Help me design a dessert bar

[JFLinLA]

Excellent Anatolia! I'm looking forward to your results.

Thanks Michelle for the lekvar recipe. Don't know if I'll use it for the teacakes but hamantashen and Purim are just around the corner.

[JustKay]

Marshmallows - Kosher marshmallows contain fish gelatin - I don't know if you can actually buy fish gelatin.  (but some homemade marshmallows rolled in toasted coconut would be amazing)

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I have tried making marshmallows with Kojel - it does not work. Kojel does not contain any gelatin. It has substitutes like gum arabic, carageenan, etc. marshmallow thread It is quick setting and whipping the syrup for a long period of time somehow messes up the gelling properties and it won't set.

I now use marine-based gelatine imported from Pakistan (I keep HALAL). It acts just like gelatine, and with out the 'weird' gelatine smell.

Edited February 5, 2005 by kew (log)

[Rehovot]

Coffee Blond Brownies

This is my long standing adaptation of a recipe in one of the old Silver Palate books.

These are terrific brownies! I might have to make more....soon. Say, in an hour.

Edited for html snag.

Edited February 8, 2005 by Rehovot (log)

[JFLinLA]

Rehovot -- Glad you like the blondies. They are terrific.

Reporting in on the second attempt at the apricot tea cakes -- the Lorann apricot flavoring really makes a difference. I highly recommend adding about 1/4 tsp. to the recipe. I may also glaze with melted apricot jam for the real party just to guild the lily, as it were.

I'll report more later with future experiments.

[DiH]

Coffee Blond Brownies

This is my long standing adaptation of a recipe in one of the old Silver Palate books.

These are terrific brownies! I might have to make more....soon. Say, in an hour.

Edited for html snag.

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DITTO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! These are some kick a$$ amazing brownies. JFLinLA, many thanks from the bottom of my brownie-stuffed tummy for sharing your recipe.

Di

[JFLinLA]

Okay, okay, I get it. The coffee blond brownies will definitely be in the dessert bar.

[JFLinLA]

Caramel Cheesecake- don't mix the caramel into the cheesecake batter. Instead make it a layer over the crust, then pour over the cheese batter and bake. Swirled it's likely to crack, and if you go lighter on the caramel so it won't crack you'll probably loose the flavor. Or totally mix the caramel into the batter or use brown sugar instead of white in your batter.

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Hi, I'm bringing this thread back up again to let you know how the experiments are going. Specifically, with regard to the caramel cheesecake, it actually worked quite well despite Wendy's warnings. I made the cheesecake recipe I provided earlier in this thread. I set aside about a cup of the filling. Then I made caramel with a little corn syrup added to keep it a little soft. Once it got pretty brown, I added just a touch of cream. I let it cool some and then mixed it in a little at a time to the remaining cup of filling. Honestly, the caramel didn't mix totally smooth. Nevertheless, I poured this on top of the regular cheesecake batter already in the pan and attempted to swirl. It didn't really marbelize but the cheesecake came out with a lovely caramel/cheesecake layer on top that morphed into the regular cheesecake as you moved down. There was an excellent and distinct caramel flavor. Bat Mitzvah girl and I were both pleased. The only thing we would change, and we agree on this, is that we didn't think the nut crust worked best with this flavor. I'm going to give it a go again with a graham cracker crust but the filling worked great.

Live and learn.

[racheld]

Two of the fastest-to-go items at all the military teas I remember are the cinnamon cigarettes, a soft, creamy confection, easy to make in great quantities, layer and freeze, and the lemon poppyseed loaves, made in the smallest loaf pans and sliced into perhaps four portions. The loaves are the moistest, lemony-est cake I've ever tasted. These are easily made in mini-cupcake tins.

And we always store our Christmas "wedding" cookies in large cannisters of powdered sugar. Just before serving, we shake them gently in a colander set over another cannister. Beautifully fresh, and they never develop sugar-loss spots.

The neatest mini-cheesecakes are made by dropping one vanilla wafer or lime wafer flatside down into mini-cupcake papers (I use the foil ones). Fill with your favorite batter and bake.

Old-fashioned lace cookies rolled around a wooden spoon, then filled with buttercream frosting.

Puff pastry spread with a mixture of almond paste, egg white and powdered sugar, topped with another sheet of pastry, cut into strips, then twisted twice to make bows before baking.

Palmiers with colored sugar instead of plain.

And chocolate-dipped strawberries; dip, let harden, then dip tip or one side into pastel-colored white chocolate.

[JFLinLA]

It's time for me to bring this back up again (even though it may not be fair this week for those of us observing Passover). I finished all my pre-Bat Mitzvah baking experiments in time for Passover baking. With that largely behind me, this week I'm focused on getting the invitations ready to mail out for my daughter's Bat Mitzvah. As soon as Passover is over, I start baking and freezing or mixing and freezing un-baked dough.

I need your input to help me decide what to bake for the Friday night Oneg (refreshments after the service), for the dessert bar at the party on Saturday night, for both, and how much of each. As a reminder, here are a few basics:

1. I guess there will be about 150 people on both Friday and Saturday night. However, there will be virtually no overlap between the two evenings.

2. There will also be cut up fruit and cheese & crackers on Friday night, along with not great temple punch and not horrible temple coffee and tea.

3. For Saturday, about 50-60% will be kids.

4. We will also have an ice cream sundae bar and a cappucino cart on Saturday night.

5. No, I have not yet finalized the Saturday night menu with the caterer.

6. We do not keep kosher so, while I would never serve pork or shell fish, real butter and other milk products will be used in the desserts.

7. While I will take the week prior to the Bat Mitzvah off from work to do much of the last minute baking, everything will need to be done by Wednesday evening. Thursday, I will make the challah dough leave to rise in the fridge. Thursday afternoon is rehearsal. Friday morning, I will head up to the temple early with all the baked goods and the risen challah dough. While the braided challot (2 or 3 large challot, I haven't decided yet) are rising and baking, I'll get everything set out for the Friday night oneg with my mom, aunt and a few friends, and I'll leave the Saturday stuff clearly labeled for the caterer for Saturday.

8. In addition, I will also be baking torah-shaped cookies, decorated with royal icing, as party favors.

So, for the Saturday dessert bar, and Friday night "oneg" here's what I'm considering:

Chocolate chunk cookies (AB's "chewy" recipe)

Toffee chip cookies (from the back of the Skor's chip bag, required by the Bat Mitzvah girl)

Amaretti/almond macaroons

lime meltaways (suggested here)

bite-size chocolate almond brownies (a J. Torres recipe)

apricot tea cakes (suggested here)

raspberry bars (an ATK recipe)

coffee chocolate chip Kahlua blondies (I provided the recipe here)

lemon layer cake bars (a G. Gand recipe but I've finally figured out the changes to get it the way I want)

caramel cheescake squares

chocolate biscotti

orange-pecan biscotti

And, thanks to all of the many other suggestions. I'm sure I'll use them elsewhere.

Looking forward, as always, to some great eG advice.

Edited April 26, 2005 by JFLinLA (log)

[Wendy DeBord]

I personally would make the same items for Saturday as I did for Friday, since you won't have overlapping guests. I'd let my serving platters deside for me how much of what goes to each party according to how I layed out the design of my pastries. I like to make patterns verses put a couple of each item on one tray in non-patterned assortments. I may arrange my items so they look like a big flower on the tray, etc...

What your serving them for dinner does play a role in how much desserts you'll need. Are they eating dinner right before Friday nights event too?

Lets see..........you have listed 12 items plus the decorated torah cookies no?

In my experience, children will mainly eat the ice cream bar when given the choice. Most children eat what they are familar with, so anything they haven't tasted before or seen before might not get touched by them.

Is your group the type of people that eat everything they put on their plate or the type that take one of everything they can jamm on their plate whether they will eat it or not?

[Pam R]

In my experience, children will mainly eat the ice cream bar when given the choice. Most children eat what they are familar with, so anything they haven't tasted before or seen before might not get touched by them.

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In my experience, many of the adults will eat the ice cream bar too

How is it that there will be no overlapping of people for the 2 nights? Or is it that there's no overlapping of food?

[JFLinLA]

First of all, I could really use some help with coming up with quantities as to what to make.

In response to Wendy's and Pam's questions/comments:

Friday night services will be after dinner. Desserts are served at the "Oneg" after services, about 9:00 PM. Attendees will be mainly the regular congregation. Only our closest relatives will be at this one. The Saturday night party will be just us and our guests for dinner, dancing and everything else.

My guess is that kids and adults will mix at the dessert bar, ice cream bar and cappucino cart. Adults love the ice cream as much as the kids though they may not use as many of the candy toppings (gummy bears, etc.). Kids love the dessert bar though they will more likely grab the chocolate chip cookies and brownies and stay away from the more "sophisticated" stuff. Adults will get the hot drinks from the cappucino cart but both kids and adults love the ice-blended drinks.

As for display, I will arrange the platters for Friday night but I have to trust my caterer to do it on Saturday so, it will be what it will be.

Anyway, looking for help on quantities as I said.

(I've got to take photos to show you all as I go.)

[Pam R]

We generally allow for 3 pieces per person. It's hard to tell you what you may need... as different crowds expect different things and will eat different quantities. 3 is a good, standard figure. We find that when we cater bar/bat mitzvahs, and the family does the baking they usually have much more than they need - though I always like to have more than less. If you have approx. 4 dz. of each of your 12 items - you'll have 575 pieces - which is good.

On Tuesday we did a KFP coffee and dessert after the Symphony here - there were approx. 300 people and we had just over 1000 pieces. Similar to what you're doing - brownies, cookies, cream puffs, meringues, etc. There were 2-3 dz. pieces leftover.

[Wendy DeBord]

I'm struggling to give you an answer............so much depends upon your group of people, how conservative or not they are.

Roughly for the Friday night, if there not eating sweets until 9:00 pm I would plan very light. Probably 1 to 1 1/2 pieces per person. BUT will people want to take some home? I've seen that happen, where they don't want to eat late at night but think nothing of grabing 2 or 3 items to eat tommarrow.

Sat. night I'm with Pam R, I agree that 3 pieces per person should be generous.

I don't want to scare you, but just tell you something I've seen thats pretty standard. I've seen caterers deligate waitstaff to tray up the hostesses pastries or candies because they are dealing with their own food product. I've seen waitstaff hord items (steal) boxes of candy and only put out a percentage of what the host provided instead of all of it. Plan on the waitstaff eating too, in your quantites, they'll eat more then a average guest.

In the end it will all balance out. If you baked too much people will love to take some home, if you didn't bake enough the ice cream bar will satisfy everyone. Don't stress yourself too much. Get done what you can and then let what will be, be.

[Pam R]

In the end it will all balance out. If you baked too much people will love to take some home, if you didn't bake enough the ice cream bar will satisfy everyone. Don't stress yourself too much. Get done what you can and then let what will be, be.

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I couldn't agree more.

(though I'd have more rather than less )

I'm doing the same thing tonight and tomorrow night - I'll let you know what's leftover based on 3/pp

[Kokh Leffle]

Mazel Tov!!

I have successfully prepared Challah up through the braiding and first egg wash and then frozen it. When your ready to bake, allow it to thaw at room temp through the final rise. Give it an egg wash and sprinkle with your favourite seeds then bake as usual. You can experiment with a Shabbat Challah and see how your dough recipe reacts. Mine thaws and rises in about 5 hours. I suppose you can thaw overnight in the fridge and get a better handle on your timing.

I know your asking about dessert, but if this works for your Challah it will allow you more time to concentrate on the rest of the goodies.

I’m a dessertaholic, so if you are looking for an unofficial taster, I’m volunteering.

Is Passover over yet? All these wonderful suggestions are making me crave a sugar rush.

Elie

[Pam R]

I've been thinking about this all day. I don't want you to run out of stuff - I don't know about you, but I'm always happier if there is some stuff left over rather than running out.

What do they typically have at the Oneg and do people eat it? I know here, more often than not, it's the congregation that storms the food tables and inhales everything before the 'invited' guests get to them. One piece per person sounds too low to me. If you have stuff left from Friday, you can use it on Sat. right?

[JFLinLA]

Yes, yes, I also tend to prefer too much. I think I'll probably achieve that without much problem (as that's what I did 3 years ago for my son's Bar Mitzvah without nearly this much planning).

It's the same caterer as last time so I'm not worried. I expect his staff to eat but they're all pretty honest.

I'm clearing freezer space and starting on the torah shaped cookies this week.

Thanks again all.

Jody

[JFLinLA]

Just checking in with a status report. The Bat Mitzvah is 4 weeks from yesterday. Here's what's done so far:

torah shaped cookies are baked and frozen for later decorating

3 pans of coffe-kahlua chocolate chip blondies are baked and frozen and in mom's freezer

3 pans of raspberry bars are baked and frozen in my freezer and I will transfer to my friend's freezer later this week

11-12 dozen chocolate chip cookies scooped, frozen and in a zip-lock bag in the freezer for later baking

2 double batches (that's 4 batches I guess) of lime melt-aways mixed, rolled into logs and in the freezer to slice and bake later. 1 more double batch to do.

For the coming week or next weekend, after the last batch of lime cookie dough, I'll make the lemon curd to put into RLB's lemon mousseline buttercream and then I'll freeze the whole thing.

I think I'm on track.

Just have to get the last of the RSVP in.

[rjwong]

Looks pretty good. You must have a "things-to-do" list on a computer spreadsheet file or something. Seems very organized.

Do you have your final baking/decorating schedule in place?

Extra freezer space for back-up?

The things you have baked are for BOTH nights, correct?

Just hang in there, Jody. You're doing just fine.

[bloviatrix]

Any chance we'll get to see pictures?

[JFLinLA]

Any chance we'll get to see pictures?

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That's my plan but please be patient. Some time after the event itself.

[pchef_247]

Ooh, I love lemon curd.  I'd have to fill Friday morning at the absolute latest.  Wouldn't they be soggy by Saturday night?

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Brush the inside with melted/tempered couverture to act as an insulator...

[JFLinLA]

Five days to go.

60+ Torah-shaped cookies are decorated and packaged for favors. I still have some undecorated ones and I'm going to mix up a bit more royal icing to make just a few more to cover breakage. These are for the 55 or so kids that are coming.

The first batch of chocolate biscotti are cooling and the second batch is in the oven.

I've got pix of the cookies and biscotti but I've got to have the teenager download them from the camera for me. They're coming.

Remaining to do for today/Monday -- make orange-pecan biscotti; slice, bake and dust lime melt-aways; decorate a few more torah shaped cookies.

Tuesday -- Bake-off chocolate chip cookies and toffee chip cookies; bake 1 pan regular brownies for Friday night oneg; make amaretti/almond macaroons. Tuesday is also rehearsal day in the afternoon.

Wednesday -- Make bite-sized almond brownies. Make lemon layer cake. Mix up batter for apricot tea cakes and refrigerate. Defrost butter cream for lemon layer cake overnight.

Thursday -- Bake tea cakes. Frost lemon layer cake. Mix challah dough.

Remember, several things are already done and in other people's freezers.

Edited June 13, 2005 by JFLinLA (log)

[Genny]

Wow, 6 months to plan for the Bat Mitzvah! I'm so very impressed with your planning and testing and all the attention to detail for this. I'm also jealous you have such a fantastic event to plan for! As a fellow home cooking enthusiast, these opportunities don't come very often it seems. (And my DH thought I was nuts taking 6 weeks to plan for his grad party!)

Just wait until weddings come! Good thing you have a few years yet for that

I'm sure this will all come off beautifully. As with everyone else, I'm looking forward to the pix and report to follow!

Genny