I know it has been a while since Iv'e made anything but I'm going to make something very soon. I'm going to make and chocolate sponge cake with a strawberry wreath. It's hard because of school, but I'm trying hard to get back on it.

Chocolate Mousse

I've been busy baking, but too busy with school to update my blog. I'm here now to tell you about the chocolate mousse I made a few days ago. It was absolutely delicious! The first step is to chop up chocolate. I used sweet dark chocolate and a little milk ,chocolate. Next, I melted it over a Bain-Marie ( double boiler.) Once the chocolate melted; I took it off the heat, but kept it warm. While that kept warm, I whipped my heavy cream to soft peaks and then set it to the side. I combined whipped eggs (yolks and whites) with sugar until it was fluffy. I Slowly combined the egg mixture with the chocolate and folded in the whipped cream with the chocolate and eggs. After it was combined, I let it set up in the fridge over night. It was so soft and fluffy. The editor said it was scrumptious! She was mad she couldn't eat more because of her weight watchers diet. I shared the majority of it with my neighbors because the editor thought she might eat all for a midnight snack. This chocolate mousse was by far the sweetest, best dessert I have made! Everyone should know how to make it.

PS. I've baked some other things too. I'll write about them this week. The cutest thing I made was spaghetti and meatball cupcakes for my cousin Payton's birthday!

Madeleines

I'm back from my weekend getaway! I've been spending the past couple days looking through my 2 ton cook book that finally arrived! I am already learning a lot. I learned how to make Madeleines (the editor's favorite cookie.) I also learned how to blanch almonds and prepare Beurre Noisette (in other words brown butter.) The brown butter separated, as it should, and the milk proteins crystallized. It smelled like delicious caramel. When I blanched my almonds, I boiled them in hot water for five minutes, then I took the almonds and pinched them between my fingers and the skins shot off. :)

After I did that, I mixed cake and bread flour with granulated sugar. I added that mixture and the Beurre Noisette to the eggs. Then I added the secret ingredient that gives Madeleines their scrumdiliumptious flavor....Orange Flower Water (That's A. Monteux Flower Water from France.) Then I put the batter in the refrigerator for an hour. After an hour, I put the batter in a madeleine pan and baked at 450 for 8 minutes (as the book said to.) The first batch burned; So, I raised the pan up one rack. The second batch was OK, but not perfect. So, I turned the heat down to 400. The third batch burned slightly, so I lessened the cooking time to 7 minutes. The last batch was absolutely PERFECT! That's my Madeleine story; hope you enjoyed it. By the way one Madeleine is three points on Weight Watchers. Pictures coming soon.

From crapola to 'crepe'ola

Tonight, I made the most delicious concoction I've ever made, out of the two things that I have made in the past, but never put together. The mysterious dessert is Cornets De Murat (Cream Horns.) I got this recipe from France The Beautiful Cook Book. Basically, they are crepes filled with whipped cream, served with fresh berries.

The first thing I did was separate six eggs. It was the first egg that I ever separated without Dad's help, so I got all the yolk in it. So, I separated another egg and the yolk fell into my hands...so all the whites fell into the bowl, exactly where I wanted them. :) :) After I seperated the eggs, I whisked them with a fork until they became frothy like spit. :p Then I added the caster sugar that I made yesterday. After I added the sugar, I sifted flour into the mixture and stirred. The recipe calls for Dark Rum, but we didn't have any; so we substituted with a secret ingredient. ;) ;) Then we formed circles on a baking pan and put it in the oven at 350 degrees, baked for 8 minutes.

While the batter was baking, I whipped some cream. I used organic cream . I whipped three times as much cream as I did the other day, and it took me the same amount of time. That is because this organic cream has a higher fat content. It whips faster! I put vanilla extract and sugar in while I was whipping. I would have use the vanilla sugar that I made, but it isn't ready yet. I will be using that in future recipes. It will be so tasty. I bought vanilla beans at the farmers market that were imported from Madagascar. I sliced them opened, scraped out the seeds (saved them of course) and put the pods in a bag of organic sugar. It will be flavored beutifully in about two weeks. Thanks Alton Brown for the advice! Anyway, my whipped cream was subtly sweet....just perfect!

After my batter was done cooking, The Editor and I rolled them into ice cream cone shapes. The first ones were not so pretty AT ALL, actually hideously crappy, but they got better looking as I made them. After about 4 they finally resembled a crepe! I made a black berry syrup to go with the yummy dessert, and I sprinkled raspberries around it.

As I was making it, The Editor terrified me and said," Be careful, the boiling sugar can burn into your skin, and then you will have to go to the hospital and have your skin pealed off." Fun stuff.

We'll be going out of town, so I won't be able to cook or blog for a few days. :( :(
Well, got to go! I'm going to have a big glass of milk now. See you on Monday. Hopefully my secret ingredient from France and my book will be here by then.

Sugar and all its textures

This morning, I made Caster Sugar. It took me three batches in the spice grinder to get the right texture of the sugar. At least, I think it is right. Note self: Always make sure that the grinder is dry or the sugar will stick together and get all clumpy.

Later today, The Editor, formally known as mom, is taking me to the farmers market to buy caster sugar. I'm going to compare them to make sure that I have the right texture. Also, I need to get a vanilla bean and double cream if I can find it. Double cream is the English version of our heavy whipping cream. It is about 48% FAT content compared to our 38% content. Yummy! I'm making something sweet and creamy for dessert.

Footnote: Caster Sugar is finer than granulated, but not as fine as powdered sugar. :)

whip it, whip it real good

I am waiting for my book to arrive, but am excited to get started baking. So, I thought I would do something simple today. Mom suggested I make whipped cream. It was much easier then I thought it would be. This morning, we went to the store and bought heavy whipping cream and fresh strawberries. The first rule my dad taught me is that you have to work in a clean kitchen. I whipped a half cup of cream with my wisk in a copper bowl with an ice bath beneath it. My dad showed me how to whip the cream in a figure eight, and every once in a while to turn the bowl half a turn. I was whipping about ten minutes, but I whipped slowly. Mom said I will get faster with more practice. My whipped cream was nice and sweet because I added three table spoons of sugar to my cream. If I would not have added sugar it would have a bland taste. You would probably want to eat unsweetened whipped cream with something super sweet. For example: an apple tart with caramel sauce or peach cobbler. Alex, my brother, whipped his cream into butter. His arms didn't get tired like mine did, because he cheated and used an electric mixer. His butter was a little too salty for my taste, but I still think he did a good job. Well that's my whipped cream experience. My book should arrive on Wednesday, and then I can really get started.