Cooking class

For my 18th birthday, my uncles and aunts signed me up for a pastry making course at l'Institut Culinaire (The Culinary Institute) of Montreal. I just came back from the course and I'm so thrilled! It was a 7 hours intensive course where we learned all the basics of baking from making pie pastry to cream puffs. Here are the results:

Apple pie

Of course, this was my favorite, partial as I am to fruity desserts. I hope I'll have the time to pick apples this autumn to make plenty more apple pies but since I learned to make the crust, I guess I could do it with any other fruit. I'll try it with strawberries and rhubarb next.

Boston Cream Pie

I don't usually like Boston Cream Pies but the one we made that day was heavenly. I think it has to do with the fact that we used real vanilla beans to flavour the pastry cream instead of cheap vanilla extract like I usually do at home. Well now, no more vanilla extract for me!

Choux à la Crème/ Cream Puffs

We learned to do puff paste which was quite impressing because my puffs looked like little ugly blobs when I put them in the oven and when I took them out they looked perfect! The next time I make puffs, I'll fill them with ice cream and cover them with the fudgy sauce below.

Crème Anglaise

Again, I don't normally like English Cream but with the vanilla bean, it tasted so good.

Hot Fudge Sauce

Very simple to make, goes well with Ice cream

I'm prrrretty proud of myself! :)
I still can't believe that I got to learn all these recipes and baking tips in just One day. At the beginning of the day, we were given a small recipe book and I swear, at the end mine looked like the Half-Blood Prince's potion book since it was covered in so much writing ^_^
There are still many classe I would love to take at the Académie but since they are so expensive, I think I'll wait for Christmas and my birthday. *Subtle hint*

Smores Cupcakes

I made these last weekend. ^_^

I took the recipe from Sewdarncute and while they were very good, I found the icing to be a bit too buttery for my liking, I couldn't taste the marshmallow. If I were to make them again I would use less butter for the frosting and put melted chocolate in the cupcakes to make them more gooey. So...here's the recipe:

Smores cupcake by Sewdarncute
The cupcake part can be any chocolate cake you like (such as Martha's One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes, which is pretty much my standby). Here's how to make the frosting:

-1 lb. (4 sticks) butter, room temperature1 lb.
-(2 cups) confectioner's sugar
-1/2 tsp. vanilla
-16 oz. tub of marshmallow cream (I recommend Fluff)

Cream the butter (I love my Kitchenaid!) on high until it's light and fluffy. Add the confectioner's sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, and beat until fluffy each time. Beat in the vanilla until incorporated. Then dump in the Fluff and mix it up 'til it's all creamy. Transfer to pastry bag (if desired) and pipe onto cupcakes! (You can also cut the corner off a Ziploc bag and use that instead.)

The tops are dusted with graham cracker crumbs, and each cupcake is topped with a square of Hershey's chocolate. Yes, there are fancier chocolate bars out there—but for that authentic retro campfire taste, I say you oughta stick with the classic.

New York, New York

Unfortunately, I was not lucky enough to have my picture taken with this beauty. ^_^
I actually came back from New York a while ago but I hadn't had the time to upload my pictures. I didn't take much anyway because I had already been in New York last year and took plenty of pictures of all the touristic attractions we saw this year. I was mainly there for shopping and I got to do that for a whole day where I ventured alone on Canal Street, searching for fake Chanel. Here are some of the only good pics that I took, at some abbey of which I don't remember the name (I'm such a bad tourist!)

I'm looking forward to posting more crafty stuff, I can't wait for this horrible semester to be over so I can cook, read, craft and sunbathe all day. That's the kind of party monster I am.