Patricia Austin

Just joining this topic . . . I have tried probably a half dozen different recipes, my current favorite is the Rigo recipe with added orange oil, lemon oil and orange blossom water with the option of vanillla bean butter. The humps are dramatic, and I have been able to freeze the batter for up to a few weeks with excellent results. I like them dipped in hot chocolate. I have lots of people who think there is something inside of the madeleine. Anyone know of a filled madeleine? Patricia

Hi Folks, Today at the Farmers' Market where I sell I had a customer ask me if I had ever had "Sawdust Brownies". He said they are made from a real tree in the New England Area and he couldn't remember the name of the tree. I googled it but came up empty. Does anyone know anything about this? I am just being gullible? Please enlighten me if you can. Thanks! Patricia

Thanks for your response. I think it must be the stiffness of my paste. I vaguely remember adding 25 g. of cocoa powder instead of 20 g., just because I wanted it darker . . . but it must have been just a bit too much. I also have been wondering if when I froze them they were left in too long without covering which would tend to dry them out . . . I do use the PCB biscuit transfer sheets, they are amazing timesavers and some really fun designs too. The only drawback is I have to be extra careful to keep them away from hot surfaces because they warp within minutes! Thanks again, I'll soften my paste and see what happens. Patricia .

I'm going crazy with my joconde cocoa paste transfer. For a few years I made them with no problems. Recently the cocoa paste has been peeling off after baking or later on . . . when I go to use the joconde the cocoa paste isn't adhered properly, seems to be too close to the outside and rubs off leaving the joconde bare! I remove the silpat while the joconde is still warm; sometimes the silpat removes perfectly and later the paste rubs off, sometimes the paste comes off with the silpat. Is my cocoa paste too stiff? Is my Silpat too oily? I did clean the silpat REALLY well before this last batch this morning. Help! I need to resolve this, these are a regular order for a local restaurant! Experience, Ideas? Thanks. Patricia

Alice Medrich's Bittersweet has a fabulous Grappa, Currant & Pine Nut Torte (chocolate too). Easy to make, requires no special finishing, looks lovely and has received rave reviews.

O.K. Excellent, so I could go sweet or savory. I love the idea of candied walnuts, apple slices (or pears)and caramel. The savory side sounds really good but what I offer professionally is the sweet side, so I'm leaning that way. I'm sure there is a place for Triscuits but they have always scared me (like shrunken salted shredded wheat cereal biscuits). I wonder if the blue in the Gorgonzola would dissapear after baking. The tricky part seems to be in finding the right amount of tanginess without overwhelming the palate with that blue zing. Thanks for the recipe ideas! Patricia

Has anyone ever made a Blue Cheesecake?? Maybe it would be more on the savory side? I've had a request for it from a new wine shop in town and I have not seen a recipe for one that I remember . . . but there must be something out there. Let me know if you have any ideas. Thanks. Patricia

A few years ago I switched to a Blodgett convection oven and I love it. The oven browns nicely, bakes faster and is more efficient than a deck oven.

Good idea to checkWendy's blog, Canadianbacon. Mirrors . . . I like that idea too and I do have a little collection of them, tucked away and forgotten until now. Thanks for posting the delicious photo McDuff, It's so true that beautiful tempting desserts can create a restless crowd. Pam R, I am leaning towards doing a floral centerpiece with cranberries in the vase. I think I want to keep it simple partly because this is a first for me and also because there is alot of dessert variety which will bring it's own interest. My table will be rectangular and I have a long list of items per their request. I wonder, is there any reason to place the whole, sliced items higher-up or down? I guess asthetically they could be in either place. Here is the grand list: the cakes will be whole except the Chocolate Mousse and Tigers. All of the other pastries will be individual servings or petite four size. CAKES: Ginger Cheesecake Pumpkin Rum Cheesecake Chocolate Grappa Current & Pine Nut Torte Joconde-Raspberry Mousse Chocolate Mousse Cakes Tiger Cakes TARTS: Raspberry Frangipane Tarts Lemon Cream Apple Tart Tatin Almond Cream Tarts Chocolate Victoria Tarts CREAM PASTRIES: Eclairs Cream Puffs Fresh Fruit Tarts Napoleons COOKIE ASSORTMENT: Chocolate Macarons Chocolate Truffles Sablés: Chocolate, Lemon, Linzer Almond Horns Tuile Cookies Shortbreads (Scottish & Cocoa Bean) Hazelnut Meringues Chocolate Dipped Strawberries Yeow! Patricia

r, T, g, D, Thanks for your responses, all very helpful. gfron1, I'm not sure what you mean by glass blocks. How large are they and where would I find them? Trishiad, I do have some large cookie tins, good idea. Are the "tiles" your speaking of ceramic tiles? I need to decide about a centerpiece. Since I am incorporating edible miniature roses into some of the pastry decoration I'm leaning towards a pastry centerpiece. I will be using different sized and designed antique glass plates for display. I live in Vermont, and so I can go towards the rustic/elegant look (which is my tendency anyway), so in this moment I am thinking about using a few wooden boards (nice ones!) and perhaps wooden blocks for display. Wood coupled with glass, flowers and pastry can be very earthy and elegant. I'm also considering how to possibly incorporate the season. . . . Geez, there are so many possible directions to go in; how exciting and somewhat overwhelming. I'll center my focus eventually, but there is so much energy in the beginning of a creative process. I really appreciate the eGullet forum for support and ideas. Patricia

Hello All, O.K. I have taken on a job to make pastries for the local bank at their annual who's who gala function. The event is for 300 people; they have hired two savory caterers and myself for pastry/sweets. Originally I was going to just drop the goods off and let the caterers take it from there but the individual I am dealing with at the bank convinced me to be there, set up my own 8 ft fancy display table and use the function to showcase my work. This is a great account for me and if everything goes well she (the bank person) said they would contract with me again next year. So . . . the part that is totally new to me is creating a table display! I arrange pastry case displays alot but this is different. I am imaging a tiered look of some sort but I'm completely starting from scratch. I thought that I could practice before hand with gathering boxes and draping them with cloth etc. but then it occurred to me that it would be a good thing for me to reach out to see if anyone on egullet has experience and/or thoughts on the subject. How does one go about creating a table display????? Hints? Tricks? Things to be careful of? The event is in three weeks. I will have an 8 ft. table that will be positioned at the entrance to the party. There will also be trays of petite fours being passed around by the caterers that I will need to keep replenished. thank you , thank you. Patricia

I've been following this thread with happiness and received my copy of Dorie's new book on Friday. I made the chocolate chip cookies. (I don't have the book in front of me but I believe it said "my best chocolate chip cookies". Sorry, no photo options). Like many bakers, I too have tried a bazillion CCC recipes and these are my new favorite: exactly as described with crispy, buttery edges and softer centers, very yummy and a nice slight wrinkle/dimple factor after cooling from the oven. Thanks Dorie! Patricia

I use yeasted puff pastry (croissant dough) which is popular. There is a fair amount of crust which soaks up some of the egg mixture, but isn't soggy at all. For me, the yeasted puff bakes through to the bottom better than straight puff. So many choices . . .

I love Easter . . . thanks for sharing these inspiring photos. I've never put saffron into Kulich, or any other pastry come to think of it. Any recommendation on how much I would need to add for one loafs worth? Patricia

Hmm... I emailed them a few months ago. The problem with this company is that they told me I needed to order a min. of $1000 worth of boards every 1-2 months. That's a hell of a lot of boards. But they do seem to have some of the boards I'm looking for. ← yeow. Have you tried Pfeil & Holing? www.cakedeco.com