Tarte Alsacienne (flambéed apples in a custard), and just plain forget basic, basic things. A mini freakout where I was screaming inside my head and floated outside of my body didn't help either. But once I took a deep breath and decided to not let a tart get the better of me, I did much better. Although I'm definitely getting the feeling that I've been out of school for just a bit too long.

So with the mental torture portion of the exam out of the way, we moved on to the practical. There were four groups of products. Three were filled with all of the eye-catching, beautifully finished tarts and cookies. One was filled with the plain tarts that are served as-is. Guess which one I got.

Gingersnaps, Classic Apple Tart, and Clafoutis, and they were mine, all mine. The gingersnaps were perfectly chewy, my pâte brisée was nice and flaky, but the apples pulled away from the edge and clafoutis has become my new curseword.

Clafoutis Aux Cerises Limousin is proof that not all things made in a pastry kitchen taste great. Floating cherries in an egg custard. That's what this tart is. Cherries and eggs.

Clafoutis, and the Spritskakor Cookie I wished I could have made.

If you want to know what this actually tastes like, here's the recipe. Make it if you dare. But keep this in mind: I would rather jump out of a plane again than eat this tart.

Clafoutis Aux Cerises Limousin

240 grams pastry dough (about 8.5 oz) -> see the recipes from the February 4th blog
125 mL milk (1/2 cup)
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
50 mL heavy cream (about 1/5 cup, can round up to 1/4 cup)
2 eggs
100 grams granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
150 grams cherries, can substitute blueberries (3/4 cup)

Roll out the dough into a circle about 10 inches wide and 1/8 inch thick. Line a tart pan or a flan ring with the dough and chill (at least 30 minutes). Blind bake the shell until the crust is lightly browned, but DO NOT DOCK IT. ** Docking is when you use a fork to create air holes in the bottom of the crust that allows air to escape. This is normally done when doing a two-step tart, like this one, but because the filling is a custard the holes would let it leak out. **

Mix together the milk, scraped vanilla bean, cream, eggs, and sugar. Strain the custard mixture. Arrange the cherries (or blueberries) in the baked tart shell. Cover the fruit with the custard. ** Fill up the tart as much as possible, but be careful when putting it in the oven! ** Bake at 250 degrees F for 25 to 35 minutes, or until the custard is set (can slightly jiggle in center). Lightly dust the edge of the cooled tart with powdered sugar.

Makes one 8-inch/9-inch tart or four 4-inch tartlets.

Yuck.

In the end, everything turned out fine and I actually managed to snag a B for the unit (A for the practical!). Not the best performance ever, but all things considered I will take it. Gladly.

Died And Gone To Foodie Heaven

I have found a new food mecca. The Chelsea Market on 9th Avenue, which is housed inside an old Nabisco factory. In fact, it is the very Nabisco factory where the Oreo cookie was invented in 1912. This alone is reason to visit.

I wonder where they keep the milk and cookies...

In the 1990's, the building (which spans an entire city block!), was converted into an indoor food court. There are 33 storefronts in the place, and amazing smells come pouring out of every one. At least most of them, there is a bookstore and a flower shop inside too. Seafood, bread, cheese, and chocolate are just a handful of the sensory overloading aromas.

While there, I got my first taste of one of NYC's best bakeries: Amy's Bread. The focus is on artisinal, handmade breads with desserts and sandwiches thrown in to make the place irresistable. The store at Chelsea Market has several large glass window so you can see the entire baking operation.

All the bread was out for the day by the time I got there for lunch.

It was here that I had the best grilled cheese sandwich I have ever eaten. Cheddar cheese, red onion, tomato, cilantro, and spicy chipotle pepper puree. While I will forever be a fan of tomato and fresh mozzarella grilled cheese as well, this one wins.

Come on, how could this not win?

And since I was already there, I tried the Wicked Hot Chocolate at Jacques Torres Chocolate. It's wicked hot not because it comes from Boston, but because it has both ground ancho and chipotle chili peppers. Yum.

I plan on making the market a fairly regular part of the tour. I mean, I need time to try everything there. It's just research. Lovely, food coma-inducing research.

So in honor of Nabisco and the amazing new wonders housed in its old factory, here is the recipe for the Fig Newton cookies I made last week. It's a longer process, but the end result is worth it.

Fig Newtons

The Dough

250 grams butter (about 1 cup)

150 grams granulated sugar (3/4 cup)

1 egg

1 egg yolk

Pinch of salt

440 grams all-purpose flour (3 1/4 cups)

The Filling

450 grams dried figs (2 1/4 cups)

100 grams granulated sugar (1/2 cup)

200 mL water (about 4/5 cup)

Juice of 1 lemon

In a mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy. Add the egg and the egg yolk slowly and mix thoroughly, making sure to scrap down the sides of the bowl often. Add the salt and the flour and mix just until combined. Wrap the dough in parchment paper and chill in the refrigerator. ** I would let it chill for about 2 hours so the dough can rest enough. **

While the dough is chilling, prepare the filling. Remove the woody stems from the figs and coarsely chop. Put the figs, sugar, water, and lemon juice into a saucepan, over a low heat, and cook until the figs are tender. Set aside to cool.

When everything has cooled, dived the chilled dough in half. Between two sheets of parchment paper, roll each half into a rectangle roughly 6" x 24". Brush the edges with an egg wash. Place half the filling along the center of each piece of dough. Fold the edges up to cover the filling, using the parchment paper to help lift and roll the dough. Move the seam of the cookie to the bottom, then brush the top of the logs with the egg wash. Chill the logs for 20-30 minutes before baking.

Bake the logs at 375 degrees F for about 10-15 minutes, or until nicely browned. Remove from the oven and, while still warm, slice the log into 1 1/2" pieces. ** Make sure to clean your knife every so often as you cut the cookies. The dough is fragile and the cookies can break if there is build-up on the knife. **

Makes 20-24 cookies.

Feeling The Burn

Remember how I was all excited about getting my groove back? That didn't last long. The snow day killed it and made Thursday feel like Monday. Never a good thing. It usually takes a week to get completely comfortable again after a weekend of relaxing and sleep, the two things I seem unable to do any other time.

So Thursday became Emily's grand experiment in how many mistakes can be made in one class. For those of you playing along at home, the official count is still being tallied. The worst one was that I let my caramel burn just as I was adding the corn syrup. Although this does count as proof that my Willy Wonka-I-am-not theory is correct, so I guess this is a partial win for me.

I'm also moving up on the burn classification scale. I've graduated from first to second-degree burns, courtesy of the lovely convection ovens and some really hot sheet pans. They hurt beyond belief, so I've been doing some self medicating. One pint of Americone Dream ice cream and a few rare hours of videogames. So far so good, although I'm thinking I may need a trip to Babycakes at some point this weekend...

Mostly though, my weekend will be spent studying for my first unit test. Everything I know about tarts, tortes, and cookies will come spewing out on Tuesday during my all-day exam. In addition to the written portion, I will be making one large one-step tart (shell is baked with the filling), four two-step tartlettes (shell is baked once, filled, and can be baked again), and a batch of cookies. In four hours. I feel more self medicating coming on.

Running Away To Join Le Cirque

I am so excited. I'm finally getting into my groove and things are coming together for me. I'm still not perfect at everything, but my first report card was much better than I thought it would be and everything still tastes delicious. Although I am in serious need of a tart break.

Apparently someone heard my plea for a break, because today we had the snowpacalypse. Ten inches of snow have cost me about $320, since we will not make up the day. For the first time in my life, I am mad I had a snow day.

My roommate (also mad about the snow) and I decided to have some fun and went out to eat at my first world-class NYC restaurant, the legendary Le Cirque. We were just excited to get a reservation two hours before we wanted to eat. That and a cheaper meal thanks to New York Restaurant Week. A three course meal at one of the best restaurants in the world for $35? Yes, please.

Worth the nonexistent wait.

The restaurant itself is absolutely gorgeous and I felt like I was out of place the entire time. At least until I saw the girls sitting two tables over in jeans and sneakers. Then I just sat back and soaked it all in.

So what did I get for my $35? Sautéed Maine Shellfish with fregola Sarda (like Israeli couscous) and red peper-bergamot broth; Monkfish Bouillabaisse with clams, mussels, and fennel; and Crème Brûlée. I have never in my life had such well cooked seafood. The shellfish melted like butter in my mouth and the crème brûlée was so smooth I'm still trying to figure out how they did it. I floated on air the whole way home.

I now have a goal for what I want to be when I grow up. I want to be a dessert in a three star restaurant.

Sometimes You Feel Like A Nut

As many of you know, I have a disibility of epic proportions. At least in the eyes of my school. For I am allergic to nuts. Not so much so that I can't be in the same zip code as them, but just enough to make me unable to eat them. Although if I'm feeling daring or suicidal, I'll eat a Snickers bar, just to tempt fate.

I found out about it when I was fourteen, eating a salad with pecans. I was sick for the entire first half of Les Misérables, which for a growing theater nerd like me was horrific. But I didn't put two and two together until I ate a chocolate with walnuts out of a sampler box from Whitman's. Having never eaten a lot of nuts, aside from peanut butter and Hershey's with almonds, it wasn't the earthshaking blow it probably should have been. Although if it had been gluten or dairy, there would be hell to pay. I could live on nothing but bread and cheese and pasta forever!

Now, most people wouldn't consider a food allergy to be a disability. I certainly never have. It's been an inconvenience more than anything else. Having been in culinary school a week, I'm starting to change my tune. I'll spend an entire day making this incredible Tarte Bourdaloue, and I find myself having to remind myself not to eat the class sampler because there are almonds and an almond cream in the tart. I become so wrapped up in the process that I almost forget that what I've been working with all morning could kill me.

That being said, I've found that most of the time I can turn this disability into an advantage. Last week in class, we were making Vanille-Kipferl. In our recipe, we use ground hazelnut, although traditionally, they're made with almonds. Since the chef instructors have been made aware of my disability (I signed a waiver), one of them suggested that I use coconut instead. My cookies did not have the same darker color that the rest of the class did, and I did catch a few people looking over at the dough thinking that I'd screwed up, including one of the instructors. Yet in the end, it was generally agreed that the substitution, while not traditional, ended up tasting better. A small victory for me, thanks to my disability.

It's one of the things that I love about cooking. You're able to experiment and try to make something better. Plus if you don't get it right the first time, there's always a second chance to try again. And the mistakes are delicious.

Vanille-Kipferl

315 grams butter (about 1 1/3 cups)
180 grams powdered sugar (about 2 cups)
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
410 grams all-purpose flour (3 cups)
150 grams unsweetend coconut flakes (or ground hazelnuts)
Vanilla sugar, for finishing

In a mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Add the flour and coconut and mix just until combined. While the dough is still soft, shape it into equal sized crescents. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until the tips have browned slightly. While the cookies are still warm, roll them in vanilla sugar to coat.

Makes approx. fifty to sixty 3-inch long cookies.

A few quick notes: Feel free to substitute the coconut flakes for the hazelnut, or vice versa, using the same amount of either. I've been told that both taste good, but the coconut got a few rave reviews (including ones from my taste buds and stomach).

Granulated sugar may also be substituted for the vanilla sugar. It's the same thing, just minus the vanilla. And while the vanilla sugar helps to bring out the flavor of the extract, it still tastes good with plain sugar.

Finally, the dough will seem a little drier with the coconut than with the hazelnuts, but if you warm it up using your hands, the dough will be fine.

Rolling In It

It's not all fun and games with school. In addition to spending my every waking moment studying and memorizing new recipes, I also have technical readings. You do need to know how things work in order to do this. Or at least have a vague idea.

One of these areas of expertise (in my case, limited) is pastry dough. Since I started, I have been making almost nothing but tarts. In order to make tarts, I need dough for a shell. At my school, we learn how to make three different types (all French tart doughs of course, it is the French Culinary Institute). They are pâte brisée, pâte sucrée, and pâte sablée.

To give you a quick rundown, pâte brisée is an all-purpose dough (can be sweet or savory), pâte sucrée is a sweet dough, and pâte sablée is along the lines of a shortbread. The sablée is the only dough that we haven't worked with yet, so I can't really say if I like it yet or not. Although I can say that I love shortbread.

Okay, so here are the two I have done:

Pâte Brisée
125 grams cake flour (1 cup)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. granulated sugar
62 grams cold butter (1/4 cup)
32 mL water (2 Tbsp.)

Makes one 8-inch/9-inch tart

Place flour, salt, and sugar into the mixer bowl with the paddle attachment. Add the COLD butter that has been cut into 1/2" cubes. Turn the mixer on slow and mix until the butter pieces are about the size of dried lentils (approx. 1/8"). Add the cold water to the dough gradually, until it is soft and shaggy. Work the dough by hand to finish and make it homogenous. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate.

This dough is a bit dry. When they say shaggy, they mean it. Making my version in class, I didn't add enough water and ended up with some patches that were a bit dehydrated. It was a pain to roll out later. Even though the dough is meant to be drier, have extra water on hand in case you need to add just a bit more.

Pâte Sucrée

125 grams powdered sugar (1 1/4 cup)
250 grams butter (1 1/8 cup, but you could probably get away with just 1 cup)
3 eggs
500 grams cake flour (4 cups)
1/2 tsp. baking powder

Makes enough for three 8-inch/9-inch tarts

Cream the sugar and butter in a mixer with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time (so the mixture doesn't separate), making sure the mixture is homogenous before adding more. Add the cake flour and baking powder all at once and mix just to combine. Wrap the dough and refrigerate until firm.

This dough is incredibly forgiving. Much easier to roll out quickly and it holds together better. This is because of the butter, which is always a good addition to anything. Plus the cake flour makes it taste like a mini cake. With cream. And fruit, or chocolate, or whatever else you put on it.

So, if you're making a sweet treat, sucrée may be the way to go. If in doubt or you want something more subtle, go with the brisée. Just have the aspirin ready for the minor headaches that may occur.

Never Take A Desktop Computer To Manhattan, Or Ow, My Arms Hurt

So my computer's video card decided to give out the week I moved here. Not fun. After a lovely trip to Best Buy and a four day stay at the Geek Squad Spa, it's all better. After two subway rides from Brooklyn to Chelsea, I am not. Never, ever cheap out and take the subway. Treat yourself and take a cab. Even if you have a direct subway line like me. But it did remind me of carrying monster camera lenses for Disney.

I am now one week into my program. Half of the time I'm in the weeds. My days are filled with small victories tempered by mini-meltdowns and a series of failures. I have not felt this unknowledgeable in years. For someone who has spent a large chunk of their career working as a trainer, it feels strangely limiting and freeing all at the same time.

I also now do dishes 3-4 times a day. Investing in a good moisturizer is key. I have three different kinds. Channeling Daniel-san a bit, too.

Tomorrow I'll cover some of the pastry doughs and tarts I've been working on, but since I've got a lot to cover homework wise tonight, we'll just start with some gingersnaps.

Quick note, all the recipes I get from school are measured out using the metric system (we weigh everything out using a scale). I've converted everything for you stubborn non-converts.

Gingersnaps

150 grams butter (just over 1/2 cup)
400 grams granulated sugar (1 3/4 cup)
2 eggs
160 mL molasses (just over 2/3 cup)
20 mL vinegar (4 tsp.)
525 grams white bread flour (just over 2 1/4 cups)
1 Tbsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. ground ginger
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp. ground cloves
3/4 tsp. ground cardamom

Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowl frequently. Add the eggs, ONE AT A TIME. Add the molasses and vinegar slowly to avoid separating the mixture. Sift together all the dry ingredients and then add them to the creamed butter mixture. Mix just to combine. Form the dough into a flat rectangle; wrap and chill until firm. Divide the dough into small, equal portions (about 20 grams each). Roll the portioned dough into balls and dredge in sugar. Bake the cookies on a sheet pan at 375 degrees for 7 to 10 minutes. The cookies will spread, the sugar crust will crack, and the cookies will begin to firm up in the middle.

Makes approx. 50 cookies.

C is for Cookie, and that's good enough for me.

When I made mine, they didn't flatten out like they were supposed to. They still seemed a bit rounded and domed. However, they still stayed soft and chewy. A simple cookies, but so delicious. Definitely going on the menu when I get my own place.

Until then, wax on, wax off!

Ah, To Be Home

So I made it to New York. My parents, who were kind enough to drive me, and I got in last night. Strangely enough, it's almost the same distance from Salt Lake to MN as it is from MN to NYC. Like within 50 miles. If I keep up with this pattern, the next time I move it'll be to either Lafayette, Louisiana or Sundance, Manitoba.

I think I'll break it.

No new recipes as of yet, since I spent the day unpacking and getting drenched (55 degrees, but minor torrential rains, a flood of less than biblical proportions, and small Asian ladies being blown into the sidewalk by the wind).

Instead, here is some of the scenery from the drive in.

Scenic New Jersey:

The lovely Holland Tunnel:

And exotic New York:

I think for the next 6 months it'll be me trying to pretend that the buildings are mountains.

Although I did manage to try one of the neighborhood places for lunch, the Park Plaza Restaurant:

It's a lot bigger on than it looks. The bathroom inside is not.

The lunch counter where I did not eat my lunch.

Tomorrow I will be brave and bold and venture out to find a Best Buy, where I can return the wrong cable I bought for one that will work, and a matress pad for the brick I call a bed. And if I'm very, very good, maybe lunch from a hot dog cart. High class all the way.

What I Learned On My Retirement Vacation

The baking is finished. Three treats made with no spares, which is not good. I like to be able to taste what I'm cooking, which is what I should and normally do. But for some reason this time when I doubled the recipes, when I should have had 5 dozen, I managed to only get 3. Apparently my cookies should have been a little smaller. But I did get twelve packs out of it, which is what I needed. They're a cookie or two shorter than what I was hoping for (sorry guys!), but still good.

Since I'm going to be on the road for the next couple of days and more out of the loop than normal, I'll share all three now to make up for it.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 large egg, slightly beaten

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Beat together everything but the chocolate chips until smooth and well blended. Stir in the chips. Drop dough by slightly rounded teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet, about 2" apart. Bake one sheet at a time for about 7-8 minutes so that cookies are puffed and slightly golden, but still soft to the touch. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet on a wire rack for about 5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to the wire rack and let cool completely.

Makes 2 1/2 dozen.

I got chocolate in my peanut butter.

What I learned: Do NOT always follow the recipe verbatim. Ovens are different, pans are different, ingredient brands are different, altitude is different. Unless you're working in the same kitchen with the same everything the testers used, your end result will be different. The original version of this thing said bake for 10 minutes, my Mom (who is the source of all three recipes) changed it to 8, and I'm changing it to 7. By leaving the cookies on the sheet for a few extra minutes, the cookies still bake and I can monitor them a little more closely. But I was still burning some cookies on this one.

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup Karo syrup, light or dark

3 egg whites

Spray cookie sheets with cooking spray. Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Stir in corn syrup and egg whites until blended. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto prepared sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 7-9 minutes until set. Cool on a wire rack.

Frost with a powdered sugar and cocoa frosting made with skim milk (or do what I did and dip the rounded teaspoonful in powdered sugar before baking).

Makes 2 1/2 dozen.

Not a test cookie.

What I learned: Always do a test cookie. I had just enough to do one, which I promptly burnt at 7 minutes. If I had made the cookies as small as I was supposed to, I would have been able to do a couple extra to figure out a better time. Instead, I hoped I wouldn't kill anyone and tried 6 minutes.

Caramel Candy
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 1/2 cups light cream
4 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla

Put everything except vanilla in saucepan and cook over a low heat stirring constantly. Cook until a very firm, but not hard ball is formed (about 45 minutes to 1 hour). Remove from fire, add vanilla, and pour into a buttered square pan. Cut into squares when cold and wrap in wax paper.

Parchment paper works too. Not as well, but it works.

What I learned: This one I learned the most from. Always have a chair while doing long-distance cooking. I gave up on the standing thing after about 10 minutes of constant stirring. Plus I now understand why my grandmother always had a chair either in or nearby her kitchen. It's not lazy, it's smart.

And when they say constant stirring, they mean it. Not as good as a gym workout, but definitely needed.

Invest in a good thermometer. This is one I learned a while ago, which is absolutely vital when cooking candy. They come with a list of terms and temps on them, so you don't have to do the cold water stage test (small spoonful of syrup being cooked is dropped into cold water to evaluate characteristics). For those in the lowlands, it should happen around 250 degrees. For those in the mountains, stick to the cold water stage test, since the thermometer has a tendency to lie when you change altitudes.

Finally, unless something magical happens at school, I don't think you'll be seeing me working as a confectioner any time soon.

And with that, the great cross-country move has begin. Talk to you Monday from New York!

I Hate The Food Network

I have managed to live for the last 3 years without cable television. I spend more time with friends, more time out doing photography and playing music, and more time cooking and baking. The fact that I don't have five million channels at my fingertips doesn't bother me at all. I actually like the quiet. That being said, I have watched more TV in the last month than I have in the last year. And it is all because of the Food Network.

For the past 48 hours, it has been nothing but a marathon of Ace of Cakes, Worst Cooks In America, Throwdown, Iron Chef America, Good Eats, Food Network Challenge, and everything else they play on there. As soon as one ends and I think I can start my day, something else will come on that makes me stay in my seat.

This makes it next to impossible for me to get anything done, let alone pack for the big move that happens on Friday. At this rate, I'll be lucky if I can remember to throw a few things into a box and leave. Although it would be interesting to see how I'd try to get by with a waffle iron for a curling iron...

The only good thing to come out of this was an incredible craving for something from Bruges Waffles. My mortal enemy decided to show a Throwdown on Liège waffles and now that's all I can taste. For those who don't know, a Liège waffle is a denser and sweeter waffle made with pearl sugar, which carmelizes as it cooks, until it looks like this:

Must make mental note to learn this while at school. Until then, mmm...waffles...

Tomorrow, I'll attempt to finish putting together the first round of guinea pig tasters for some people back in Salt Lake. Full report and recipes to follow. As long as I can hide the TV remote as well as I hide my own Easter eggs.

The Obligatory Welcome Note

Welcome (finally) to the blog. It's taken far longer than it should have to start this thing, but I guess the same could be said for the purpose behind it, so I kind of need to get cracking. Because in one week I will be starting my classes in pastry chefery at The French Culinary Institute in New York City.

The program takes about 6 months, during which I will do nothing but eat, sleep, and live food. But mostly eat. At the other end, a Grand Diplôme and a life in unflattering, oversized white coats, covered in flour and sugar, where I get up everyday before the crack of dawn. I can't wait.

This blog is meant to be a way for me to share all the lovely lessons that I learn (and all the not so lovely mistakes), as well as all the experiences I get in a city I never thought I would live in, working on a career I never thought I would have the time to get around to.

Here's hoping I don't gain 30 lbs. and my oversized coat stays oversized.