Handmade Truffles and Chocolates

I absolutely enjoyed making handmade chocolates. Here are two chocolates made by myself and my classmate, Leah.

The pink truffle in this picture is named "Alsace Pearl Truffle."It is made with a mixture of white and milk chocolate, butter, heavy cream and flavored with Kirsch liqueur.(Yeah, that's what makes this a special chocolate!) It is then rolled into more white chocolate and finally rolled into feuilletine.

The dark chocolate candies are filled with a toasted hazelnut filling and feuilletine. The pretty design was easily made with a transfer sheet.

Birthday Cake with Italian Meringue Buttercream

This cake was made for my sister Dorothy for her birthday in February. I used maraschino cherries that I dipped in chocolate.

Slice of birthday cake

This is a slice of my nephew's birthday cake with drizzled chocolate sauce.

My nephew Sokari wanted me to make him a cake for his 13th birthday. (Wow, I can't believe he is already a teenager.) Anyway, his request was a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. His request was made with a recipe from a cookbook called "Cake Love" by Warren Brown. The frosting is made with Italian meringue buttercream. The sides are dusted with chocolate shavings.

Buttercream Cake

The cake used for this simple buttercream cake was a genoise cake. Simple piping on the bottom and top with swirls on top. I brought this to my sister's birthday celebration as an additional cake to serve to guests.

Alhambra Cake

This was another cake made before Christmas break. I gave this cake away to a friend of mine which it got mixed reviews and was noted for being dry. (I had frozen it.) Probably would have been better off eaten right after preparing. Made with a chocolate ganache and a simple syrup with rum.

Buche De Noel (Yule Log)

This cake was made back in December, before we had December Christmas break. The log is made with Jocande cake then spread with a chocolate pastry cream and rolled. The outside icing is made with buttercream and the little mushroom cap is made with a classic Italian meringue.

Sweet Sticky Buns with Pecans

One word. Delicious!!

Sweet stuffed baked crepes

Parmesean Crackers

I barely could get my picture for this as my classmates gobbled these up! I've actually gotten into making these at home.

Swan???

This is another attempt in my garnishing course. A green melon is used and the bottom of it serves as an eye for the swan. (The instructor made it look so easy.) I found it difficult to do. Oh well. LOL

Orange Garnish

This was practice from my garnishing course. Not bad for a first timer.

Cheese Danish made with Croissant dough

Another French cake.......

As you can see, I did not have time to finish decorating. The sides of this cake are decorated with feuilletine(dried, crumbled, sweet pastry crepes)

Petit four cookies with Fresh glazed blueberries

These appealing little cookies were made with an almond cream mixture and decorated with fresh blueberries that had been dipped in a simple sugar mixture.

Apple Turnover (Made with puffy pastry)

Learning how to make puff pastry was a little tricky, but once I got the hang of it, I was good to go. Here is a apple turnover, made with puff pastry. The taste can not be beat! You can also you puff pastry for any kind of filling whether sweet or savory.

Lemon Meringue Pie

This is a lemon meringue pie I made for our mid-term practicum. Again, presentation was a key factor for the tasters of my dessert. I got mostly positive feedback, but also constructive criticism of what was wrong with how this was plated. The tasters pointed out that my plate was "too busy" and I have to say they were correct. For this recipe, I was instructed to make madeleine cookies and candied lemons for garnish. (When it come's to plating, less is more. A lesson learned.)

Maccheroni Alla Guittara Al Ragu D'Anatra

Ok, I'll give you the translation for this dish. It is Italian of course. This awesome pasta dish is made with homemade pasta and a duck ragu.

Making homemade pasta is a lot of fun. The taste can't be beat and it's a wonder why people don't do it more often as time permits. Homemade pasta is made with eggs, water and flour. It can also be made without the use of eggs if you don't desire a rich pasta.

I never worked with duck but after this course in learning how to make it in this dish, it definitely has changed my mind. The duck meat is quickly sauteed and then braised in the oven. After the duck has been cooked, the meat is taken off the bones and added back to the braised sauce. The sauce and meat boil until most of the liquid has absorbed. The meat is placed on top of the fresh cooked pasta and garnished with fresh parmigiano reggiano.

Fried Goujonettes of Sole with Hazelnut Crust

This is a fancy French version of fish sticks. (A lot tastier than frozen fish sticks) The sole fillet fish were cut on a diagonal and then dipped into seasoned flour, then beaten egg and lastly in the hazelnut crust mixture. The fish was deep friend until golden brown and served with a homemade mayonnaise that was a little tricky for me to make, but as you can see the end result worked out just fine.

Blanquette De Veau

Blanquette De Veau is a classic French dish made with veal. The veal is cooked in veal stock, until fork tender. A medium roux is made and some of the veal stock liquid is added to make the sauce. The sauce is strained and finished with heavy cream, lemon juice , salt and pepper. This is not a favorite of mine but for those who love veal you may enjoy this kind of dish.

Shrimp Cakes with Andouille Sausage & Tomato Cream

These shrimp cakes can be pan fried. When I made these cake, I rolled into a thickness to great to finish on top of the stove. To complete the cooking so that they were completely done, I was instructed by our chef instructor to finish cooking in a moderate oven.

To accompany the cakes, a tomato cream sauce was created as seen opposite of the cakes in this picture. A stock was made with the shrimp shells for this sauce. Heavy cream with brandy and other addtional ingredients finish this appetizer.

Southwest Squash Soup

For this recipe to add a more intense flavor of this soup, the butternut squash was split in half, roasted and drizzled with olive oil. This is a vegetarian based dish finished with a splash of light cream, toasted pumpkin seeds, chopped cilantro and pumpkin oil.

Grilled Chicken Burgers with Tomato Ginger Chutney

The savory pictures posted for this blog are all from the savory component of my Pastry Program course.....This was a big hit that I will definitely make at home.

Everything is made from scratch with this recipe. Fresh chicken breast and thigh meat were grinded through a KitchenAid attachment. The meat was seasoned with various ingredients.

The mini-hamburger dough buns were created and risen while the chicken burgers were being made. A delicious tomato, ginger chutney completes the sweet, salty combination of this mini burger. Very tasty!!

Plunged Shrimp with Chili Mojo

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With savory food, everything is about presentation, presentation, presentation! Here is a simple appetizer of shrimp that has been grilled and presented in individually wrapped Boston bibb lettuce. The shrimp were marinated in a simple marinade of lime juice, fresh parsley and cilantro, garlic, oregano and a dash of smoky chipolte sauce. Fresh chives were added at the end as and extra garnish. Really tasty shrimp dish and easy to prepare.