So Thursday night was Book Club. I have missed it for two months and was eagerly looking forward to catching up with some great girls. We use the current book to influence the food item we bring each time. I love this because it's a great excuse to try new recipes but I also appreciate the acceptance of showing up with something simple if you've had a crazy week...This month we read "My Life in France" by Julia Childs. An interesting read coupled with intimidating fare. Have you read that book? It makes your mouth water at all the crazy prep going into the art of cooking: hang drying the local venison in her window wrapped in liver and herbs, then slow roasting it to provide a succulent broth that will be used to cook the duck... and so on and so forth until they eat some amazing meal five days later. Sheesh! After reading that I was about to bring some 'fronch'* fries (and to drink, Peru!) but after talking to my sis-in-law Amy (i.e. French food expert) about something easy, she suggested éclairs.
And then I remembered this dessert from Martha in December and by dang I was going to give it a go. It was éclairs + 1 extra step: the caramel.
Let me tell you, friends... it was a piece of cake to do. And does that look impressive or what? I share this to inspire you all to try it yourself. The dough takes 5 minutes to make, the puffs bake up, you fill them with fresh whipped cream (a little vanilla & powdered sugar {I skipped Martha's caramel filling}), squeeze that inside puffs eating every other one as you go. Oui. I did. Done in no time flat and easier than cupcakes (and tastes MAGNIFIQUE). The caramel part was easy as well, though I over cooked the first batch making it too hard to coat the paté a choux pastries so I doodled with drizzles on parchment paper and made those swirls and swoops that I stuck on at the end. Like that little béret at the top? Nice.
Anyway, I wanted to share my fun experiment. Sugar is super fun. Sugar is your friend!
My creative time has been lacking lately and I think this burst of expression reveals that I need to focus on that some more. Geek alert!
(*Obviously I have practically mastered the french language. Don't be jealous. The mess of typos and incorrect punctuation are intentional to make the reader feel less inadequate to my splendid savoir faire**)
(**Total BS)
Some misc. recent hi-lights: My good friend Liz from my San Francisco days came through town so Scott and I lunched with her & her husband. So great to see them. And Brandon & Jackie the week before that! And just as I promised, Friday- at the end of Earth 'week', I loaded the kids bikes to the park and tried to get them to ride. The odds worked out well. Luke did it!!!! And Elliet is almost there. Sadie collapsed in frustrated tears but I probably shouldn't be trying to teach three kids at once so I'll get her this week. Hooray!
6 comments:
C'est magnifique! I am totally going to try this...
wow, this looks so impressive. Some women in our neighborhood, have what we call Iron chief Bountiful. We get together once a month and we each cook something that goes along with the monthly theme ingredient. We have trophies and we just added in a presentation trophy. I am totally going to have to save this idea for when it fits with the theme.
So if you hadn't over cooked the caramel, would you have been able to make the swirls with just a regular batch?
Aim- there was barely enough caramel to coat this one croquembouche, so I would double that recipe if you try doodles from the same batch. The designs may be a bit more fragile from a lower 'hardening' stage... but it still turned crunchy on the pastries so it may work. Have fun!
I loved that book and am SO impressed by your mad pastry chef skills. You continue to amaze. Can I come to the next book club?
I loved that book and am SO impressed by your mad pastry chef skills. You continue to amaze. Can I come to the next book club?
That is awesome!! You have to bring it to recipe club next time :)
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