There’s a lot I want to accomplish this year, especially when it comes to pastry. After all, if the world is going to end in December, I should make sure to indulge in as many delicious bites as possible before then. Right?
This weekend, I was requested to bring dessert and it inspired me to examine what skills I want to further develop this year, what types of dishes I want to experiment with, and what changes to my menu I want to make. In the process, I decided that each weekend, I want to create a new dessert…one I’ve never tried before and one that requires me to step outside my comfort zone. It’s the best way I learn.
So, I made a shortlist of desserts – about 20 or so – that I will add to throughout the year. Some are seasonal and will have to wait until ingredients like plump, juicy berries are ready for plucking later this summer. In the meantime, I’ll dabble with recipes that are more winter-friendly.
This weekend marked week one.
First up: Apple Cider and Caramel Ice Cream with Pirouettes.
I pulled the recipes from The Sweet Life: Desserts from Chanterelle and French Laundry. Thumbing through Sweet Life, I became more and more inspired by I am beyond impressed by Kate Zuckerman. Her creative pastry skills are something that I aspire to achieve.
I began by creating the ice cream. Over the course of an hour or so, I reduced the apple cider and mixed it together with the homemade caramel. Then, I added it all slowly (so as not to curdle the eggs) to the whisked egg yolks and heated it until it was a thick custard. The result? A very creamy, rich soft ice cream. 8 egg yolks, a cup of whole milk, and a cup and a half of cream will do that.
But, I wasn’t entirely impressed with the flavor. It was too sweet for my taste. And, though I added rosemary, cinnamon, and ginger to try to give it a savory essence, sugar was still the primary flavor I tasted in each bite. Blah. My motto when it comes to my products is “Flavor first, sugar second” and this was just the opposite.
The next day, I poured the ice cream in my handy ice cream maker and let it do its thing. In the meantime, I made the pirouettes. For many of the baked desserts I do, I use my Kitchenaid, but for this, the recipe called for me to handmix the ingredients using a large wooden spoon and a bowl. So, into the bowl went room temperature butter, onto which I sifted confectioner’s sugar. I mixed the pair together, added some flour, mixed more, then added the rest of the flour, an egg, and some vanilla. Around this time, my roommate decided I needed some inspiration.
Once the batter was ready, I scooped it onto the back of a offset spatula and spread it on a stencil that I had made. This was the tricky part. I needed to get the batter thick enough to be able to wrap but not so thick that the cookies would be chewy. The book said “thin, but not transparent.” This will take practice.
The first round baked on the top rack of the oven for 5 minutes, the second for 4 minutes. Now comes the tricky part. The cookies emerged from the oven light and delicate…and hot as hell. To form them, you leave them on the oven rack and pull them out one at a time. Curling them around the handle of the wooden spoon resulted in a lot of swearing. Let’s just say if I were a cartoon, a @*#$! bubble would have been floating over my head.
There has got to be an easier way.
The first batch looked a little funny…
…but the second batch turned out much better!
Here is the final result!
Lessons learned:
– The ice cream was not my favorite in terms of flavor. Next time, I will create a spiced apple ice cream with fresh apples and add a swirl of caramel.
– I need to determine how thick pirouettes should be. A trip to Bouchon bakery might be in order.
– More practice on wrapping pirouettes needed.
– I must find an easier way to curl the pirouettes that will result in less grumbling.