Glutton free

So now that I'm home during the day, I watch Martha Stewart. She's kind of a bitch. But she has guests that make food I want to make. One day she had on Erin McKenna, the owner of Babycakes gluten free bakery, and they made these gluten free chocolate chip cookies.


The fat in the recipe is coconut oil, which to me makes this a healthy cookie. I justify anything to mean healthy, but this might actually be. Erin writes in the book that coconut gets stored in the body as energy, not fat. It just looks like shortening.


It also uses evaporated sugar cane instead of processed sugar. It gives a molasses flavor to the cookie, which is interesting.


Erin was insistent on the show that she only uses a spatula to mix the dough. But the coconut oil stayed in lumps, so I had to use a mixer to break those up.


It's really a good cookie. They're a little pricey, but I need to stop shopping at Kroger. I bought some of the ingredients like the gluten free flour at Kroger, and it was much more expensive than I found at Good Earth today. I'd rather shop at the local stores anyway. "It's part of my advocacy."

Best Week Ever with Mr. Hutchinson

Please don't blame me this time for making you hungry. This makes me hungry. The thought of these delicious pastries makes me want to punch the wall they are so good. I'm mad at myself for eating every single one, that I can't go into the kitchen an grab one. They were so huge, one literally crawled out of the sheet tray while baking.

Cinnamon Rolls!

Sticky Buns!

And an obligatory shot of the cinnamon rolls.

Sorbet

We had made bases for sorbets, one passion fruit syrup and one blackberry syrup. The next week we focused on garnishes while the sorbets churned. My team played with spun sugar. It's a really hot syrup that you throw to make threads of sugar. You can use a mold to make cages like this.


Or, dip almonds in the syrup and make little almond jousting sticks.


It's amazing to see the sorbet churning in the ice cream machine, going from a liquid to a creamy solid.



Chef suggested a black sesame seed brittle that would compliment the passion fruit sorbet. It can be shaped when warm and hardens. It looked like shingles.


We didn't have luck with the original spirals we created, so at the last minute I cut these triangles and put them in the sorbet. But then another group member made spirals and threw those on there, too.


And we had both the jousting almonds and the sugar cages, so my thought was "cage match!"


But Chef thought it was too much. It was a blow to my inner architect. I know it was too much, but in the minutes before presentation, there are 4 opinions being thrown out there. Plus, it's not important. It's ok that Chef doesn't like it. We're learning.

Intro to Baking Midterm Practical Exam

We had to make recipes from earlier in the quarter without asking questions.


Chocolate chip cookies, without the chips. Toffee chips make it just as good.


Lemon meringue pie, this time with an awesome crust made with vodka.


The oatmeal bars, also with toffee chips instead of chocolate chips.

Bavarian Cream

Bavarian cream is a pastry cream thickened with gelatin and then molded and chilled.
For our mold, we've cooked some apples and are placing them in the mold to laminate them in the bavarian cream.


For garnish, my team is making tuile cookies, which can be shaped and taste like a waffle cone.



The tuile was twisted into spirals, then we made a creamy caramel to pour on the plate under the bavarian cream.

I wish Pushing Daisies hadn't been canceled...

Because I love pie.


Apple pie, coconut cream pie, and lemon meringue.


And pecan pie.


The lemon didn't set up enough after baking the meringue, but it was delicious. The crust was a little salty, and really fatty.

Happy Bridal Shower, Little Sister

I threw a bridal shower for my sister, and I only took pictures of the food. One track mind.





I had grand plans for these cupcakes and little bug cakes. But my skills don't pay the bills yet. Which is why I told my sister I couldn't make her wedding cake. She didn't ask, her fiance did. But she's had birthday cakes made by these hands, and knew better.


This is what I wanted to do, an idea I got from http://ovenhaven.wordpress.com/ But my piping isn't that neat yet. It was good practice, though! The Williams Sonoma bugs cake pan showed the cutest decorations on the box, but I think my sister and I did a pretty good job