Category Archives: Pastry

Baby Eclairs and Chocolate Profiteroles

February 13, 2012 – 6:00 am

When I was a little girl, I loved tea parties. One of my most memorable birthday parties was when my mom hosted a tea party for me at an old historic mansion and each of my friends and I wore old fashioned dresses and elegant hats. We sipped on tea and ate cucumber sandwiches and petit fours. It’s funny how when you are a child you always want to dress up and act like an adult and the you grow up and realize how simple and magical childhood was.

I think one of the reasons that I still love tea parties so much is because of the dainty, delicate foods. So, when I received a copy of Mini Cakes & other Bite-size Treats (Author: Hannah Miles) to review from the fine people at Ryland Peters & Small I was so excited to try some of the recipes. This book is filled with petite cakes, tarts and pastries that are perfect for any occasion. And you will have the chance to win a copy of the book tomorrow!

The first thing that I made out of this precious little book were the Baby Éclairs and Chocolate Profiteroles. Both recipes use the same dough and they were so easy and fun to make. Chocolate éclairs are one of my mom’s favorite desserts and I wish I could have shared them with her!

This would be a perfect quick and adorable dessert for your valentine ♥.

Baby Eclairs and Profiteroles

by Mercedes Porter

Keywords: bake dessert chocolate pastry

Ingredients (serves 30)

For the pastry

3 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
1/2 cup sifted flour
2 eggs, beaten

For the Chantilly Cream

1 1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract or scraped vanilla bean
2 Tbsp powdered sugar

For the Chocolate Sauce

1 1/4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp heavy cream
1 Tbsp light corn syrup

Instructions

For the pastry

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a small saucepan, heat butter with 2/3 cup of water until the butter is melted. Bring to a boil.

Add flour and remove from heat. Whisk until dough comes together and is no longer sticking to the sides of the pan.

Cool 5 minutes.

While mixture is cooling, beat eggs in a separate small bowl.

Add eggs to butter mixture after 5 minutes of cooling and whisk until eggs are incorporated. Dough will be sticky.

Spoon dough into piping bag fitted with a large tip and pipe lines (or dots for profiteroles) about 2 cm long onto a baking sheet. Smooth down any peaks in the dough with wet fingers.

Bake for 10 minutes, then cut a slit into each pastry with a small knife and return to the oven for an additional 5 minutes.

Cool, then cut each pastry in half.

For the Chantilly Cream

In a medium bowl and with a hand mixer, beat cream and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Fold in powdered sugar.

For the chocolate sauce

In a small, microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate and butter and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir and add cream and corn syrup. Microwave another 30 seconds or until chocolate is completely melted. Stir to combine.

To assemble

Spoon Chantilly Cream onto bottom half of cut eclairs and top with other half of eclair. Spoon or drizzle chocolate sauce over eclairs and serve.

Recipe adapted from Mini Cakes & other bite-size treats

for the pastry, heat the butter and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil

add flour, remove from heat and whisk until dough comes together

cool mixture for 5 minutes, beat eggs and whisk into cooled mixture to combine

spoon dough into pastry bag

pipe 2 cm lines (for baby éclairs) or 1 cm dots (for profiteroles) onto baking sheet

bake as directed

prepare chantilly cream and chocolate sauce and to serve, cut éclairs in half, fill with cream and top with sauce; for profiteroles, pile onto serving spoon and drizzle with chocolate sauce

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Tags Chocolate, whipped cream | Comments (9)

Strawberry-filled Pastry Braid

January 5, 2012 – 12:19 pm

My holiday break left me feeling very refreshed and optimistic about the year to come. There is something about spending time with family and friends that just seems to re-center me and remind me of what is truly important in life. It is our relationships and how we treat each other that makes our lives meaningful and that will leave a lasting impression after we are gone.

With my job, I get to develop at least 10 new relationships every 4 months or so and I just love it because I always get to interact with different personalities. Have you ever met someone and you are just instantly drawn to that person because he or she seems to exude a positive energy and attitude? That is the type of person I strive to be. Some people would consider this to be a negative desire. They would say that “you cannot please everyone and this is an unrealistic goal”. But getting everyone to like me is not what I mean. I know and accept that not every single person that I interact with will like me. But regardless of how they feel about me, I can sleep well at night knowing that I treated people nicely that day. I think if we all made a small effort to be conscious of the way that we communicate with others and do some simple good deeds, it could greatly improve the condition of our society.

Hold the door for someone behind you. Ask someone if they need help carrying their groceries. Tell someone that you appreciate their service. You do not have to be rich or Mother Teresa to make a difference.

Ok, I will get off of my soapbox now and move on to the sweet of the day.

I love recipes that are fairly simple but result in something that looks fancy and impressive and tastes delicious. When I saw recipes for these pastry braids over at Willow Bird Baking I hoped that the recipe was as easy as it seemed and that the resulting pastry was as yummy as it looked. I was not disappointed. The filling in my braid was a simple mixture of strawberry preserves and frozen blueberries, but you could really be creative and use anything you can think of to fill it (i.e. apple butter, nutella, fresh or frozen fruit, etc.).

The pastry itself is flakey and pie-crust-like and it is scrumptious when drizzled with a simply glaze and eaten warm out of the oven.

Strawberry-filled Pastry Braid

by adapted from Willow Bird Baking

Keywords: bake breakfast dessert bread fruit pastry

Ingredients

For the pastry and filling

2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup strawberry preserves (or filling of your choice)

For the glaze

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1-2 Tbsp of milk
1/2 tsp almond extract

Instructions

For the pastry and filling

Preheat oven to 425 and grease a baking sheet.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, baking powder and salt.

Add butter and cream cheese and pulse to combine.

Add milk and extract and pulse again until the dough just comes together.

Place dough onto floured work surface and knead gently for 15 seconds.

Roll out dough between to pieces of wax paper and form into long rectangle.

Remove top sheet of wax paper and flip rolled-out dough onto prepared baking sheet.

Mentally divide the dough into 3 equal sections lengthwise. The filling will be placed in the middle section, but before placing the filling, cut the outer thirds of dough diagonally in 1 1/2 inch strips.

Place filling in middle third leaving 1/2 inch between the filling and the strips.

Fold the strips over alternating sides to give the dough the braided appearance.

Bake at 425 for 15 minutes or until pastry is lightly browned.

For the glaze

In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk and almond to make the glaze.

Pour over warm pastry and serve.

NOTE: The pastry may be formed a day ahead without baking and then kept in the refrigerator covered with plastic wrap until ready to bake.

combine flour, baking powder and salt in a food processor

add butter and cream cheese and pulse to combine

add other ingredients and pulse into a loose dough, then turn out onto floured work surface and knead for 15 seconds

roll out dough between two sheets of was paper until long rectangle is formed and place formed dough onto baking sheet

cut outer thirds of dough into 1 1/2-inch strips at a diagonal

place filling in the center leaving 1/2 inch between filling and cut strips

fold strips over on top of the filling alternating sides to give the braided appearance

bake about 15 minutes or until lightly browned

make glaze and pour over warm pastry

slice and enjoy while still warm (or re-warm)

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Tags blueberries, cream cheese, Fruit, Strawberry | Comments (15)

Fruit tart on a steamy summer day

July 20, 2011 – 4:00 pm

The heat has been sweltering here in Minneapolis. Not to mention the humidity. When I walk outside and immediately feel like I am in a sauna, rich ooey gooey treats do not sound as appealing to me. Instead I crave cooling treats with fresh summer fruits.

This fruit tart is one of my husband’s favorite desserts. I like it because decorating it makes me feel like an artist and it allows me to let my creative juices flow. The tart starts off with the recipe that I use at Christmastime for cut-out sugar cookies. When this dough is pressed into a baking sheet, the end result is a perfectly thick and chewy cookie crust. I top the perfect sugar cookie crust with a cream cheese frosting smear and at that point, it is a blank canvas for whatever fruit toppings I have chosen. Finally, a simple fruit preserves glaze and it looks like it could grace the cover of a food magazine. Ok, maybe not, but it really will impress your friends and family!

Fruit Tart

by Mercedes Porter

Keywords: bake dessert snack fruit cream cheese cookie

Ingredients

For the crust