I’m back in the baking game and I’m ready to play on whole
different league now. Ha. That sounded intense, no? But in all seriousness, I
am trying to elevate my baking skills
and that’s why I made profiteroles this week (pun intended). I’ve grown up
eating ice cream puffs from Costco (you know what I’m talking about—the ones in
the big white plastic cube bin), but never thought about making them. Why? They
kind of seemed daunting and to be honest I was never a huge fan of puffs, so I
didn’t bother. But then… The Great British Bake Off
happened. It’s a fantastic show and each week the contestants get a
range of challenges and I saw how puffs or profiteroles can be fun and easy to
bake. In an ideal world, I would make rose-water cream-filled profiteroles with
some kind of caramel nest encasing… sounds elegant doesn’t it? Well to my
dismay, Ralphs doesn’t sell rose-water extract (does anyone know a LA shop that
does?). Should have known better. I ended up making a traditional vanilla
cream-filled profiteroles with a kind of dulche de leche and chocolate sauce
with a touch of Kahlua. Delicious.
I actually used two recipes for the profiteroles (I’ve
decided to not address them as cream puffs anymore because profiteroles sound
much more posh and are probably the proper name for ‘em… I say this as I throw
my nose into the air). The first recipe I used was for the actual pastry bit. I
didn’t read the entire recipe thoroughly and later realized it was for ice
cream profiteroles and I wanted to make traditional cream ones, so I sought
another recipe for the cream bit and also got a chocolate sauce recipe with it.
Best decision ever because the sauce is fantastic. I followed the recipes
pretty faithfully except I added a bit of vanilla extract into the cream and
used Kahlua in the sauce and didn't add cinnamon in the pastry dough. Oh the advantages of being 21—I can now experiment
with alcohol! Also, I used Ziploc sandwich bags to the do the piping—yay poor
college student alternatives! I really should invest in a piping bag because it
got really messy. At least I have a
mixer, rolling pin and whisk now! If you read my past entries, making meringues
with tied forks is really tiring. When you pipe, be patient and squeeze cream
into the profiterole until a little cream bounces back at you from the hole you
have to poke at the bottom. I sometimes squeezed too hard and cream squirted
out of a random hole at the top. Piping cream makes this shooooo-wert sound, which is pretty fun. I piped cream when my
profiteroles were entirely cooled so that the cream didn’t melt and I advise
you pop the profiteroles into the fridge into the fridge as soon as possible so
you don’t end up with soggy pastry and a pool of vanilla whipping cream. I left
the sauce at the side for people who wanted it and because it’s not tempered
chocolate, it does not harden so if you pre-dip ‘em for your guests their hands
will get sticky later.
I also played with caramel last week. I never made it before
and though it’s easy to make, it’s very hard to shape. I should read and
watch more videos because the stuff hardens pretty fast but then maintains an
intense heat that made me wear gloves when I was handling it.
Well, I guess that’s all I have to share for now. DineLA’s Restaurant Week is happening soon and I should get on top of making a
reservation. Oh, and I also want to create a new website for my food blog with
a new name, so if you have any suggestions please send them my way. As much as
I love Chugachuga, the name and layout doesn’t really scream, “I’m an adult.”
And I am… I’m an adult. Don’t like the young Asian face fool you.
