Milky Way Tartlets
Lately I’ve felt like I’ve opened a tartlet factory. I can’t stop making them and it’s very fun. Before I move on to other desserts, I decided to write one final tartlet post (for now) with a bang… a big bang! Many years ago, before I got involved in baking, I studied geophysics and planetary sciences at university. So I’ve wanted to create a galactic dessert for a while now. I decided to make a tartlet with a half sphere covered in a galaxy glaze. (and later on a solar version of them!)
Coffee and Hazelnut Mille-feuille
This mille-feuille is an incarnation of another dessert I tried to make with Oren a few months ago. We tried to make a Bûche de Noël with coffee diplomat cream and a hazelnut nougat ripple. It turned out so delicious, but couldn’t hold its shape. Maybe ‘cause we tried to make a joconde from hazelnuts, maybe ‘cause the cream was too supple or maybe, just maybe, we didn’t have luck on our side. I didn’t want to let go of the flavors and started looking for another dessert that would work with them, until I reached the perfect one – mille-feuille.
Caramelized Hazelnuts
I always wanted to make caramelized hazelnuts for fancy decoration on desserts, but I always feared that long sugary tail. This time I told myself, no more! I stepped into the kitchen, cooked sugar into caramel and dipped whole hazelnuts into it. Lo and behold, it worked. It wasn’t even that complicated. I even managed to do it on a rainy, gloomy day. I felt like Martha Stewart, who actually demonstrates the task elegantly alongside Fran Drescher from “The Nanny” (What nostalgia, her voice suddenly sounds like music to my ears).
S’mores Tart v2.0
According to some of my American friends, s’mores are made of vanilla marshmallow, Hershey’s milk chocolate and Graham crackers. A classic camping snack. Roast the marshmallow on a campfire, put it on a piece of chocolate and sandwich it between two crackers. The heat of the marshmallow melts the chocolate and you get one big gooey party in your mouth. It’s a little difficult to obtain these ingredients where I live. Every time I try to replace them with similar alternatives, I get disapproving looks from my friends. Yet, I keep trying.
How to Temper Chocolate & Make Pralines
I always had a big love for chocolate, of any kind. Unfortunately, chocolate didn’t return the same love, and like almost every other failed love story, somehow you end up with a psychologist who tries to patch you up, but in my case, it was a dentist.
