Week 22 Petit Fours

Another week of Petit Fours. This time we made Petit Four Frais which means fresh items that can't really be stored for too long. Normally have to be eaten on the same day it is made. We have pecan marzipan in caramel and chocolate. Personally am not a fan of marzipan so I didn't really enjoy eating it but I did enjoy making it. It's a small little cone shape marzipan covered with pecans on the sides and dipped in caramel and chocolate. It looks quite pretty.

Marzipan with pecan

Pecan Marzipan in caramel and chocolate

The next was choux pastry. We have made choux pastry before in our earlier terms but each trainer has his or her own little tricks and we learn a bit more again this time. Because the topic is petit four, we actually made the choux items smaller. We made some Profiteroles which we dipped with caramel and filled with creme chantilly.

Then we made chocolate eclairs which was dipped in chocolate and filled with creme patisserie. Then the last one was the Paris Brest which looks like a donut. This one we had to top with coffee fondant and fill with whipped cream. But our Paris Brest was a little too crisp and it cracked when i tried to cut it open. I was using the serrated knife and was concentrating on not cracking it that I didn't realise that I was sawing my palm. Ha Ha.... yea... I got a cut. So in the end we used some profiterole choux pastry for the coffee fondant topping instead. 

Choux pastry

Caramel Profiteroles

The next item is a lemon meringue tartlet. The base was a sweetcrust pastry which we blind baked and left to cool. Then we filled it with lemon curd and piped italian meringue on top of it. The final touch was to blowtorch it to give it that slight burnt colour. 

The sweetcrust pastry was moulded into the tart cases and chilled in the freezer for about 10minutes before going straight into the oven for a snap bake. This is when the pastry cooks really fast in the hot oven and sets the tart before the butter melts and shrinks the case. It is interesting how we didnt even have to weigh down the tarts and it didn't shrink. 

But our tart cases had a few blisters when it was in the oven. So half way during baking, I took it out and pressed out the air pockets and placed it back into the oven to bake. The air pocket was probably due to not pressing the pastry into the tart cases snugly and some air was caught inside causing it to rise when baked. Luckily it can still be saved. 

Lemon Meringue Tartlets

We made some friands as well. It was a little dry and sweet. It looks good but I didn't really like the taste. Friands are little cakes made with almond meal and egg white and melted butter. I normally make them with some fruits at home and it will be moister and yummier.

All the items are ready with some final touches on the decorations and were presented on a platter. I am happy with today's work. I am starting to enjoy the class a bit more too. There was a bit more cooperation in terms of cleaning up the kitchen this week, which I thought was good.  

Petit Fours Frais

Chocolate Eclairs