It's on to delicious days of petit fours!
I was incredibly excited to begin our month of petit fours with Chef James and Cora. I've been dreaming of éclairs, cookies, mini cakes and luscious sweet treats from the day I stepped into pastry school....land of wondrous sugary goodies!
So what exactly are petit fours? We often spot them included at the end of the menu's at well priced restaurants; hidden between dessert selections of well established hotel eateries and often served at posh french cafe's to have with tea or coffee. So what are they?Are they desserts? Yes..
Are they petite? yes..
Do they come in fours? No~
*laughs*
Well.. here's what Petit fours actually stand for.
A petit four is a small cake generally eaten at the end of a meal or served as part of a large buffet. The name is from the French petit four, meaning "small oven".
Typically, petits fours consist of alternate layers of sponge cake and butter cream topped by frosting and are approximately 1 inch square and about 1.5 to 2 inches high. Petit Fours are covered with fondant, often pastel in color. Petits fours are commonly decorated with piped icing roses or other sugar embellishments. Petits fours may also, however, refer to any number of small confections.
To be completely honest; I never knew exactly what the term "Petit Fours" actually stood for till this morning *blush* I knew what they were; I knew how they were served, I knew they didn't always come in 'fours' *laughs*.. I just had no idea what the words actually stood for. Well; I know now! *grin*
To begin our first day; Chef James eased us into the program with simple cookies to bake. 5 different types! *licks lips* I'm a bit of a cookie monster myself! We had trays and trays of cookies being pulled out of the oven for the first 4 hours of class.
I would say maybe at least 10-15 trays of cookies. My new partner in crime; Nikki, brought home bags and bags of freshly baked cookies to feed hungry cookie lovers back home, I fed mine to my lucky neighbours and nice people down at the apartment clubhouse where I live.We made...
The classic chocolate chip cookie
Double chocolate Chip cookies
Double chocolate Chip cookies
*in this pic = Chef James's Assistant for the day; Chef Cora. She's my favourite! :)
AMAZINGLY delicious peanut butter cookies! *ahhhh...so satisfying* It's hard to deny my addiction and obsession for creamy peanut butter. *grin*
Hazelnut cookies
Oatmeal raisin cookies
It was heaps of fun getting my hands all dirty in goeey chocolate as we made wordings and filigree on parchment liners. Licking up chocolate from my dirty fingers was lots of fun too~ *giggle*
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11 comments:
I wonder if it's bad cooking etiquette to lick the paddles? Yum.
is it better to use ice cream scoops to plonk the batter on the tray ? usually I just use 2 spoons :P
Looks like you're having so much fun with your classes... and I guess, who wouldn't when it involves so many good-looking (and tasting) cookies?
I'm still having trouble folding those piping cones out of parchment paper... just can't get it right.
Happy Valentine's Day.
Have fun.
Hi,
I'd like to know if double cream is the same as thickened cream. Can one substitue double cream with thickened cream?
Those cookies looked fabulous. I am a cookie addict, and as soon as I finish writing, I have to bake some.
They look so good. My cookies never look "professional".
i made some kiwi cupcakes yesterday. ya, i used a basic recipe and add what i want to it. i still waiting for my mango to ripe so i can make the mango cupcakes.
hi! can you share the recipes with us? (";)
Congradulations on the Sydney Morning Herald Article. I love your site and was delighted to see the smh article!
Is there anyway you could post the recipes?
katie: Hmmm... we aren't allowed to; They'd probably give us a hard time if we tried. :P Lucky for me; i'm not the type to eat raw cookie dough :D
monica: I use 2 spoons too; but the scoop helps gives it a less homemade look. They allow for more evenly baked cookies too.The sizes tend to be more accurate with a scoop.
monique: yes!! :) The parchment cones get easier for us everyday. *laughs* it takes a whole lot of cones. I can make on in less than 20 seconds now. Can't say that a week ago though :P
anonymous: thickened cream is probably whipping cream which contains less fat in comparison to double cream. If the recipe requests for double cream; it'd be best if you had it; but i suppose you could try whipping cream if you couldn't find any.
anonymous: I love cookies too. Try using a cookie scoop for a better finish to your cookies :)
whoisbaby: My favourite ones are the mango ones.. simply delicious! :)
aileen: I think i've posted concerns I've had before on why I'm not going to have recipes from class up. I just don't think it's right. Sorry aileen.
lara: Yay!! Haha I was excited too. I almost couldnt believe it.
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