A Merry Update!

I hope everyone had a safe and Merry Christmas! I got a new camera so I will be able to take pictures of the products I make in class and on the side instead of using my Blackberry. I will later have a post up about the type of camera I use.

Unfortunately, I am sick with a really bad cold. I felt great yesterday morning until I was driving over Johns house, and my nose and throat started feeling funky.
Being under the weather, it isn't very sanitary to bake anything especially if you intend on feeding others your products. SO, NO MORE SUGARY TREATS for a few days of course! Plus, it would send my step-father into diabetic shock!!!


There's always New Years!!! ;)


There will be cute photos of stuff up in a few days!

Any ideas for New Years Eve treats??????

Tarallucci Cookies!!!

This blog posting is a little late than my normal posts!!! It's currently 12:36 am and I am ready to pass out, today was a very long day. John was over tonight, we made Tarallucci tonight. They are an Italian cookie, that has Anise in them, but is topped with icing and sprinkles for fun!


It's tradition in my family to make them for major holidays such as Christmas and Easter(along with many other cookies)! The colors may vary, but nonetheless it doesn't take away from their taste!


Here they are plain, before you coat them in icing and decorate them with sprinkles!
I like them plain like this, but many other people prefer them with the icing!



Here they are all 'fancied' up!!!






Here they are on the tray, well...only some of them! I believe when John counted them there were around 85ish!


The Recipe

6 Eggs
5 Cup Flour-All Purpose
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Oil
tsp. Salt
2 Tablespoon Vanilla
2 Tablespoon Baking Powder
Anise to taste(What you want it to taste like...no set amount)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix all of you wet ingredients in my mixer(creaming method)
Then add all of your dry ingredients- a little at a time

To make the Tarallucci shape, grab a piece of dough. Roll out with you hands to about an inch to an inch and a half. It should look like a little rope, not to thin. Then take and wrap around your pointer finger(the top part), it should look like a spiral.

Then Place on a grease cookie sheet about an half in to an inch apart. They will rise in the oven.

The bottoms of the cookie should be a golden brown...not brown! Then take them out of the oven and let cool.

For the icing

about a 1/2 cup of Powdered Sugar
Water- add a table spoon in the Powdered sugar at a time
Food Coloring- Wilton Gel, or the normal liquid dye

Mix all together. The icing should be thick, but not too thick. You don't want it runny.

Once icing is on add your sprinkles, or any kind of edible decoration you want.

Or you could just leave them plain!!! That is totally up to you!!!


Have fun with them, they are great because they are so versatile! They go with any kind of holiday!!!


A little update!

I got straight A's in my classes this mod, so I am still currently on the Deans List!

On Friday, I would have considered it a easy/ fun day. We made breakfast, doughnuts, and make sugar cookies! It was definitely more relaxed out of all the other days!

here are some pictures!!!



French Doughnuts..they kind you can get at Dunkin Donuts!!! I like sweets, but I have to admit the biggest weakness are doughnuts!!! They are just so fantastic!!! I can eat them all the time!!!



Tree Sugar Cookies!!!



Snowflake sugar cookies!!!


They were a lot of fun to make!


As of right now there are 5 days until Christmas!
I have a lot to do!

Make my gingerbread houses
hopefully make my gingerbread cookies....anyone know any good recipes????
Make Bakerella Cake Pops for a party on Tuesday
Also make struff...I've never made it before! If you like fried things and honey...they you would like this!!

So this means that there will be a few extra posts this week!!!!

Furthermore, I think John and I are going to make a Julia Child Dinner one night!!!

Keep Posted for my future posts!!!!!

A little bit of Everything!!!!

I hope everyone enjoyed my Presents and a la carte post! Those presents were a lot of fun to make!! I will be making something like that in a few days for a Christmas Party on Tuesday night!

Tomorrow is my last day in Breakfast Pastries, and the last day of the mod! And I am on Christmas vacation for 2 WEEKS!!! I'm so thrilled I can finish my Christmas Shopping, and do some more baking!!

This mod went 'soooo' fast, but I am ready to move onto other things that interest me.Next mod my classes are Wine and Beverages...and Specialty Cakes and Pies. I heard my next Chef is really awesome, so I am really excited!!!


As for tomorrow my last day of class is we are making breakfast, with the English Muffins we prepared today, homemade doughnuts with this amazing Pastry Cream filling for some of them, and we are making more cookies for Christmas, so I am ready for tomorrows class. Doughnuts are my weakness....i love love love them!!! :D


Here are some things that I have been making this week in Breakfast Pastries!!!
Enjoy!!


Here is my cutting board with the apples and my Chefs Knife (it's amazing), this was for my Apple Pie we made this week!!!



Apple Pie Crust!



Finished Apple Pie! I have not tried it but I heard it's good!!!



Part one of the Pecan Pie!!!



Add the filling!



Once you add the filling, move your finger around the center of the pie so that when the pie bakes the Pecans will rise to the top!



Finished product of the Pecan Pie! I tried a piece of it, because I have never had it before...and I have to say you would need a huge glass of milk to go along with it! It's still currently sitting on my table!


Crust to breakfast Quiche!!!



My Quiche was filled with bacon, sausage, yellow peppers, onions, cheese...and I think that's it!



Fully baked! I have never been a fan of Quiche, but this one was really good. It's currently still sitting my fridge.





Chocolate and Vanilla Ice box cookies




And these are my moms Cherry Chocolate Kisses! She's currently making them as we speak!!!


I hope you enjoyed all of these baked goods I made!!! There are a lot more to come this coming week!

Stay Posted!!!!

Presents and a la carte!!!

This Saturday was Mikes (mom's husband) Christmas party for this motorcycling club that he belongs to. I did my own kind of cake pops, minus the popsickle sticks.

I made my own, and called them Christmas Presents. Some of the shapes were ovals, squares, and hearts. I used the left over make n'mold chocolate pieces from previous projects. I used the colors Orange and Pink molds, because they were the most colors I had left.

Did you know that if you want to color your chocolate buy Wilton gel coloring. It is not the same as using the liquid color drop you use for cookies. I had light pink colored chocolates, so I added the Rose colored gel made by Wilton to make it more of a hot pink color!!! I love pink, and I thought it was just perfect!!!

I have to make them in about two weeks, because I have another Christmas party to go to, but this time I think I am going to do some piping on them. I wanted to do some piping on them yesterday, but I did not have enough time.

On Friday I bought Andes Candies I figured I would crush them up and put them on top of some of the presents I made. Some different. There was sprinkles of all kinds, and I put green and red m&m's on top of some of the presents. They turned out super cute!

One of the guys that at the club said when he get extra money he would pay me to make him a whole bunch. But I make them anyway. They are a lot of fun, the best part is you can be creative and come up with your own. When I have time I would love to come up with a shooting start cake pop. It would be a challenge!!! :D


The Presents as a tower!!!! Look at all that pink!!










Doesn't that look cute?!?!






Cake in the pans, before they went in the oven. Those are 9" cake pans!



The crumbled cake and cream cheese icing before I combined them together.







Andes Candies, before I crumbled them all up!! They are soo good!!! yummy!



Andes Candies now in pieces!!!


Sprinkles and other cute little things!!!!


When it comes to dipping the presents, I chilled the presents in the fridge before I started dipping them for about a half hour. You can put them in the freezer to make them colder..faster. But you do not want them frozen!!! I put parchment paper down on the cookie sheet. Then I dipped the bottom of the presents, then put them in the fridge for about 12 minutes to the chocolate hardens. Then I dipped the top of the presents, then put the sprinkles, m&m's or anything you deserve on top before the chocolate hardens. Then when all of them are done place back in the fridge. I would take them out as soon as you are ready to serve them.

I hope you like my little presents...if you have any questions about the process please feel free to comment and ask I would be happy to answer!!!!


As for the A La Carte end of my post I have a fruit tart to show that I made on Friday, I didn't have any, but I heard it was really good. And a cute little picture!



My fruit tart!! It was a lot of fun to make!!




I went grocery shopping with my mom today, and we walked past the bakery end of the grocery store, they had this adorable stand up. I just had to take a picture of it on my phone to share, because it was just so perfect for my blog tonight!!!


As for this week, I have to send Bakerella my interview questions!!
5 days until Christmas break!

I hope you enjoyed my blog!

Have a fun and safe week!!!

Bakerella Interview!!!!

I have some fun and exciting news! As I said before I am editor- in - chief of Le Cordon Bleu"s newspaper and blog. I got an email interview with Bakerella, also known as Angie Dudley!

She is the creator of those really awesome Cake Pops that everyone is getting into. I have made some of her Cake Pops in my previous blogs!

Anyways, I have am e-mail interview with her for my upcoming newsletter! I am beyond excited! I can't wait!!!

I am a follower to a blog here on blogspot, her husband got in contact with Bakerella to figure out a way he can propose to her.It was beyond sweet!I actually sat there and cried as I watched the uploaded video of the wedding on Bakerella's website. So, I got in contact with the couple and they told me to email Bakerella, and they said she was very good a responding.

So I emailed her, at 1:45 yesterday afternoon, and I was thinking that I was not going to get a responce for like a week!

5 hours later, when I was in a Gingerbread house competition I got responce that was sent to my blackberry. I felt like a 4 year old at Christmas! I screetched, and told my fellow pastry friend who also loves bakerella that I got an interview with her!

So we are all super excited! And everyone can't wait until the next newsletter comes out!!! :D


If you are interest in what Bakerella does visit her website at
www.Bakerella.com

Furthermore,
If you have any question that you would like me to ask her, please leave a comment here!!!

Let me know by Sunday the latest!!!


As for the weekend...Cake Pops for an upcoming Christmas Party for Saturday night. probably more baking!!!

OOOO LA LA....Croissants!!

Everyone loves Croissants!! You can eat them plain, some people like them with Jamm, and some people make sandwiches with them. Then there's people like me that will eat them anyway they come!! They are just so versatile, and well let's just say yummy!!

I have never made a Croissant, my family and I have always bought them from our local grocery store, or Sam's Club(their a fairly good). If you don't know what Sam's Club is, it's looks like a big ware house(but nicer) and they sell everything in bulk. The prices might be higher, but you quantity makes no nevermind to the price. Stores like Sam's Club always remind me of people that have a lot of children, or you own a restaurant or bakery. We always buy Ketchup there, since my brother and Mike(my mom's husband), put ketchup on everything known to man kind when they eat. Sam's is great for buy flour...bulk!!! It's just a great store! I love going there!

Anyways, thursday and Friday of last wek we prepared our dough for the Traditional Croissants and the Pain Au Chocolate(which is Criossants stuffed with Chocolate....need I say more).

Did you know that Croissants did not originate in France? They originated in Austria as far back in to the early 13th century! Which I found to be quite interesting.

This week we have our practical on the Criossants, which they are not hard to make but this is our last practical for this mod and I'm always nervous for the last practical, because this can make or break your grade! Especially how my last practical went (my dough turned out to be horrible, and was absolutely difficult to work with)...I'm nervous for this one!!!!!!

Also, today we plated a dessert fruit dessert which I will be showing here after my Criossant pictures!!!




They look like seashells, you know the ones you wish you would find in the ocean!!



Here are some of my Croissants and Pan Au Chocolate!!



Here I am holding the Pan Au Chocolate, this is what the inside looks like! It was probably one of my favorite things I have made so far!! The Butter, Chocolate, and how soft the Croissants those three combinations can cure anything!!



Here is my plated dessert! I wish it was not so blury(it is the camera on my phone)But it was really pretty in person! I loved the fruits...so good!!

My Life outside of Baking and Blogging(if you're interested)

*As for tonight I am watching Cake Boss on TLC tonight at 9pm a new show!
*I have a Gingerbread competition that I am working at and also competing in.
*There are 9 days until this mod is over with(not including the weekend), I can't believe it flew by!And I will be entering my 4th mod in January! I will be looking into my externship for next August in a couple of months. I will be leaving Pittsburgh for 3 months...I'm completly nervous about. I have never left home for more than two weeks. I have never even been on my own. But I am completely excited to leave...in a good way!
*I have a Christmas dinner party to go to this Saturday
*I also have Le Cordon Bleu's annual Christmas Party from 7-10pm
*I need my hair cut so bad(that's happening next week)
*The end of next week John comes home!!

Have a great and safe week! Enjoy the snow!!!!

Sugar Cookies

This is my favorite time of the year! I got some Christmas shopping done yesterday which is sort of a relief!!! But I need to do a lot more shopping, but I need to do a ton more baking.

Yesterday, before I went out I made Sugar cookies, and as I had said in a previous blog that sugar cookies have never turned out for me at all. I have the notion that the reason for that being is i always made my cutouts to thing, which could cause them to be brittle and break when trying to lift them off of the cookie sheet. So, they have always been a problem for me.


A few weeks ago I bought this Chefs hat cookie cutter at my house, and it came with a Sugar Cookie Recipe, so I figured what the hell I will give them another whirl.

The Oldtime Sugar Cookie Recipe

1cup Sugar
2cups of Flour
1 Whole Egg
1 Stick of butter-I always used Salted butter when baking unless it calls for something different
1/2 cup of Crisco- I always use the baking Crisco, it has pictures of cookies and such on the front of the Crisco label
1/2 tsp. of Cream of Tartar
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 tps. Vanilla

Mix all ingredients together. Preheat oven to 325. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes
Roll out dough to desired thickness.

The thicker the dough, the better the Sugar cookies come out. They will not stick to the baking pan when you try to take them off. Plus the transfer of the cut out cookies from the table to the baking sheet will not be such a challenge, since the cookies are more heavier and not as thin.


I took pictures of my sugar cookies yesterday, but they are all on my brothers computer so I have to wait until he gets home from work to upload them onto my laptop.

So hopefully I will have the pictures up soooon!!!!!!

Danish

It's Friday morning before I get ready for class. I know I said I was going to have my blog up last night, but my internet was horrible and I was not able to upload pictures, so I got up earlier today to finish my post!!!

For the last two days of this week we have been preparing our Danish dough. I absolutely love making the Danish and Puff Pastry, I have found out that it is one of my favorite things to do so far!! I typically do not like Danish, especially the ones you see in the grocery store that are individually wrapped but come in a box, or the ones you find at the gas stations. Plus, some of the Danishes I have had I just have not liked, so I was a little skeptical. But I should have known when it's made from scratch and BUTTER is involved it's definitely going to be a lot different than Grocery store or Gas Station Danish.


This dough was a lot more nicer to make than the previous doughs we have made. Some of the rules still follow for the Danish dough. But this one requires 4 folds but you put in the fridge for 20 minutes after each fold.


Here are some pictures of my Danish I made in class!!



Here is my dough for the Danish, the final rolling of it! I had to take a picture. And the brush next to is it to brush off extra flour!





This is one way to make a Danish...looks like a Cannoli in a way!!!!




The Single Snail!!!!


The Double Snail!! I really liked this one!



I call this on the present, because it looks like one! This is my favorite one! I loved making this one!!



Here are all of my products! I made a Danish in shape of a Pinwheel can you find it???? I gave a lot of my products away yesterday!


I hope you enjoyed my pastries! Keep posted for this weekends blog post!!!!!


Have a great weekend!!

Your Opinion, and YOU!!

This week is going really really good! I officially made the deans list, and I made it into the student council at LCB!! Which was really exciting! But I can't wait for the weekend! My niece and nephew are sleeping over Saturday night, it's my sisters birthday and I said I would watch them for her!!!


I said that I was going to update my blog in the middle of the week. It's a little different, because I want to hear from my readers!!!

So here we go!!!


I would like to have your opinion,
what would you like to see me do?
Do you have any suggestions for me for Christmas cookies?

Also....

I want to know something about you...

What do you like to bake for Christmas?
What are some of your traditions?


I hope to hear from some of my readers!!!!!!

24 days until Christmas!!!! :)

Also, check back for another blog post by tomorrow!!!! We are making Danish in class!!