Cookie Lynn

After taking a few weeks off during the summer semester, I was back in the kitchen classroom this week. This is a bit of a(n embarrassing) triumph for me, as I haven’t actually made it this far into a program before. Truth be told, I am a two-time college dropout. As it turns out, I am not interested in a career in the healthcare field. Go figure.

This semester, I am taking Pastry I and Baking II, which will finally put me over the halfway mark of my certificate. Were I able to go full-time, this could be my last semester, but alas, I discovered earlier in the year that working and going to school 7 days a week is exhausting, stressful, and just plain not fun. So instead, I’ve been taking it easy and only taking two classes at a time, while working a bit less than perhaps I should in order to maintain my sanity. Here’s an idea of where I am at the moment;

Introduction to Hospitality Management
Sanitation and Hygiene
Principles of Nutrition
Culinary Skills
Introduction to Food Preparation Techniques
Baking I
Pastry I
Baking II
Pastry II
Basic Cake and Wedding Cake Design
Bakery Management and Merchandising

We’re required to have pictures for our portfolios, so I am once again given a legitimate reason to whip out the camera during class. (Still, the number of foodies unfamiliar with the concept of food blogging is astounding.) The lighting in the kitchen is harsh and awful, and my digital camera (Digital Dan, I call him) is now old enough to demand his senior coffee… but, I’ll do my best to document my classes, none the less.

A classmate spreading chocolate buttermilk cake batter.

Baked and delicious.

Chiffon cake. Also tasty.

Another group’s coconut macaroons.

I’d like to introduce something I hope to be a regular occurrence here at CookieLynn.com… Tea Time!

I’ve developed quite the taste for tea in recent months, and want to share some of my favorites with you, alongside some tea time treats. For my inaugural post, I’ve chosen Assam Harmony from Adagio Teas and butterscotch scones.

Assam Harmony is a black tea from the Assam region of India. I first discovered Assam teas through Adagio’s black tea sampler pack, and they are by far my favorite variety. This one is especially good, though a bit pricier than it’s cohort, Assam Melody. I thought the full-bodied, malty flavor of the tea would pair well with the richness of the butterscotch in these scones.

Butterscotch Scones
Makes 12 scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 egg
1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in butter, with a pastry blender or by hand, until the mixture resembles a coarse cornmeal.
In a separate bowl, lightly beat together the heavy cream and egg.
Add the liquid ingredients to the dry, and mix until just combined.
Add butterscotch chips, and mix until they are evenly distributed.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, divide in half, and flatten each half into a disk. Cut each disk into six even wedges.
Transfer to a parchment lined baking pan, and bake 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

As a side note, I know that there have been very few recipes on this blog. For the most part, I’ve been using recipes found in cookbooks and online, and as a general rule, I don’t post other people’s work without permission. Ever. That being said, as I start adapting basic recipes from my pastry classes, scaling them down to usable quantities, converting the measurements from weight to volume, and choosing my own additions and flavors, I feel comfortable calling them my own, and hope to bring you plenty more in the future.

Finally back on top of Daring Bakers. This month, all I have to say is; HOW HAVE I NEVER MADE BROWN BUTTER BEFORE? Seriously, I want to marry it, have its babies, then eat the babies.

I’ll admit that my sole experience with Baked Alaska is that my Sims have been burning down the house while making it for two generations of the game now. I had only a vague idea what it was, but I was still excited to try it. I mean… ice cream, cake, and fire? Come on.

I actually went out an bought an ice cream maker and a torch for this challenge. It was a lovely excuse, and being a pastry student, I don’t think purchasing a few kitchen gadgets with my student loan refund is stretching the rules. Much.

The three main components of the cake were a brown butter cake, homemade vanilla ice cream, and meringue.

The cake was amazing, but I think the butter could have been browned a bit more. Using a black-bottomed pan, it was hard to judge color as I was cooking it, but the smell was sort of toasty and caramelized, so I think it was good enough, if not quite right.

The ice cream recipe is a custard-style vanilla bean variety… my favorite. I bought bourbon vanilla beans, and it was wonderful. My new ice cream maker and I have started a beautiful friendship.

I’m not a huge fan of meringue, but it wasn’t as bad as I remember it. Plus, there is just something about toasting it with a pastry torch that makes it a bit more satisfying.

Mmm… pointy.

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

Saturday was my husband’s birthday, and I thought I would finally try a black forest cake.

I used this Martha Stewart “Haunted Black Forest Cake” with a few alterations, because nowhere in my ever-growing collection of baking and cake books could I find a black forest recipe. (There is a tasty-looking raspberry version in Chocolate Cakes, but the husband doesn’t like raspberries.)

The cake was a “secret” chocolate buttermilk recipe I’ve been using a lot lately. The genoise called for might have held up a bit better, but I’d had a few requests for “that chocolate cake” from the family, and I didn’t want to disappoint.

For the cherry sauce, I had to substitute the kirsch with regular brandy, as my choices at the store were a $6 “wild cherry” flavored brandy and a bottle of Paul Masson. It did start to taste a bit grapey after the sauce had sat awhile, but I still think I made the right choice.

The whipped cream and chocolate ganache were very basic. Martha’s version calls for an espresso whipped cream, which sounds delicious, but I thought I’d go plain jane this time around.

Happy birthday to my husband, and a thumbs up to my first black forest cake.

Things have been quiet around here since I’ve been on break from school. Later this month, I’ll be starting Pastry I and Baking II, and hopefully I’ll have some things to share with you.

I took these cookies over to my parents’ house this week for my dad’s 59th birthday. The chocolate ones are ‘Grammie’s Cookies’ from Martha Stewart’s Cookies, and were very popular with my husband. I replaced the vanilla with chocolate extract for an extra-chocolatey boost.

The others are ‘Icebox Butter Cookies’ from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook. They taste just like the Danish cookies we’d get in a tin every Christmas, and are super-easy to throw together and keep on hand in the freezer. I’ve made them several times now, and want to try adding nuts or herbs to the mix soon.