The Essence of Choux Pastry

So. It's exam season.

The Biscuit Inquisitions: Part 1

OK, you're probably as bored as I am of my biscuit posts reappearing and disappearing . You may have noticed my recent biscuit post is gone again.

The trouble is, I still can't really decide where to put the borderline of the definition of 'biscuit'.

Challah

Here's an interesting fact about me: half my ancestors are Jewish. My maternal grandparents, and a big chunk of my family on that side.

Cheese and Onion Muffins

These muffins had a rather sinister beginning.

They actually started life as a cruel and malicious ploy to trick my friend.

But let me explain, it's not quite as bad as all that.

Chocolate and Spice Courgette Cake

I'm sorry to do this to you again. I really don't want to have to. It's just - it was my brother's birthday last week.

I do have a cake for you, which will hopefully make up for it. A courgette cake!

Almond and Chocolate Cupcakes

It was another friend's birthday last week. I kid you not.

That picture is really starting to get on my nerves.

The Essence of Danish Pastry

The first thing I found when I started looking up recipes for Danish pastry was a load of articles saying "It's not as scary as you think!". Considering I actually didn't have an opinion on how scary it was before I started, that all actually made me feel worse about the whole thing.

The Essence of Pancakes - American Style

I was born and brought up (although not so much bred) in London, England.

But because of the 'not so much bred' part, American pancakes are actually the type I grew up with. We never ate pancakes any more than the average family (once or twice a year at the most), but when we did, they were proper thick, fluffy, fried cakes.

The Essence of Pancakes - European Style

As I talked about in my other pancake post, European pancakes are not actually my 'mother dish', although it should be by rights of my geography. And in fact, if I was given the absolute choice, I think I'd simply have to opt for American style overall.

But flat, wide, unleavened European pancakes have their own unique applications too, and I can't deny that.

Bakewell Tarts

I loooove Bakewell tart. I mean, really, love it. To the level of, if-I-had-to-only-eat-one-thing-for-all-eternity-it-would-be-Bakewell-tart, kind of love.

I love almonds. I love jam. I love cake. I love pastry. It contains almost all of the things I love, and nothing at all that I don't.

Apple and Pear Muffins

Who likes fruit? I do!

The Essence of Shortcrust Pastry

I realised I needed to do an Essence of pastry when my mum was making a casserole.

It's to do with dumplings, actually. I expect some of you are already aware that the essence of pastry is the same as the essence of dumplings.

If you aren't, you might find it hard to believe. I wouldn't be surprised, I was certainly doubtful at first. But it's really true! I'll explain more when we get there.

The Essence of Brownies

Oh yes. I'm going there. Brownies indeed.

The Essence of Muffins

A lot of people think muffins and cakes are the same thing. I definitely used to be one of those people, until a few weeks ago.

Turns out, they're not.

The Essence of Cake - Part 2

Link to Part 1

Pound cake is not quite as light or fluffy as sponge cake - it's more dense and bready in texture, because the butter whipping method doesn't create quite as much air as the egg method. Which is why sponge cake is might lighter - eggs whip up to a much greater volume, meaning they've incorporated much more air, and so they rise more during cooking. Neither one cake is better than the other. The best one depends on the situation or occasion, your personal tastes, and a whole load of other factors. Of course I recommend you make them both at once in order to compare!

The Essence of Cake - Part 1

Cake.

I have an odd relationship with cake. That is to say, my feelings towards it have been rather changeable over my lifetime. I expect as a child, I always assumed it was an easy thing to make - the first thing you make, almost equivalent to a batch of biscuits in terms of ease.

The Essence of Fudge - Part 2

Link to Part 1

You might be disappointed that I'm going to tell you you need a piece of equipment which you may not already have. This is a sugar thermometer. If you search online, there is a lot of stuff about making fudge without a thermometer, judging by eye and appearance when the fudge is cooked the right amount. Feel free to do this if you wish. I have a (sometimes irritatingly) analytical mind, and so I simply couldn't cope with just 'judging' by eye. That's why I like to use a thermometer. If you're OK without, then I envy and admire you. If you're not, I bought mine for something like £6 online, it's really not a big deal.

The Essence of Fudge - Part 1

Guess what I learnt today? It's impossible to take still photos of a fluid which accurately represent how viscous it is.

Fudge was actually one of my first escapades into the 'essences' of cooking. There are so many different recipes and methods out there, I just wanted to know what made fudge fudge, as opposed to something else.

The Essence of Bread - Part 2

Link to Part 1

The trouble with ratios is that they don't explain absolutely everything. Even if you've never made bread before, you probably know that if you just bunged some flour, water and yeast together and didn't do anything else, you wouldn't end up with bread.

So I've also been looking into basic technique. The book, Ratio, gives an acceptable overview but I think even that assumed a bit of prior knowledge, and I was starting from a complete blank. I spent a while looking up simple techniques and things, and decided I had a decent enough idea to give it a try.

The Essence of Bread - Part 1

Do you know what bread is?

Think carefully, it's a difficult question.