Patrick S

I finally figured it out. Large and small measures are opposite ends of a "jigger", an hourglass-shaped thingy with a bigger cup on one end and smaller cup on the other. The sizes vary, but they tend to be about 1.5oz for a large and 1oz for a small.

Do you have a recipe? I would like to try it out. ← Me too. If it is half as creamy as the stuff you buy, I'd be happy. None of my attempts ever in the past even came close to the canned stuff texture-wise, no matter how long I processed it.

Love the brownie torte, Ling.

Thanks, eje!

The recipe is here. All the ingredients in the tart filling are as follows: 400gms. White Chocolate 1 Large Measure of Baileys 200gms Unsalted Butter 4 Eggs and 6 Egg Yolks 2 tbs. Honey

A recipe calls for a "large measure" of Irish Cream. Is that a teaspoon, a tablespoon, a centiliter, or what?

Right, but you're begging the question aren't you? The first amendment does not apply only to journalists, it applies to all US citizens. I'm not a legal expert, so if you could point me to some case law showing that FA applies unequally to different groups of US citizens, I'll promptly eat crow. I was under the impression that it applies to everyone equally.

If you want creamy, you need praline paste rather than praline powder. As far as I know, there is no good way to make it at home, so you have to buy it. And its fairly pricey.

Journalists have the first amendment to protect them. A personal blog is not covered as of yet, but expect an eventual Supreme Court case. ← Bloggers and journalists have different first amendment rights? I must have slept throught that development.

I always beat the whites or meringue as stiff as it will go. Sarah Phillips has a page on judging whites. One rule of thumb is to keeping checking the whites' stability every 15 seconds or so once they start to get semifirm. Eventually you reach a point where you check a couple of times and see that they arent getting any more firm, and that's when you know you can stop. Plain, warm whites will get to this point very quickly, while meringue takes much longer.

The only possibility I can think of is that your dacquoise was underbaked. Did you bake long enough to get a little browning on the dacquoise? I seem to recall needing a bit more baking time than the book allotted.

Heh. Next time I make ganache, I'm positive I'll be hummin' "We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue. . . ." The fact that I knew exactly what you were talking about is probably proof that I watched too much MTV as a child.

How did they TASTE, Patrick? 'Cause they look beautiful. ← They taste good, but not spectacular. In retrospect, I think a Grand Marnier flavored ganache would have worked better.

After the lobsters will come the cockroaches, and after the cockroaches will come the Demodex folliculorum liberation movement. D. folliculorum are tiny little 8-legged arthropod animals (lobsters are arthropods too), less than 1/2mm long, that live in and around the ecosystem that is our hair follicles and sweat glands, where they feed on dead skin cells and (occasionally) cause skin disease. I imagine that every shower we take is like a flood or a tsunami to these little buggers. Yet no matter how hard I try, I can't make myself feel any more compassion for them than I do for lobsters.

I've been wanting to experiment with some different macaroon flavors, so today I tried some orange-vanilla macaroons. I added about 2t of orange zest to the cookies (processed with the almonds and sugar), and filled them with a vanilla/Grand Marnier flavored buttercream. The color was added to the meringue.

In addition to the suggestions already offered, try baking on the bottom or next to bottom rack.

Actually, I used Ong's recipe. I have used PH's in the past to make eclairs, and I like Ong's a little better.

I think they come out looking a wee bit better than the PH recipe, but I don't find they are superior in terms of texture or taste. However, this might be just a matter of finding the perfect time and temperature for baking, and the perfect amount of cocoa. I used 30g, which is a lower ratio of cocoa/other ingredients than the PH recipe. The ratio of cocoa to all other ingredients in the PH recipe is 1/20 (25/490g), while I used 1/31 (30/937g) in Nicole Kaplans recipe. Oddly though, if you look at the very fine details of the macaroons I just made, they look more like those in CDBPH than those actually made with the recipe in CDBPH.

I made a variation on Herme's variation on the Gateau St. Honore. I made two mini gateaux instead of one large one. I filled one with chocolate whipped cream, and the other with chocolate pastry cream, which is also used to fill the caramel-covered choux puffs. I preferred the heavier pastry cream. The vanilla-flavored pears taste really good (the pears are poached/soaked overnight in a vanilla syrup).

Here's what I got using the recipe Nicole Kaplan posted. The recipe I used was 1/8th, and I added 30g dutch-process cocoa: Almond Mixture 250g powder sugar 250g almond flour 30g cocoa Italian Meringue 250g sugar 187g egg whites

I haven't doubled that recipe, but I have made large batches of macaroons using using other, very similar recipes without any problems.

Sure. FDA guidelines are very restrictive in that they are usually intended to eliminate risks as far as possible, even if the absolute risk of illness is already very small. For instance, you'd have to eat many thousands of raw eggs in order to have a good chance of eating one infected with Salmonella. And even if you consume one, there is a good chance that you will not get sick. BUT, you might be really unlucky, or compromised in your ability to fight foodbourne disease, and the first raw egg you consume is packed with Salmonella, and you die from complications of salmonellosis. So FDA recommends that no one ever consume raw eggs.

Cool! Thanks for helping us go vicariously globe-trotting through your pictures.

i'm a (very) unexperienced baker and am going to give a go at these. 1. i don't have access to a convection oven right now - just a standard conventional oven... any adjustments i should take note of. 2. also, what is "10x"? (1/2 mixed in with the almond flour?) 3. really am unsure as to the water - how will i know if the sugar is "wet enough?" and i'm to use powdered sugar? not regular granulated sugar? 4. any tips on syrups? can i just use store bought chocolate syrups? any way to make them myself? thanks! u.e. ← 1. I baked at 325, on an insulated baking sheet, and they took about 18 minutes. I took a batch out at 12 minutes, and they were too soft (they settled on the feet). 2. 10x is just powdered sugar. 3. Try adding 25% the weight in water to the sugar to make the syrup. Trust me, you're not going to mess this up, unless you add way too little water.

Yes.