Monday, May 23, 2011

Lemony Tartness

Hello my lovelies~~~ I have lived up to my promise to post today! Aren't you proud of me?

Without much further ado, I'm sure you are feeling curiouser and curiouser about what we made today? So I shall jump right in to the good stuff! As my heading suggests, today we completed our lemon tartlets of which we made the lemon curd for on Friday. If you followed my last post, you will all know how crazy last Friday was... couple of us are still reeling from it today *groans* On the bright side, our chef-in-charge Chef Jeanne has once again reminded us of our awesomeness as a class which we are all mighty proud of. To date, there has been no cuts or scrapes, even with those darn metal peelers in our kits, and amazingly, we have been ahead of class every single day since day 1 I believe :) As a reward, we get to revise our theory at the end of each class which will help with our exam this coming Friday. Our first theory and practical exam! *shivers* Another reward, are the delectable fudgy-brownie-nut-and-choc-chip cookies... oh yes. Read that again, I know you want to.

If only taste-o-vision were real. Well ready or not, here come the next best thing- the pictures!!

Lemon Meringue Tartlets

 Oh the smells this morning from zesting and making of candied lemon rind~~~

 Peel slivers of rind from the lemon, remove any white pith and julienne

 Blanch 3 times and immerse in sugar syrup and simmer for a good while, enjoying the aromas as you potter about the kitchen

 We then filled up our baked tartlet shells with zingy lemon curd and back to chill they went

 How does translucent threads of fragrant lemon zest get better?

 Roll them in sugar, of course.

 See what I mean? 
How does one ever feel sad at such a sight? 
Answer- No can do my friend. 
No can do.

 On went our swiss meringue piping around the edges, forgive my shoddy work, it is my very first attempt at piping meringue, and piping shells! Those are hard!

 Time to bring out the blow torch.

I think I had a little too much fun with the torch. Heavy industrial tool that breathes fire. 
Come on. Who can blame me right?

 Tip: Don't leave tails on meringue rosettes if you plan on torching them. They flame up.

 Pain-in-the-ass to pipe, pretty to look at~

 Oh yes, we also made a wonderful nutty tart with nut flours on top of a layer of raspberry jam... 

 Spread a thin layer of your favourite jam on the bottom of a sucree tart shell

 Sprinkle some almond slices on top for a crunchy surprise

 Now for the yummy creme d'amandes (creamy mixture consisting of almond paste as a key flavour) mixed with almond and hazelnut flours (essentially finely ground nuts)

 Be careful not to overfill now as the creme d'amandes mixture will souffle

 A thing of beauty no?

Today we got to stencil!! Guess what I picked~

 So cute! Yummy to boot as the raspberry jam goes well with the nutty flavours in the tart

 To end the day, those of so gooey-brownie cookies... Melted chocolate and butter... chopped roasted hazelnuts... and even more chocolate in the form of chips... what's there not to like? These cookies are so good they're evil.

Tip Of The Day!!
Tart shells can be made up to a couple of days in advance and frozen. They can then be filled and baked or filled with cold filling in their frozen state. Just be sure to stack them carefully to prevent breakage = wastage

Now who's hungry?
xoxo

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