Leave it to the French to find a way to make one of the richest preparations in all of pastrydom even richer. How do they do that? By employing egg yolks in their classic buttercream instead of an egg white foam. What impact does this have on taste and texture? As you’d expect it makes […]
READ ONLooks a lot like Italian meringue buttercream doesn’t it? In fact it is very similar, though a bit denser. Like Italian buttercream, it’s excellent both for spreading and piping, since (as you can see) it stands up quite well on its own. The advantage SMBC has over IMBC is that it’s somewhat easier to make, […]
READ ONThose who claim buttercreams are too rich, too heavy and too “buttery” have probably never tried a meringue buttercream. This Italian-style meringue buttercream is light and delicate on the tongue, with a butter flavor that can be drastically de-emphasized (though it’s beyond me why you’d want to) with flavorings. Italian buttercream is the more durable […]
READ ONNow THAT’s what I call a caramel sauce. Deep dark and lip-smackingly bitter-sweet. Perfect for a home-made caramel ice cream or a batch of caramel-pumpkin bars. Of course not everybody likes their caramel this dark and smoky. To me, though, those people are nuts. Of course nobody’s saying you have to cook yours this long. […]
READ ONHere’s a standard brioche dough that will make twelve 1.6-ounce brioche à têtes, one single loaf, or a batch of cinnamon (a.k.a. “sticky”) buns. Start by putting into a bowl: 2 tablespoons milk 1 tablespoon sugar 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast 3 ounces all-purpose flour 1 egg Stir all of it together withe a fork until […]
READ ONHere’s a classic sweet cream cheese filling for Danishes or coffee cakes. The filling is simplicity itself, something that I almost always just improvise. The rough proportions are as follows: 8 ounces cream cheese 1/4 cup sugar 1 egg yolk 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon lemon juice Sometimes I’ll add a little lemon or […]
READ ONHere’s a nice Danish-style pastry dough that works as well for coffee cakes as it does for Danishes. And mark my words, this tastes as close to the real thing as we can get in the States. A mighty viking woman I once had the honor of knowing (until, sadly, she died two years ago) […]
READ ONFor those of you who find it impossible to believe that tomatoes can work as a sweet, I urge you to try this recipe. Not just because it’s delicious, but because it unfailingly simmers down to just the right consistency…no need to check for “gelling” like you do with standard fruit jams. Believe me, you […]
READ ONThose of you who’ve made pastry cream before will likely recognize this process, for indeed the steps are almost identical — especially since I’m making vanilla bean instead of peach (what can I say, I waited too long and they rotted…oh well!). Start by splitting your vanilla bean in twain like so: Scrape out the […]
READ ONI can already see the list of emails in my in box complaining about the complexity of this technique. Pie dough, at least for most people, should be a simple operation. All I can say is, first, that it’s really not all that complicated, and second, that this is the method that gives me the […]
READ ON