Chocolate Orange Macarons

I've been wanting to make macarons for a while now.  If I ever go into business, I want to make cheesecakes, macarons and biscotti.  So it's about time I start practicing the macarons since I have the other two almost memorized.  I am so excited that my first batch turned out so well!  My filling is a little gooey from being in the sun in this picture though. Otherwise, they were almost identical to the ones my husband and I were lucky enough to enjoy on our honeymoon:

One of my missions in Paris was to get to Laduree and get their famous macarons.  After running up and down the Champs-Elysees with only half an hour until it's closing time, Joe and I asked any Parisian we could to help get us there.  We made it and were rewarded with some awesome macarons.

I can't wait to start making other flavors and perfecting the skill of making these wonderful cookies.
Recipe from Bon Appetit.

Turtle Cheesecake

I made this glorious cheesecake back in April for my mom's birthday.  I love making cheesecakes more than any other dessert.  I've made this before and have no idea where I got the recipe from.  In the past though, I used store bought caramel.  This time I made my own and it was so much better.  I didn't even think that was possible!

Crème Brûlée

Happy belated Easter/Passover and Happy Spring to you all!  I had a wonderful dinner yesterday with good friends and for dessert I made crème brûlée.

I wish I would have picked up one of those small blowtorches.  Instead I tried to broil the sugar.  It didn't turn out like it would have with the blowtorch, but it was still really tasty.

This was another vanilla sauce recipe from TSOB.  I think I have a good grasp on vanilla sauce now and will be moving on at some point to another chapter.  But next up, I have to decide on a flavor for my mom's birthday cheesecake.

Pastry Cream Cookies

I am back to TSOB! Finally! My new job I'm starting in April at a certain high-end grocery chain's bakery was the inspiration. I don't think I've covered the vanilla sauce (aka creme anglaise) chapter on this blog yet. I attempted to first make it at school and accidentally broke it. But in my familiar surroundings at home, I quickly knocked out a version of the vanilla sauce, making it into pastry cream.

I always thought pastry cream, the stuff inside eclairs and cream puffs, was white. Mine turned out a bit yellow, probably from the eggs, so I'm not sure if I did it 100% right. But the cookies I made from it worked out just fine. To make them, I combined the cream with crumbs from a piece of the unfrosted St. Patrick's day cake. Throw in some nuts and voila, yummy cookies.

Happy St. Patty's Day

My first post of the year! This is the first special dessert I've made so far. It's called the Irish Car Bomb cake, since it has all three Irish liquors in it: Guinness cake, whiskey ganache, and Bailey's frosting. I don't think I would ever be able to drink an actual Irish car bomb, it just doesn't sound too good. But throw it all on some cake and it sounds fabulous.

This cake is just as rich as my birthday cake was. Moist from sour cream and rich from the ganache and frosting. I'd choose this over corned beef and cabbage any day.

Recipe found here.

New Kitchen Equipment!

It's not even Christmas yet and I've received a couple of really nice presents from friends.

The first is this pretty cookbook stand.

And I was really lucky that one of my husbands' friends wanted to rid his apartment of this:

Unbelievable! It was really great to use both presents to make a sour cream, browned butter ginger coffee cake for Christmas brunch! Stay tuned for that picture.

Peppermint Brownies

Merry Christmas! Or as Stephanie Miller says Happy Christma-Hana-Kwanza-ka!

This fudgy brownie recipe is part of my Christmas dessert rotation. I made this a few years back and thought it would make a perfect gift to the office holiday party this year. You can get the recipe here.

I haven't posted in quite some time. I got a second job that kept me busy pretty much every weekend in November, so no time for baking. I think I baked something for Thanksgiving, but I can't remember what.

I also just finished finals for culinary school. We made mother sauces (bechamel, espagnole, etc.), vinaigrettes, soups, and put together a full plate: chicken breast, one starch and two veggies. I did pretty well and got A's in all my classes. I'm looking forward to next semester.