MERINGUE

I also made meringue today since I had some egg whites left over from the creme brulee. :)

see "photo gallery" for more photos


MERINGUE:

4 egg whites
2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F (95 degrees C). Butter and flour a baking sheet.

2. In a glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until foamy using an electric mixer. Sprinkle in sugar a little at a time, while continuing to whip at medium speed. When the mixture becomes stiff and shiny like satin, stop mixing, and transfer the mixture to a large pastry bag. Pipe the meringue out onto the prepared baking sheet using a large round tip or star tip.

3. Place the meringues in the oven and place a wooden spoon handle in the door to keep it from closing all the way. Bake for 3 hours, or until the meringues are dry, and can easily be removed from the pan. Allow cookies to cool completely before storing in an airtight container at room temperature.


Tips:

-when beating the egg whites, make sure to beat it long enough till peaks form, which make take up to 15 min

-after adding the sugar, the final mixture should not be too soft. it should not be too stiff, but it should drop from the beater quite slowly, like a thick mixture

-yes, the meringues have to be in the oven for 3 hours. i tried breaking off a little in the oven after 1 hr and the middle was not hardened yet, only the outer layer was


Links:

Meringue: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Authentic-French-Meringues/Detail.aspx

CREME BRULEE

Like I said in my last post, I've been motivated to bake more these days. Today's dessert was creme brulee. Weirdly enough, I've never had any in my life, so what I made toady was my first taste. :)

see "photo gallery" for more photos


CREME BRULEE:

6 egg yolks
6 tablespoons white sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).

2. Beat egg yolks, 4 tablespoons sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl until thick and creamy.

3. Pour cream into a saucepan and stir over low heat until it almost comes to boil. Remove the cream from heat immediately. Stir cream into the egg yolk mixture; beat until combined. pour into a shallow heat-proof dishes and lay the dishes into a pan filled with hot water that reaches a little more than half way of the dishes.

4. Bake in oven for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for 1 hour, or overnight.

5. Preheat oven to broil.

6. In a small bowl combine remaining 2 tablespoons white sugar and brown sugar. Sift this mixture evenly over custard. Place dish under broiler until sugar melts, about 2 minutes.

7. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Tips:

-before pouring mixture into a dish, get rid of any bubbles or lumps with a strainer


Links:

Creme Brulee: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Creme-Brulee/Detail.aspx

Cream Puffs & Swan Cream Puffs

I've really been into baking these days since I've been baking more than usual. And buying my new pastry bags gave me new motivation to set up my own private baking business for school and church. So I decided I wanted to try out lots of French pastries including cream puffs, creme brulee, meringue, and custard. For now I'm starting out with cream puffs since I LOVE them. Originally they should be filled with custard or pudding mixture, but I don't have the time to make that so for this time I'll be filling the puffs with whipped cream. I also found a cool video on youtube on how to make swan cream puffs and they're REALLY EASY.


Cream Puffs:
Adapted from AllRecipes

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 eggs

Extra ingredients as suggested:

• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tbp sugar

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. In a large pot, bring water and butter to a rolling boil. Stir in flour and salt until the mixture forms a ball. Transfer the dough to a large mixing bowl. Beat eggs in a separate bowl. Using a wooden spoon or stand mixer, beat egg mixture little by little, mixing well after each time. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet or fill a pastry bag and pipe out 1-1 1/2 in. of dough.
3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Centers should be dry. Poke a hole with a toothpick on the sides of the puffs to release the steam the last couple of minutes of baking. Then turn off the heat and open the oven to let the puffs cool.
4. When the shells are completely cooled, either split and fill them with the pudding mixture, or use a pastry bag to pipe the pudding into the shells.

Tips:

• It is ESSENTIAL to poke the puffs with a toothpick so it prevents the puff from sagging and deflation later.
• When making the dough and adding eggs, if the dough does not come out sticky and smooth enough (it should NOT still be in a "ball" form), add another egg.
• If making swans, do not pipe too much dough for the head & neck. after baking, the cream puffs will "blow up" a lot so the necks do not need that much.

For Swan cream puffs:
Visit link for visual instructions

• Pipe 1-2 in. oval doughs (this will be the body).
• Then pipe an "S" shape for the neck and head of the swan.
• Pipe more dough on the beginning of the "S" to create a head.

Whipped Cream:
Adapted from AllRecipes

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar

1. In a large bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks are just about to form. Beat in vanilla and sugar until peaks form. Make sure not to over-beat, cream will then become lumpy and butter-like.


Tips:

• You can experiment with whipped cream flavoring by adding small amounts of different extracts such as almond, rum, orange, lemon, etc.
• Add food coloring if you want your cream to be colorful.

Assembly:

1. For the regular cream puffs, simply use a pastry bag to pipe in your whipped cream (or custard if you prefer to use that) by poking a small hole in the puff. If you do not have a pastry bag, simply cut the puffs in half then put in some filling and make a "sandwich".
2. For the swans, take the body and cut it in half. Cut the upper half vertically in half again to make the wings.
3. Fill the lower half of the body with cream until it is "round". Take a neck/head and stick it to the edge of the body into the cream. It should stay upright. Take the wings and stick it to the sides of the body of whip cream. Add more cream if needed.

Optional:
-sprinkle a little confectioner's sugar over the swan and/or chocolate syrup for decoration