Pastries!

I think it's about time I share a little about all the delicious cakes and tarts and other sweet delicacies Josh has been making and bringing home for me to taste-test. Mmm.

Among the class's first creations were eclairs, including these, called creme mousseline au caramel sale. They're filled with a buttery pastry cream (called mousseline) and the tops are shiny because he dipped them in hot caramel, which hardened. And they're topped with an almond slice. De-lish.

Then came the Paris Brest and religieuse. Both are also filled with yumminess. The Paris Brest looks like a doughnut, but it's filled with cream and covered in almond slices. The religieuse actually looks like a snowman (but this photo was taken from above!) and includes two balls, pastry cream and chocolate. Yummy.

Ah, the millefeuille. Josh says this is his favorite thing so far to make--and it's definitely my favorite one to eat. Josh took this photo in the lab--I should have gotten a shot from the side when he brought these home, but they're a bit difficult to maneuver once they're packed up. Millefeuille, which literally translates to "a thousand sheets," is so named because of its many layers. The top is fondant, beautifully decorated by my hubby. Below that are alternating layers of crunchy pastry, pastry cream and chantilly. I loved this mostly because of the contrasting fluffiness of the creams and crunchiness of the pastry dough. Wonderful!

Every week, after the class has perfected their pastries for that unit, they have a buffet, where they show off their best creations. Here's Josh with a buffet of tarts. 

He was nice enough to bring these three home--the top left is pineapple, below that passion fruit-orange, and to the right is (you guessed it) chocolate. My favorite was the pineapple, but all three were ridiculously delicious. I also had a chance to try a lemon one during tea at Lizzie and Jeneva's apartment. Bravo, everyone! They all agreed the chocolate one was the most difficult--they had to temper the chocolate to make the shavings by hand. Delicate work and it sure looks great!

This past week was macaroons and macarons ... and lemon cake. I haven't tried the lemon cake yet, so I can't speak to its taste or texture. But the macaroons--long among my favorite cookies--are delicious! They're kind of a funny shape, like fingers or finger puppets, but the coconut dipped in dark chocolate .... mmm. The macarons are equally delicious, but very different in texture and taste. You can't really tell from this picture Josh took during class, but some of them are filled with a raspberry jam--handmade by Josh--and others are filled with chocolate. I asked if they used a mold to get the circles so perfectly shaped and he said no, they had to know exactly how big to make each one. Impressive! The colors are from food coloring, and the discs contain meringue, so they have that almost-melt-in-your-mouth consistency. 

This is just a sampling of the wonderful goodies they've already made in class. I can't wait to see what they do this month! And, by the way, he does NOT bring everything he makes home to me. After about two weeks he started taking some of the finished product to local shop owners, like the butcher and the pizzeria owner, to share in the yumminess (and make sure we don't gain a gazillion pounds while we're here!).

(Note: Josh, when you read this, please feel free to correct me if I got any of this wrong. And keep up the good work!)