Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )

[teonzo]

4 hours ago, Pete Fred said:

You probably can't get much more classic than Riz à l'impératrice (Empress rice pudding). It's a mid-19th Century moulded rice pudding with candied fruits - here, raisins, glacé cherries and stem ginger - that's lightened with bavarois (Bavarian cream) and whipped cream. I had no idea how to decorate it so went full retro and plonked a few tinned peaches on top.

 

I agree 100% with @jmacnaughtan: classics are classics for deserved reasons and call for classic aesthetics. I would choose your riz à l'impératrice over anything by Bachour and Grolet.

 

 

 

3 hours ago, jmacnaughtan said:

Thanks - I did think about that, but I wanted some kind of structural integrity and a relatively thin layer.  When I use a sponge layer, it's down to well under a centimetre, and I think it would be a little complicated to do that with ladyfingers (which, incidentally, I make as the sponge layer itself).  I think I may buy a brioche next time, slice it down and possibly toast it slightly.

 

One of the most frequent choice for home-made tiramisu is a product similar to graham crackers, they are thin as you'd like, but probably are too dense. I would not underestimate the use of stale bread, it's perfect for soaking with flavoured liquids.

 

 

 

Teo

 

[shain]

Another catching up post - this was my contribution to the Passover eve dinner desserts.

Icebox cakes (as I've been taught they are called in English - In Hebrew it's "biscuit cake"). One flavored with coconut and topped with sweetened coconut flakes. The other flavored with peanut butter and topped with caramelized peanuts. Both had the biscuits dipped in coffee and covered with grated chocolate.

 

 

Our hostess made a passover classic - nuts tart (walnuts and hazelnuts) lightly soaked in liquor and topped with apricot jam and whipped cream.

No picture.

[jimb0]

Speaking of classics, I made a tarte aux fruits for my SO's team meeting a little while back. Crust, almond cream, pastry cream, apricots, raspberries, white and red currants, strawberry jelly, mint:

 

It definitely made the car smell nicer when I dropped it off, haha:

 

 

On 4/9/2019 at 11:07 AM, ElsieD said:

Ahhhhhh... strawberries.  As I look out all I see is snow covered ground.  We are a long ways away.  I too eat them daily once they arrive, until the local ones are done.  I don't bother with the imported ones as it seems to me they are grown for size, not flavour.

 

I'm not sure if you get them in Ottawa (they're all over sw ont), but Canada is a greenhouse powerhouse these days and they've introduced strawberries as a greenhouse crop. Let me tell you, I have been buying like $10 of strawberries a week since they started selling these under the PC brand back a couple of months ago - the US strawberries aren't worth buying, but these are like little concentrated bursts of summer. They're sweet enough to eat fresh, but I do like adding a bit extra.

Edited April 27, 2019 by jimb0 (log)

[Matthew.Taylor]

Ok this is this weekend's baking project. They're Bermuda Banana Snickedoodles. The recipe is from the latest issue of "Bake from Scratch" magazine (I hope you guys have heard of it, if you haven't, then you need to look for it!) They're distinguished by the 3/4 of a cup of Banana puree mixed in, which adds this really nice soft banana taste to them.

[jimb0]

32 minutes ago, Matthew.Taylor said:

Ok this is this weekend's baking project. They're Bermuda Banana Snickedoodles. The recipe is from the latest issue of "Bake from Scratch" magazine (I hope you guys have heard of it, if you haven't, then you need to look for it!) They're distinguished by the 3/4 of a cup of Banana puree mixed in, which adds this really nice soft banana taste to them.

 

 

Nice! I like bananas and snickerdoodles (and it seems like the latter are an almost unknown quantity, at least among the Canadians I know) so this is right up my alley. 

Edited April 27, 2019 by jimb0 (log)

[Anna N]

12 hours ago, jimb0 said:

I'm not sure if you get them in Ottawa (they're all over sw ont), but Canada is a greenhouse powerhouse these days and they've introduced strawberries as a greenhouse crop. Let me tell you, I have been buying like $10 of strawberries a week since they started selling these under the PC brand back a couple of months ago - the US strawberries aren't worth buying, but these are like little concentrated bursts of summer. They're sweet enough to eat fresh, but I do like adding a bit extra.

Thanks for this. I shall be on the lookout. 

[Anna N]

1 minute ago, jimb0 said:

Nice! I like bananas and snickerdoodles (and it seems like the latter are an almost unknown quantity, at least among the Canadians I know) so this is right up my alley. 

 You are just hanging around the wrong Canadians.  😂

[jimb0]

29 minutes ago, Anna N said:

 You are just hanging around the wrong Canadians.  😂

 

Entirely possible. 😀 At least snickerdoodles tend to go over better than when I start bringing up sausage gravy....

 

 

[ElsieD]

4 hours ago, Anna N said:

Thanks for this. I shall be on the lookout. 

 

16 hours ago, jimb0 said:

Speaking of classics, I made a tarte aux fruits for my SO's team meeting a little while back. Crust, almond cream, pastry cream, apricots, raspberries, white and red currants, strawberry jelly, mint:

 

It definitely made the car smell nicer when I dropped it off, haha:

 

 

 

I'm not sure if you get them in Ottawa (they're all over sw ont), but Canada is a greenhouse powerhouse these days and they've introduced strawberries as a greenhouse crop. Let me tell you, I have been buying like $10 of strawberries a week since they started selling these under the PC brand back a couple of months ago - the US strawberries aren't worth buying, but these are like little concentrated bursts of summer. They're sweet enough to eat fresh, but I do like adding a bit extra.

 

 

Where are the greenhouses located?  I'll look for them.  Thank you.

[jimb0]

Just now, ElsieD said:

Where are the greenhouses located?  I'll look for them.  Thank you.

 

I mean industrially, like the tomatoes in Leamington. I buy the strawberries at Valu-Mart and Loblaws. I’m not sure who else is selling them. 

[Anna N]

56 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

 

Where are the greenhouses located?  I'll look for them.  Thank you.

Does this help?  If only the strawberries made as much profit as the cannabis!   I only mention it because it is part of the same link  

Edited April 27, 2019 by Anna N
To make an addition to the text. (log)

[chromedome]

5 hours ago, jimb0 said:

 

Nice! I like bananas and snickerdoodles (and it seems like the latter are an almost unknown quantity, at least among the Canadians I know) so this is right up my alley. 

 

Truthfully, I'd never heard of them until I resumed hanging out here in my late 40s.

[chromedome]

5 hours ago, jimb0 said:

 

Entirely possible. 😀 At least snickerdoodles tend to go over better than when I start bringing up sausage gravy....

 

I like sausage gravy, but I don't want to be around you when you're bringing it up.

 

 

(...sorry...)

[jimb0]

13 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Does this help?  If only the strawberries made as much profit as the cannabis!   I only mention it because it is part of the same link  

 

 

If only the latter was available for $5/12 oz.

 

8 minutes ago, chromedome said:

Truthfully, I'd never heard of them until I resumed hanging out here in my late 40s.

 

They're some combination of German and American cookery; I didn't even see them much in the Western part of the states. 

 

6 minutes ago, chromedome said:

I like sausage gravy, but I don't want to be around you when you're bringing it up.

 

 

(...sorry...)

 

(ง •̀_•́)ง

 

Joking aside, you might if my biscuits came with. I was vaguely surprised when I got here and McDonalds didn't even have biscuits (let alone sausage gravy like back home). When my sister-in-law was in TN for work, they had her in a hotel for a month with free continental breakfast. She went up and got a bowl of oatmeal only to get back to her table and realize it was a sausage gravy dispenser....

Edited April 27, 2019 by jimb0 (log)

[chromedome]

6 minutes ago, jimb0 said:

 

If only the latter was available for $5/12 oz.

 

 

They're some combination of German and American cookery; I didn't even see them much in the Western part of the states. 

 

 

(ง •̀_•́)ง

 

Joking aside, you might if my biscuits came with. I was vaguely surprised when I got here and McDonalds didn't even have biscuits (let alone sausage gravy like back home). When my sister-in-law was in TN for work, they had her in a hotel for a month with free continental breakfast. She went up and got a bowl of oatmeal only to get back to her table and realize it was a sausage gravy dispenser....

 

Yeah, no biscuits at McD's.

 

OTOH, I'm pretty sure the Southern locations don't get McLobster. So, you know...

 

I'm personally all over the biscuits and sausage gravy, fwiw. But I'm not fat-phobic, as so many are.

[Pete Fred]

Eager to to use up some Valrhona Taïnori (64%) that was beyond its best before, I made a small (15 cm/6") chocolate tart from a Marco Pierre White recipe. (Although I think it's lifted straight from the one Joël Robuchon served at Jamin, back in the day.)

 

 

I find ganache-type tarts too dense and rich, and this is much lighter, essentially being just a barely set chocolate custard.

[jimb0]

23 minutes ago, chromedome said:

OTOH, I'm pretty sure the Southern locations don't get McLobster. So, you know...

  

 

 

Truth. But I married a maritimer and we get to the coast enough to satisfy that, thankfully.

 

23 minutes ago, chromedome said:

 I'm personally all over the biscuits and sausage gravy, fwiw. But I'm not fat-phobic, as so many are.

 

Me too; I'm just fat, or was.

 

3 minutes ago, Pete Fred said:

Eager to to use up some Valrhona Taïnori (64%) that was beyond its best before, I made a small (15 cm/6") chocolate tart from a Marco Pierre White recipe. (Although I think it's lifted straight from the one Joël Robuchon served at Jamin, back in the day.)

 

 

I find ganache-type tarts too dense and rich, and this is much lighter, essentially being just a barely set chocolate custard.

 

This is perfection.

[ElsieD]

48 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Does this help?  If only the strawberries made as much profit as the cannabis!   I only mention it because it is part of the same link  

 

 

Yes, thank you.  I wondered if it was Kingsville because I have had other stuff from the greenhouses there.

[jimb0]

I see that it’s specifically Mucci that’s doing the strawberries; I think they must be selling them directly in stores like Sobey’s, and under license for the PC brand stores. 

 

We’ve definitely had their tomatoes before. Anyway, I’m curious to see what other products they end up moving into. 

Edited April 29, 2019 by jimb0 (log)

[ElsieD]

4 hours ago, jimb0 said:

I see that it’s specifically Mucci that’s doing the strawberries; I think they must be selling them directly in stores like Sobey’s, and under license for the PC brand stores. 

 

We’ve definitely had their tomatoes before. Anyway, I’m curious to see what other products they end up moving into. 

 

 

I bought some the other day.  The are very pretty and taste like.......nothing.  I won't be buying them again.

[jimb0]

29 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

I bought some the other day.  The are very pretty and taste like.......nothing.  I won't be buying them again.

That’s really unfortunate. Maybe the PC brand doesn’t use them, after all? Because honestly we’ve both been blown away by them. I wonder where the issue lies....

[ElsieD]

11 minutes ago, jimb0 said:

That’s really unfortunate. Maybe the PC brand doesn’t use them, after all? Because honestly we’ve both been blown away by them. I wonder where the issue lies....

 

I'll check out the PC brand.  It would seem strange that if both are grown in a greenhouse that they would taste differently.  Different type of strawberry, maybe.  I bought some grape tomatoes the other day called Sugar Bombs that are insanely delicious.  Interestingly, they too come from Kingsville, Ont. But it clearly states USA grown.  So, do they just pack them there?

[jimb0]

1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

 

I'll check out the PC brand.  It would seem strange that if both are grown in a greenhouse that they would taste differently.  Different type of strawberry, maybe.  I bought some grape tomatoes the other day called Sugar Bombs that are insanely delicious.  Interestingly, they too come from Kingsville, Ont. But it clearly states USA grown.  So, do they just pack them there?

Well, I’d hate for you to throw good money after bad; perhaps it’s a supply chain issue. 

 

As to the latter, probably. Many of these companies will import to cover product shortage or supply a niche they don’t produce. 

[Kerry Beal]

2 hours ago, ElsieD said:

 

I'll check out the PC brand.  It would seem strange that if both are grown in a greenhouse that they would taste differently.  Different type of strawberry, maybe.  I bought some grape tomatoes the other day called Sugar Bombs that are insanely delicious.  Interestingly, they too come from Kingsville, Ont. But it clearly states USA grown.  So, do they just pack them there?

Sugar Bombs were the ones I got at Wegmans - they were excellent - good to know I can get them here

[ElsieD]

1 hour ago, Kerry Beal said:

Sugar Bombs were the ones I got at Wegmans - they were excellent - good to know I can get them here

 

I was pretty sure an eGullet member had mentioned them but I couldn't remember who.  I just came in from buying the PC brand strawberries and they are delicious.  Can't stop eating them.  Not quite as good as the field grown ones in season but if they have these all the time in the off-season, I'll be a happy camper.  They are my favourite fruit.