Croissant

04/05/2023

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 â€“ 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…

Crème Caramel

03/28/2023

CrÃ¨me 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…

Hazelnut Cake Roll

03/23/2023

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…

Dacquoise

03/16/2023

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…

Lemon Meringue Pie

03/07/2023

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…

A plate of food that is on top of a table.

Palmiers

03/01/2023

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…

Raspberry Tart

02/22/2023

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…

A piece of cake on a plate with flowers.

Napoleons

02/14/2023

Napoleons (Mille-Feuilles) are one of the classics of French p¢tisserie and deservedly so. However, those purchased from pastry shops are often a disappointment, with soggy pastry and an overly sweet fondant topping. My version will restore your faith in Napoleons and provide you and your guests with the delightful dessert…