Patrick S

There's some good advice here. I sympathize with you, Jgarner. I used to get very dry hands when I worked at the hospital, a combination of wearing powdered latex gloves and washing hands between every patient interaction. Even applying lotion after every hand wash I'd still have red irritated hands. I don't have that problem today, but I still maltreat my hands in the kitchen. My right index finger looks like a wound-healing experiment gone bad, with two nearly-healed burns and a 1/2 inch incision from a glass that broke when I was washing it. One thing that is good if you develop nasty, painful splits in your hands, is close them with dermabond skin adhesive. Its just like superglue, but more flexible. It prevents the split from reopening, allowing it to heal. It blocks bacteria from getting into your wound too, so, for instance, if you seal the split real good you can still do dishes and so on. You can use this stuff for abrasions too.

I've had thawed cheesecake in restaurants and from stores that, while not necessarily the best cheesecakes I ever had, were certainly 'acceptable' in terms of their texture.

I saw that program too. I'm really suprised how much people are paying for marshmallows! The Williams-Sonoma catalogue has vanilla marshamallows for $18.50 for 13ozs, and caramel-covered marshmallows for over $1 each.

I waited 30 minutes after piping before I started baking. Since I usually have a few sheets worth of cookies which I bake one at a time, the first tray would rest for 30 minutes and the last tray about 50 minutes before baking. I could not tell any difference between those that rested for 30 and those that rested for 50. Next time I make them, I might set a few aside for longer lengths of time and see what effect that has. The comment about letting the macaroons rest in the fridge overnight -- I had assumed that that referred to the finished cookies rather than the piped batter, but maybe I was wrong. The cookies look great. Flat and uniform and good toasty color on the hazelnuts.

Seth, this has to be my biggest pet peeve with the Desserts book. The pictures all look so beautiful, but when you make the desserts and compare to the photos, most...if not all...of the photos must be doctored. I don't mean they are digitally retouched (aside from standard art direction), but they look like they're all mini versions rather than the full size that the recipe makes. So the layers are thicker or the whole thing just looks tighter than a full sized dessert. ← In a similar vein, the first recipe I made from CDBPH was that for the chocolate macaroons, and I can tell you that if you make these exactly as directed by the recipe, you will not get macaroons that look like the ones in the accompanying photo. One crucial step is ommitted -- letting the cookies dry out for a while before baking them. That seems odd because this simple step makes the cookies look so much better.

Lannie, the tart looks delicious. Excellent photo too. I also think the tart would be better if you just used the whole 13oz container of Nutella. Sandra, your tart looks delicious too. I also left out the hazelnuts on top.

I made a pseudo- Faubourg Pave last night. Pseudo because I left out the apricots. Also I did not use Valrhona chocolate because in my opinion it isn't worth the price, particularly the Jivara milk chocolate. Instead I used Droste cocoa for the cocoa loaves, and Callebaut milk chocolate and Scharffen Berger 70% for the caramel ganache. The cocoa loaf. The loaf, levelled and sliced into thirds. The loaf with ganache. The slice I had with lunch today.

Looks like you're gonna need a proton pack and some ghost traps. But then, maybe you don't want to get rid of your visitor. Hopefully you can train him to do something useful, like wash dishes or fold pastries. That old turning-on-the-faucet trick is so played out.

Brilliant idea! 4" PVC pipe is only like $1.60 per foot. You could make lots of rings for next to nothing.

Cook's Illustrated tested the Roul'Pat silicone mat with two sticky doughs, cinnamon bun dough and cookie dough. The performance was a big flop. Save your money!

Sort of off-topic, but does anyone know where to get Van Leer 120 cocoa? I ask because the Cook's Illustrated tasting from several years back had this cocoa rated #1, ahead of Valrhona, Merckens, Droste and Pernigotti- but I've never seen it anywhere.

I don't know necessarily if it fits what you're looking for, but a slice of warm tarte tatin covered with warm caramel sauce is the best apple/caramel combo I've ever had.

I think its a weight-for-weight substitution, so the envelope-to-sheet conversion will depend on the weight of the sheets you're using. An envelope of Know gelatine is 7 grams. According to the entry for gelatin on Epicurious food lover's companion, 4 leafs are equal to one envelope. EDIT TO ADD: Thanks for the head's-up, hazardnc. I'm very interested to see how Bauer's does it. Jskilling, I like the idea of a caramel-marshmallow roulade. The idea has grown on me. I picked out the 15 or so best Modjeskas to take to my family's thanksgiving get together. Everyone agreed that they were good knock-offs of the Bauer's Modjeska's. I was afraid the caramel would be too chewey, but it turned out to be melt-in-mouth after a couple days.

Looking good, SethG! Those sables look a little more moist than the ones pictured in Herme/Greenspan. So are they good enough that you'll make them again?

I didn't use any orange zest, but I did use a little lemon juice. I used ramekins as weights, and the plastic just held them suspended over the apples. So I adjusted the plastic about half-way through so that weights could sit on the apples. I think the rationale for the weights is to have the apples submerged in the juice so they can be better infused. My apples weren't nearly as thin as 1/8" inch. More like 1", because I was using a small corningware dish.

I will quit making 'rough puff' pastry and start making the real thing. That's one goal. I'd also like to learn to make baguettes that are not suitable as baseball bats or police batons.

I've made the twenty-hour apples twice. Just like Neil said, my "apples came out very soft and buttery while still being distinct slices, not a mush." The last bit I used to make a tart (the shell wasn't full because I ran out of apples). Nothing exotic, just super-soft and tasty apples.

Sherry Yard's The Secrets of Baking has a recipe for Mile-High Apple Pie that is copiously caramel-laden and sounds amazing. I haven't made it myself, but its near the top of my to-do list.

That's interesting. I'll definitely be trying lavender next time.

I did put the marshmallows in the freezer, but only for about an hour. It did seem to help, but next time I'll freeze longer. Maybe it would actually be helpful to have the outer surface of the marshmallows a little dry? Last night I was using marshmallows like 2 hours after they were cut, so still at peak moisture content. IDEA: I wonder if I could work something out a two pan process, pouring caramel from one pan to other and back again, bathing marshmallows under the caramel pour on a toothpick or skewer? Maybe I could find an old pan and dent it to make a flat 'lip' that could pour the caramel in sheets? Also . . . someone I work with tells me she's had lavender marshmallows, and that she loved them. I've heard of people using dried lavender flowers in some desserts, but I wonder if there is a commercial lavender extract of some kind? Could be interesting. Or not.

I think I could have done better if I had not cooked the caramel so long (it is a little more firm than it should be), and if I had not powdered the marshmallows (which made it hard for the caramel to adhere to the marshmallows). With a little practice, I'm sure I can find to do this right.

Cooking with sugar and butter makes almost any apple delicious. I've made plenty of apple pies with Red Delicious apples. So, if I were you, I'd make a pie. Or twenty-hour apples -- apples slow-cooked with butter and sugar, some cinnamon at 175F for 10 hours.

Yes, equivalent weight. A 7 gram gelatin envelope is equal to seven 1 gram sheets, etc.

Alright, two batches of caramel, a few steam/caramel burns, and several vodkas and water later, I'm done with my caramel covered marshmallows. I probably should have made a bigger batch of caramel. First I tried dipping the marshmallows in the caramel, and as I suspected, the mallows melted into the caramel (which was at about 180F). So I dipped the base of the mallows in caramel, let them cool, and then spoon some caramel on top. Some of them turned out fine, looking like real Modjeskas, while others were only 50-70% covered with caramel. I made a major faux pas by putting too hot caramel on wax paper -- it was impossible to remove the mallows without ripping up some of the wax paper, so I ended up using kitchen shears to cut the mallows above the base. Next time I'll use parchment paper or silicone. I'm more than happy with the taste, but clearly I need to work on the caramel coating. The marshmallows: A coated marshmallow: Most of them look more like:

Thanks Josette. I saw that same picture last night -- I went and browsed that Williams-Sonoma website after you mentioned it. Saw those peppermint swirl mallows too. Well, I have the caramel cooking as we speak, and the marshmallows powdered, cut and in the freezer. I'd cross my fingers, but I need 'em right now.