demos & classes «

November 13th, 2011

Milk Bar Goodness in San Francisco

With creative concoctions such as crack pie, cereal milk and compost cookies, (just noticing my unintentional alliteration) pastry chef, Christina Tosi has developed quite a following at Momofuku Milk Bar in New York. With the release of her new cookbook, Christina embarked on a nationwide book tour and brought her east coast treats to the Bay Area.

Her stop at Williams-Sonoma Union Square, San Francisco included a demo and samples of her famous cookies. No thanks to city rush hour traffic, I only caught the last bit of her demo, but the cookies did make up for it. FYI, I did not eat all of these on my own. I spread the love for Milk Bar to a few friends Here are my notes on each one.

Taste Test:

Compost Cookie- chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, graham crumbs, pretzels, potato chips, coffee grounds and oats. Sounds like something you’d make when you have too many expired things in your pantry, but every one of these ingredients are essential to the incredible flavor of the cookie. The most immediate flavors I tasted were the graham/brown sugar and coffee. It was comforting. My favorite cookie of the bunch.

Corn Cookie- like a sugar cookie but with the sweetness from corn. It is easily recognizable but in no way overpowering. It makes for a very interesting cookie.

Chocolate-Chocolate Cookie- so intensely chocolatey, the name needs to repeat the word twice. It is actually not too sweet. There is much more focus on the cocoa. Must be eaten with a cold glass of milk.

Cornflake, Chocolate Chip, Marshmallow Cookie- this one reminds me of a rice krispie treat. Christina first bakes a sugared cornflake mixture that gets folded into the cookie dough. Its gives a crispy, chewy texture like in a krispy treat.

Blueberry & Cream Cookie- had a bit of cookie overload so I didn’t get one, but I did get it from the actual Momofuku Bakery in NY. Its like a blueberry muffin in cookie form. A bit too sweet for me.

Christina Tosi’s tips for great cookies:

10 minute creaming process! I have never heard of creaming that long but if that’s what it takes to create her delicious cookies I won’t argue.
Refrigerate for 1 hour before baking so the butter in the cookies can firm up again after the creaming process. The cookies will then bake before spreading. From experience, unless you like a sheet pan of one cookie, this is an important step.
Pat down cookies slightly before putting in the oven. This will help the cookies have an even spread.

If you can’t make it to NY, luckily Momofuku cookies can ship!

Momofuku Milk Bar
251 e 13th st
new york, ny 10003
Order online

April 3rd, 2011

Yigit Talks Chocolate at Williams-Sonoma

It was Chocolate 101 at Williams-Sonoma in Union Square as Yigit Pura stopped by to wow us with his expertise. We were treated to a real Master Class as he incorporated several techniques into his demonstration of two great recipes, Earl Grey Chocolate Truffles and Chocolate Cremeux.

He walked through tempering, transfer sheets and emulsions. When asked questions he was ready to go with explanations on the chemical makeup of ingredients and proper technique. My poor hand could not write fast enough. It was truly inspiring to listen to him speak so passionately about his craft and I am all the more eager to get in the kitchen to re-create everything myself.

Demonstrating how to use chocolate transfers, plastic sheets “printed” with designs made from a mixture of cocoa butter and food coloring.

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December 23rd, 2010

Top Chef Just Desserts Winner Yigit Pura Entertains SF

“I’ve been on National TV and you get used to the cameras but this is overwhelming.” Yigit exclaims as over a hundred fans look on while the talented Top Chef: Just Desserts winner demos healthy holiday treats at Macy’s Union Square this past Saturday.

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October 17th, 2010

Miette Cookie Decorating Class

I’ve always admired the artistry and technique that goes into decorating sugar cookies. Jeff Gosche, a cookie decorating genius, lends his talent to San Francisco’s Miette patisserie, creating the most gorgeous cookies for the shops. The best part is that he shares his tips and tricks at the patisserie’s cookie decorating classes. I had the great opportunity to attend one last week.

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June 29th, 2010

Ice Cream Sunday at Sur la Table

After churning out two quarts of sorbet this past week, I got up bright and early Sunday morning for Sur la Table’s ice cream class. I guess the sorbets was the equivalent of doing conditioning before a marathon. I was just warming up for the main event.

Menu (my lunch on Sunday):

Lemon Curd Ice Cream with Blackberry Swirl
Butter Pecan Ice Cream with Peanut Brittle
Mexican Chocolate Sundaes
Strawberry Ice Cream/Strawberry Milkshakes

A slice of lemon curd ice cream. To get the layered look, we formed the ice cream into a loaf pan. A bottom layer of lemon curd, middle layer of blackberry syrup, top layer of lemon curd and finished with more blackberry syrup. Then after it hardened, we unmolded the pan and sliced the ice cream.

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May 13th, 2010

Sur la Table: Dabbling in French Macarons

Last week we dedicated a whole class to French macarons, this year’s new trend coming off the cupcake frenzy last year. From my observation, macarons haven’t created as much of a commotion as cupcakes, but nevertheless they are equally as fascinating to experiment with and taste.

Coconut macaron with rum cream filling

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April 27th, 2010

Sur la Table Spring Cupcakes

We had a great class this past weekend with a menu of Spring cupcakes. All the cupcakes tasted great but what I loved about this class was the added focus on decorating using edible flowers and fondant. Such great techniques to use on cakes for Mother’s Day and the coming wedding season.

Spring Cupcake Menu:

Devil’s Food Cupcakes
Coconut Cupcakes
Chocolate Cupcakes with lavender icing and sugared pansies
Sponge Cake Cupcakes with fondant bees

I wish I had taken more photos, but for once I have very few as I was trying to run around to all the recipes.

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April 19th, 2010

More of What's New Cupcake?

I knew if I were to spend all my class time getting perfect shots of the cupcakes I would never leave. Luckily the cupcakes remained in tact on the way home and I did a photo session when I got back to capture the cuteness in better light. Here are some of my shots.

In your face CUTE

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