Sandwich Cookies.

These are from Donna Hay's Off the Shelf. Most of Donna Hay's cookbooks have great recipes for simple, crispy butter cookies. This particular recipe called for a sweetened condensed milk caramel filling, which I didn't care for. I suggest filling the cookies with ganache, dulce de leche, or another filling you've tried before. You could also dip the tops in sugar and eat them plain.

Caramel Filled Biscuits
adapted from Donna Hay

8 oz butter, chopped
1 cup powdered sugar
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1 cup cornstarch
1 egg

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and process until a smooth dough forms. Roll tablespoons of the mix into balls and place on parchment lined baking sheets. Flatten the dough slightly with your hand or a glass and chill for about 10 minutes until firm. Bake the biscuits in a preheated 350 oven for 10-15 minutes until lightly golden. Cool on racks. Fill with a filling of your choice.

Espresso-Chocolate Semifreddo

Usually I don't care for semifreddo; it's not quite ice cream and not quite a substantial torte, cake, or pudding. I picked this recipe out of food and wine magazine because the picture was really pretty, and i'm happy to say it turned out quite well.

I'm a fan of Sherry Yard's recipes. They're usually very sophisticated, though sometimes a little hard to execute at home. This recipe didn't give an indication of just how much batter it produced. Make sure you use a very large mixing bowl.

This recipe was also a good excuse to play with my dad's huge La Cimbali espresso machine. I brewed shot after shot and tasted them all before measuring them out for the recipe O.o

If you like Tiramisu, I think you'll like this. It's got great coffee taste and a really nice texture. It'd be great with some raspberry coulis, or at least some muddled fruit.

Espresso Chocolate Semifreddo
(adapted from Food and Wine Magazine)
1.5 cup sugar
3/4 cup water+ 2tbsp
1.25 cup strongly brewed espresso
1/2 cup whole milk
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
1 tsp gelatin dissolved in 2 tsp water
2 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
4 large eggs
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1.25 cups heavy cream
18 dry ladyfingers
1 tbsp cocoa for sprinkling
Raspberries, for serving

1. In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup of the sugar with the 3/4 cup water and 1/4 cup of the espresso. Bring to a simmer over moderate heat and stir to dissolve the sugar. Let the espresso syrup cool.

2. In a small saucepan, boil the remaining 1 cup of espresso over high heat until reduced to 1/4 cup (about 8 minutes) Pour into a medium heatproof bowl.

3. Warm the milk with the vanilla bean and seeds over moderate heat until bubbles form around the edge. Remove from heat and stir in the gelatin until melted. Discard the vanilla bean. Add the hot milk to the reduced espresso and whisk in the chocolate until melted.

4. In the bowl of a standing mixer, beat the eggs at high speed until light yellow and foamy. In a small saucepan bring the corn syrup, the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, and 2 T of water to a simmer. Cook over moderately high heat until the syrup registers to 235 on a candy thermometer*, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on medium speed, gradually beat the hot syrup into the eggs. Continue beating until the mixture is very pale and has tripled in volume, about 4 mins. Fold in the espresso mixture**

5. In a bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Fold into the mousse mixture until no streaks remain**

6. Spoon about 1/4 of the mousse into a 9 inch springform pan. Dip 6 lady fingers into the espresso syrup until just soaked through. Arrange the ladyfingers over the mousse in rows. Repeat the process 2 more times, then top with the remaining mousse. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze at least 6 hours.

7. Before serving, warm a thin sharp knife under hot water. Run the knife around the edge of the semifreddo and remove the ring (you can refreeze after this if the sides are a little melty) Sift cocoa over the top of the semifreddo. Cut into wedges and serve with raspberries. The semifreddo will keep frozen for up to three days (so says the magazine.)

*If you don't have a candy thermometer, you can cook the syrup and periodically drop a little of it into a bowl of cold water. You want to cook it until a little before the soft ball phase. You should be able to shape the cold syrup with your fingers, but it shouldn't form a really dense ball. It takes a little practice sometimes.

** I was running out of room in my bowl, so I just gently whisked in these ingredients. It didn't deflate the mix or anything.

San Francisco

I spent this past weekend in San Francisco.



We went to the ferry building farmer's market. I think I spent all of Saturday eating...Chocolate/Cherry Rugelagh, Almond Croissants, Peaches, Summer Squash Tamales, Nutella Doughnuts, Spiced Sandwich Cookies, Fruit Crostata, Panna Cotta, Chocolates, Hummus, Cappucino...

It was a little too ambitious to buy produce and expect it to survive a 7 hour drive unscathed. My peaches and little strawberries rather died.

I didn't like San Francisco as much as I thought I would. Part of the problem is I stayed in Union Square- which wasn't suited to my personality at all. The city was busier than I expected it to be, and I encountered snooty, hurried service in many of the bakeries and restaurants I visited.

On a positive note, I did eat at some wonderful places. All the baked products I purchased tasted fresh, as opposed to many I bought in Manhattan. Here's the lowdown:

Delfina was recommended by Dave Lebovitz and the food was really fantastic. The buttermilk panna cotta and profiteroles were to die for, as well as one of the two table breads. The fruit budino was dissapointing (I could hardly eat it because in my head I kept thinking it had to be made from leftover bread...) We had grilled calamari, marinated sardines, some fantastic salt cod spread, steak, roast chicken, and salmon...all in all it was a great meal. The only problem was our service was -excruciatingly- slow. It was a busy night though.

Recchiuti Confections was very good, though I think I need to try more chocolates before I know how much I really like it. Of the five pieces I tried, my favorites were the burnt caramel and the sesame nougat.

Some people say Tartine is way overrated and the service is bad, but I found it really enjoyable! All of their cookies were fantastic, especially old favorites like shortbread and mexican wedding cookies. They had fantastic looking croissants too.

Citizen Cake had great service and a very streamlined design. Everything I sampled was good, and the brunch offerings looked AMAZING. Fresh doughnuts with butter and jam...mmm. Poached eggs over potatoes. I'd definitely go there again. They had interesting ice cream flavors too.

I was supposed to intern at Miette but I ended up finding a paid position. Everything at Miette was pretty, but not really to my taste. I did have a panna cotta/pot de creme that was fantastic though- worth ordering again.



Sears makes a damn good breakfast.

That was the notable eating. Everyone should read restaurant and bakery reviews with a certain amount of caution. Consider questions like "How much does atmosphere and clientele affect my enjoyment of a place?" "Will I enjoy my food if I feel very rushed, or if there isn't anywhere to sit down?" "How do I feel in crowded places where the staff doesn't have much time to be personable?" "Do I like restaurants that are trendy or homey?"

I think different cities are better suited to different personalities. It's really worth planning ahead to make your vacations enjoyable.

Tiramisu 101.

I've tried a few tiramisu recipes lately. Most recipes have similar ingredients but different techniques, suggestions, and flavors. I hate bad tiramisu, so I try to stick to a few rules.

1) Do not use bad coffee. You're better off using reconstituted instant espresso powder than bitter, mediocre coffee or espresso. When I don't have a giant espresso machine handy, I usually use the powder.

2) Do not use bad alcohol. I'm not a fan of Marsala in my Tiramisu, tradition or no. Cheap alcohol can ruin a good tiramisu.

3) Do not oversoak the ladyfingers. It might take a few tries to get this right. You want the ladyfinger to be almost completely saturated, but not squashy or soggy. If you oversoak, you'll end up with an ugly pool of coffee whenever you cut a slice out of the pan.

The recipe I used above came from Viana LaPlace and Evan Kleiman's Cucica Rustica. It adds raspberries and ground hazelnuts between the layers. I thought it was pretty good, though it still isn't the tiramisu of my dreams.

Peach-Raspberry Crostata

This recipe came from Sarah Foster's Casual Cooking. I own all three of the Foster's Market cookbooks and they're all fantastic. The recipes are always fresh and easy to execute.

This crostata dough was particularly good. Adding egg yolk and milk made the dough a little more tender than a pure short crust, but it still was really really crispy. The filling had a hint of ginger and cinnamon, and enough cornstarch to keep the crostata from becoming too liquidy.

Peach Raspberry Crostatas
For the crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
3 T sugar
1/4 tsp kosher or sea salt
2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 large egg yolk
3-4 T ice water or milk (i used milk.)

For the filling:
2 pounds peaches, peeled, pitted, and thinly sliced
1 cup fresh raspberries
1/3 cup sugar plus extra for sprinkling
3 T cornstarch
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp kosher or sea salt
4 T unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces (I omitted this.)
1 large egg
1-2 T milk

To make the crust, stir the flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Add the butter and blend it in with the flour using a pastry blender or two knives in a crisscrossing motion until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Whisk the egg yolk and 3 T of milk together in a small bowl and add it to the flour mixture. Stir until the dough just comes together and starts to form a ball, adding the remaining milk if necessary. Dust your hands lightly with flour and press the dough together to form a fat, round disk. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator to chill for at least 1 hour or overnight.

Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or cover with parchment and set aside.

To make the filling, combine the peaches, raspberries, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, ginger, and salt in a large bowl and stir gently to mix.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut it into 8 equal size pieces. Lightly flour the work surface and roll each piece into a 6 inch round. Place the rounds onto prepared baking sheets.

Scoop the filling and juices into the center of each round, dividing it evenly and leaving a 1 inch border around the edges. Place a piece of butter on top of the fruit, if you like. Folkd the dough over the fruit all the way around to form an edge.

Whisk the egg and milk together to make an egg wash. (I usually strain this to avoid ugly lumpy bits of egg.) Brush the edges of each tart and sprinkle with sugar. Put the tarts in the fridge and chill for about 30 mins.

Preheat the oven to 375. Bake the tarts for 40-45 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through, until the crusts are golden brown and the fruit is bubbling. Cool the tarts slightly and serve warm. (I like a little dollop of vanilla ice cream on top :))

Blueberry Hand Pies

Lately i've noticed the growing popularity of the hand pie. People hail it as "a gourmet pop-tart." I decided to try some hand pies because they looked so darned cute.

I used this recipe for the crust, and a recipe from The Foster's Market Cookbook for the filling.

The crust is different. It is flaky, but not nearly as crispy as i'd like. My favorite crust recipes either combine butter and shortening or use tons of butter. In retrospect, I wish i'd have used my favorite crostata dough.

I baked them at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. They did leak some blueberry filling, but not much.

Honestly, hand pies aren't my favorite. They take a long time to make, and you really can't fit much fruit in them. I'd much rather have a crisp or a big slice of berry pie. Still, if you are a big crust or pop-tart fan, these could be your new favorite thing.

Back from a week in NYC.

I'll have a real update soon- promise.

I'm also going to try and be more disciplined about posting the recipes of what I make, per your requests.

Anyway, I was in Manhattan last wednesday through this tuesday. Most of my time was spent eating and walking, and i'm happy to say I found some fantastic places worth your time. Here's a summary of the damage I did:

1) Once Upon A Tart was fantastic. I've had their cookbook for years. I recommend the Pear Ginger Raisin muffins, but many people swear by the scones and cookies etc. They usually open around 8 and it's great to enjoy a coffee and pastry at one of the tables in front of the store.

2) Balthazar, despite being very busy all the time, makes a -fabulous- breakfast. Some of the more delicious looking things were pastries, quiches, granola, omlettes...pretty much everything. I highly recommend the smoked salmon and the side order of fried tomatos. I saw plenty of people picking up beverage and pastry from the small boulangerie and eating it on the benches outside.

3) Chikalicious was just great. The service, atmosphere, and food were all fantastic. I hear it can get very busy (long lines) but I went right at opening on sunday and got right in. My dessert tasting menu included kiwi gelee with cantaloupe sorbet, lavender marinated kiwis with yogurt sorbet and crispy kataifi, and a petit four plate with a coconut marshmallow, lemon-poppyseed shortbread, and a chocolate/nib pudding bite. All of the desserts looked fantastic- particularly the ganache filled raspberries. They were the hugest berries i'd ever seen. The iced tea was great too, and some of the other cocktails I saw looked really pretty.

4) I always try and hit Payard when i'm in New York. The pastries are quite good, though the service can be a little snooty. I love their canneles and croissants in particular as well as the orange-carrot tart. Just watch out and make sure the pastry you've ordered hasn't been sitting in the case for days.

5) Ceci Cela was recommended to me by a good friend. Unfortunately, i've been there three times and each time it was -awful.- You could taste that the (rather pricy) pastries had been sitting in the case for far too long. Soggy crusts, blandish pastry, and horrible horrible service. I've been ignored by staff there so many times. It's a pity really because everything always looks so pretty. Honestly, unless they make major changes I won't be going back.

6) Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery in the Time Warner Center was nice too. I wish i'd had a chance to try more. I only had time to order a few things to go. Their macarons are fantastic. Though not as crunchy as I might have liked, they were substantial, huge, and packed with flavor. I had caramel and pistachio and they were amazing. It's worth a try, but again, keep an eye out for things that have been in the case too long.

7) Cafe Sabarsky on 5th ave and 86th street is a hidden treasure. I don't think i'd have found it without a friend's recommendation. It is a viennese style cafe that features excellent service, food, and desserts. I went back three times during my trip and managed to sample the apple strudel, streuselkuchen, sachertorte, quark cheesecake, chocolate feuillete, and several cups of espresso. It's fabulous.

8) Tom Colicchio's 'wichcraft wasn't really anything special. It's a good place to get good, fast eats though.

9) 'ino is my favorite place for sandwiches and bruschetta. I've probably had the best sandwich/bruschetta of my life there. I went three times during this trip.

10) I went to an Italian pastry place on Bleeker street called Cafe Bruno, i think. It was pretty good, but I don't really remember it. Many of the cookies tasted similar and were a little stale :(

11) Sfoglia was one of the best dining experiences i've had in a long time. Good lord, GO THERE ALREADY. The bread they serve is out of this world. We had a delightfully spicy and moist roast chicken along with strawberry-basalmic spaghetti, a beet and bean salad, and some antipasto. The restaurant is beautiful and the service is fantastic. It is much easier to get in for lunch than dinner. I wish I could have gone back...

12) Lupa is one of those places I didn't know was popular until after I ate there. It was also UTTERLY FANTASTIC and reasonably priced. We all tried the tasting menu which included a huge assortment of antipasto, good focaccia, two pasta courses, a meat course, a cheese course, and dessert. There were good olives, amazing prosciutto, a baccala salad, a beet salad...curly pasta with AMAZING asparagus ragu, ricotta gnocchi with a fennel sausage sauce, fish with a meyer lemon sauce, spicy chicken diavolo, roast port shoulder, goat cheese, sheep cheese, cow cheese...panna cotta and tartufi that were to die for...I highly recommend it. Zagat calls it "Babbo on a budget."

13) I also made two trips to Kitchen Arts and Letters. It's the best cookbook store i've ever been to, and Matt has given me excellent cookbook and restaurant recommendations. They answer their email, they will ship you anything you like, and generally, if you tell them your favorite cookbooks they'll be able to make you an educated recommendation. They also have rare and out of print things. If you ever need help finding a restaurant to your taste that isn't too touristy, you should give them a call.

Wow...I ate a lot of food last week O.o

I'm probably heading back in July. I have a few places left on my curiosity list including:
Hearth
P*ONG
Good sushi
Good dim-sum
...More bakeries.

Feel free to make recommendations.

Melting Moments

I'd never heard of Melting Moments until recently. They remind me a little of rosketti- a simple chamorro corn starch cookie that melts in your mouth. Mexican wedding cookies also have that similar crumbly, sandy texture.

These are from Donna Hay's Modern Classics 2. The best part is they're incredibly simple and fast to prepare. They're filled with a simple lemon frosting.

Melting Moments
adapted from Donna Hay
175g (about a stick and a half) butter, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour, sifted
1/4 cup corn starch, sifted
60g butter (about half a stick), softened
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp lemon zest
1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350.
Cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla until smooth.
Add the flour and cornstarch and mix until it comes together.
Put the batter in a bag and with a fluted tip and pipe 1" circles onto parchment lined baking sheets.
Bake 12-14 minutes until golden brown.

For the frosting, cream the butter, sugar, lemon juice and zest.
When the cookies are cool, sandwich them together with some frosting.
Makes about 16 sandwiches.

Apricot Ice Cream

Apricots have such an unfortunately short season. Maybe that makes them more special; I remember my mother bringing plastic bags loaded with apricots from various farmers' markets. I would usually eat 4-6 at a time.

This is Apricot Ice Cream from The Perfect Scoop. David Lebovitz has made another brilliant combination of tangy, creamy, and fresh flavors.

I recommend eating this right after it is churned, as it seems to freeze just a tad hard.

The flavor of fresh apricots is heavenly though.

My Job.

I work at the cafe on an old millionaire's estate. Pittsburgh piano trio performed a few weeks ago and we made ten trays of pastry. Two came back, mostly finished off. It's a good feeling when you work hard and everyone eats everything.

Kumquat Poundcakes, Revel Bars and More!

Kumquat Poundcake from Hidemi Sugino's Dessert Book.


Oatmeal cookie type bar with thick chocolate ganache in the middle.




Chocolate covered Ice Cream! Lemon/soft gingersnap, green tea, panforte, and turron.




Kumquat Compote in process.


Apple and almond pudding from Bill's Open Kitchen.


Orange and Buckwheat Crepes filled with nutella and oranges.


Pierre Herme's Lemon Tart.

Roasted Banana Ice Cream

I'm officially hooked on David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop.

So far, i've made the following flavors: salted butter caramel, turron, eggnog, honey-lavender, and roasted banana. I'm looking foward to trying green tea, panforte, gianduia, and many others!

I really love that this book introduces some flavors that are familiar, but different. I'd never think to make a roasted banana ice cream. This recipe was incredibly simple (no cream or egg yolks!) and bursting with flavor. I'd recommend smothering it with chocolate sauce or using it to make chocolate covered bon bons.

Honestly, the Turron ice cream stole my heart. I didn't take a photo because I ate it all. Turron is a spanish nougat often studded with toasted almonds, pistachios, and candied orange peel. David's recipe also adds honey, a touch of orange flower water, and orange zest. It is DIVINE. It reminded me of being in Sevilla.

Tonight is my senior cello recital. Think good thoughts for me!

David Lebovitz's "The Perfect Scoop"

My new ice cream maker is getting plenty of work. After trying several recipes by Alice Medrich and Emily Luchetti, i've moved on to David Lebovitz's new book The Perfect Scoop.

Let me tell you- David really knows his textures. I tried his recipes for Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream and Honey Lavender Ice Cream. Both have a really silky, meltingly soft consistency that holds up in the freezer. I highly recommend the caramel ice cream (the recipe is available on his blog.)

I'm really looking foward to trying more flavors like Turron, Eggnog, and Hazelnut Stracciatella...

Anyway, both The Perfect Scoop and A Passion for Ice Cream are great. I don't even want to think about how much heavy cream i've been going through.

Photo Dump: Why I've Been Absent

Here are some of the things i've made recently:









I am struggling to prepare for my senior cello recital and graduation. For a while, my posts may be a little brief and erratic. When things calm down a bit, i'll definitely post more recipes and tidbits from work.

The aforeposted pictures are: toasted coconut, chai, mint chip, and blueberry sourcream ice creams, coconut tapioca pudding with lime gelee, and orange cardamom biscuits.

Ice Cream Soda!

Homemade raspberry soda, homemade strawberry ice cream, and black raspberries my roommate brought back from Ithaca, NY.

I'd never tasted a black raspberry before. These tasted just a little bit like licorice, actually.

I used a tiny cup because my trigger scoop is small (so really, it was just to get the photo.) I made myself one about three times as large :)

Cocoa Nib Pistachio Florentines

This is another recipe from Emily Lucchetti's "A Passion for Ice Cream."

Sometimes, florentines can be too thick: chewy in the middle when they should be delightfully crunchy throughout. This recipe is fabulous. You cook the batter until it thickens on the stove and then drop teaspoonfuls onto a baking sheet. They spread out to about three or four times their original size!

I love the crunch from the nuts and nibs. I would -definitely- make these again.

I Scream. Strawberry.

My new ice cream maker arrived yesterday. I hauled the thirty-three pound monstrosity from campus to my apartment, and this morning my arms are incredibly sore O.o

I was worried it was a frivolous purchase. Maybe it was, but this ice cream definitely soothed my doubts some. It's strawberry ice cream from Emily Lucchetti's A Passion for Ice Cream. The recipe was so simple, and the results were fabulous.

I also figured out why I had some problems with the cocoa nib ice cream:

1) I didn't strain the base when it grew a skin on top of it, which resulted in a few funky bites that'd have little bits sticking to the spoon.

2) I churned it too long.

Someone at work told me this cuisinart automatically stops when it is done. I don't think this is true: the machine stops turning when the ice cream is too thick for the churning arm to operate properly. This is often after close to an hour of churning.

The ice cream will seem thick, but when you freeze it it will be too airy/icy. I suggest taking the ice cream out of the machine while it is still the consistency of a loose soft serve, then letting it harden in the fridge.

Almond Sticks with Cocoa Nibs

This week, i've been drawn to new recipes rather than old favorites. These almond dunking cookies are the fourth recipe Alice Medrich recipe i've baked in the past few days. I love cookies that are very convenient for dipping in a tall glass of milk.

Almond Sticks with Cocoa Nibs
adapted from Alice Medrich's Bittersweet.
3/4 cup whole blanched almonds
1 cup+ 2 T all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
6 T unsalted butter, cut into chunks
2 T water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp pure almond extract
1/4 cup cocoa nibs

Combine the almonds, flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse until it is a fine meal. Add the butter and pulse until the dough looks crumbly. Combine the water, vanilla, and almond extract and add it to the bowl, pulsing until it just looks damp. Add the cocoa nibs and pulse until evenly distributed.

On a big sheet of foil, press the dough into a 6x9 in rectangle that's 1/2 inch thick. Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. Preheat the oven to 350. Using a long, sharp knife, cut 3/8 in thick slices and place them on parchment lined cookie sheets, about 1 inch apart. Bake 12-14 minutes, until golden at the edges.

Cocoa Nib Ice Cream

It looks suspiciously like vanilla, but one bite into this ice cream dispels your assumptions. It tastes a bit like chocolate, but not quite. It's a hint of chocolate that reminds me of malted chocolate milkshakes, mild cocoa powder, and something I can't quite put my finger on.

It is damn delicious.

Cocoa Nib Ice Cream
adapted from Alice Medrich's Bittersweet.

1.5 cups heavy cream
1.5 cups whole milk
1/4 cup cocoa nibs, finely chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt

Bring the cream, milk, nibs, sugar and salt to a boil over medium heat. Remove from the heat, cover, and let steep for 20 minutes. Pour the cream mixture through a fine strainer into a bowl. Discard the nibs. Refrigerate, covered, until chilled. Freeze according to your ice cream maker's directions.

Local Fauna Loves Cuisine...

I live on the second floor of an apartment building. Sometimes i'll leave a tied up bag of garbage on the porch before I leave for the afternoon, thinking i'll carry it downstairs to the dumpster on my way out.

Yesterday, I attempted Dorie Greenspan's Cream Puff Ring and failed miserably. It collapsed into a soggy mess shortly after coming out of the oven. I threw the whole thing away. Eventually, I put the garbage outside.

Later, I return to my apartment and find a squirrel scrabbling up the brick near the stairs. Glancing at the garbage, I realized that not only has he ripped the bag apart, he has picked out -only- the remenants of the cream puff.

The squirrel didn't bother touching anything else.

Candied Ginger Cake.

This is a lovely recipe from Donna Hay's Modern Classics 2. It turned out much better than I expected it to! I will post the recipe after class.

New Job, New Observations.

I finished my first week as an assistant pastry chef at one of my favorite local cafes. Baking for a restaurant is very different from baking at home. This particular position is also very different from the other foodservice jobs i've worked.

There are little things you just don't know when you haven't worked in a restaurant or attended culinary school. Here are a few things i've learned this week (simple and obvious as they may seem):

1. Shoes are extremely important.
I didn't have non-slip shoes, and the floors in the kitchen are really slick. My new shoes are much more comfortable, and they make me much more confident on my feet.

2. No matter how professional the front of the house seems, the kitchen can be anything.
My coworkers are quirky and have plenty of crazy stories. Enough said.

3. There is a reason people wear chef jackets and aprons.
Man...I really need one of the above. I had to do laundry today because I didn't have any more clothes that were not spotted with chocolate and flour.

4. You need math skills.
I knew i'd need math, but I do a heck of a lot more math at work than I anticipated.

Right now I work four days a week from 5pm-11:45pm. We work after the cafe is closed, and I like it. The atmosphere is relaxed and non-hurried, and I really love the people I work with. We work hard, but we listen to good music and take occasional breaks for salad or dinner.

My chefs liked the Mozart cake so much we put it on the menu!

Anyway, I -LOVE- my job. It's fantastic. I am starting to toy with the idea of trying to make pastry a career...

Playing with Garnish.

My chefs liked the Mozart cake so much that we're putting it on the menu with some minor structural tweakage. The head pastry chef told me to think about a garnish or accompaniment, so at home I practiced making piped chocolate garnishes and caramel coated fruits and nuts.

At some point I got a little bored and fidgety. Somehow that lead to making strange caramel covered hazelnut alien guys.

Mocha-Hazelnut Roulade.

I thought my roulade was smiling at me.

This is another recipe from Chocolate Holidays by Alice Medrich. The souffle cake base is wonderfully moist and studded with just noticeable bits of hazelnut. The filling is a sinfully delicate espresso flavored whipped cream. I picked this recipe because i've never made a jelly roll, and i'm a sucker for anything flavored with coffee and hazelnut.

Baking is very relaxing to me, and I find it very theraputic/stress relieving. Since I was very small, i've needed time alone to recharge.

Sometimes between ages three and five i'd get upset and tell my mother "I just need to be alone with my animals." I would shut myself in my room and sit on my animal-covered bed until I felt better.

Now that i'm older, i'm more likely to bake, work out, read, or take a short walk. It gives me time to process and recover.

Chocolate Hazelnut Roulade
(paraphrased.)

Cake:
1/4 cups hazelnuts, toasted and cooled, skins rubbed off
2 tbsp all purpose flour
6 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
8 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 eggs, separated
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
2-3 tbsp dutch process cocoa powder

Filling
1 cup heavy cream, cold
2 tsp instant espresso powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1.5-2 tbsp sugar

Equipment:
16x12 or 11x17 jelly roll pan, lined with parchment or foil

Preheat the oven to 350.

Finely grind the nuts and flour in a food processor. Set aside.

Melt the chocolate and the butter in a double boiler or a microwave. Stir until smooth and melted.

In a large bowl, whip the egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar until pale and thick. Stir in the chocolate mixture.

In a seperate bowl, whip the egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar until stiff but not dry.Fold 1/4 of the egg whites into the chocolate along with all the hazelnut/flour mix. Fold in the remaining egg whites. Spread into the prepared pan and bake 12-15 minutes until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. Cool the cake completely on a rack, in the pan.

Dust some of the cocoa on a 16inch sheet of foil. Upend the cooled cake onto the foil and peel off the parchment.

To make the filling, whip the cream, vanilla, and espresso powder until it starts to thicken. Gradually add the sugar and beat until soft peaks (make sure it is stiff enough, or your roll will be squashy.) Spread the cream over the cake and roll up with the help of the foil. Don't worry if it cracks a bit, it will be okay in the end.

Wrap in foil and refrigerate before serving. To serve, transfer it to a platter and dust with additional cocoa, powdered sugar, or decorate it however you like.

Pierre Herme's "Mozart"

Despite being a bit time consuming, this recipe was relatively simple. Best of all, I got to flambe for the first time!

You take 150g of diced apple, cook it in butter, sugar, and cinnamon until caramelized, douse it with rum, and ignite! The flames were brilliantly orange and blue.

My new job continues to be great. I keep meaning to post about it, but once again i'm tired, sick, and need to sleep.

If anyone has suggestions for what they'd like to see in this blog, let me know. I've been wanting to try and do brief interviews with people working in the Pittsburgh food industry. We'll see how things progress.

I Broached the Brioche.

Brioche is one of my favorite foods. I'd been eating almond brioche for years without even realizing it; there was a small french bakery next to my sister's ballet studio and my mom would usually buy me a pastry when we picked her up (probably to compensate for the many hours spent waiting in the parking lot for ballet class to end.)

The most memorable almond brioches i've had resently came from Ollie's Bakery in Winston-Salem, NC and Michel Richard in Los Angeles. I highly recommend them both.

The prospect of making brioche intimidated me. It's a long process, and I didn't expect the nervous anticipation that came with it. I was paranoid that despite the 15 minutes of kneading and multiple rises, my loaves would ultimately result in failure.

Thankfully, Melissa of The Traveler's Lunchbox posted a fantastic recipe for a vanilla bean brown butter brioche that is really hard to mess up.

I have a few suggestions of my own. If the butter isn't soft enough to incorporate after you've removed it from the fridge, you can beat it in your electric mixer using the paddle attachment to soften it. Also, Melissa suggests creating surface tension by rolling up the dough jelly-roll style. I did one loaf that way and the other using a folding method (you fold the outer thirds of the square to the middle like an envelope, then reshape the dough and do it in the opposite direction.)

The latter technique made for a much lighter loaf that rose higher. Even though it did get a little pocket in the middle, the air bubbles were bigger, and the crust was crustier.

I highly recommend trying your own brioche! It was really perfect with the Kumquat preserves I made.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Tartlets

These are from Claudia Fleming's The Last Course.

This seems like a good moment to share some baking advice (which you may or may not have heard before.) Don't take recipes too seriously. This particular recipe involves making a crust, a pastry cream, and a berry topping. As long as you successfully make those components, it doesn't really matter how you go about the process.

It's perfectly acceptable to make the tarts in any shape you would like, or to substitute strawberries or raspberries for blueberries. If you're used to making pastry cream slightly differently, go ahead and do what you're comfortable with. All the details are to ensure you don't curdle the yolks.

That said, this recipe is really great. My mom describes the pastry cream as "killer."

Graham Cracker Tart Shells
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Cream Cheese Pastry Cream
1 cup milk
5 tbsp sugar
4 large egg yolks
2 1/2 tbsp corn starch
3/4 cup cream cheese, cut into cubes and softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks

Blueberry Topping
2 1/2 cups blueberries
1 tbsp sugar

1. To prepare the graham cracker shells, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the buter and sugars until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the honey and beat until well combined.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in two batches, scraping down the sides of the bowl between additions. Mix until the dough is well combined. Scrape the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and form it into a disc. Chill until firm, at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.

3. Preheat the oven to 325. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thick, about a 13x16 rectangle. Using a 3 inch cookie cutter, cut out 16 circles of dough and press them into greased mini muffin pans of 2 inch tart pans, triming away excess dough. Alternatively, fit the dough into mini rectangular tart tins. Prick the dough all over with a fork and chill for 20 minutes.

4. Bake until golden brown, 18-20 mins. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

5. To prepare the pastry cream, combine 3/4 cups of the milk and 3 tbsp of the sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, cornstarch, and the remaining 2 tbsp sugar. Whisk the remaining 1/4 cup milk into the yolk mixture. Remove the milk mixture from the heat and add a little of the hot milk to the yolk mixture to warm it, whisking constantly to keep the yolks from cooking. Pour the egg yolk mixture into the hot milk mixture, whisking constantly as you pour.

6. Return the custard to the stove and bring it to a boil, whisking constantly. Let the custard cook for 1-2 minutes until it thickens. Add the cream cheese and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Strain the mixture into a clean bowl. Cover the surface with plastic wrap and refrigerate. When it is chilled, whisk the pastry cream until smooth and fold in the whipped cream.

7. To make the blueberry topping, in a medium saucepan , mix 1 cup of the berries with the sugar. Cook over low heat until the berries have all popped and broken down, about 5 minutes. Strain the cooked berries into a bowl and discard the solids. Add the remaining 1.5 cups berries to the cooked syrup and toss to combine.

8. To assemble, spoon the pastry cream into each tart shell and top with 2 tbsp of the berries. Serve soon after assembling.