Hey, look at that, I've managed to give myself plenty to do this summer. I guess there's no such thing as "free time" in my life. At least this summer I won't be committing to any musicals or similar huge endeavors.
Since this weekend marks a good in-between point before I construct a new hectic schedule for myself, I've taken some time to make a more complicated cookie from my recipe book.
I said above that these are complicated cookies. The reason for this is not that the recipe calls for many ingredients, but rather that several steps are involved. First, a chocolate filling is made with egg yolks (yes, they're raw), melted semisweet chocolate, and a simple syrup, and then must cool in the refrigerator for at least 45 minutes. The cookies themselves are pistachio paste with some sugar and an egg white to hold the mix together. These cookies were baked, allowed to cool, sandwiched with the filling, and then frozen for an hour before being covered in bittersweet chocolate.
The result of this 2+ hour project is a moderately crunchy cookie that tastes just like pistachios, a kind of mushy filling, and a strong taste of chocolate. Considering the few ingredients involved, these two tastes are really the only ones I expected, although (as I've mentioned previously) I am not particularly fond of pistachios. My boyfriend assures me the cookies are very delicious, though, so that's good.
As far as personal preference goes, I think I prefer the Sarah Bernhardt cookies I made last year, since they had a very similar texture, and I most definitely like almond better than pistachios.
darn it. it lost my comment.
ReplyDeleteAnyways. 2 hours isnt' bad for a cookie.
Takes me precisely 3 hours and 45 minutes for a single batch of Tiramisu. 10.5 hours if it's a triple batch. That doesn't include the 2 hours that I spent on the chocolate decor after that.
Also not quite as bad as doing chocolate molten cakes (6 at a time), about an hour per batch. Two collapsed, so ended up with 22 out of 24 in 6 hours, and eventually just dumped the rest of the batter into a pyrex dish (a la brownie) to speed things up as I had two other courses to get out.
P.S. just be glad that you're only doing cookies.
ReplyDeleteIf I were to attempt to pull off the entire Baking and Pastry book (published by the Culinary Institute of America) in all its 833-pages of deliciousness, it'll PROBABLY take me the greater part of 5 years, if I were to do one a week.
On the upside - who wants a wedding cake? (Yes, there's a recipe for that in there as well. As well as tips for construction, but less so design, other than the actual like pastry techniques.)
That ought to be a "fun" 8-, 9-, or maybe even upto 17-hours.
(Which I don't feel so bad considering Le Coupe de Monde de la Patisserie gets 9 hours, dealing with the pros, and having a LOT more to do.)