Monday, June 14, 2010

Raspberry tart

So last weekend was a disaster with the whole macaron fiasco, but I was determined to have a good pastry experience this weekend and praise to the pastry gods I did! i decided to tackle the Tart. hoping it to be somewhat easier but no less challenging than the macaron.

So I went to the store and got all the necessary ingredients to make my tarts. i decided to go with a raspberry tart this weekend and will probably make some different ones in the future, but i love raspberry's so that is what i chose.

This weekend i had a little tart helper E! he is three and LOVES to help in the kitchen and since this project has some assembly required i thought it would be fun for him to make his while i make mine! we had so much fun making and eating them!
E loves to test to make sure things are tasting like they should be!


the kids loved the tarts! S and B didn't help make any but they sure had fun eating them!




So this is how the tarts turned out!

 The tart turned out so beautifully! this one is mine! E couldn't wait for his to get photographed he wanted to eat it! they tasted as good as they look! 

So i would say definitely a good weekend all around!

Next weekend  i will be making croissants wish me luck!
Oh and the photos were taken by Katie schuchart who makes my pastries look like a million bucks!

I used the recipes from the book TARTINE. i love that book!


XX Cassandra



Saturday, May 29, 2010

Macaron Mania!

So being the overachiever (in the kitchen) that I am, I decided to start this little french journey with the coveted  macaron. Baking for me has been sort of a love hate relationship, you see i don't really like to follow a recipe. thats where cooking and I get along fabulous! the recipe is more like a guideline and i can change, add, substitute, whatever. baking is more of a refined and delicate procedure that takes time and other annoying things like actually following a recipe.yet i am determined to master this art called baking if it kills me.

The Macaron: Created in paris in the late nineteenth century by a monsieur Gerbert, but according to Paris patisseries it is a contemporary creation, a creation that has Parisians in a state of Macaron Mania! walk into any patisserie and you will see this rainbow of Macarons. literally almost every color and flavor, including but not limited to! rose, pistachio and cherry, chocolate, salted caramel, espresso, even green lime with basil, wasabi, black licorice.

Now i am no Pierre Herme (apparently the king of macarons) i knew that coming into this but i had no idea how much i would actually suck at making macarons! i thought OK here is the recipe and the ingredients, go!
NO. how could i have been so naive?! to think that any of these pastry's could be easy! but i did and lets just let the pictures do the talking.....

The lone macaron, so pitiful, so sad, so ugly! this macaron took me exactly 6 hours to make. ya. the cookie part is chocolate and the filling is salted caramel. sometime maybe in the distant future i plan on making a lemon macaron. but after today i don't know.

So the next post i will be making raspberry tartletts. they seem easy enough but you never can tell! oh and the pictures of my macarons were taken my Katie schuchart. the only reason my macarons dont look like poop is because of her! thanks katie!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Where to start

So I got three books to kind of help me get an idea about french cooking, they are shown on the left.the Paris cookbook has all kinds of recipes that I am super excited to try! the Paris patisseries is just desserts! and I am super excited to make my first tarts! and Tartine is also desserts. i hope that these will help me get an idea as to what I am getting myself into! the next post i will give the recipe and pictures of how it turned out,  I plan on making every recipe in all the books! so wish me luck! until next post,
                                                 XX Cassandra

Sunday, May 23, 2010

New blog

Hello everyone! this is my new blog called Cafe Au pair, it's about my life as an Au pair and my life in the kitchen. I recently got hired as a nanny to an amazing family in Alaska and am loving it! they have three beautiful children who I thoroughly enjoy taking care of and cooking for! I have always had a passion for cooking, I guess you could blame my parents! and I have always wanted to be a mom and have children. As you might also guess I find the french culture fascinating. I hope to learn the language as soon as possible! and am hoping to cook some amazing food and showcase it to all of you!until next post!
xx Cassandra