Bar None Pastry is Done!

This week was my final week of my plated desserts and pastry class. Unbelievable how fast another six weeks has gone by and I am thrilled to be taking away tons of valuable information from these classes. My confidence was reconfirmed a few weeks back when I had a "stage" or try-out at a local San Francisco restaurant and they had me making things I wouldn't have had a clue about had I not done it in this pastry class. This class is going to be the basis on which I build my career.

In this class we touched on all of the fundamentals and additionally were given the freedom to try our own recipes, test our creativity and practice a variety of techniques. With the termination of this class we will no longer be baking, as it is on to Chocolate and Confections classes next week--I think I am really going to miss it!

We had only one day of production this week as we had to take our final and clean the kitchen top to bottom. I wanted to make the most of our last opportunity to "experiment" with our own plated desserts and so I made two!

Hazelnut Parfait with Hazelnut Brittle and Chocolate Hazelnut French Macaroons. This dessert had finely crumbled brittle layered between the parfait which was all placed in a water glass and frozen. It was topped with a dollop of whipped cream and garnished with the brittle. There is an enormous misconception about parfait in this country--I'm included! But now that I know the difference I want to spread the knowledge. I think when most of us think of parfait we think of some layered concoction, maybe that yogurt thing they sell at McDonald's that they call a parfait. But really, in the pastry world, a parfait is egg yolk, flavoring and whipped cream folded together and frozen.

With this dessert the French macaroon obsession continues... These were the same recipe as last week, only adding chocolate. I was disappointed that again they turned out cracked on the surface, but admittedly they tasted really good! However, the search continues...

These are my Baked Alaskas before being plated and burned off (toasting the meringue). I had to include this picture in my blog because I love the way these look as pristine white urchin looking things. I think these would make a great presentation at a seafood restaurant.

Spiced Banana and Chocolate Baked Alaska with Caramelized Bananas. I loved this dessert. I thought it looked interesting and it tasted awesome! I was happy with both platings, but really liked the second plating best. I also think the caramelized bananas would be much more enjoyable in smaller pieces.

In one final attempt, I tried a new recipe and new technique to produce the perfect French Macaroon. A classmate shared a recipe from the The American Boulangerie cookbook, which is a bakery here in San Francisco. I also let the cookies sit for 15-20 minutes before baking to form a skin, a technique that I came across in some research. As you can see from the photo, none of this worked and the recipe was the worst out of all that I tired