Croissants

I don't think there's anything better than a flaky and buttery croissant, especially when it's fresh from your own oven.   Sound too good to be true?   It's not as unattainable as you may think and you don't even need to buy a plane ticket to France.

All it takes are three P's:  planning,  preparation and perseverance.    

You know I love me some Cook's Illustrated and the most recent issue (Jan/Feb 2012) was chock full of fantastic recipes like the chocolate truffles I made earlier this month.   Another recipe that captured my attention, and that I knew I had to try, was croissants.

I've made CI's version of pain au chocolat before but they've since updated the laminated dough recipe to make it even more foolproof.  One of the best things about this recipe is that you can freeze the shaped croissants and bake them at a later time.  Fresh croissants any time you want?  Definitely not a bad thing!

Be forewarned though, making croissants from scratch is a very time consuming process.  However, your efforts really do pay off in the final product.   I swear when I took my first bite I was transported back to my student days in Dijon. 

Tips for success:  Follow CI's advice and use King Arthur all-purpose unbleached flour and Plugra unsalted butter!

2011 Holiday Treats

A quick post to show the fruits of my labor this holiday season.  Just a pic of some of the treats I made, and gifted, to friends and family.  Some are old favorites and some are making their debut to the party: 

Dark Chocolate Truffles 

Raspberry Marshmallows

Hat and Mitten Sugar Cookies

Spiced Candied Nuts

No-Bake Rocky Road Bars

Macarons (the ones above are raspberry and pistachio)
Walnut Snowballs

Shortbread

No-Bake Rocky Road Bars

My favorite ice-cream flavor of all time is Thrifty's Coconut Pineapple.   A close second is rocky road, but the kind with almonds, no walnuts please.

I was on the lookout for new recipes to try for this year's holiday treats and I saw this one for no-bake rocky road bars from America's Test Kitchen.  After endless hours spent baking cookies it was a nice change not to use the oven. 

These bars are really, really good - sort of like a pumped up version of fudge, only better.  While the inclusion of graham crackers isn't necessarily authentic to rocky road I find it added a nice texture to the candy. 

Hat and Mitten Sugar Cookies

I find it funny that whenever some people hear you're from California they automatically think it's sunshine and warm weather year-round.  Maybe that's true in the south, but up here in the north it can get downright freezing.  

My place in San Francisco was built many, many years ago so the heating system can be "quirky" to say the least.   When the mercury starts dropping I immediately bust out my cashmere-wrapped hot water bottles, thermals and cold weather accessories to stay warm. These hat and mitten sugar cookies are a tongue-in-cheek homage to this frosty ritual.