PastryLady

I always make swiss buttercream because I love the smooth texture and versatility to add other flavors later. My recipe is enormous though. I use a 40 qt bowl over the flame. I can't recall the sugar amount, but will post it tomorrow after work. I know it is 15# butter and 5# whites. You dissolve whites and sugar over medium flame while continuously stirring until you feel with your fingers that the mixture is no longer grainy (sugar has dissolved). Take off flame and put on medium speed for 30 seconds and then high for about 8 minutes until merangue is about trippled in volume and has a trac when you run your finger along it. Add butter slowly. I am thinking it is 5# of sugar now. Obviously you can reduce this to fit your needs. I Add fine sea salt (a pinch) with my flavoring when re-whipping up the buttercream. This picks up the flavor, but often I leave out the salt as it could possibly group together in one area. Never use shortening as this is clearly disgusting in buttercream.

I brush olive oil (usually flavored with garlic or sundried tomato) with a pastry brush very lightly on the top of the surface after you are done stretching the dough and have let it rest 5 minutes. I always bake it on a stone otherwise the bottom is done well before the middle and top. Hope that your new attempts have done better! Sounds like you have a lot of ideas to pull from. Remeber salt is our friend.

Geez, I would be burned out by now! You could mix it with strawberries (classic combo of kiwi strawberry) or mango to make a shake or puree. Also fresh fruit tarts with pastry cream come to mind. Can you reduce the order or does this up the price? Often at the bakery we just buy a few kiwis a week for the tarts. They take a while to ripen, so I would get just a few if you are going berzerk with kiwi. Choose like an avacado. Firm but yields to gentle pressure.

Did you use any gelatin in your dessert? If so how much? Sounds delicious. Realized your shindig was a bit ago, but I make bread pudding at my family reunion. Regular, Rum/raisin and chocolate. 3 seperate kinds are always a hit. I am now paring it down to rum/raisin and chocolate only as people like to indulge. No melting in July/August temps which is a definate plus. Usually I serve with vanilla bean ice cream.

I could think of a couple things: -shred the leaves and use as a crispy garnish -Napoleon with Grand Marnier cream -Anything hazelnut! -the rolled up triangles with a ganache filling (resembles a 1/2 ravioli with puff pastry) could also make any other creamy filling. -create chocolate shells (molds with puff pastry) to put mousse in Giandua mousse I love chocolate, so this would be heavenly to me!