Day 3: Long Time Coming

I have some serious explaining to do! But in efforts to keep this blog as little about my personal life as possible, I'll try to summarize and move on to the baking stuff! I did not want this blog to be something I did wholeheartedly a few times and then stopped without ever completing it. But you know how it is... life gets in the way. I've gone through a few life changes since my last post and it was tough to get back on track but now I'm back! I am no longer baking professionally and I have renewed my pure love for baking (and eating) in doing so. I am refreshed, renergized, and ready to continue on with this pastry project endeavor!

So I actually made a couple of items from Sherry's book "Desserts by the Yard" with pictures of my making it and everything. However, like I said life had its interruptions and I just never posted about it. So... about 7 months later... here it is! lets see if I can remember making these.

You might have noticed I keep saying I "made" these items. Thats because I don't consider these to be baked. They were created, yes. And they are pastry items, yes. But I can't quite say that I "baked" a strawberry soda, can I?

We are still in the section titled "Brooklyn Inspirations" where Sherry grew up. These are some of my favorite desserts - not too frilly, not too french, VERY American (or Italian/American). The first recipe is for Grandma's A&P Strawberry Sodas. It calls for homemade strawberry ice cream and strawberry soda. YUMMY! Think root beer float that is fruit inspired. This is NOT my favorite ice cream recipe. Actually I don't count it as ice cream per say because it does not contain any egg. Its more like a sherbet. It contains fresh fruit, heavy cream, milk, sugar and water. Its boiled together, then blended in a food processor. Then you let it cool, and spin in your ice cream machine. I have the Cuisinart ice cream machine with the removable freezer bowl. I like it, it does the trick. The only problem is that when you are impatient (ahem like ME) and do not wait for the mix to cool completely, the freezer bowl is not cold enough to properly spin the liquid into ice cream. So I ended up over spinning my ice cream which resulted in an icy, overly aerated ice cream.
Oh and i also had a little explosion in our food processor. I guess our processor is a little on the small side. oops. Before shot:


After Shot:

To finish this dessert, scoop a few scoops of the ice cream (once frozen) into a cup and pour with strawberry soda. Sherry suggests adding a splash of grand mariner b/c hey, grand mariner makes everything just a little bit better!

I wish I still had a picture of the finished ice cream/soda but... it was 7 months ago and I just dont have it anymore. This is the best I can do for now! I am gonna stick to my usual ice cream recipe though - a classic creme anglaise - YUMMY!


The next recipe is for a "Pussycat Cafe Gelee Parfait". Fun to say but not so fun to eat. At least not for me, I have an aversion to jello and any gelatinous desserts not containing chocolate! This dessert requires a lot of patience, which as previously discussed, I do not have. It calls for making layers of a jello type parfait, one at a time, and waiting for it to set before making the next layer. Which is why my entire parfait looks like its all the same color.


And yes, that is a margarita glass. Which also makes a great individual parfait glass!

This dessert was actually pretty good, and that is saying a lot since I don't eat fruity, jello desserts. Its made with all fresh fruit. The first layer is a Watermelon/lemon, the second is a pure lemon, the third is a strawberry with lemon and orange juice, and the last layer is an orange with a little lemon. The overall affect should be very orange and yellow layers with a hint of red in the center. Very beautiful and nice for in the summer. I was lucky that at work we were using fresh watermelon rind for a salad and had tons of extra watermelon chunks for me to take home.

I prefer the more American style desserts - overly indulgent, rich, chocolaty, exciting. Extremely bad for you. If you look at any European baking books or magazines, especially the ones aimed towards professionals like "Dessert Professional Magazine" you will see what I mean. The French style desserts tend to be molded mousse or gelee's like this one, and the latest trends are foams and gastriques and, well, desserts that remind me of the Jello cups I ate as a kid when I was sick and couldn't stomach anything else. But if you like jello (like my fiance) then you will gobble up this dessert (like my fiance did!).

These are not the most exciting desserts (I guess that is subject to opinion, but for me, they weren't too thrilling to make) so to supplement that I will add another post soon of some other baking I've been doing, including a carrot cake decorating tutorial with marzipan carrots!

Until then, stay sweet!