|
|
||
|
September 4th, 2012
I was thrilled to host Pastry Chef Lori Baker for a demonstration at Williams-Sonoma Union Square this past weekend. She and her husband, Jeff Banker own a restaurant in Pacific Heights, aptly named Baker & Banker. While Jeff manages the savory menu, New American cuisine with an emphasis on seasonal and local ingredients, Lori handles the dessert menu and the pastries for their bakery located next door. November 13th, 2011
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:
If you can’t make it to NY, luckily Momofuku cookies can ship! Momofuku Milk Bar April 3rd, 2011
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. January 21st, 2011
Update: I also did another Artisan Market write-up for the Williams-Sonoma blog here This past weekend I was at the Williams-Sonoma Union Square store to check out out the monthly Artisans Market. Each month the store features food products from local vendors that you can sample. Here are some of my favorite finds. Tell Tale Preserve Company’s Meyer Lemon Yuzu Curd December 3rd, 2009
For this year’s Thanksgiving dessert, I made an elegant French Apple Tart. It was all about the perfect presentation of apple layers. In contrast, last year I made a Cranberry Apple Galette. A galette is a free-form tart so no need for rolling out dough or a tart pan. You simply gather up the edges of the crust around the mound of juicy apples and cranberries. While not as fancy as the French Apple Tart, it is equally impressive-looking when the fruit bakes down and it has a rustic, golden look when finished. |
||
|
Copyright © 2009-2013 Jenn Yee All Rights Reserved |
||