This indulgent White Chocolate Mocha Cheesecake is exceptional. White chocolate, coffee and an ingredient no one will guess impart a creamy luxuriousness with a flavor that lingers after the last bite. I modeled this cheesecake after the top layer of the Tri-Chocolate Pate that also uses Maderia as its undetectable, but most important flavoring. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Dessert
Chocolate Truffle Raspberry Curd Tart
This elegant Chocolate Truffle Raspberry Curd Tart is actually really easy to make. While it’s true there is no baking, the raspberry curd does have to be made ahead, even a week or better yet, make it and freeze it. Continue reading
Raspberry Mascarpone Tarte Tropezienne
There’s a marvelous story about how Tarte Tropezienne came about as told by Dorie Greenspan. It’s worth the read and I encourage you to take a look. However, I don’t use her recipe. I use my Sixty Second Brioche which goes together so much faster without burning out the motor of your mixer. Continue reading
How to Make Lemon Curd
Due to the confusion over adding the gelatin in last week’s blog, I thought it might be a good idea to post a complete tutorial on Lemon Curd. This actually applies to most curds I have made with the exception of the Cranberry Curd which does not need a boost from gelatin because it has a lot of natural pectin which sets it.
When I first started making large batches of Lemon Curd at the bakery, we piped it into small pastry cups for petit fours. I noticed that towards the end of each piping bag, it would lose its stiffness. So I started adding a bit of gelatin to help keep it stable and allow it to keep its shape when piped. I find it makes all the difference in the world and use it in all of my curds today. Continue reading
Stuffed (or Not) Kouign Amann
One of the best descriptions I’ve read of Kouign Amann comes from Chef Steps: “These salty, buttery pastries hail from the coastal region of Brittany, in the northwest corner of France, where Celtic Breton tradition has prevailed since the great migration across the English Channel during the fifth and sixth centuries. It looks just like you might imagine a Celtic colony on the seacoast of France would: towering bluffs dropping straight into the sea; tiny stone houses dotting the emerald countryside; slate-colored steeples rising into the morning mist. The region is best known for its vast salt flats, where the coveted finishing salt, fleur de sel, is harvested. Here, tucked into wandering village streets, bakeries hawk this much-lauded pastry treasure, whose name literally means “butter cake” in Breton.”
Kouign Amann (pronounced Queen-ah-mann) belongs to the laminated dough family in baking. A croissant like yeast dough is layered with butter and coated with sugar to produce a crunchy, sweet, caramelized pastry that some say is a breakfast pastry and some say is dessert. I could eat them all day long and not care a wit about what time it is! Continue reading
