Beginning of the year baking

So I started off the year with a bag full of lemons from my Dad's lemon tree. I tried to figure out something to do with them. I found a gluten free version of lemon bars that sounded so good. I had a girls party to go to so I thought I would try to make them for that.

Well, luckily my friend Christy LOVES lemons and wanted some so I decided to do a practice batch. I have never made anything like lemon bars so it was definitely a new experience for me! Well, to make them gluten free was not so different from making them regular. It was a mixture of white rice flour and cornstarch with powdered sugar to make the shortbread for the crust. It actually tasted pretty good but I had some problems with it puffing up so much that it had too much of a cookie taste then lemon bar. The lemon bar mixture used cornstarch as a thickener but had so much sugar in it that the top crystalized like a creme brulee. However, this did create a new texture that was actually kind of cool.

Well, the second batch didn't set up as well and at the girls party we ended up just scooping it out of the pan! haha But, both batches still tasted pretty good. I didn't take pictures of either though, because they didn't look pretty at all! So, even though they tasted pretty good I think I might tweak the recipe next time and experiment or just find a new recipe all together to make use of the lemons!

So, the other day I was online looking for gluten free items and BAM! Betty Crocker is now making gluten free mixes!!! WHAT?!?!?!? Yes, it is true. Betty Crocker is my new best friend. :-) And guess what else? They sell it at Ralph's!! Mainstream grocery stores are selling gluten free cake and brownie mixes! Finally! So, when in the grocery store the other day, I grabbed a box of the Betty Crocker Gluten Free Brownie Mix.

Today I decided to try out the brownies and I have to say....YUM! Best gluten free mix I have tasted so far! I still have to test it out on the non-gluten free folk but it seems pretty promising. I can't wait to try out the cake mix! If the cake mix is anything like the brownie mix then we have a winner. Finally something I can use for my gluten free friends when they want birthday cakes from me. (For those that don't know, I decorate cakes as well).

<-- YUM

The result. YUM YUM YUM!

UPDATE: The vote is in from the non-gluten free eaters. The verdict is still YUM!

Holiday cookies

Well, since school has been out it seems like everything has been a blur. I made cookies for three days, wrapped presents, the holidays were here, then I got sick. Blah. haha But I am feeling better and thought I would post my cookies.

I spent one whole day just making sugar dough, cutting cookies, and baking them. I made 6 dozen! The biggest tip I can give for sugar dough is to roll it out between waxed paper so the roller never touches the dough and to refridgerate it after you have rolled it out. It helps so much! Thanks to these tips from my hand dandy Cookie Craft books! I made snowflakes, peppermint candies, and candy canes. I spent ALL day doing cookies. By the evening I was so exhausted I crashed out on the couch!

The next day I started with the snowflake decorating. It took me over an hour just to make the frosting (royal icing) and organize it all. I realize now I should have taken pictures of the whole process but I am new at this blogging thing!  I followed my friendly blog Bakerella as well as the Cookie Craft books and organized my station and used their tips for using the icing. I used plastic squeeze bottles bought at Michael's and made by Wilton for the flood icing. These worked out great because you can put the lid back on and it is air tight so you don't have to store it in a different container over night. It stays fresh and works very well.

For the piped icing, I put it into different sealable containers to color them. After finding the desired color, I put them in the pastry bags using twist ties to close right above the icing and at the end of the pastry bag to avoid messes (which worked very well). Another tip I learned was to have cups or glasses the size of the pastry bags with wet paper towels in the bottom so when you are done with the color you can place the bag in the glass with the tip down touching the wet paper towel and it keeps the icing from running out and from drying up. This is where pictures would come in really handy! haha The flood color was the easiest because it was in the squeeze bottles.

How decorating cookies works is you pipe a thicker royal icing around the edge and then the flood color is placed inside (a thinner form of the icing and color) to make a smooth surface. The piping can also be used for decoration as well as any kind of sprinkles or candies. I kept mine pretty simple and used only icing and colored sugar.

I unfortunately cannot eat them but I have been told they were yummy! I had fun making them even if it took 3 days to make them all!

And the semester is over....with straight A's!!!

Okay, so it has been a couple of weeks since I have updated my blog. Things have been a bit hectic with school since Thanksgiving passed. I will give a quick update on what has happened between then and finals.

After Thanksgiving we had a lab where we learned cream/custard sauces. We did creme anglaise which is also referred to as vanilla sauce. This wasn't too difficult but there is a short window of time between it being ready and burning it! Basically it is milk and cream with eggs, sugar and vanilla. It is a thin sauce and most likely you have seen it drizzled on desserts when you order at a restaurant. You cook it on the stove and strain it to get the lumps out. My favorite was pastry cream. This is actually more like a custard or pudding that is used to fill cakes, pastries and sometimes donuts. It is also good on top of things like pound cake. It is made similar to creme anglaise but it cooks to a thicker consistancy before cooling it down. It is also done on the stove and requires a talented eye to know as soon as it is done without burning it. I did a pretty good job with it and wow was it yummy! Thing vanilla pudding. Yum! That same lab we also did stovetop brulee. I let my team partner take them home as most of my family is either allergic to milk, lactose intolerant, or both. haha But we learned how to torch the top which was pretty cool.

Since then I skipped a lab to study. I had a certification test for my food cost analysis class which I am still waiting for the grade on. I am pretty sure I got the certification, but just have to wait. As for my regular finals I did pretty decent. I got an 86% on my written baking final and an 84% on my food cost analysis final. Not as good as I would have liked on either but I was happy with them. Then, last night, was my baking practical (hands on) final. We were going to either end up making apple pie and creme anglaise or pound cake and pastry cream. I have been wishing for pound cake and pastry cream for weeks now. HAHA! I am happy to say that I DID end up with pound cake and pastry cream! And, I rocked the final. No crazy stories to tell, nothing went badly, I just rocked. And I got a 199/200. I was so excited! So, in the end I have ended up with A's in both classes!

Now I have a break until February when Spring semester starts. I will be taking Baking 2 and Art. The art class is a 2D design class. It should be fun. I was hoping to take another drawing class but it just didn't fit into my schedule.

As for updates on here, there won't be much to update unless I am baking at home, which I intend to do. With Christmas right around the corner, I am going to make sugar cookies and make use of my Cookie Craft books. (I just bought Cookie Craft Christmas today!!!!).

So, Happy Holidays to you all and I hope to have fun updates during my winter break.

What did we do??

So my brain has been so occupied by my 3 finals and 1 certification test that I barely remember what we did in class last week! Last week was Thanksgiving right? haha!

What did we make? Oh yeah, we made different cakes! Well, my team partner and I made blondies (which are like brownies but taste like butterscotch). I had another great partner last week. I made the blondie mix and she made the cream cheese topping. We added a cream cheese swirl with raspberries and sliced almonds. It took a while to cook since we added so much but they turned out great and were by far the yummiest things made in class! Most people had to make things like red velvet cake and devils food cake but we were happy to get the blondies which were our first choice. And if my family was actually telling the truth on Thanksgiving, they liked them too! I brought as much home as possible so we could put them out on a platter for snacks. They went quickly. (I forgot to take pictures).

What else did we do? Okay, that's right....we made pound cake! Not as easy to make as you think but I did a pretty good job. The hardest part is making sure you mix the butter and sugar until it is smooth and fluffy. In a Kitchen Aid mixer that is about 25 minutes on speed 2!! But, after checking and checking, my first step was finally done and I was ready to add in the eggs and flour. After that you have to mix it for a bit as well. We each made our own pound cake as it is one of the things we might have to make for our final. I really hope I get pound cake for my final not only because it is helluva lot easier than apple pie, but since I want to do mostly cakes for a living, it would be awesome to be able to do it again and get graded on it to see where I stand. Most carved cakes (cakes that are shaped) are made out of pound cake because it is fluffy and moist but it is strong and sturdy. It holds weight better than regular cake when stacking and putting a lot of fondant, etc on it. So, fingers crossed I get pound cake!!

As for everything else, I am really happy my math/accounting class is almost over! Although, it was really cute in class today as our teacher (who is not only Amanda Beard's Dad but is also a new Grandpa) had the new issue of People magazine with his daughter and grandson in it and was showing off the picture. Such a proud Grandpa! haha And the kid is a cutie too. As much as I like him as a teacher I will be happy when the test is over. Next week we review for the final and take our certification test for ManageFirst for the National Restaurant Association. Oy! Then I also have my written Baking 1 final next Friday. Oy! But at least the last day of finals we will have our baking final scores back. I won't have to wait to get my grade!

Well, off to get sleep. Wish me luck on all of my tests. This week's lab is creams and sauces and next week's lab is cheesecake (I think), but with all the tests I am not sure I will be able to update until after that is all over.

Happy December!

Muffins and Donuts and icing oh my!

Hello there! So, it seems like it has been forever since I have updated my blog. We had a bit of a lull of class because of the Veteran's Day holiday. Well, last week we got back under way and it was a great class!

I wasn't too excited about the lab of making donuts and muffins but it turned out really fun. We got to pick our partners (YAY) and one of the guys I have made friends with partnered up me. It is always good when you can partner up with someone you know is on top of it. He and I work well together as well as fast. We made coffee cake muffins which turned out soft, moist and SUPER yummy. The odd ingredient in the mix was lemon peel but you know what...it really made a big difference in the taste! I am not usually a fan of citrus anything (although I can do lemon and lime a lot easier than orange) but the lemon really made the muffins.

Tips on most muffins: 1. Don't over mix. Most muffins require you to blend ingredients until just incorporated and I think a lot of people over mix. I know I used to. Over mixing can cause the muffins to turn out too tough. It should be mixed only until dry ingredients are moistened with the wet ingredients. Most batters will be lumpy. That is okay. 2. Muffins will rise a lot better if you do not use paper cups. However, paper cups are many people's preference because not only is it easier to get out of the tins, but it makes eating a lot less messy. If you choose not to use the paper cups, make sure you grease the tin!! 3. You can put most muffin recipies in a loaf pan as well. If I had it to do over again, the Coffee Cake Muffins would have been done in a loaf pan. I think it would have been easier to eat.

Coffee Cake Muffins with blueberries

After the muffins were put in the oven, each team paired up with another team to make donuts. Unfortunately for our team that did cake donuts that meant that there weren't very many donuts! But the making of the donuts was fun. I honestly thought I would hate it. But, it was enjoyable and our donuts tasted pretty good. We took fondant icing at the end and poured it on some of them and cinnamon and sugared the others. Because we used a donut cutter we had donut holes too. Some of the other teams made yeast-raised donuts (similar to churros), orange drop donuts (like donut holes with orange zest in the mix and on the outside), and Beignets (made popular in New Orleans). I didn't get a chance to taste any of the other donuts, but ours were awesome!

Tips for making donuts: 1. Make sure after you cut out the donuts to let them rest 15 minutes before frying. This allows them to rise slightly as well as settle the gluten. 2. Make sure to keep the frying oil at a constant temperature. When you put donuts in the fat, the temperature will go down so make sure to keep an eye on the temperature. 3. Watch the donuts carefully and flip them over when half done.

Cake style donuts

Today we make old fashioned pound cake. Sounds easy....but I REALLY don't think it is going to be!

I am thankful for many things, but for the sake of this blog, I am very thankful for my family and friends who support me in my decision to go to pastry school and a special thank you to my mom, who has let my cat and I invade her home so I can pursue this dream. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Craziness

Not much to tell about last week's lab. It was pretty chaotic and we didn't do much. We took the croissant dough and danish dough we had prepared and froze the week before and made croissants and danishes. That is about it. A lot of standing around. We had a lot of fun though cause we were chatting a lot. Some crazy things were said and happened but definitely not to put in my blog! haha!

Next week is Veteran's Day so we have no lab. So, no updates for a while.

FYI...had half of a chocolate croissant. It was pretty yummy. Much better than the danish!

Short but sweet (no pun intended)

Well, last week was a pretty chill one. We made croissant dough and danish dough to be put into danishes and croissants this week. It was a fun lab and Chef also made cinnamon rolls and we all got to take one home. YUM!

The good news is...I got a 96% on my baking lab midterm, 95% on my written baking midterm AND a 98% on my food sales/accounting midterm!! All A's!

So, I celebrated that and my b-day at Disneyland with a friend. :-)