Secrets of the pate a choux

It pastry class on Wednesday we made Eclairs! Also known as pate a choux. Along with cream puffs and what our french teacher called "nuns" I have no idea why. We filled the eclairs with chocolate mousse but our recipe ended up like chocolate pudding...result was very messy. Also we used fondant for the topping. Now time for the honesty, in European cakes means you have already at least taken Baking and Pastry classes. The class has made pastry cream a million times before you reach this class, yet for some reason everyone always burns thier pastry cream to where they have little chunks of cooked eggs in there. Let me tell you a secret...STRAIN IT! Even if the teach says dont strain it (which has happened), its all about your instincts. Do you want chunks of that in your mouth? No! So do what you think is best. I know some rules are the chef is always right but if you can fix it why not do it? Also another secret to Pate a choux...mix it until THREADS if you make it all the time you know what I mean. Theres a science of water to egg ratio and if there are not enough eggs added and you pipe it and bake it, it turns out a deformed poof ball. Looks unattractive and doesnt keep its shape. Buttercream was also used on the Nuns, buttercream is basically a meringue with cubes of butter added. But oh yes! There is a secret to that too, if you add the butter too soon the whole thing gets soupy and liquidy. Why? because when you add the hot liquid to beaten egg whites the hot liquid needs to cool way down before you add the butter. The butter will melt otherwise, seems like that would make sense right? Well if your product does end up soupy theres an easy fix. Stick it in the fridge so the butter will harden again. Before using, whip it again.

Nuns (Cream puffs filled w/pastry cream)

Eclairs (Pate a choux)

Week 2 Breads/European cakes

(Sigh) Week 2 is a sigh of relief. Everyone relaxes and gets into the groove of the kitchen. Teams form and bonds are made and everyone can relax unlike week 1 where everyone has to establish theirselves and who wants to lead or has the upper hand. Week 1 is exhausting, and the products show it I think. This week however, all products turned out nicely as shown. Continuing on with pullman loaves these came out exceptionally well. I love this picture.

It looks like a bread door. "Knock, Knock," Whos there? A delicious perfectly golden piece of bread.

A mountain of these things is just heaven. I could make a bed of these loaves and float around on just the aroma of how good these smell.
As for European cakes we did alot of building. Yes, building. The building of cakes and the spackling of mousse and the painting of paste. We are the contractors of food. The result, a perfect work of art.

A passion fruit mousse cake with coconut daquoise and vanilla joconde. Passion fruit glaze and an assortment of fresh fruits as eye candy. When this cake came together I thought to myself, I could paint the paste (orange stripes) any design I wanted to. As long as the customer liked mousse and daquoise, hell I could even put ladyfinges instead and pass it off as a birthday cake. For example, say I was doing a little girls cake, I could paint bows or do stripes of purple, and then the joconde could be pink. Make it simple and do chocolate mousse with ladyfingers. How delighted would someone be to get a unique cake like that...I would be at least.

Buttercream vs. Royal

Two rivals of the cookie toppings. At one corner Buttercream, winning taste then over all look on a cookie and at the other corner Royal icing winning look over taste. I guess it al depends on the preference or who these cookies are for. I tried both out on my three year old and of course a cookie is a cookie whether its overpoweringly sweet or not. As for adults the one to always win is the buttercream, adults go for mouthfeel as well as taste and royal icing is just too sweet. However, both win over store bought cookies anyday. I can always taste the flavoring they put in and whatever unhealthy ingredient they put in there so it doesnt taste like a natural cookie out of my oven would. Who wins in your eyes?
Buttercream icing: yield 6 cookies
1 stick of salted butter
2/3 c sifted powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
(your choice) food coloring

Trail Run Cookies

Buying those sugar cookies at the grocery store always end up with a weird texture in your mouth and a sugary coma of whatever that icing is made of after. They look cute but taste gross so I decided to make my own. I only made 5 to see how I like the royal icing..and the result is the same. So buttercream is the next batch I will try out. Royal icing is good for decorating but buttercream tastes better. My concerns with buttercream is the consistency, it seems like after awhile the buttercream will smear and be messy and not stay on the cookie. I will have to find a balance.