Just Desserts.

For the last week, we've been doing plated desserts. And they went a little something, like this:

Tiramisu













We soaked lady finger cookies in coffee syrup and brandy, layered them with mascarpone filling, and topped it off with a dusting of cocoa powder . Then, we wrapped that in tempered dark chocolate in which we had written "Tiramisu" in white chocolate. There's a tempered chocolate filigree, and cigarette garnish on top and a dark chocolate loop-d-loop with raspberry coulis in the loops. Simply delicious. And quite fancy if I do say so myself!

Lemon Semifreddo













This was, no question, one of my favorite desserts of the class. We made an Italian meringue by pouring 240º melted sugar into whipped egg whites, adding lemon juice, and folding that into whipped cream. Then, it went into the freezer overnight. The next morning we pulled it out and into the fridge about 20 minutes before service so it would just begin to thaw - so it would be semi-frozen (Get it?). Surrounded by raspberry coulis and fresh raspberries. Good grief! It was GLORIOUS!!!!!

Vanilla Panna Cotta













I was not super-pumped about the particular flavor of this dessert, but I can see lots of potential for other flavors. It's just milk, cream, sugar, vanilla and gelatin. Basically, a semi-solid milk pudding. A little boring, but like I said, go crazy with flavors and (like they do at Uchi) frozen fruit puree fillings. This is garnished with, again, raspberry coulis and a florentine shard.

Florentine with Raspberry Sorbet













This florentine cookie is just ridiculously easy and DELICIOUS!!!! It turns out almost just like brittle. You bring sugar, corn syrup, and butter to a boil. Take it off the heat and add pastry flour and sliced almonds. Spoon about a tablespoon onto parchment on a cookies sheet (it will spread to about a 4-5" circle). Bake until golden. When it comes out, let it sit for just a second to start to cool, then place it over a small ramekin and let cool to make a cookie bowl. You can wrap it around all kinds of stuff to make all kinds of shapes. It's a really cool cookie.

Chocolat Mousse













If you've got a special lady friend that likes chocolate, shoot me a message, I'll get you this recipe, and you'll never have to buy jewelry or do the laundry ever again. This stuff is a guaranteed lady killer. We piped it into a tempered chocolate "bowl" (we dipped a balloon in the chocolate, let it cool, and popped the balloon), and garnished it with filigrees, piped chocolate loops filled with raspberry coulis, and a chocolate cigarette. That was all filler, the mousse was the killer.

Bread Puddin'













Remember when we made brioche 4 weeks ago? Well, we froze the extra and today, we thawed it. It got cut into bite-size pieces and soaked with a super rich rummy egg custard. We added golden raisins and baked it for 45 minutes in a convection oven. Served with a side of creme anglaise (which would've been better with bourbon), this was awesome. Be prepared to see a lot of this in the future. It's a great application for left over bread and ...... DONUTS!!!!

Last week we made some real fancy stuff. Pate a choux and hard caramel and stuff like that. Included in that last was lemon mousse pastry swans. "Chef, can we make crazy swans?" was the question asked by a classmate of mine. "No. No freak swans, please." Matt and I made a Lake Springfield swan any way. Meet Merle:

















He's a two-headed, lemon mousse-filled swan. Isnt' he lovely? Natalie Portman ain't got nothin' on Merle!

See ya next time!