bluechefk

I get ticked off over the slicer; it seems no one ever cleans it when they're done with it. Ditto for the wall mounted dicer- every time I close it has tomatoes all over it. Gross. ←

i got a box of maple leaf cookies for my bday, which i promptly squirreled away & then ate - in it's entirety - in about 2 days. OMG is right. thank god there's no TJ's in my state, or i would be in some deep, deep, mapley-flavored trouble...

fern - just reading this post now, and realize that you must have already experimented with tweaking your recipe - how did your cakes turn out? i used to make blitz torte often when i worked for a european style bakery many years ago. i remember that the cake layers were a little on the heavy side - more like a pound cake than a sponge cake. also, the cake layers were deliberately made kind of thin - the emphasis was on the meringue & the filling for this cake. looked up the old recipe & found these amounts (produces 8 8" cakes, scaled at 6 oz. each, i.e. 4 2-layer completed cakes): 6 oz. butter, 12 oz. sugar, 12 egg yolks, 13 oz. ap flour, 2 tbl. baking powder, 8 oz. half & half. sometimes the cake was flavored with additional almond extract, and sometimes not. loved this cake - have trouble making it at high altitude now, but think of it fondly often

for my personal taste, i agree with you completely unfortunately, the city i live & work in is all about the sugar - i'm making the macarons at work, so have to be accommodating. i think i'll end up with a strawberry macaron, filled with a rhubarb-lemon curd, and a beautiful, deep pink cube of poached rhubarb hidden inside. at home, i may try a all-rhubarb-all-the-time version!

that rhubarb gelee is absolutely gorgeous! i'm going to try making something like that as soon as possible! as i've posted elsewhere (extensively...because i'm so excited about it ), i've received my copy of the PH macaron book, and while i'm waiting for my recently ordered almond flour to arrive in the mail, i'm busy trying to decide what kind of macaron to make first. this thread made me wonder about a strawberry-rhubarb macaron - seems like it could be a perfect match, since the tart rhubarb will make a nice foil to the sweet macaron. i happen to have a bunch of dried strawberry powder on hand, so figure i'll use that to flavor the macaron. but what about rhubarb for the filling? - what form should it take? rhubarb curd? rhubarb-white chocolate ganache? all suggestions are welcome! kerry

am re-re-resurrecting this thread as my copy of the pierre herme macaron book arrived just the other day, and i'm itching to make some! first i need to spend some quality time with Google Translator & figure out some of the recipes - i'm just dying to try the ketchup flavor some quick questions: * i've ordered some blanched fine almond powder from Mandelin - have heard that it's excellent for making macarons; anyone have personal experience with this brand? also, is it overkill to process this flour with the sugar a time or two? - it's meant to be quite fine, and i don't know if more is good in this case, or if it would be too much! * i had planned to bake these at home, where i have only a conventional oven. PH uses convection - do you think this makes a major difference? if necessary, i can bake the macarons at work & use their ovens (drawback: i will have to share with the staff ). would the standard 'increase by 25 degrees' conversion from convection to conventional be the way to go? and finally - * PH calls for opening and closing the oven door rapidly 2x during baking - what is the purpose of that, anyone know? kerry

maybe a pavlova? they're the definition of light & airy - and you could put anything you want with them: lemon curd, chocolate sauce, berries, etc.

excellent suggestions - thank you very much, everyone! i agree - the ice cream sounds wonderful; i think i'll hold back a small portion of the prunes, so i can make a batch of ice cream just for myself the fig salami sounds like what we were looking for, so i will try that first. am wishing that i had even more prunes on hand, though, so i could make everything! kerry

hi - i have a couple of quarts of prunes soaked in armagnac remaining from a previous dessert menu, and am in search of a great way to use them up. our #1 choice would be to make something that could be served as part of a cheese plate - i've seen a very nice looking prune & walnut log made by pastilla nash, but so far have not been able to find a recipe for anything like this. i can, i know, fall back on making a cake or a tarte aux pruneaux, but would really love it if i could make something just a little bit different or unexpected. any suggestions?

thanks very much for all of the advice! i like the idea of strongly flavored lollipops, so will give the 2-dram recipe a try. aza - am i right in assuming that you use 2 drams with the recipe you gave me (1 cup sugar, 3/4 cup syrup)? just making sure i have that clear :-)

hi all - i'd like to start experimenting with making my own lollipops. am following a recipe that uses as it's base: 1 cup sugar 1/3 cup corn syrup 1/2 cup water this recipe calls for using 1 tsp. of flavoring, but i think that it refers to extracts that you would commonly buy at the grocery store. i have, and planned to use, some more highly concentrated flavors - mostly from lorann - and am pretty sure that if i used a whole tsp. of one of those, i would be making Overkill Pops!! i also have several bottles of pandan extract in my pantry, and am wondering if those would make an interesting lollipop or not. can anyone offer any advice re: the right amount of flavoring to use when making lollipops? thank you!

thanks, all, for your help! - a joconde is exactly what i was looking for :-) i like the idea of the macaroon sheet, but for this particular application, will probably stick to the joconde layer. also interested in hearing about the coconut flour!! i have coconut powder on hand, and am thinking that i'll just add that to the basic joconde recipe, but would love to know about the flour for future use!

Am looking for a coconut biscuit recipe, or even a basic recipe without the coconut, that i can use as a base for a semifreddo - can anyone help? i used to have a nice go-to recipe, but it seems to have disappeared from my files to clarify, i'm looking for a basic, kind of dry, sponge type of cake that can be baked in thin layers & then cut into circles that a semifreddo can be unmolded onto. any help would be greatly appreciated!!

definitely a result of pouring too hot mixture into containers - i discovered the problem the same way myself when i got impatient & poured my mixture into cups too soon. now i cool it to at least room temperature before i strain the mixture & put into cups. haven't had the problem since

resurrecting this post, as i am once again weeding out my cookbook shelf, making room for all of the new purchases all books are free - if you ask for several books, or for an especially heavy one (that muffin book is a big 'un), i might ask only to have postage reimbursed. i should be able to get all books into the mail in the next week or two, and will send everything media mail. if you're interested in snapping up any of the following, PM me & i'll get back to you ASAP! Kerry Ice Cream Treats - Charity Ferreira 1001 Muffins - Gregg R. Gillespie East West Food - Chris Benians, Barney Brown, etc. Tropical Desserts - Andrew MacLauchlan S'mores - Lisa Adams The Sugar Club Cookbook - Peter Gordon Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse - Kaye Hansen The Magic of Jelly - Welch's The Essential Dessert Cookbook - Whitecap Books