Anxiously Awaiting

Year 2 of school... officially finished.  Now, it's vacation, summer and the start of my third and final year as an apprentice.

Anxiously awaiting tomorrow to finally fly home to the U.S. for the first time in over a year...

Bills, Bills, Bills... and Petit Fours

Stop sending me surprise billllllllllllsssssssssss!

Bills, I'm okay with.  Bills I know of, that come every months... I'm okay with.  It's those pesky little devils that come out of the middle of nowhere for over a hundred Euros that are driving me insane.

I'm not quite sure I've ever had this issue before.

It seems like every now and then, here in Germany, the bill fairy sees that all is well and that I'm happy... I'm all caught up with my payment.... and then BAM!  Decides to slap me with 100 Euros for what seems like to me no reason whatsoever.

I DO NOT HAVE THE BUDGET FOR CRAP LIKE THIS! Stop it!  I'm just cruising by with hardly enough to buy food, and having negative 400 Euros in my account sure puts a lovely little feeling deep inside my stomach...


On the upside.  School this time around is all about classic cakes and petit fours.  How interesting!!

These little ladies are filled with buttercream, wrapped in Marzipan and glazed with Fondant.

Champagne Pralines

I've got this anxious feeling that I can't shake! I know it will not be gone until I get home next Saturday.

 Why won't these weeks in school go any faster? Don't they know that I'm heading home for the first time in 15 months? Can't they speed up the time a little bit?

Next week could possibly be the longest week of my life. I just want to relax at home without a worry in my head.

School never ceases to prove my my little knowledge of German.  Every time.  I think that I'm finally getting there... I think that I'm finally getting on a level of German where I can communicate in all types of situations... and then school happens to prove otherwise...

Why does my teacher insist on asking me questions in front of the class in such a peculiar manner?  Ask me the question normally so I can understand!  I know the material! I get good grades on my tests!  Stop pitter-pattering around and ask me something I can answer and not look so stupid in front of everyone else!

Regardless... it's the weekend... and that's fabulous because I get to sleep-in... so in the end, there's nothing to complain about...

Champagne Pralines

These lovelies could be one of the most delicious treats I've ever tasted...

Have you ever had champagne pralines before?  No?  o.m.g.  

The champagne gives an absolutely wonderful flavor to the ganache inside that I was not expecting.  There's really no describing it.  You just have to try for yourselves!

Recipe:

Champagne Pralines:

250g Bitter chocolate (70% cocoa)

200g milk chocolate (40% cocoa)

150g cream double (this has more fat content... however, if you cannot find it, regular cream works)

50g butter

100ml champagne or another sparkling wine

700g bitter chocolate (70% cocoa), tempered

powdered sugar

edible gold dust (optional)

Line a 20x20cm pan with plastic wrap, and a separate baking sheet with baking paper.

Chop the bitter, and milk chocolate and place in a glass bowl; set aside.

In a pot, over medium heat, warm the cream and butter just before the mixture is about to boil.  Keep stirring to prevent from burning.

Pour the cream and butter mixture into the bowl of bitter and milk chocolate.  Let sit for a minute, pour in the champagne, and stir with a whisk until the ganache is smooth.  Once all the chocolate pieces are incorporated, pour into the 20x20cm pan and let sit until the mixture becomes a bit hard.

Once the ganache has hardened, transfer to a piping bag, and pipe out dots onto the pan lined with baking paper.  Be careful to pipe all the dots the same size.  This way all of your pralines will turn out the same size.

Once all the ganache is piped-out place in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.

Dust your hands with the powdered sugar and roll the ganache dots into little balls.  Place back in the refrigerator for another 10 minutes.

Temper the bitter chocolate while the balls are hardening in the refrigerator.  With a praline fork, dip the balls into the tempered chocolate and lay onto a cooling rack.

If you'd like, after the chocolate coating has hardened, lightly brush the balls with the gold dust.

Salt-Caramel Pralines

These little bits of heaven are going down in the record books.

Salted-Caramel Chocolate Pralines

Can you say delicious???  Whoever first came up with putting sweet and salty together is a genius.  Whoever came up with caramel, chocolate and salt together is a bigger genius.

It took me... not 1... not 2... not 3... but 4 times to make my caramel.  Yikes!  What was my deal today?  I don't know, but I finally pulled it together the 4th time around and whipped up a perfect caramel...

This recipe came from this little beauty that I talked about yesterday...

Recipe:

50ml cold water

200g sugar

225g Cream double (this cream has more than 48% fat)

50g butter

1/2 tablespoon sea salt

425g bitter chocolate (70% cocoa), chopped

400g bitter chocolate (70% cocoa), to dip

sea salt to decorate

Prepare a 20x20cm form with butter.  Line the pan with plastic wrap.

Add the water and the sugar to a pot and heat on low until the sugar dissolves.  Bring the sugar/water mixture to a boil (do not stir) and let it caramelize.  Be careful not to burn it!  This part can be tricky (case in point... me).  The sugar goes from being clear to brown in what seems like seconds, so watch it like a hawk!

Add the double cream, carefully.  Stir in the salt and butter with a whisk until smooth and everything comes together.

Finally, add the caramel mixture to the chopped chocolate and stir together until smooth.

Fill the prepared form with the ganache and let cool for a few hours and then place in the refrigerator for a half hour.

Flip the hardened ganache over and with a sharp knife dipped in hot water, cut into equally sized pieces, approximately. 2x2cm.  Place back in the refrigerator for about another 30 minutes while you temper the dipping chocolate.

Dip the squares of ganache in the tempered chocolate and set on a tray lined with baking paper.  Sprinkle with the sea salt and let harden for about 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Chocoversum and Gewurzmuseum

This week in school we traveled to Hamburg to visit the Chocoversum and the Gewürz (spice) Museum.


They were both really interesting, but more so the Gewürz Museum.  Why? I had expected the Chocolate museum to be bigger to be honest.  That was also the general consensus, as well.  A lot of students had also visited the Chocolate museum in Köln, and said it was a lot larger and better.


All in all, it was really nice to get out of the classroom and head to Hamburg for the day.  Would I suggest spending the 20 Euros as we did to make a special trip?  No.  For us, it was interesting because in our profession, it is nice to know the production of chocolate from plant to chocolate bar.  In my opinion, however, for the everyday tourist in Hamburg, it might be a bit of a let down.  If you're in the area, visit the spice museum... if you really want to know how they make chocolate, visit the chocolate museum.


If not, check this out:

You want to know the best part about the whole trip?!  This book.  I found it in the Chocoversum for 25 Euros.  I snatched that sucker up, and cannot wait to test out all of its' decadent recipes!

Peaches and Cream Cheesecake

The summer sun in Bremerhaven is ridiculous.  I can imagine there is only about 2 hours of total darkness during the night.  Luckily for me, I get to see this total darkness because it's just about the time that I ride my bike to work!

We're pretty far north up here.  This means that during the summer the sun rises waaay early and sets unbelievably late.  

Let's check out today's: Rise, 4:57am -- Set, 9:54pm

Amazing.  This makes it even more difficult to sleep at the time needed to wake up at 3am.  Having so much sun is absolutely fantastic during the warmer months because it makes you get things done, and it makes you want to be outside and enjoy the light.

However, on the other hand, in the winter, it's pretty much dark all day here.  Those who have a normal schedule (9-5 workday), don't see the light of day.  It's pretty depressing actually... In my eyes, though, its great because I hibernate like a bear...

So I'm on this peach kick.  I'm loving peaches and I can't stop eating them.  The taste of peaches reminds me of summer like you can't even imagine.  I'm looking for any and all recipes with peaches in them.

Peaches and Cream Cheesecake

Recipe:

250g Graham crackers, or "Butterkekse"

120g melted butter

Put the graham crackers or "butterkekse" in the food processor and pulse.  Mix the crumbs together with the melted butter and press into the bottom of a spring form pan.  Place in the refridgerator.

750g Quark

250g Cream cheese

75g Sugar

2 tablespoons vanilla sugar

100ml Peach juice

6 sheets of Gelatine

200ml Cream

3-4 peaches pealed and chopped

Mix the quark, cream cheese, sugar, vanilla sugar and peach juice until smooth.

Whip the cream until stiff.

Soften the sheets of gelatine in cold water for about 5 minutes.  Squeeze the water of the sheets, and warm in a pot over the stove until they dissolve.

Transfer the gelatine to a different bowl and add a small amount of whipped cream to the gelatine in order to temper the gelatine.  Stir in the rest of the cream and the quark mixture as well.  Finally, fold in the chopped peaches and spread into the graham cracker crust.  Place in the refrigerator for about 3 hours.

Decorate as you wish!  Typically, I find it best to decorate the top of a cake (any kind of cake) as it is tasted.  For example, there are slices of peaches on top of the cheesecake.  This way, the "eater" gets the idea right off the bat that this is a peach-flavored cheesecake.  **Just a thought to throw out there!

What A Week

What a week... and it's not even over!  It's not even going to be "over."

I work everyday this week.  Yes, I mean Sunday as well.  We have a little extra going on this week with another store opening up in Bremerhaven.  We had the pleasure of having a VIP visit for the official opening of the store.  It was really nicely designed and re-done!

German class has been filling up my hours after work.  As I said before, and I will say again, this class is a doosey!  4 days a week, 3 hours a day... can you say intense?  Big time.

School starts up again on Monday and lasts for the longest 3 weeks of my life.  Why do I say this?  School is not bad.  I love learning new things pertaining to this profession in school.  However, after school is finished in 3 weeks, I have vacation in...... AMERICA!

It's been 15 months since I've been home.  Wow.  Raise your hand if you've been away from home for 15 months before.  It's really rough.  I'm ready for it.  I need the familiarity of my home.  I can only imagine these next weeks will drag by because I want them to be over so badly in order to get home.  What can I do to make the time pass?

Nectarine Pizza With Fresh Basil and Reduced Balsamic

It is true... I am a member of Pinterest.  This is me, if you want to follow...

I get some good ideas from this place.  Not only for baking, but for drawing and just some general DIY ideas as well.  Although DIY projects are not in the cards for me at the moment, with no money, no space and no possessions here in Germany, I still like to see what everyone else has up their sleeves.

One great reason why I love Pinterest so much these days is because the BFF and I send hilarious Pins back and forth to each other.  With the time difference, and our jobs, it's hard to keep in touch!  I'm always glad to wake up in the morning (3am), only to check my e-mails and laugh hysterically.  It makes the day start off well...

I found this pizza on Pinterest.  A M A Z I N G.  I found this a few months ago... before nectarine and peach season.  I have been waiting!

I just have one thing to say, if you don't make this pizza, I will be mad at you.  End of story.

Nectarine Pizza With Fresh Basil and Reduced Balsamic 

"Toppings For 1 pizza:
olive oil for greasing
cheese: fresh ricotta, buffalo mozzarella, goat cheese, mascarpone, whatever you like
1 nectarine, sliced thinly, (not paper thin)
shavings of fresh Parmigianno Reggiano
fresh basil

Reduced balsamic:

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1. Place balsamic in a small sauté pan. Turn heat to medium high. Let simmer until reduced and noticeably thick — watch it like a hawk. If it burns, it’s ruined. There’s no salvaging burnt balsamic. Err on the side of under reduced. It reduces more than you expect as it’s cooling. Remove from heat.

Pizza Dough
Adapted from Todd English’s The Figs Table
Makes four 8- to 10-inch pizzas (Serves 1 to 2 people per pizza, dough freezes beautifully)

¼ cup whole wheat flour
3½ cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for rolling
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 2/3 cups lukewarm water
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons active-dry yeast
2 teaspoons olive oil

1. Place the flours and salt in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. (Or knead by hand. I have not had luck making this in the food processor — the engine starts smoking after about five minutes.) Combine the water, sugar and yeast in a small bowl and let sit for five minutes until the mixture bubbles slightly. Add the olive oil and stir. With the mixer on low, gradually add the oil-water mixture into the bowl. Knead until the dough is firm and smooth, under 10 minutes. The dough will be very wet and sort of difficult to work with. I liberally coat my hands with flour before attempting to remove it.

2. Divide the dough into four balls, about 7½ ounces each. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. (Be sure to oil the parchment paper.) Place two balls on a sheet. Lightly rub the balls with olive oil, then cover loosely with plastic wrap. The dough is very sticky and wet, so, be sure to coat the balls or the plastic with oil. Let the balls rise in a warm spot until they have doubled in bulk, about two hours.

Note: This dough freezes beautifully. After the initial rise, punch down the dough, wrap it in plastic and place in a Ziplock bag. Freeze for several months. When ready to use, let sit at room temperature for about an hour, then proceed with rolling/topping/baking.

3. To roll out the dough: Dab your fingers in flour and then place one ball on a generously floured work surface. Press down in the center with the tips of your fingers, spreading the dough with your hand. When the dough has doubled in width, use a floured rolling pin (or continue using floured hands if you are skilled at making pizzas) and roll out until it is very thin, like flatbread. The outer portion should be a little thicker than the inner portion. Note: If the dough is being very stubborn, let it rest for 15 to 20 minutes. In this time, the gluten will relax, and the dough will be much easier to work with.

Baking:

1. Preheat the oven to 500ºF. Line a sheetpan with parchment paper or grease lightly with olive oil. Place rolled out dough onto parchment paper or greased pan. Drizzle dough with a little olive oil and with your hand, rub it over the surface to coat evenly.

2. Cover the dough with a layer of cheese — mozzarella, goat cheese, ricotta mascarpone, whatever you wish. Arrange one layer of sliced nectarines or peaches on top of the cheese. Sprinkle the fruit layer with fresh Parmigiano Reggiano. Place pizza in your very hot oven and bake for about 10 minutes or until the crust is slightly brown and the cheese is melting.

3. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with fresh basil or arugula. Drizzle with the reduced balsamic. Slice and serve. Yum."

-Alexandra's Kitchen