Your Daily Sweets (2005-2012)

[Eden]

Eden, are you going to tell us how to make the basil ice cream?  I've got my basil planted...

←

We used DarcieB's recipe* from here on eG. Bill didn't mention any deviations.

FWED as always your work is beautiful! And I know from experience that it must taste as good as it looks

*do a search on basil to find it on the page. For some reason the direct link is broken...

[Megan Blocker]

Whipped up a couple of crepes tonight...ate one with just sugar (crepe sucre, I guess) and one with some Bonne Maman peach preserves. Mmmm....

[Ktepi]

Not sure they'll be set in time to actually eat them tonight, but I made three flavors of panna cotta tonight:

Pepsi Blue (with syrup I'd reduced down from bottles of Pepsi Blue I'd saved but which had long since gone flat). Bright sky blue and smells like cotton candy.

Meyer lemon with Gary Regan's orange bitters. I've been playing around with lemons and had actually blended a couple whole lemons and sugar syrup together and strained it (like roasted lemonade without the roasting), and thought that'd be a good way to get lemony flavor here without the acidity that would curdle the cream. If it works, I'll make lemon ice cream later in the summer. The bitters aren't so pronounced that they distract from the lemon, which I thought might be a problem with Peychaud's or Angostura. I nearly made "Aviation" panna cotta with a hit of maraschino, but I think the name implies more tartness than would really work here.

Vanilla with habanero. One of my favorite flavor combinations for panna cotta or ice cream -- I glaceed some habaneros last summer, and use the resulting syrup in things like this. You get the heat in two hits -- once right away, and then a major hit of spice after the ice cream/panna has melted, which is always a little bit of a shock. The vanilla flavor in this case comes from Auburn vanilla liqueur.

[Ling]

Indeed.

I think you and Ling should open up a patisserie together!

←

I agree. Beautiful. Perfection.

←

Patrick is way out of my league. I'll wash his dishes though, in exchange for a few tarts.

Yesterday, I had a salted caramel (with fleur de sel) and a Poire Helene chocolate from Chocolate Arts in Vancouver. The Poire Helene is my favourite chocolate there.

At Cru that night, I had a lemon tart with strawberry sorbet and vincotto. It was quite good.

Today and I had a brownie, an almond cookie from a Chinese bakery, and the chocolate bar my friend bought me from Jean Maury Phillipe Patisserie. Unfortunately, the chocolate bar was disappointing.

[D90]

A simple Middle Eastern Dessert, unfortunately I cant spell the name I only can say it in Arabic its something like Kanafee (sp?)

Edited June 4, 2006 by D90 (log)

[Beanie]

Today and I had a brownie, an almond cookie from a Chinese bakery, and the chocolate bar my friend bought me from Jean Maury Phillipe Patisserie. Unfortunately, the chocolate bar was disappointing.

←

Ling,

I've been meaning to tell you that I've used your brownie recipe for the past 6 months in my shop and everybody loves them. I don't use Valrhona chocolate due to cost, but even with less expensive chocolate, it's still delicious. Yesterday I decided to try the fudge brownie recipe in this month's Fine Cooking magazine and it's not nearly as good as yours (it's made with cocoa powder, not chocolate.) I just finished making another batch of your brownies and they're cooling now.

[Desiderio]

Today and I had a brownie, an almond cookie from a Chinese bakery, and the chocolate bar my friend bought me from Jean Maury Phillipe Patisserie. Unfortunately, the chocolate bar was disappointing.

←

Ling,

I've been meaning to tell you that I've used your brownie recipe for the past 6 months in my shop and everybody loves them. I don't use Valrhona chocolate due to cost, but even with less expensive chocolate, it's still delicious. Yesterday I decided to try the fudge brownie recipe in this month's Fine Cooking magazine and it's not nearly as good as yours (it's made with cocoa powder, not chocolate.) I just finished making another batch of your brownies and they're cooling now.

←

Ohh browniess!!! Is the recepie posted in here?

[Beanie]

Today and I had a brownie, an almond cookie from a Chinese bakery, and the chocolate bar my friend bought me from Jean Maury Phillipe Patisserie. Unfortunately, the chocolate bar was disappointing.

←

Ling,

I've been meaning to tell you that I've used your brownie recipe for the past 6 months in my shop and everybody loves them. I don't use Valrhona chocolate due to cost, but even with less expensive chocolate, it's still delicious. Yesterday I decided to try the fudge brownie recipe in this month's Fine Cooking magazine and it's not nearly as good as yours (it's made with cocoa powder, not chocolate.) I just finished making another batch of your brownies and they're cooling now.

←

Ohh browniess!!! Is the recepie posted in here?

←

Yes. Do a search in RecipeGullet for brownies. It is #17: "Ling's Brownies." It is very, very fudgy. I made the latest batch in a 9x13 pan and multiplied the ingredients by 1.5.

[Ling]

^Wow, what a compliment! I'm glad they are selling well in the store. If you ever feel like spoiling yourself, make a batch with the 99% Scharffen Berger chocolate. I like it a lot more than the 99% Valrhona, although I like the bittersweet Valrhona chocolates more than the bittersweet SB ones.

I am thinking of starting a mail order bakery business since I've been getting such wonderful feedback from my baking.

Edited June 5, 2006 by Ling (log)

[bibbotson]

Eating after dinner? Tonight dessert was dinner

Had an assortment of macarons from Sadaharu Aoki in Paris:

TOP ROW: macha, coffee, umé (a Japanese prune, if web translators are to be believed)

SECOND ROW: lemon, chocolate, raspberry

THIRD ROW: violet, strawberry, pistachio

BOTTOM ROW: sesame, salted caramel and cinnamon peach

My favorites were the violet, pistachio and lemon macarons.

[Eden]

I don't normally bake during term time since the oven in my residence kitchen is pretty dodgy, but I made some apple tartlets this morning because this afternoon my team competes in qualifying race heats, and I thought we'd probably want a little something for afterwards.

←

inspired by lexy's beautiful tarts from a week or so back, I made a test batch with a recipe where the apples are cooked in wine first. They don't compare to lexy's but they were awfully cute nonetheless:

1.5 inch tart:

four inch tart:

I think the four inch is prettier, but the smaller tart had a much better apple to crust ratio. I think I might try a two inch tart next time just to get a little more "flower power" without changing the crust ratio too much...

hand made crusts without the edging would also help make them look prettier I think...

[gfron1]

As always I tried some new techniques tonight which weren't perfectly executed, but boy were they a nice change of pace for a summer dessert...

From the most recent Pastry's Best magazine: Saffron Pear Mousse and Hibiscus Gelee. The base is a carmelized feuilletage (I used puff pastry which I thought was the same...but now I don't think so), topped with saffron pear balls, then a Sesame Crust (I added black sesame seeds to mine which was a nice variation, Pear mousse (super yummy), and finally Hibiscus gelee (which didn't set up - I'm just starting to use gelatin sheets and haven't quite got them down yet).

The gelee (which was more of a sauce) was the hit, as was the mousse which was so creamy. Anyway...here it is:

If anyone else has made this recipe and had success, I'd love to talk...

Edited June 5, 2006 by gfron1 (log)

[sanrensho]

TOP ROW: macha, coffee, umé (a Japanese prune, if web translators are to be believed)

SECOND ROW: lemon, chocolate, raspberry

THIRD ROW: violet, strawberry, pistachio

BOTTOM ROW: sesame, salted caramel and cinnamon peach

Wow, I'm envious. BTW, ume is actually Japanese apricot, althought it is commonly referred to as Japanese plum.

[Ling]

Playing catch-up as I've been on vacation for a few days...

Today:

-litchee and a selection of truffles

Yesterday, at Mistral

-honeydew, cantaloupe sorbet

-pineapple tart

-soft, warm chocolate cake with brownie ice-cream

Friday, at Providence

-lime shiso sorbet, strawberry vanilla sorbet

-some sort of fruit "tuile" filled with fromage blanc (blanking on this dessert, sorry)

-petit fours (chocolate macadamia, homemade peanut butter chocolate cup, homemade caramel)

at the bakeries (Boule and Sweet Lady Jane)

-tart tartin

-passionfruit mousse cake with coconut dacquoise

-pistachio-cream chocolate

-canneles bordelaise

...and a churro from Mr. Churro at a touristy part of LA

Thursday

-hazelnut butter cake with Valrhona mousse, hazelnut dacquoise, and Valrhona ganache (made by me, for bf's sister's birthday)

Wednesday (Gypsy dinner in Seattle)

-sour lemon pudding, Italian meringue

-butterscotch pudding

-chocolate terrine (SB 70%) with various treats like homemade marshmallow and candied nuts

-lime cheesecake with strawberry Poprock graham crust (this was very good!)

-petit fours

Edited June 12, 2006 by Ling (log)

[cathrynapple]

ling, i love your life.

[Ling]

^awww... I do have a lot of fun. I feel very fortunate.

The icing on the cake is that Tony Bourdain was a guest at one of the dinners.

Edited June 12, 2006 by Ling (log)

[sazji]

I had a sort of nice dessert shared by a friend that almost certainly came out of some Turkish women's magazine. These recipes often read like "buy 3 pre-packaged chocolate cake rounds, make one box worth of packaged chantilly, adding ground pistahios, grate apples, add chopped cooked carrots, one package of vanillin and two T banana liqueur...." But this one was kinda good even if it seems a bit strange (it's not going into recipe gullet!):

1 kilo strawberries

4 c milk

7 T semolina

10 T sugar

1 T margarine (okay, I used butter)

1 packet vanilla sugar

Clean strawberries and distribute in six bowls. Mis milk, semolina, sugar and margarine and bring to boil. Lower heat, simmer till well thickened, remove from heat and add the vanilla. Pour over strawberries in bowls, refrigerate.

Think "Galaktoboureko filling minus the phyllo, plus fresh strawberries."

Edited June 12, 2006 by sazji (log)

[ablosh]

This is my TRIPLE THREAT CHEESECAKE.

The top layer's vanilla, the second's coffee and the third is chocolate, while the base is a cookies 'n' cream inspired shortcrust. (Too bad the layer's didn't show on pictures I've taken, because I only used my cellphone's camera...)

Tasters said that aside from my purist cheesecake, this is the best I've made!

[gfron1]

Ablosh - looks great - and I love the pic. Makes me want cheesecake...can I bear to turn on the overn?!

[gfron1]

Ablosh - looks great - and I love the pic. Makes me want cheesecake...can I bear to turn on the oven?!

[ksaw29]

This is my TRIPLE THREAT CHEESECAKE.

The top layer's vanilla, the second's coffee and the third is chocolate, while the base is a cookies 'n' cream inspired shortcrust. (Too bad the layer's didn't show on pictures I've taken, because I only used my cellphone's camera...)

Tasters said that aside from my purist cheesecake, this is the best I've made!

←

Recipe please please please!!!

[oli]

Playing catch-up as I've been on vacation for a few days...

Today:

-litchee and a selection of truffles

Yesterday, at Mistral

-honeydew, cantaloupe sorbet

-pineapple tart

-soft, warm chocolate cake with brownie ice-cream

Friday, at Providence

-lime shiso sorbet, strawberry vanilla sorbet

-some sort of fruit "tuile" filled with fromage blanc (blanking on this dessert, sorry)

-petit fours (chocolate macadamia, homemade peanut butter chocolate cup, homemade caramel)

at the bakeries (Boule and Sweet Lady Jane)

-tart tartin

-passionfruit mousse cake with coconut dacquoise

-pistachio-cream chocolate

-canneles bordelaise

...and a churro from Mr. Churro at a touristy part of LA

Thursday

-hazelnut butter cake with Valrhona mousse, hazelnut dacquoise, and Valrhona ganache (made by me, for bf's sister's birthday)

Wednesday (Gypsy dinner in Seattle)

-sour lemon pudding, Italian meringue

-butterscotch pudding

-chocolate terrine (SB 70%) with various treats like homemade marshmallow and candied nuts

-lime cheesecake with strawberry Poprock graham crust (this was very good!)

-petit fours

←

Next time you come down to L.A. you should make it a point to go to Michel Richard's which is not too far from Sweet Lady Jane. Also in Glendale and Burbank is a really big bakery and deli, is Porto's. Victor Benes is also very nice and they are in the Gelson's Markets. The best one is in Sherman Oaks.

[Patrick S]

I tried making a jaconde cake for the first time, and it went relatively well. This has a jaconde base and border, a crunchy white chocolate layer on the bottom, white chocolate/Grand Marnier mousse in the middle, and passionfruit gelee on top. BTW, I'm not infatuated with white chocolate -- I was given several pounds of it as a gift and have been looking for ways to use it.

[gfron1]

Patrick that is absolutely stunning - incredible photo. How big was it - I can't tell if it was large or individual serving?

[ludja]

Tart Citron Mama; a recipe from Andre Soltner. It really is more a cake than a tart composed of a bottom layer of sponge cake made with eggs, ground almonds and lemon zest. After you cook the bottom you add a layer of thinly sliced lemons (peel removed) and then top it off with an almond meringue which is then baked. The lemon slices form a tart jelly in between the cake and meringue layer. I've made it before but this time I used Meyer lemons and doubled the amount of sliced lemons from two to four. (I used one Eureka to provide more tartness.)

I've made this a few times from a published recipe in Julia Child's "Cooking with Master Chefs" but I also found a copy of the recipe on line: click

Lightly sweetened whipped cream also provides a good foil to the richness and sweetness of the cake. We had some limonocello with it as well.

A little blurry due to low lighting and *maybe* the sucession of wine courses.

Beautiful cake and photo, Patrick S. Were you happy with the taste? I would think the passionfruit gelee really adds a lot. One of my favorite desserts, at a restaurant, was a passionfruit creme brulee in which the passionfruit layer on top added a wonderful flavor and contrast.

Edited June 13, 2006 by ludja (log)