Last week I made several types of petit fours for my mom’s book club meeting. They were a hit! I love being able to share the taste of French pastry with people. It’s just something we don’t get to taste a lot of here.

I chose to make russians (or pistachio stacks, as I like to refer to them), paris brests, chocolate eclairs, and chocolate financiers with candied ginger and cacao nibs. For the russians I made a dacquoise of both almond and hazelnut flours, and then piped the batter into little circles. They were spongy and soft inside, with a slightly crisp exterior. Pistachio mousseline was sandwiched between two of the dacquoise circles to create a close cousin to a French macaron (commonly spelled and pronounced macaroon in the U.S.) . The pistachio mousseline was pastry cream, buttercream, and nut paste. My only regret was making the mousseline the day before, and so the buttercream in it curdled from being refrigerated. In my effort to redistribute the fat globules the mousseline lost some of its structure, so the sandwiches didn’t sit up quite as high. These were probably one of the favorites of the four.

I also knocked out a batch of pate a choux dough. It always fills the kitchen with a very comforting smell as its made, like butter, flour, and eggs cooking, I love it. Pate a choux is the most remarkable dough, as it bakes it forms a hard shell and the insides become hollow, perfect for filling, since the crunch is a beautiful contrast to the filling.

Paris brests are “wheels” of pate a choux filled with a hazelnut mousseline. The pate a choux was sprinkled with sliced almonds before baking, and afterwards, dusted with confectioner’s sugar. Some of the pate a choux was piped into little eclairs, which I filled with a bittersweet chocolate pastry cream and dipped in a chocolate icing. The eclairs are easily a one-bite treat, and the chocolate explosion in your mouth is glorious!

Lastly, I made chocolate financiers. Ground almonds add an incredible amount of moisture to these. I added candied ginger and cacao nibs to the financiers, which added an element of spice and chocolately crunch.

It was a fun working on all of the different petit fours and I look forward to the next opportunity. Petit fours are meant to be one or two bites and they are perfect tastes of bliss.

I’ve also been experimenting with quick bread recipes that don’t use oil. If I come across any delicious breakthroughs I’ll post it.

Summer is the most bountiful time of year for stone fruits. We had a lot sitting around, so I made a lemon rice pudding with roasted peaches and plums. To roast fruit, top with a small cube of butter and brown sugar, and bake in a 400 degree F oven until golden brown and a pool of juice sits underneath each fruit.

Tonight I was in another petit four mood and cut out circles from a chocolate apricot torte I made today. Two thin layers of a rich chocolate cake (tasted similar to a brownie, but less dense) surrounded a chocolate truffle ganache and apricot filling. Then the whole thing was covered in another chocolate ganache. Intense!

Best eating my friends,

Megan