playing catch up

Well the class I missed in pastry techniques was a doozy - one of the fundamentals I just can't continue without - cooking sugar.  And more importantly (to me), making caramel.  I love caramel, and I have always wanted to learn how to make it, but the idea of cooking sugar has always intimidated me.  If you don't know the story, I set the kitchen of my college apartment on fire trying to teach myself to fry chicken (we're talking full out, cautionary-video grease fire, burnt cabinets, melted microwave, and black ceiling until we moved out), and I have been nervous to try new, dangerous techniques ever since.  I didn't expect any flames, but the super high temperatures of cooking sugar combined with how easy it is to screw up kept me from experimenting at home.  I was holding out to learn how to do it the right way in school...alas, things happen and plans don't always work out. 

Cooling the creamy caramel sauce

But luckily I have some great friends at school, and an extra awesome one took time out of her Saturday to come help me repeat the recipes they did in class while I was gone.  It was surprisingly easy!  Well, I did have someone there to say, "yup, that's what its supposed to look like," etc. - otherwise I would have been lost.  And the caramel was delicious!




Salted Soft Caramels




Almond Nougatine




Caramel Cream Tart - Chocolate Short Dough Crust, layer of Whipped Caramel Cream, layer of Creamy Caramel Sauce, layer of Whipped Caramel Cream, and finally a drizzle of Master Ganache.... WOW!

 So we figured out the hard part - but I guess I wasted all my brain power on the tough stuff, because by the time we were ready to do the easiest part (assemble tarts), I was a hot mess.  I can't even remember all the things I dropped, spilled, etc, but I do have a picture of one of the best moments.  I made sure to stock all the ingredients we needed, and get all of my tools ready, but I forgot one thing.  I didn't have any dry beans to blind-bake the tart crusts.  So we scoured my pantry and decided some dry pasta shells were our best bet (even though they are half of my favorite dish ever and it was painful to part with them).  Bad idea - pasta burns in the oven.  It also wasn't quite heavy enough.  And to make matters worse, some of it spilled out of the parchment into the tart, and I had the bright idea to turn the tart upside down to dump them out onto the counter.  Well, I forgot that tart pans aren't exactly designed that way - so I ended up with one tart completely ruined, upside down on the counter.  Luckily we still had one for each of us and Trev to taste! 

SPLAT.

All in all, it was a great learning experience.  Now I know how to make caramel from scratch and will be doing it often.  I will also invest in some beans for baking immediately.  And adventures in the kitchen are always more fun with a friend, thanks again Elle!

I also had to make up the icebox cookies I missed in cookies class - but no great hardship because they were super yummy and it was Super Bowl Sunday, so I had a good excuse to give them away.  This recipe had very few ingredients and was fairly easy, so if anybody is looking for an impressive and different cookie recipe, let me know!

Cinnamon bun cookies

I also tried out another cookie recipe that I found on Pinterest and was immediately intrigued by.  It had two ingredients - one box of angel food cake mix and 3/4 cup of strawberry jam.  Now I am absolutely not a box cake person, but I happened to have one box of angel food cake mix in the pantry that had been on a really good sale.  And in all honesty, now that I have made it from scratch, that might be the one recipe where I cheat and use a box - it is crazy easy, way cheaper, and the finished product is just as good. 

But I was shocked when I really didn't love these cookies all that much.  Sure they were tasty, but for some reason when I read the description, I thought they were going to be out-of-this-world.  Meh. 


Now I have to get started on all the homework I have been avoiding....