Chocolate Eclairs

Week 7 | 3.29.2010

Let’s talk eclairs. I love eclairs. I don’t remember how I first came across them – something along the lines of my mom bringing home a fancy treat for us kids to try…

Not all eclairs are made equal. The variations appear in endless combinations of cream-filled ugh, and custard-filled, chocolate or vanilla, glazed with fondant or glazed with ganache, skinny and fat forms… A few years ago I scouted out a perfect eclair, a pretty stellar creation from the iconic Tartine Bakery of the SF Mission district. Puffy, eggy choux dough, runny vanilla custard, thick and dense dark ganache, and a sprinkling of cocoa for some glamor.

20-Hour Apple & Spiced Bavarian Cake

Week 6 | 3.24.2010

I slept poorly last night, and it was entirely my own doing.

I was tempted by Pierre Herme’s 20-hour apple recipe – thinly sliced apples are layered with melted butter, sugar & spices and baked for 10 hours at the lowest possible oven setting. [The remaining 10 hours are for chilling the apples to achieve the proper consistency, i.e. melty]. I didn’t want to be oven-handicapped, particularly since I was planning on baking bread and cookies…, so I planned for most of the baking to happen overnight.

New Indie Bakery!

A mention from BumblebeeLabs dinner party review from last Saturday. My pithiviers from last week made it onto the dessert menu =D

“Luckily for me, I wasn’t in charge of the dessert course. One of the guests is friends with the founder of Bakery Bites, this awesome indie bakery in Berkeley. The concept is every week, they make a different bakery treat and sell them through their website. These were pretty awesome and it was great that I didn’t have to think about dessert.”

Buttermilk Custard Tartlette

Week 5 | 3.18.2010

Has it already been a month? Focusing on making one item each week is wonderful. I look forward to Thursday mornings when I sample a freshly baked up treat of the week that you guys will enjoy later that day.

Silky custard pie. That sounds like a tasty mouthful. I mentioned a few weeks ago that tarts are one of my favorite desserts. I used to be a cake person – chocolate ganache cakes and vanilla sponge with cream and fresh fruits for my birthdays. But my sister’s birthday request was always the same fresh fruit and custard tart. She was onto something way before I was. So let’s turn this tangy traditional Southern pie into a tart.

Chocolate Pistachio Pithiviers

Week 4 | 3.11.2010

I baked up a pithivier to send to my sister last week so the finished product can be viewed ahead of time!

Candied Lemon Oat Scones

Week 3 | 3.4.2010

The lemon zest has been candied and this week’s treats are in the works. I noticed these organic lemons from (Twin Girls Farm) at the market for only slightly more than regular ones. Zest, candy, lemons…organic is a good way to go this time around. Lemon zest on the left, cocktail grapefruit on the right.

Orange Chocolate Ganache Tarts

Week 2 | 2.25.2010

I came across something nice, dark chocolate and orange, and decided I wanted some in one of my favorite dessert forms – a tart. My original idea was to fill a sweet pastry crust with chocolate ganache that was flavored with zest and some orange syrup from candying orange peel earlier on.