Our quilt group met last Friday for our annual gift exchange extravaganza - it was over-the-top fun and the gifts this year were all exceptional! We loved being at Stephanie's home - her artistic talent was on display in every room. I so loved her special touches that made her home so cozy and inviting - from her giant pencil painting to her TV stand to her Christmas tree - it was all fabulous!
Speaking of fabulous, my good friends at CSN have offered up another lovely gift certificate for $65.00!! And it's good at ANY of their 200 stores! Just leave me a comment on this post telling me which "gift" pictured below you would have liked to have picked and you'll be entered to win! I'll pick a winner on Sunday December 26th, and on Monday the winner will be emailed their gift certificate for some great after Christmas shopping! Now let's get started!
As I mentioned, all of the gifts this year were great - like this framed hand-stitched felted wool Santa that Marsha brought and she also threw in that hilarious apron! Pictured at right is a work in progress by Stephanie - it will eventually be finished and framed (Stephanie is usually busy working on her gift AT the meeting...we've come to expect that from her and don't want it to EVER change!)
A little hard to see but those two little framed pictures were hand-stitched by Denise (you can click on them to see a larger pic) they are adorable! We had two bags as gifts this year - the red and black bag was made by Helen and she said it was about as much work as making an entire quilt! The black and white bag was made by a former member, Jan, who paid our group a visit a while back and brought this bag as a door prize - Ardith won the bag and saved it to use as her gift - it was nice to have Jan "represented" at our meeting!
Claudia PIECED together the garland of mini-stockings - which I had in my fat little hands for about 30 seconds before it was stolen! In the middle is one of Terry's masterpieces and pictured at right is a cross-stitch that was beautifully worked by Janet.
Lori embroidered the framed Love and Joy piece (which I happily came home with!) My gift is pictured in the middle...can't take credit for it though as it's a rip off from something I saw in Blog-land and I'd tell you who made the original but I can't remember where I saw it! It's a felted wool wall hanging and the candy-cane is the hanger. Dawn made the "Quilting Santa," it's cross-stitched and wonderful!
Before we sat down for our feast we had one more surprise...Lori must have been filled with the Christmas Spirit because she brought a door prize ...and Helen won!
Right now it's a top but when Helen gets it quilted and bound it just might give Lori second thoughts on giving it away! Pretty generous, huh?!
At our Christmas meeting we also awarded the most coveted award in all of Quilt-dom...The Golden Silver Thimble! This year, the priceless thimble went to Claudia for "her prolific quilting abilities, she doesn't just have a quilting machine, she IS a quilting machine! And for perseverance through life's many trials proving strength and beauty can be found in a very skinny package!"
Congratulations Claudia!
That's it - pretty amazing gifts from equally amazing women...now, tell me which one YOU would have wanted to take home and you'll be entered for the $65 gift card! Leave me a comment now! Contest ends Sunday, December 26th!
My humble apologies...I could have sworn I gave you this recipe before now but I suppose when it toppled from our #1 Christmas dessert to the #3 position it somehow got overlooked! So my apologies...to the Chocolate Snowball, it certainly deserves to be here, and to you...you have had NO idea what you've been missing!!
Off topic, but I must tell you about how I came within seconds of laughing myself to death...you see, the mister lost a bet with me, as a result, he has to be an ELF at our annual Christmas party for kids. I made him try on his costume...the boy and I could hardly breath we were laughing so hard...but the mister never cracked a smile...he just stood there with a total deadpan look on his face...in his green tunic and his yellow TIGHTS! And when he finally spoke he said, "Everyone will be able to see my prostrate!" It took me all of FOUR MINUTES to stop laughing long enough to tell him, "No dear, everyone will BEPROSTRATE when they see your PROSTATE!" I'm going to have to make a few adjustments to his costume or the children will be scarred for life!
This recipe is from The Mariposa Restaurant in Deer Valley, Utah - for those of you who know where that is, then you'll know this is where many a movie star, wanna-be's, and people who carry around a duffel bag to hold their petty cash hang out...but for good reason, The Mariposa is as known for it's food as Deer Valley is for it's skiing. The founder and president of La Varenne, the prestigious French cooking school, Anne Willan, came up with this recipe and passed it along to her students, one being someone who eventually went to work at The Mariposa. I begged for the recipe, but as my wallet was a bit thin, I was refused (I'm sure that's the reason!) I left the restaurant with my head down, hobbling on my little tree-branch cane in my hand-me-down clothes, wiping the dripping snot from my nose with my fingerless gloves, silently promising myself, God being my witness, that I would one day eat the infamous Chocolate Snowball for Christmas! Rejected, I made my way to the outlet malls in Park City...I went in the book store, hoping to educate myself on the finesse it takes to coerce a recipe from a snooty pastry worker when what to my wondering eyes should appear? A nice little book...Chocolate Snowball and Other Fabulous Pastries From Deer Valley Bakery by Letty Halloran Flatt!!
Once I had purchased the book I tossed my cane aside, held my head high and immediately forgot about the RUDE pastry worker who not only refused me the recipe but failed to tell me it was in a cookbook - a cookbook that I could have purchased IN DEER VALLEY even! But because of her insolence I bought it at an outlet mall...for HALF PRICE!! Thank you rude (who I'm sure was making $6.50 an hour at the time and I was making at LEAST $7.00 so who did she think she was!?!) pastry worker!
To say this is easy would be lying...it's EXTREMELY EASY! And you won't find a more decadent, rich, utterly chocolate dessert anywhere! This is a chocoholics fantasy...a flour-less cake, (yes! It's gluten free!) which is more like a pudding in texture - creamy smooth, dense, and over-the-top intense...and then it's smothered in whipped cream - without the cream to "cut" the chocolate, your eyes would roll back in your head and you'd flop to the floor in ecstasy! As good as this is, it's made even better with the addition of a raspberry sauce that is drizzled over each serving...chocolate, raspberry and cream...it's what Christmas is all about folks...this one is a solid FIVE on the ol' Dang Meter...it's dang, dang, dang, dang, dang good!
Chocolate Snowball - Adapted From Chocolate Snowball and Other Fabulous Pastries From Deer Valley Bakery by Letty Halloran Flatt
Cake:
12 oz. good, quality semi-sweet chocolate, chopped in 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup strong coffee, hot (decaf is okay)
1 cup sugar
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
6 eggs, lightly beaten
Cream Topping:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Raspberry Sauce:
1 (15 oz.) jar raspberry jam (I used my homemade jam that was a bit runny - it's perfect for this!) or 1 (15 oz.) jar raspberry jelly, without seeds
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a medium (5 to 6-cup, about 8-inch diameter) stainless steel or glass oven-proof bowl with aluminum foil so the foil overlaps the bowl 3 or 4 inches. (I used a larger bowl, about 10-inches in diameter, as it is my only oven-proof bowl, but it resulted in a "flatter" snowball.)
Put the chocolate in a saucepan. Pour the coffee over, which will melt some of the chocolate. Place over medium-low heat; add the sugar and stir with a wire whisk to dissolve the sugar and any un-melted chocolate. Add the butter gradually, a dollop at a time, whisking until the butter is incorporated before adding the next dolllop. This should take about 10 minutes - don't rush it. Remove from the heat.
Slowly whisk the beaten eggs into the chocolate mixture. Pour through a strainer into the foil-lined bowl. Discard any firm bits of egg that remain in the strainer. Bake 50 to 55 minutes, until the batter rises and a cracked top crust forms. The mixture will still jiggle, like molded gelatin. Resist the urge to bake it a little more; the butter and chocolate set up when chilled.
Let the cake cool. Fold the overlapping foil over the top and refrigerate at least 8 hours, keeping the cake in the bowl. It will keep for up to a week if refrigerated and well wrapped in plastic wrap. (It is best to store the cake in the bowl, but, once it is cold, you can invert the dome onto plate - but do not remove the foil wrapper. Wrap the foil-enclosed dome in plastic wrap.) The cake can also be frozen for up to a month; thaw in the refrigerator before frosting.
Cream Topping:
When the cake is ready to assemble, while still in the bowl and still wrapped in foil, you will notice the cake will have fallen slightly in the center; to make the top (or what will be the bottom of the cake) flat and even, press the raised outer edges down. Place a flat serving plate over the bowl and invert. Gently remove the foil.
Whip the cream with the sugar and the vanilla until the cream comes to soft peaks that hold their shape. Cover the cake with the cream (you can use a pastry bag fitted with a star tip to decorate the cake if you wish.) Cover the dome completely.
Raspberry Sauce:
In a small saucepan heat the raspberry jam until almost boiling. Remove and pour through a strainer to remove the seeds. (If using seedless raspberry jelly, heat jelly until it liquefies and then allow to cool a bit before serving.) Allow to cool, spoon a couple of tablespoons over each slice of snowball for serving. Serves 10 to 12.
Max LOVES his Santa suit! And his elf shoes...can't wait to get him here for Christmas!! He knows all about opening presents so we're going to have the best Christmas ever watching him!
Speaking of presents...here's a few I've made for special friends this year:
While everyone in the quilting world has been busy sewing up mug-rugs, I've been making candle-mats...out of felted wool. A few beads are added and voila! A little bit of Christmas cheer! I've also been busy making paper flowers, thanks to the very clever Lori at Bee In My Bonnet! Lori posted a very simple tutorial on how to make the flowers (and she's got SO many GREAT tutorials on her blog - once you go there you'll never leave!) and I just couldn't resist! At first I was only going to make flowers for me to use on gifts I would give...but then I thought I'd make PRACTICAL gifts this year (so not like me!) so I made flowers FOREVER...creating little "Gift Wrap Kits" for friends:
Each gift wrap kit contains 8 cellophane bags, 8 pieces of tissue paper, red and white twine, 8 gift tags, 8 glue dots and 8 paper flowers...I thought this was a rather clever gift...but I'm easy to please. When they're all tied up in a larger cellophane bag. secured with twine and another paper flower, they are very cute...so THANK YOU LORI HOLT! Warning: If you decide to make paper flowers you should know it's very addictive!!
Let's see, what else...oh yes, Italian gift baskets! The mister even helped me pick out the contents!! He was so helpful..."How about streudel?" Nope, it's GERMAN, we're doing ITALIAN! "How about Swedish Fish, everyone loves them?" They're SWEDISH, we're doing Italian! "How about fortune cookies, they'll have fun reading them!" DOH...We're doing ITALIAN!! Finally he clued in...and then he was mister happy...filling the basket like Santa fills his sleigh...it was all very merry until we got to the check-out!! Ho-ho-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...
And then we had to wrap everything and SHIP it! There's something to be said for gift cards!
While the rest of the country was being blasted with snow, we had torrential rains...the park behind our house filled with water and overnight we had lake-front property again! Since it was a "Pineapple Express" that dumped all the rain, it wasn't really freezing outside so there were a couple of fools who took advantage of the lake and the temps and had themselves a float! The lake has gone down the drain, and so has our house value and the ducks have flown away...until it rains again!
You all know bad things come in threes, right? Yes! They do! Especially plane crashes...and appliance failures - like the clothes dryer dying followed by the microwave sparking out of control after the refrigerator in the garage gasped it's last breath...appliances speak to each other via electrical circuitry, when one decides on a "productivity slowdown," the others join in, it's called appliance solidarity...feel free to quote me on that. Also, IF I burn something while cooking then I know something else is going to over-flow right after something else is dropped...mark my words and start counting when you're having a bad day...after the third thing you can breathe easier!
Here's my latest run of bad luck...
No. 1...I needed to make French Nougat...something I've never done but I was asked to do this for a church party...having just come out of three days of candy-making, I thought, how hard could nougat be? Well, let me tell you, candy-making is a SCIENCE and I FAILED science in school...miserably! It's all about chemical reactions and boiling points and LACK OF HUMIDITY - something we never lack for in the Northwest! So of course the French Nougat didn't set up...it was a pan full of gelantinous goo (pictured above on the left) that tasted good but didn't set...Plan B...run to the drug store to purchase 20 Look Candy bars - cut and put into little candy cups (pictured in the center above) so they can fool all of the unsuspecting Non-French people at the party!
No. 2...Jessica Seinfeld's Crock Pot Lasagna...What WAS I thinking?!? I saw her on Oprah talking about her new cookbook and she demonstrated her lasagna - said it tasted great and saved time...well, with French Nougat to ruin I needed to save time! I followed the recipe to the "T"...it was dry as the South of France! IF you want to try it you can find her recipe here ... but if you want good tasting lasagna that isn't as dry as Provence, DON'T waste your time or your ingredients!
No. 3...The mister walked into the kitchen last night. Yes, that's the third bad thing. He waltzed through the door in rare form and said, "Did you make pie today?!" He said that as he was shimmy-ing around the Christmas boxes that are waiting to be sealed and taken to UPS...all NINE of them...and when I told him there would be no pie for him, as I had been too busy shopping, wrapping and packing for HIS side of the family, he said, very matter-of-factly...."Well then, what do I pay you for?!?" Seriously, can someone please tell me why homicide is wrong?!?
But then, after three bad things happened, something good happened arrived:
TWO Mary Englebreit Cookbooks! I couldn't figure out why I had ordered them - or when - and then I looked inside and discovered I am a contributor to the cookbook!
(I love cookbooks that lay flat!) Since it can take a couple of years for a book to be published I cannot remember how my participation in it came about! But I do know they printed one of my all-time favorite recipes - my Cuban Pork Roast Sandwiches with Cilantro Aioli is in the book!!! (This recipe has not been posted on my blog but I'll rectify that very soon!) And the books are both signed by Mary Englebreit herself - which more than made up for the mister's rude remark! I'm keeping one book for myself and the other one is going to someone special...and if YOU would like one of these wonderful cookbooks you may order one by clicking here...it would make a great stocking stuffer!
Hey gang - I'm the Guest Blogger today over at Stash Manicure...I'm dishing up words of wisdom...pearls, as it were, for quilters everywhere!
Okay, what I really did was regurgitate my thoughts on why it is I'm an Unorthodox Quilter...and I've posted FIVE of my TOP TIPS so you can be an Unorthodox Quilter, too!
This was my birthday cake...made for me by my sugar-freak-friend...it made me giggle just looking at it! When the boy saw it, (we had been talking about what kind of qualities his friend is looking for in a wife,) he said, "I just want someone who can make a cake like that!" He's no dummy! And neither am I - I know a coma when I see it! I told the boy to have at it - minutes later half the cake was gone! I guess it's been a while since we've had Twinkies and Ho-Ho's in the house!
Thanks so much Joyce!
This post is not about my birthday...it's about what I DID on my birthday - and the day before and the day after...three glorious days filled with with a candy/chocolate class...fondant, caramel, fudge, truffles, divinity...rolling, scooping, beating, pouring, heating, dipping, dipping and more dipping!
The class made fondant cream centers which were dipped in milk chocolate and dark chocolate...raspberry, coconut, peanut butter, orange, vanilla...mouth-watering I tell you!
We also made truffles...raspberry, coconut, lemon, orange, maple-nut, chocolate and probably a few more that my sugared-brain can't recall! And then we dipped them...so, so fun! Playing in chocolate is almost as good as eating it!
We only had a couple of mishaps in three days of confectionary bliss...the caramels cooked so quickly and looked so beautiful in the pan and THEN someone noticed the sweetened condensed milk sitting on the counter! Warming chocolate in the microwave and forgetting to take it out...or forgetting to watch the time! And we had several batches of fondant that didn't work, probably due to humidity...certainly not from the Confectioner's errors! Who knew candy making was a science?!? (And WAY more work that I thought!)
After three days, this is what I came home with:
Heavenly Chocolates!!! Hand-dipped truffles, hand-dipped creams, chocolate-covered caramels...MY OH MY! Marsha, expert in all things chocolate, taught us so many things - let us trash her kitchen - and even fed us lunch! It was such great fun!! While I can't tell you everything I learned, because I've forgotten it already, I can give you some recipes - they're the recipes I've made for years and they are tried and true!
For the caramel recipe, click here. (While this recipe is called Lori's Caramels, I recently discovered it's the very same recipe that Marsha uses, and the same one my Mom used and the same one her friend Janet used...it's a very old recipe so it's probably the same one YOUR mom used! Dang good, my friends, 5 dangs worth!)
For the fudge recipe, click here. (This is another of Lori's recipes and it's called Fudge To Die For, and it truly is! Make it, go to Heaven and see for yourself!)
For the divinity, click here. (It's a Paula Deen recipe and even with a bit of humidity in the air, two determined friends beat it into submission and it worked! One bite took me back to my childhood...it was a very good bite!)
My French friend sent me this recipe...DeRue..okay, so only her name is French, but she does know a coma-inducing dish when she eats it! And this one rang the Dang Meter loud and clear...I made this for breakfast T-day morn, and I personally only had a bite - okay two bites - because any more and the turkey would have been left in the sink while I slept off the sugar!
This is really a special occasion recipe - I wouldn't serve it to kids and then shove them out the door to get on the school bus...the sugar rush might propel them through Spelling but by Math time they'd be crashing! Speaking of math, my bank made an error in my favor last week...they notified me that I am richer by $1.44!!! Now, if I invest this windfall wisely I should be able to retire comfortably in about 500 years!
The recipe calls for making this the night before - however, I failed to READ the recipe before I began...so my French Toast didn't get made the night before - which allows time for the egg mixture to be fully soaked up by the bread. But guess what, allowing it to sit for just ONE hour worked beautifully!! The carmel on the bottom of the pan was thick and creamy and the bread was toasted on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside...this one's a keeper!
Creme Brulee French Toast - Adpated From DeRue Walker
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
5 large eggs
1 1/2 cups half-&-half
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier (or if you don't want to use Grand Marnier you can use another teaspoon of vanilla)
1 teaspoon salt
6 slices of French bread, sliced 1-inch thick
Butter a 9x13-inch glass baking dish and set aside. In a small sauce pan melt butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup over medium heat, stirring until smooth. Pour evenly into prepared baking dish. Arrange bread slices in baking dish on top of caramel.
In a medium bowl whisk eggs, half & half, vanilla and Grand Marnier, if using, and salt. Immediately pour over bread. Cover with plastic wrap and put in refrigerator for an hour or up to overnight.
When ready to bake, remove plastic wrap and bring bread to room temperature, about 30 minutes or so. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake uncovered until golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes. Serves 4 to 6.
I went looking for something Christmasy for Max to wear...and I found a lot of adorable red dresses for little girls but nothing for little boys! As one boutique owner said, in a thick Asian accent, "Mother's in America do not want their little boys to be gay." As if. Seriously, after hours of looking at many different shops, my choices were limited to a red sweater with a T-Rex wearing a Santa hat or a pair of jean overalls with a demented looking elf on the front! Max is TWO...I should be able to buy him a Santa suit with red glitter or a Reindeer sweater and matching boots! But the stores offer up button-down-collared shirts made from flannel and cordoroys or jeans...uncomfortable clothing which makes him look like he's Paul Bunyan's kin. Not being able to find anything comfy or Christmasy...I made him this:
Soft fleece pants and a matching long-sleeve t-shirt with a little embellisment...it's warm and comfortable and he'll look just like he belongs at the North Pole. With his little black boots and a Santa hat, he'll probably be mistaken for the Big Guy's kid - and there's nothing wrong with that!
Oh go ahead and roll your eyes and snicker if you want - but Max is still a BABY! He has years and years ahead of him when he'll be dressed as a little executive or a Hell's Angel biker or an orphan waif in Old Navy/Gap crap...but for now, since Max IS the reason for the season in my mind, he's going to look the part!
After taking care of my domestic chores, the mister and I set out Saturday for a bit of shopping. I forced him to take me to one of my favorite antique shops...vintage Christmas decorations were on my list. We're strolling through the shop and I have my reading glasses on to see the prices - why they are all so small is a mystery to me! Between looking down through the readers and over the tops of them to see things my vision was a bit blurred...that's my excuse...blurry vision. So when I bumped into the mister, I just did what ANY spouse would have done, I reached down and pinched his behind - squeezed it really...twice...only IT WAS NOT THE MISTER!! Horror of all horrors!!! It was some old man, who just stood there and let me squeeze him!! When I realized what I was doing - TWO squeezes later - the old man looked at me and said, "Well hi there, happy to meet you!" Of course I could do nothing but blather about how sorry I was, while his wife looked on, laughing! The old man put his arm around me and said, "It's okay, want to give it another go?"
Unfortunately this is NOT the guy who's behind I pinched...pinching Santa Claus is perfectly acceptable, especially if you're on his GOOD LIST...which I fear I might not be if I'm labeled a geriatricophile...Now speaking of Santa, this year I will be leaving eclairs for him and not cookies...and I suggest you do the same, especially if you want him to leave you something you've always wanted!
I made 50 eclairs for an friend's wedding open house - actually I made 75 but somewhere along the way 25 got eaten, or dropped and then eaten! They were small, three-biters, so it's not like I gained FIVE pounds - or thereabouts!
Eclairs are easier to make than you might think...the cream puff pastry recipe whips up quickly in the food processor - scooped into a plastic Zip-lock style bag it pipes nicely onto a baking sheet. They puff up as they're baked...making them a cinch to fill. But they do take time...time to bake, dry and cool - they're not something you can rush through so allow plenty of time - it's SOOOO worth it!
The cream filling is a snap to make, too...and once cooled (about 2 hours) and scooped into another Zip-lock bag, filling these little babies is the most fun you can have in the kitchen! Then there's the chocolate glaze...ooo-la-la-sis-boom-bah...that's French for Yeah BABY!
Eclairs - Adapted From Baking Illustrated
Make the Pastry Cream recipe first so it can be cooling while you make and bake the puff pastry. Recipe for the Pastry Cream is below. Make the chocolate glaze last, recipe below.
Cream Puff Pastry:
2 large eggs plus 1 large egg white
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces
2 tablespoons whole milk
6 tablespoons water
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
Beat the eggs and egg white in a measuring cup or small bowl; you should have 1/2 cup (discard the excess). Set aside.
Bring the butter, milk, water, sugar, and salt to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring once or twice. When the mixture reaches a full boil (the butter should be fully melted), immediately remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the flour with a wooden spoon until combined and the mixture clears the sides of the pan. Return the saucepan to low heat and cook, stirring constantly, using a smearing motion, until the mixture is slightly shiny, looks like wet sand, and tiny beads of fat appear on the bottom of the saucepan, about 3 minutes.
Immediately transfer the mixture to a food processor and process with the feed tube open for 10 seconds to cool slightly. With the machine running, gradually add the eggs in a steady stream. When all the eggs have been added, scrape down the sides of the bowl, then process for 30 seconds until a smooth, thick, sticky paste forms.
Adjust oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a large baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and line with parchment paper; set aside.
Fill a large Zip-lock style bag or a pastry bag with the paste. Push the down, twist bag so top is sealed and snip off the corner of the bag. Pipe the paste into 3-inch by 1-inch strips, spaced about 1-inch apart, onto the baking sheet.
Bake 15 minutes at 375 degrees or until golden brown and fairly firm. (Eclairs should NOT be soft and squishy.) Remove the baking sheet from the oven and with a paring knife, cut a small slit into the top of each eclair to release steam; return the eclairs to the oven, turn off the oven, and prop the oven door open with the handle of a wooden spoon. Dry the eclairs in the turned-off-oven until the centers are just moist (not wet) and the eclairs are crisp, about 30 minutes. Transfer the eclairs to a wire rack to cool.
Pastry Cream:
2 cups half-n-half
1/2 cup sugar
pinch salt
5 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Heat the half-n-half, 6 tablespoons of the sugar, and the salt in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat until simmering, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl until thoroughly combined. Whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and whisk until the sugar has begun to dissolve and the mixture is creamy, about 15 seconds. Whisk in the cornstarch until combined and the mixture is pale yellow and thick, about 30 seconds.
When the half-n-half mixture reaches a full simmer, gradually whisk a little bit of the simmering half-n-half into the yolk mixture to temper, gradually adding a bit more, about 1/2 cup total. Pour the yolk mixture into the saucepan, over medium heat, whisking constantly, until a few bubbles burst on the surface and the mixture is thickened and glossy, about 30 seconds. Off the heat, whisk in the butter and vanilla. Strain the pastry cream through a fine-mesh sieve set over a medium bowl. Press plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent skin from forming and refrigerate until cold and set, at least 2 hours.
Chocolate Glaze:
3 tablespoons half-n-half
2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup powdered sugar
Place the half-n-half and chocolate in a medium microwave-safe bowl, cover with a paper towel and microwave for 20 seconds at a time, until the mixture just begins to steam. Whisk together thoroughly, add the powdered sugar, and whisk until completely smooth.
To Assemble Eclairs:
You can either cut each eclair in half and fill, then replace the top or you can scoop the filling into a plastic Zip-lock style bag or a pastry bag, fitted with a metal tip, and squeeze the pastry cream into the eclair through the slit you made earlier. I used the plastic bag method and it worked great - you'll know when the eclair is full of cream as it will begin to come out the top - just scoop off any extra with a spoon (try not to eat it!) Once the eclairs are filled, make the chocolate glaze and dip the tops of the eclairs into the glaze, shaking off any excess and transfer to a wire rack to set. Serve immediately or refrigerate until serving time. Makes about one dozen 3x1-inch eclairs.
Trying to make perfect-looking eclairs was the only tricky part...but what they lacked in appearance they more than made up for in taste!
I forgot to take pictures while I was filling and dipping them - and later at the open house I remembered in time to snap a pic of some on the silver tray...pictured at left are two "rejects" that didn't make it to the party...happily so!
Being a quilter for over 30 years, I've learned one thing that's for sure (as my good friend Ops - short for Oprah - would say) and that's this: You can't go wrong if you buy too much! You will never be forced to have a "close enough" fabric in a quilt again! I've always said that I make 30-foot quilts - or put another way, quilts that look good from 30 feet away! One day I hope to make "inchers." In the meantime, as I struggle to make points match, I'm happily trying to cover every bed, sofa, and chair in my house with a quilt - that's normal, right?
Ahhhh....food....
We may live without poetry, music and art;
We may live without conscience and
live without heart;
We may live without friends;
we may live without books;
But civilized man cannot live without cooks.
He may live without books,
what is knowledge but grieving?
He may live without hope,
What is hope but deceiving?
He may live without love,
What is passion but pining?
But where is the man that can live without dining?
Owen Meredith...or as I like to call him....
The Earl of Sandwich
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