Posts by Friday Baking Project
Croissant
When someone would ask me to name my favorite thing to bake at my Martha’s Vineyard pastry shop Seven Layers, the answer was easy – Croissant. I absolutely loved the process of making croissant as well as the time of day they were produced. I would arrive at the shop at around 5:30 am, open…
Read MoreCrème Caramel
Crème Caramel is a French baked custard that delights with a silky-smooth texture as well as the wonderful interplay of the caramel with the vanilla infused custard. The smooth texture is the result of its gentle baking in a water bath. The soft caramel on top is derived from lining the souffl© dish with caramel…
Read MoreHazelnut Cake Roll
Quite a few years ago my middle brother and I were guests at a Seder hosted by a dear friend of our mother. Margaret was a lovely woman, an Austrian immigrant, very calm and soft-spoken, and the only one I knew growing up with concentration camp numbers emblazoned on her arm. It was a lovely…
Read MoreItalian Carrot-Pecan Torta
This is a lovely, plain, dairy-free torta (cake in Italian) that makes a very nice Passover seder dessert, although would be welcome at any time of the year. Fresh berries and a fruit sorbet are a perfect accompaniment. For those not concerned about the dairy-free status, a whipped cream and crème fra®che combination also works…
Read MoreDacquoise
For this week’s blog I will discuss the process of designing, testing and refining a cake, from the overall design to the specifics of all the components. Constructing a Dacquoise had been on The Friday Baking Project do-list for some time and with my favorite roasted hazelnut flour around the kitchen from Passover recipe testing,…
Read More
The Friday Baking Project
Chocolate Mousse Torte
PRINT Yield: One 9†pie pan # of Servings: 8 to 10 Ingredients8 oz chocolate1 tsp instant coffee (optional) ¼ cup boiling water2 8 egg yolksâ…“ cup sugar (2.4 oz / 68 g)1 tsp vanilla extract 8 egg whites Pinch saltâ…“ cup sugar (2.4 oz / 68 g) 1 ½ cups heavy cream ¼ cup confectioners’…
Read MoreLemon Meringue Pie
Lemon Meringue Pie is an American classic, and an easy choice for this year’s Pi Day (3/14) pie. In the traditional recipe, where a small mountain of Basic Meringue is spread over a lemon filling, the ratio of meringue to filling is skewed too heavily toward the meringue. Additionally, while the meringue is baked briefly,…
Read MorePalmiers
Palmiers are a delectable example of what the French call Petite Four Sec, which refers to bite-sized cookies, macarons, plain cakes (madeleines, for example), and puff pastries. Properly made Palmiers are buttery, crisp, slightly caramelized, and a lovely sweet to pass around the dinner table with coffee and tea. Making Palmiers at home is pretty…
Read MoreRaspberry Tart
This beautiful free-form raspberry tart, utilizes the same two components as last weeks’ Napoleons; puff pastry and pastry cream. For the tart shell, we roll the dough out to a thin rectangle, cut a large circle, decoratively crimp the edge, and bake it to light golden brown. Once cool it is filled with whipped cream-lightened…
Read MorePuff Pastry
Puff Pastry (Pâte Feuilletée) one of the fundamental pastry doughs, is the flaky, tender, and buttery foundation of innumerable savory and sweet pastries. Placed in the oven, a one-quarter inch thick piece of puff pastry will rise to several times its height. Among the savory uses are towering bouchées (individual patty shells) and vol-au-vent (large…
Read More