Category: Pastry

Great Northern Berry

The strawberry is one of those (faux) fruits that humans in the Northern Hemisphere have been eating for a long, long time. It’s indigenous to just about everywhere north of the equator and south of the arctic circle, from eastern China all the way around to the California coast. Some linguists believe that the word “strawberry” itself has been in use for some 6,000 years, a combination of two Indo-European root words “berry” (which means “bright” or “shiny”), and “straw” (which means “scattered” or “strewn”, a possible reference to the fact that the strawberry plant spreads via runners).

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Dr. Annie’s Chocolate Mousse

Reader Annie, Ph.D., writes:

I have a chocolate mousse recipe that I’m really struggling with and that I so want to master! To melted chocolate I beat in some egg whites that have been whisked to the firm peaks stage before folding in the remainder of the egg whites. The chocolate turns into a thick paste as soon as I start whisking in the egg whites EVERY time! I am then unable to incorporate the egg whites into the chocolate without folding and folding until I have no bubbles left in my mousse. Please help!

Problem understood! That little bit of water (from the whites) is causing the chocolate solids in the recipe to swell, get sticky and clump. The cure for that is more water which creates more syrup and helps the chocolate solids flow again. So you can try stirring more whites to get the mixture to loosen to the point that you can start folding. However…

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Strawberries: The False Fruit

Imagine how betrayed I felt when I discovered that the strawberries I’d known and cherished all my life weren’t really berries at all. They weren’t even technically fruit. Alright! I cried out in the middle of the produce aisle, what ELSE have you been hiding from me all these years???

A strawberry is certainly no vegetable, but what makes it so unusual is that it carries its seeds on the outside. Most types of berries we know today (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and the like) carry them on the inside. Just like an ovary — and in fact berries are plant ovaries — the critical bits of regenerative matter are kept protected in the interior.

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What is Crème Mousseline?

Those of you who have a hang-up about dietary fat, plug your ears. Classic crème mousseline is a 2-1 (by volume) mixture of pastry cream and cool butter, whipped together into a rich, silky foam. It could only have been invented by the French, God love those people. If you want you can substitute stabilized […]

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Next Up: Fraisier

Seasonal who? Locally sourced what? This classic strawberry “cake” is usually made in the springtime for reasons that should be obvious. However the strawberries at our local supermarket are so good right now I don’t feel a speck of guilt about making good on reader Kelli’s request from, what, five months ago? Let’s do this […]

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Stock Up On Vanilla for the Holidays

Reader Rainey writes:

Costco is stocking their seasonal stash of Madagascar Bourbon vanilla beans. They sell 10 of them for $12. They come in a couple glass test tubes which I find wonderfully convenient for that trick of nipping off one end and plunging the cut end into about 1″ of vodka. Once emptied they’re also useful for gifting a bit of vanilla sugar with one of the empty pods cached inside.

Informative AND educational. Thanks, Rainey!

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What are the best apples for caramel apples?

Great question, reader Pip, if that IS your real name. Silly of me not to post about it before. In general you want to use the same sorts of apples you use for other baking baking applications: firm, crispy and flavorful. I think red apples are best for candying: gala, fuji, cameo, pink lady, Jonathans. For caramel apples, the Granny Smith is the ultimate in my book, but Golden Delicious and Jonagold work well if tartness isn’t your thing. Really any of the red candy apple varieties work too.

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