Almond Croissants

The first time I tried this delicious pastry was when I was at Patrick's Bakery and Cafe inside Bachman's in Richfield. 

This is a light pastry was filled with ground sweetened almonds and dusted generously with powdered sugar nothing more, nothig less.  You can eat this delicoius pastry as it is or by picking up it's layers of buttery pastry mixed with sweet almond filling.  The dusting of sugar gives eough sweetness that it won't overwhelm you taste buds. It also is a great accompaniment for coffee or tea.

So next time you go to Bachman's to pick up some flowers, try this delicious almond flavored pastry. 

Raspberry Filled White Cake

Today I will share with you how to make a delicious fruit preserve filled cake in no time at all.

You should start with a white cake from package.  Bake it according to package instructions in a circle cake pan.  Slice the cake in half, so that you end up with 2 circles from one cake. 

Frost the top of one circle with heavy whipped cream and top with raspberry preserves.  Layer the other half of the cake on top of the frosting and preserves, so that it looks like a sandwich.  Frost the top and sides with more whipped cream or whipped butter cream. 

Drizzle lightly with storebought strawberry or raspberry ice cream syrup.  Refridgerate until ready to use. 

This is an easy, elegant dessert that you can whip up in very short notice.

Éclair (pastry)
 

Éclairs are most commonly served as a dessert and it could be bought at any bakery or patisseries.

It is made with choux  pastry dough filled with a cream and topped with icing, preferably chocolate.  The dough is piped into an oblong shape with a pastry bag and baked until it is crisp and hollow inside. When cooled it is filled with, custard or whipped cream and the top iced with chocolate butter cream or fondant icing.

The word éclair comes directly from a French word meaning "lightning".  Probably because of the lightness of the cream puff and its soft filling, and or because of its oblong shape.  You can easily hold it in one hand, and eaten in a flash.

Either way this dessert is sure to please anyone with or without a sweet tooth.

Jelly Roll or Swiss Roll

A Swiss roll or jelly roll is a type of sponge cake roll. This is a light thin cake made of eggs, flour and sugar and baked in a sheet pan. The cake is removed from the pan and spread with jam, butter cream, or whipped cream, rolled up, and served in circular slices.

The cake originated in Central Europe though the origin of the term “Swiss roll” is not clear. It seems to have been invented in the nineteenth century, along with Battenberg, doughnuts and Victoria sponge.

So next time you head out to your favorite bakery, just try the swiss roll.  I'm sure you'll love it.

Tri Color Dessert

This dessert is made of different colored tapioca.  First the Tapioca pearls or strands are boiled in water and then coconut cream and sugar as sweetner is added. I learned about this wonderfully refreshing dessert from my Hmong co-workers and wanted to try make it my self.  It can be made lighter as a beverage or thicker as a dessert.  I made it lighter and added crushed ice. It is an ideal and a refreshing beverage on a hot summer day.  Fruit can be added to this dessert to give it different flavors.  Following is the recipe for this wonderfully refreshing dessert.

Ingredients:

Ready to cook Tapioca in at least 3 different colors. (Many colors and shapes can be found at Asian grocery stores)
 2 cans of 14 oz coconut milk (not juice)
 4 c water and 2 c of sugar to make a sugar syrup(Hmong honey)
 Fresh or canned Jack fruit and Lychee cubed. Peaches can be a substitute for the other fruit

Boil tapioca per package directions, cool and set aside in a little water to keep from sticking together. Boil together water and sugar to make the honey syrup, be careful not to burn, set aside. Open and stir coconut milk, can be thinned a little with regular milk or half and half. Chop fruit and put in a bowl. Take a large beverage glass, put in about a 1/2 c of tapioca at the bottom of the glass, add 1/4 c fruit, add 1/2 c of coconut milk, add 2 tbsp of the honey, add ice and stir together. Serve with a spoon or a bubble tea size plastic straw. Can be made to be a thin drink or a thicker drink, based on your taste.

Bakewell Tart

 On Friday, my daughter's class is having a Victorian Party in honour of Charles Dickens' story "A Christmas Carol". The students will be dressing as characters of the story and will be going on with their daily routine. So during the discussion about the Victorian Era of England (me being a big fan of Charles Dickens stories) the topic of food came up. So I told her that she had already eaten one of their desserts, and it was the Bakewell Tart.


This is one of my favorite cakes baked in a shortcrust pastry with a layer of fruit preserves or jams baked in between the cake and the pastry. I usually make this Tart for evening tea.


The history of this dessert is that; in the mid nineteenth century, in Bakewell, a town in Derbyshire this tart made its first appearance as the Bakewell Pudding. The famous recipe writer Eliza Action made reference to it in her 'Modern Cookery' book in 1845. The idea of puddings with a jam layer topped with a butter and an egg mixture was part of early British cooking. However the pastry base, a feature of the Bakewell, was not common. Almond flavor was added, firstly with almond essence and later with ground almonds, which changed the texture.


In most recipes require cherry jam. But since I'm not much of a cherry fan, I use black currant, blackberry or raspberry jam. This tart has a sweet almond flavor incorporated with ground almonds in a sponge like cake.

Creme Brulee  (pronounced as krehm bru-lay)

This is an irresistably creamy dessert.  It is glistening gold custard topped with caramalized sugar.  In french it means "burnt cream". I first tasted this at a restaurant in the city of Chicago and fell in love with it. 

Yesterday my daughter and son were watching Anne Burrell of Food Network, making Creme Brulee.  While watching it, my daughter asked me if I could make it for her.  Well, I took the opportunity and told her she should make it since I already had the recipe, and the ingredients at home.  So she went ahead with it and made creme brulee. What a surprise.  Her first dessert, came out be the best I've ever tasted.  So I took a picture and told her that it will be in my blog as  a tribute to her.