Looks like it’s going to be a good weekend. Ya know, one thing I’ve discovered this past week is just how difficult ice cream photography is. No wonder the pros use colored Crisco (how long would the real thing last under all those hot lights, I ask you?).
READ ONCream horns. Boy do people ever overdo it with cream horns. You see them stuffed with all kinds of crazy things: custards, curds, puddings, cream cheese, marscapone, jams and mousses. What ever happened to the cream? But then what ever happened to the horn? Why are nearly all cream horn shells made from puff pastry […]
READ ONThere isn’t much from what I can dig up, except to say that the name means tile, the clear reference being to old world clay roofing tiles. Similar tile-shaped cookies in Spain and Italy are called tejas and tegolinos respectively. Age-wise, there’s nothing in the standard literature to indicate when they became popular. My guess […]
READ ONI remember my first encounter with a tuile. I was roughly ten. My family had received a box of the delicate little things as a Christmas gift from one of the neighbors. We placed it on the pile of food loot that accumulated in one corner of the kitchen counter each year…a heap of goodies […]
READ ONYes, yes it’s true that I do indeed use imitation vanilla more often than any other type of vanilla. Why? Well, many of you out there may remember about eight years ago when Cooks Illustrated released the results of a blind taste test in which a panel of bakers and pastry chefs picked imitation vanilla over real vanilla as being more vanilla-y in applications like cookies and cakes. I was amused by that but never really believed it until one fateful month when my revenues were down and I couldn’t quite rationalize another $120 jug of real vanilla emulsion. I felt guilty, but I ordered a $29 jug of imitation vanilla instead and put some of it in my doughnuts.
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Ice cream cones are essentially tuiles…thin, sugar-rich cookies that can be molded into different shapes when they’re hot. I say this a lot, but they’re simple to make and they taste great. Oh, and did I mention that they take about twenty minutes from start to finish? Start by preheating your oven to 350. Combine your egg whites, sugar and vanilla in a bowl.
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There’s a fussiness to Dobos torte layers that’s annoying to some, a delight to others. If you’re the type that enjoys a couple of hours alone in the kitchen, carefully applying batter to sheets of foil and baking and trimming each one to perfection, this job is for you. If not, well, may I suggest a nice pie this weekend?
READ ONAre the tuile rabbit ears too much? Maybe. It was a boring photograph without them, it needed something. Anyway, as I way saying last week, this sorbet is not what people expect from sorbets. It’s creamy, almost silky smooth. Not quite as smooth as a chocolate ice cream, but darn close. And it’s dairy free! […]
READ ONIt’s nothing you can’t get off the Brennan’s web site, but then I try to make joepastry.com a one-stop shop. I generally cut this recipe in half, which is plenty for 2-3 people. ½ stick butter 1 cup brown sugar ½ teaspoon cinnamon ¼ cup banana liqueur 4 bananas, cut in half lengthwise, then halved […]
READ ONLet’s be honest, as bakers there are the sweets we’re supposed to love with a great passion (perfect éclairs and chocolate croissants, crispy, citrus-scented tuiles and Hermé macarons) and then the sweets we really do love with a great passion. This is mine, at least when the weather is warm: ice cold home-canned peaches just […]
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