As some of you may be aware, I studied sports management and law in college, with the intention of attending law school and preparing contracts as a sports agent. Crazy to think about, huh? I even spent some time working at a sports agency in Chicago.

So what happened, you ask? Just before graduation, I had a sudden realization that I didn’t want to attend law school, and I didn’t want to pursue my topic of study. I couldn’t see myself doing that line of work, happily, every day, for the REST OF MY LIFE. I panicked, because I am the type of person who likes to have a ‘plan’. Something to keep me moving forward, to keep me motivated.

My last semester of college I spent many of my weekend nights staying in, preferring the empty quiet of the house, where I would putter in the kitchen cooking and baking. I’d wake up early on Sunday mornings and walk to the Oxford farmer’s market. It was such a beautiful time for me; purchasing honest food and getting a head start on my day, while many of my classmates lay hungover in their beds. My soul felt happy.

So after this realization, amidst one of my panicked conversations with my friend Molly, she suggested I look into catering or culinary school. I had never thought of that! I went home and googled culinary schools, and a whole new landscape opened to me. I loved to cook, and bake. People made careers out of that stuff. The rest is history.

Mutual of Omaha’s “Aha Moment” campaign shares people’s stories and secrets to success and happiness from all over the country. They liked my story and wanted to film my ‘moment’ for their 2011 campaign.

I flew home to Indiana to film, and it was a great opportunity to see my family for a few days. I had also missed the sound of frogs and crickets at night, and how balmy and warm an Indiana summer’s night can feel (I love Colorado in the summer but there are some things that you grow up with and miss when they’re not around any more).

It was ridiculously hot and humid that day, and we filmed in a tiny trailer that was just baking under the sun. I felt like I was dripping sweat but it seemed to have turned out ok!

Check out my aha moment and those of many others right here: Megan’s Aha Moment.

But I wanted to learn more. I wanted to understand why failures in the kitchen happen and how to prevent them. I also wanted to know how to make those fancy, gorgeous plated desserts seen at fine dining restaurants, and how to make caramel without overcooking it (Mine always got way too hard).

Oh, and how to make authentic French croissants that create a zillion little flakes when bitten into.

There were a dozen reasons like these. Sure, I could read cookbooks and baking tips, or watch online how-to videos. What I really wanted though, was a formal education, where I could learn directly under a master in the art itself.

Photograph (Below): A plate of freshly baked French croissants

My stint in pastry school was a great decision for me. I’m sure there are others who may argue with that statement. But you take out of it what you put into it. Whether it’s due to the current economy, or simply a choice to change careers, there are a lot more people interested in pursuing a job in the pastry profession.

For some, this means attending a culinary school with a baking and pastry arts program. Culinary school is not cheap! This can make enrolling in a program a tough decision.

I’ve decided to dedicate a special section of my blog to my posts on my culinary school experience. I also have a few tips to offer:

1. Make sure that you really take the time to observe and ask questions during your school visit. You shouldn’t feel pressured to attend by the prestige of a school if you don’t like the school. You will learn the most in a setting that you find satisfying.

2. This may be obvious, but pay attention to the chef instructors when visiting a school. They should enjoy teaching.

3. Do your research on your chef instructors. Sometimes it is their own personal stories or tips that serve you the most. Their past resumes are also crucial because you want the person teaching you to be a true expert in his or her craft. Otherwise what are you paying for?

4. Understand the pastry field. It is so much more than just baking cakes and pies. Pastry is an art form and requires a tremendous deal of patience, stamina, and a positive attitude.

5. Don’t commit yourself to culinary school unless you can fully commit to it.

Good luck!

Photograph (Below): Chocolate rose on chocolate showpiece

Then I grew older and wiser, a natural progression. In fact, there are numerous varieties of salt available today for culinary uses, and they are deliciously different from table salt in their size, crystal shape, and taste. I highly encourage you to experiment with them.

One of my favorite salt varieties is fleur de sel. Of course it is also the most expensive of all salts, but this is due to the fact that it is hand-harvested under precise conditions. It is a moist, flaked salt that dissolves beautifully and is free of that sharp salt flavor, if that makes any sense. Forgive me, as savory flavors are more difficult for me to describe.

Anyways, I recently replenished my fleur de sel stock, and was inspired to bake with it after coming across this recipe. If the name is any indication, these cookies have three main flavors: peanut butter, salt, and toffee. The peanut butter flavor is dominant, but there are hints of salt and toffee which make them perfect. Add a little crunch from the toffee peanuts and peanut butter lovers are bound to find themselves in heaven.

Salted Peanut Butter Toffee Cookies (Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich)

• 1 1/3 (6 ounces) cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fleur de sel
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup (3.5 ounces) firmly packed brown sugar (light or dark)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup natural chunky peanut butter (not unsalted)-stir well to blend the oil before measuring
• 1 cup (5 ounces) toffee peanuts or coconut toffee peanuts, very coarsely chopped

Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt together thoroughly in a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, mix the melted butter with both sugars. Whisk in the egg, vanilla, and peanut butter. Add the flour mixture and mix with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until just evenly incorporated.

Cover the dough and refrigerate for an hour or two, or up to 2 days. This will make it easier to handle.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Pour the chopped nuts into a shallow bowl. Scoop about 2 level teaspoons of dough for each cookie, shape into a 1-inch ball and coat heavily with the chopped nuts, pressing in any pieces that fall off, so there are no bald spots. Place the cookies 2 inches apart on the lined baking sheets.

Bake the cookies until they are lightly colored on top, 15 to 18 minutes. The cookies will seem very soft to the touch, but they will firm up as they cool. Set the baking sheets on a rack to cool completely. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for at least 2 weeks.

Yield: About fifty-six 1 1/2-inch cookies

Living in a city where you have to carry your groceries for blocks completely changes your perspective on needs versus wants, but we’re not even going to get into my city life rationing groceries and acting like a pack mule (at least not this time).

Sometimes, but only on occasion, as I try to utilize my food inventory in the most efficient and unwasteful manner, I have “overstock”. Case in point: Four pint-sized cartons of heavy cream, all unopened but nonetheless facing impending expiration dates.

So, I decided to make panna cotta. Not just your typical white disc surrounded in berry sauce or whatnot, but a quivering, pale yellow panna cotta scented with exotic saffron and cardamom. And then I adorned its creamy richness with freshly grated cinnamon and crushed pistachios.

Don’t be confused, however, with pudding, or creme brulee. Panna cotta, especially in this recipe, is rich and creamy, with the help of all that heavy cream, but it is not heavy. There is only the slightest amount of gelatin in panna cotta to give it just enough structure so it holds its shape-barely.

This creates that quivering spoonful that is much more worthy of a Jurassic Park scene. And sopisticated. Jell-o, really?

Saffron and Cardamom Panna Cotta (Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich)

• 3 1/4 cups heavy cream
• 1/3 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 5 cardamom pods
• Slightly rounded 1/8 teaspoon crushed saffron threads
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin or 3 leaves of sheet gelatin*
• 1 cinnamon stick
• Finely chopped or grated pistachios for garnish (optional)

In a small saucepan, heat the cream, sugar, and salt until steaming hot, stirring from time to time to dissolve the sugar. Off the heat, add the cardamom pods and saffron. Cover and allow to steep for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour the milk into a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Set aside (without stirring) for 5 to 10 minutes to let the gelatin soften.

*If using gelatin leaves, soak the leaves in the cold milk to soften them, then fish the softened sheets from the milk and stir them into the hot cream (after steeping) until completely dissolved. Stir in the milk, and proceed as directed.

Add the milk and gelatin to the cream mixture and reheat to steaming, stirring well to dissolve the gelatin. Strain the mixture into a bowl, preferably stainless steel; discard the cardamom pods. Set the bowl in a larger bowl of water and ice cubes and stir frequently until the mixture thickens and registers 50 degrees F on a thermometer.

Divide the mixture evenly among ramekins or dessert dishes (I used espresso cups, which created more than six servings). Cover with plastic wrap and chill at least 4 but preferably 12 hours. Before serving, use a microplane to grate a little stick of cinnamon over each one, and sprinkle with the chopped pistachios.

Serves 6

Let me start off by saying that if it weren’t for my mom, I wouldn’t be baking and cooking like I do today. She taught me the instinct that is baking- the spring of a done cake, the golden edges of a cookie, the way a cooked custard should coat the back of a spoon. I love being in the kitchen with my mom and it is something we always enjoy. I love you mom!

I was shopping at The Spice House in the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago this weekend where I immediately gravitated to the baking spices. One whiff of the intoxicating scent from the Lavender Sugar jar and I was hooked (The best vanilla sugar is made from cane sugar and high-quality vanilla beans. Sometimes vanilla extract is added. It’s also a delicious pair of words). The lavender is rather subtle but adds an entirely new dimension that is fragrant, floral, and an essence of summer.

I wanted to convey this scent into cookies, so I adapted a Williams-Sonoma shortbread recipe to my liking. Butter is one of the main ingredients, so be sure to use a rich, high-quality product for the best tasting result. I used pastry flour to give these cookies a lighter, more tender texture but all-purpose flour can be easily substituted (If you are trying to find pastry flour, I recommend ordering from King Arthur Flour, at www.bakerscatalogue.com).

I also desired a strong vanilla flavor to compliment the lavender, so I used vanilla paste. Vanilla paste has actual vanilla bean seeds in it, which I love because you see the flavor before you taste, but equal amounts of a nice vanilla extract works too.

After mixing up my dough, I rolled it into logs and then rolled each log in a generous coating of lavender sugar. Then the logs were given some time to harden in the freezer for easier cutting and a more attractive result after baking (the warmer the dough the more the cookies will spread, losing their delicate small shapes).

Best of all, these bake up crisp, buttery, and will melt in your mouth.

The tops of each cookie were decorated with one or two dried lavender buds pressed into the surface, as even a small amount of dried lavender has an intense taste- use sparingly. The cookies will keep, stored airtight, for about a week, making them perfect for shipping to your mom or grandma. They are excellent with coffee or tea.

Lavender-Scented Vanilla Bean Shortbread Cookies (adapted from Williams-Sonoma recipes)

• 2 cups pastry flour (or all-purpose flour)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste (or pure vanilla extract)
• 1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel (or kosher salt)
• 1 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces, at room temperature
• Lavender Sugar, for dusting and rolling (www.thespicehouse.com)
• Dried lavender for decorating

Sift the flour into a large bowl with the granulated sugar, confectioner’s sugar, and salt. Whisk briefly to combine all of the ingredients.

Add the butter and vanilla paste to the dry mixture, then use a pastry blender to cut in the butter until the entire mixture can be formed into a soft lump. Lightly roll the dough into a 1 1/2 ” diameter log. Cut the log in half for easier handling. Roll each log, carefully, in several spoonfuls of Lavender Sugar to coat.

Roll the logs up in parchment paper and put in the freezer for at least 30 minutes, if not longer, until firm. When ready, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1/4 ” slices. Place on a parchment or silpat-lined baking sheet, 1″ apart, and sprinkle with more Lavender Sugar, if desired, or decorate with a few lavender buds. Bake the cold dough until is is just starting to turn golden around the edges, around 20 minutes or so.

Yield: About 40 small cookies

Photograph (right): Vanilla chiboust with fresh red wild berries and honey-wheat tuile

Schoolwise: I believe my last post relating to school was when we were doing our wedding cakes and gumpaste flowers. Since then, we’ve had our second exam, Chef Nicholas Lodge’s visit/demonstration for a whole day, sugar candies, ice creams and sorbets, and plated desserts.

My classmates and I were fortunate enough to have the experience of learning more gumpaste and fondant/sugar art techniques from Chef Lodge, for free, during one of our normal school days. Chef Lodge is a highly skilled pastry chef who was once part of the pastry team in charge of Princess Diana’s wedding cake. He has two sugar art schools, one in Atlanta, where he is based, and the other in Tokyo, Japan.

Watching Chef Lodge demonstrate some of his cake decorating techniques inspired me to order his fondant and gumpaste kit. If people want me to make them beautiful cakes for special occasions, I want to be able to do it well. My reasoning behind this purchase is efficiency and personal improvement. I am eager to start “playing” with the kits once they arrive.

Photograph (below): Warm bittersweet chocolate cake with berries, honey ice cream, and chocolate decoration

The sugar candies unit was next. I don’t have any pictures because the items we made aren’t the most photogenic. Not that they aren’t beautiful or anything, but it’s much easier to photograph a dramatic piece of cake or even a peach dripping with juice- than it is a bowl of wrapped caramels. The wheels in my head were definitely sent spinning though, there is so much one can do with candies like these, whether in flavors or packaging or used in a million other ways.

Photograph (Below): Apricot-passion fruit pate de fruit squares

We made pate de fruit, a refreshing fruit candy that actually tastes like the real fruit flavor it is because it’s made with fruit puree, which isn’t that common in fruit candies anymore. We also made caramels, marshmallows, and honey nougat.

The nougat were studded with toasted pistachios and almonds, lending a pleasant crunch to compliment the chewy texture. This took place right before Easter, so I brought a bunch of the candy home with me when I visited for the weekend. It always amazes me when I see people’s reactions to real, honestly created food that doesn’t contain preservatives, fillers, or artificial flavorings.

Photograph (below): Poached rhubarb with rhubarb broth, banana crisp, strawberry sorbet, and spun sugar

After sugar candies, my class moved on to ice creams and sorbets. Chef John Kraus worked with us on balancing the recipe equations for these frozen concoctions, which can be a lot more difficult than it sounds but nonetheless appreciated.

The end result is an insanely creamy texture and oh yes, mouthfeel. Lovely word. Each table was given two different ice creams and two different sorbets to make, and it was reminiscent of being in my favorite store when I was 7, Baskin Robbins.

At the end of the second week we used some of our ice creams and sorbets to make frozen desserts such as a bombe, vacherin, and protiferole tart.

Photograph (below): Hazelnut financier with white wine-poached pears, hazelnut praline ice cream, and pear chips

You can see here that I put some of that ice cream, which currently occupies my freezer, to good use in this Chocolate Stout Milkshake.

Photograph (below): Chocolate ice cream

Meanwhile, during this time, I had another stage experience at TRU, where Gale Gand is the executive pastry chef and co-owner. I staged with the pastry chef, Chef Meg Galus, who is a FPS alum. I was there for about eleven hours, until 1:15 am or so.

It certainly didn’t fit into my current sleep schedule where I’m up at 5:00 am every morning, but it did remind me of my bartending days in college- the heat, the rush, and then after cleaning you leave hungry and tired, but awake from a second wind. But back to pastry school. Our most recent unit has been plated desserts with Chef En-Ming Hsu. I continue to be amazed by all of our chef instructors, they are such brilliant and helpful teachers.

Photograph (below): Crepes Suzette

We made a variety of product for the plated desserts unit, so that even with different recipes, we could understand the fundamentals and techniques to mastering them. My favorite plated dessert was a cappuccino creme brulee with chocolate cremeux, milk foam, and biscotti, because I loved how the components were assembled and I enjoy the whole coffee shop experience.

Chef Hsu made her cappuccino brulee in a fancy coffee cup, and then after caramelizing the sugar she topped it with a scoop of chocolate cremeux, a dollop of milk foam, and dusted it with cocoa powder and spices. On the side was a small piece of hazelnut-pistachio biscotti we made as well.

Another dessert that we made was poached rhubarb served in a rhubarb broth with strawberry sorbet and a banana tuile. I’ve never tasted rhubarb before and I really enjoyed its fresh, spring-like taste.

Photograph (below): Creme caramel with whipped cream and sugar cage

The last two days of our plated desserts unit we also covered jam-making. We used IQF (individually quick frozen) fruit, since it’s difficult to find all of the required fruits in Chicago this time of year.

IQF fruit is picked when it is at its ripest, then frozen in a way that prevents large ice crystals from developing, and this prevents the fruit from becoming mushy and watery when thawed. In some cases, IQF fruits can be of better quality than what is available at your grocery store during a specific season.

I was assigned to make cherry jam, while some of my classmates made strawberry, raspberry, plum, fig, blackberry, blueberry, apricot, and apricot-almond jams. Another group made apple butter as well. Nothing conveys summer like fresh jam! I love the way it looks like molten stained glass on white bread.

Photograph (below): Cherry jam on French baguette

Starting this week I will have my third exam over these past units. This will be my second-to-last exam and as much as I love being in school and learning everyday, I am certainly looking forward to life after school. I have so many aspirations, ideas, and goals.

Chicago is a fantastic city that has always been very good to me, but I am longing for some place where I can have my own yard, grow my own vegetables, and hear crickets at night.

Stay posted as I promise there will be more updates very soon!

Prior to pastry school, I had no knowledge of gumpaste flowers. It wasn’t until our chef for this unit, Chef Laura Ragano, began her class demonstration for us that I came to fully understand their construction and appreciate the artistic craftmanship required.

Gumpaste is a labor of love. The work is tedious and time-consuming. Yet, the result is spectacular. As extravagant wedding and specialty cakes continue to increase in popularity, choosing detailed, beautiful gumpaste flowers for one’s cake could be the defining feature that sets it apart from all others.

Here is a just a brief breakdown of the construction for a single gumpaste flower:

Day 1: Make gumpaste. Let sit overnight.

Day 2: Color gumpaste, if desired. Roll out gumpaste and cut out petals. Insert a wire into each petal. Detail the petals with veining, ruffling, or fringing and let dry. Also, create the flower centers.

Day 3: Each petal and center is tied into a base wire with floral tape. The flowers are dusted with color, if desired, and then steamed to set the color.

This can take awhile if you are making more than one flower. For example, a lily flower has 6 petals. That’s 6 petals to roll, cut, and embellish, as well as tie into the base wire and paint.

Despite the work involved in creating these flowers, they are rewarding to make and allow vast creativity to the decorator. The gumpaste flowers we created will be used to decorate our own three-tiered wedding cakes next week. I chose to decorate my cake with a mixture of green, yellow, and white flowers. I made a lime green gumpaste and painted the edges of my roses with a tangerine-pink.

Below are more photos of my gumpaste flowers, as well as some of my fellow classmates’ flowers. At the bottom of the page is the three-tiered fondant cake I created for my gumpaste flower spray.

Photograph (right): Chocolate tart topped with nougatine crisps

In the tarts class, we made two types of lemon tarts. The first was a lemon cream tart that was topped with French meringue shells, the other was a lemon curd tart topped with Italian meringue. They were beautiful tarts. We also made a very rich, seductive looking chocolate tart. A chocolate nougatine crisp was made and broken in pieces to adorn the top of the tart, as well as give it a some texture and crunch.

Photograph (below):  A slice of chocolate tart with nougatine crisps

Photograph (below): Lemon cream tart topped with French meringues and granulated almonds

Chef John also had us make some fruit tarts using almond cream, and he taught us how to make puff pastry dough. With the puff pastry dough, we made mille feuille and St. Honore, which is basically a heart attack of puff pastry, pastry cream, and salambos (cream puffs dipped in caramelized sugar).

Puff pastry dough is similar to croissant or danish dough in the way that it is rolled and folded. I love the way puff pastry dough feels, it is almost velvety.

Photograph (below): Nougat mousse cake: pistachio dacquoise, apricot-passion fruit gelee, and nougat mousse

Photograph (below): Pithivier (almond galette). Almond frangipane encased by flaky puff pastry

After the conclusion of tarts week, we moved on to European-style cakes with Chef Dimitri Fayard. Chef Dimitri has his own patisserie in Chicago that he runs with his wife, also a pastry chef, called Vanille Patisserie. This unit has by far been the most difficult for me because everything must be extremely precise.

Many of the products require a careful incorporation of air or folding motion that can make or break the resulting product. Nevertheless, this has been my most enjoyable unit because I loved learning the different components and styles of cakes.

Photograph (below): Hazelnut chocolate cake coated in chocolate mirror glaze

Photograph (below): Nougat mousse cake layers

The cakes we’ve made are European-style cakes, not the American version of layer cakes that are as tall as your head. The layers complement each other and when experienced for the first time, are incredibly impressive.

We made four main cakes: nougat mousse cake, coconut passion cake, chocolate hazelnut cake, and raspberry silk cake. The nougat mousse cake was my favorite, it was layers of pistachio dacquoise with apricot-passionfruit gelee and honey nougat mousse studded with dried fruit and nuts. It sounds odd, I know, but the flavors together were great.

We also made pithivier, a French dessert of puff pastry and almond cream.

Photograph (below): Raspberry silk cake: almond dacquoise, raspberry gelee, hazelnut crunch, and white chocolate diplomat mousse layers. The top is coated in a colored white chocolate spray.

Photograph (below): A slice of hazelnut chocolate cake: hazelnut dacquoise, carmelized hazelnuts, hazelnut mousse, chocolate mousse, and chocolate biscuit layers

Photograph (below): A slice of pithivier

Our class finished a bit ahead of schedule, so Chef Dimitri generously gave us the recipe to his “Sophia” cake sold at Vanille and let us each make it to practice our cake techniques further the last two days of the unit.

This is a phenomenal cake, probably one of the best I’ve ever had! It is several layers consisting of chocolate cake, hazelnut crunch, chocolate mousse, chocolate cake, vanilla cremeux, chocolate mousse, and then a milk chocolate glaze. Surprisingly, everything is just right, so it’s not overwhelming or too rich to enjoy.

Photograph (below): Sophia cakes courtesy of Chef Dimitri

Photograph (below): Sophia cake slice. Heaven on a fork.

With that, we move on to gumpaste flowers and wedding cakes…and it’s hard to believe I am halfway done with pastry school and my time here in Chicago…

We started the unit by making pate a choux, which is the thick, rich paste used for making eclairs, cream puffs, and other pastries. It has the amazing ability to puff as it bakes, then it hardens on the outside, leaving behind a hollow shell that is crusty and spongy at the same time. This creates the perfect base for filling with a rich, smooth pastry cream or nut cream.

Photograph (right): Chocolate espresso tartlets

For petit fours, we made mini eclairs filled with chocolate pastry cream and glazed in a chocolate fondant icing, the traditional French way. We also made chouqettes, or mini cream puffs, filled with a hazelnut praline cream; mini paris brests, and salambos. Salambos are probably one of my favorite new (new to me, at least) pastries. They are a shorter, fatter shape than an eclair and are filled with rich custardy pastry cream, then dipped in hot caramel. The caramel hardens on the top, so when you bite into the pastry it is crunchy, soft, and creamy all at the same time.

Photograph (below): Fruit tartlets filled with kirsch pastry cream, fresh fruit, and candied lemon

During this unit, we made a variety of tartlets, French macarons, and financiers. Financiers are made with ground almonds and buerre noissette, or browned butter. They have an amazing flavor and texture, and the almond flour keeps them really moist.

Photograph (below): Chocolate french macarons sandwiching Earl Grey ganache

Photograph (below): Chocolate financiers

During our final petit fours week, we made opera cake, which reminds me a lot of tiramisu, especially in both the texture and taste. It is a composed of numerous sponge cake, espresso syrup, coffee buttercream, and chocolate ganache layers.

Photograph (below): Opera cake

Week 7 was our first exam week. I was a little bit nervous about this, being the first one, but it went fairly smoothly. The first day was a bit hectic because I wanted to try and get as much done as I could, so the next few days would be mostly shaping proofed doughs and assembling products.

But I survived. I didn’t have any mishaps, fortunately. My products looked good and I was satisfied. Voila!

Photograph (below): Madeleines

So with that, I bid good-bye to Chef Jonathan and the breads, breakfast pastries, and petit fours unit.

I also had my first stage experience during these weeks. A stage is when you go to a restaurant, hotel, pastry shop, where ever; and work under the supervision of the pastry chef for one shift. This is really nice because if you hate it, it’s only for one shift. But more importantly, it gives you the opportunity the see what it’s like working in different areas of the industry and what will ultimately be the best fit for you.

My stage was at Le Flour Bakery in Edison Park. I have been flipping the idea of opening a cafe/bakery style shop over and over in my head for awhile now, and Le Flour has that vibe. It was very quaint and comforting inside. The owner, Nicole, went to The French Pastry School and hired two of her classmates. Sometimes I’m not sure if I would like the everyday, never-ending obligations of running a bakery, but one thing is for certain- if you are surrounded by friends and family, in a way, it’s not “work”.

Photograph (below): Chocolate espresso tartlets

We made brioche dough again, but this time we shaped it differently. The brioche has been one of my favorite breads we’ve made, especially when it is sprinkled with pearl sugar.

Photograph (right): Chouquettes

We also made a variety of breads- farmer’s bread, country bread, and sourdough multigrain. The country bread was dotted with walnuts. Croissant dough was made again (practice makes perfect!), but this time they were made into almond croissants and chocolate croissants.

On Friday we began making doughs for our petit fours unit. These included sweet dough, chocolate sweet dough, and two sable doughs.

Week 5 marked the start of our petit fours unit. French petit fours are small bite-sized desserts and pastries, which I like because not only are they cute, but they are perfect for having ‘just a taste’. We made pate a choux dough that was piped into a couple of shapes: mini eclairs, salambos, paris brest, and chouquettes.

A very rich, chocolate pastry cream was piped into the miniature eclairs, which were then topped with a chocolate fondant icing.

Salambos are shorter, fatter miniature eclair shapes that are filled with vanilla pastry cream and dipped in hot caramel, which hardens as it cools, creating an addictive crunchy, sweet, soft, and creamy experience in your mouth when you eat one.

The paris brest are circles filled with a praline cream and toasted almonds. Chouquettes are miniature cream puff shapes filled with a mixture of hazelnut paste, pastry cream, and buttercream.

Photograph (below): Salambos

Photograph (below): Pain au chocolat

Photograph (below): Country bread

Photograph (below): Farmer’s bread

We also made dacquoise, which are delightful nutty meringue wafers surrounding a rich filling. Then we made miniature blueberry tarts and almond-apricot tarts. The week was finished out by a large batch of French macarons.

That weekend I staged at a very cute bakery called Le Flour. The chefs and advisors here highly recommend we stage at restaurants, pastry shops, bakeries, and hotels as much as we can. To stage, you usually work one shift for free. While you may only be doing simple things, you can still check out the activity taking place and the best part is that it is just a short-term commitment.

One thing I noticed at Le Flour was how much fun the staff were having, working. They were all family and friends and that really got me thinking…

Photograph (below): Chouquettes

Photograph (below): Apricot almond tartlets

Photograph (below): Blueberry tartlets topped with streusel

I think I have been following a strict butter diet. On to the food…

Photograph (right): Pear danish

TUESDAY:

We didn’t have class on Monday due to MLK Day. Tuesday arrived with a bang, as we made french bread, started beignet dough and croissant dough, and made waffles.

The French bread was delicious, we shaped half of the dough into baguettes and the other half into loaves, or batons. It was crusty, soft, and not the least bit chewy.

The waffles turned out thick and fluffy, perfect for trapping tasty toppings.

Photograph (below): French baguettes

Photograph (below): French baguettes and batons

Photograph (below): Waffles

WEDNESDAY:

Wednesday was a fun day to me because I was so fascinated by the process for making croissant and danish dough. The dough is prepared to a certain point and then proofed in the refrigerator overnight. Then, on this day, we pounded butter into very thin sheets and incorporated them into the dough.

A series of folds is done with the dough to create distinct layers of fat in between the dough. It is these layers that will create all those marvelous flakes we fondly associate with a classic, true croissant. The butter melts during baking, and consequently releases steam, producing millions of flaky layers.

Photograph (below): A flaky croissant

Photograph (below): The cross-section of  a croissant

Photograph (below): Pain a La Biere

We fried our beignet dough balls into fluffy, soft “french doughnuts”, which were rolled in granulated sugar and dusted with powdered sugar. I enjoyed mine with Nutella and it was amazing.

We then made a very rustic version of beer bread, Pain de Biere. The bread had the hearty addition of rye flour, and was brushed with a mixture of beer, salt, yeast, and flour, giving it a gorgeous red color.

Photograph (below): Beignets

Photograph (below): A tender (and utterly irresistible) beignet

THURSDAY:

We made danish dough, another type of baguette using a sponge starter, pastry cream, and the dough for Kugelhopf, a German pastry. It reminds me of both a cake and a bread, and is studded with Kirsch-soaked golden raisins.

Photograph (below): Kugelhopf

FRIDAY:

We finished our Kugelhopf by baking it in beautiful molds that are made just for Kugelhopf. Before placing the dough in the molds, almonds are arranged in a pattern on the bottom. The danishes were completed today, and filled with almond frangipane- a delicious combination of pastry cream and almond cream, then topped with either apricot halves or pear slices.

Photograph (below): Apricot danish

Photograph (below): Pear danish

We also made croissants, again, but this time they will be frozen and baked later next week. Instead of making them the traditional style, they will be either chocolate and almond variations.

For additional practice, we baked lemon pound again. Practice truly does make perfect-they turned out even better this time.

Photograph (below): Lemon pound cake

Next week we will be finishing up our breads and breakfast pastries, so by Friday we can begin petit fours.

The great thing about being a pastry chef is that you can work anywhere, and anything is possible if you are motivated. If you can create great food, people will come.

Photograph (right): That’s a lot of bread: Toast bread, whole wheat bread, and brioche loaves

We also received our texts, and after flipping through it and seeing what we would be making, I was ready to start cooking!

My class will spend the first 8 weeks on breads, breakfast pastries, and petit fours with Chef Jonathan. Our typical routine for this unit starts with us scaling our ingredients for the day. We scale ingredients, rather than use measuring spoons and cups, because the scale ensures accuracy every time.

Not every measuring cup is exactly the same, nor are ingredients, like flour, measured into the cup in the same manner universally. I purchased my first kitchen scale this summer and I love it, especially for ingredients like cake flour.

After scaling, the chef-instructor demonstrates his approach and techniques for each of the recipes we will be making that day. Then the rest of the time is ours to bake with.

MONDAY:

Our first day started with some basics. We were given a tour of the kitchen we would be working in for these next 8 weeks and an introduction to the kitchen equipment.  We also practiced knife skills (kinda important, eh?) on apples. The chef also showed us how to make clarified butter, beurre noisette (a browned butter with a delicate nutty taste that can be used in pastry doughs), and our own baking grease for pans.

TUESDAY:

Our second day in the kitchen, and this time we would be making products for the first time. We made a versatile and beautiful vanilla bean-flecked sweet dough that can be used for tarts and cookies, streusel topping, and an almond cream for using with tarts or cakes.

We also had the opportunity to test out those fabulous pastry tips from our tool kits- we practiced our piping skills with butter.

Photograph (below): An arsenal of pastry tips

Photograph (below): Sablees

WEDNESDAY:

This is where things started getting busy. We rolled our sweet dough into cookies, made pastry cream, piped and baked French meringues, made Italian meringue, and Italian buttercream.

By the end of class the kitchen smelled deliciously of vanilla. There are several different types of meringues, and it can get confusing sometimes when reading recipes.

The main difference between a French meringue and an Italian meringue is that the French meringue is baked, creating a hard, yet melt-in-your-mouth shell that can be filled with fruit, pastry cream, etc.

Italian meringue is basically when a hot sugar syrup is beaten into egg whites, creating a stiff meringue that is usually combined with other ingredients, such as butter, to make a light, sweet, and beautifully spreadable frosting.

Photograph (below): An oven that’s too hot creates edible, yet cracked French meringues

THURSDAY:

On this day we started to dip into the baked goods department. We had our first opportunity to work with yeasted dough by making toast bread, a lovely white bread with a crumb.Perfect for toast or grilled cheese sandwiches.

Chef Jonathan spent a long time discussing yeasted doughs with us and showing us some of his techniques, as bread baking is his specialty. It’s amazing to watch how quickly and perfectly he shapes dough.

We baked blueberry muffins and started brioche dough, which rested overnight in the refrigerator.

Photograph (below): Blueberry muffins baked in mini charlotte molds

FRIDAY:

Our last day of the week ended with a bang. I had so much product to take back to my apartment that I didn’t know if I’d even be able to carry it all.

We made whole wheat bread, finished and baked our brioche, and made lemon pound cake. This created a massive number of mini loaves, as for the wheat bread alone we each made 6 loaves!

My favorite had to be the brioche, we made two mini loaves with our dough, then divided the rest into 6 individual balls that were brushed with egg wash and sprinkled with either Bee Sting (a delectable sugary honey almond mixture) or pearl sugar.

For lunch Friday I had bread with cheese, honey, and jams. The rest went into my freezer!

Photograph (below): An assortment of quick breads

And that concluded my first week of kitchen time. Despite the below zero temperatures, severe windchill, snow, and early mornings, the time in the kitchen has been truly enjoyable. I am looking forward to the next!

Photograph (below): Brioche topped with Bee Sting mixture

Highlight: Getting my pastry tool kit filled with all the goods.

Lowlight: Sanitation and food safety class. I think I’ll be afraid to eat out for awhile.

The more I get to know my chef instructors and the staff of the school, the more I realize how truly lucky I am to have this opportunity (thanks again, Mom and Dad). The French Pastry School is great. I haven’t spent any time in the kitchen yet but I know spending a semester here is the right move for my career goals.

I’m also really excited to get to know my classmates more. I’ve had food conversations with some of them already and we all share the same passion and creativity for baking and pastry arts. It’s a good feeling. My classmates come from all over and there is a wide range of ages.

The first “unit” my class will be focusing on is bread and breakfast pastries. The FPS recently acquired a new chef instructor, Jonathan Dendauw, who is a master bread baker, so this will for sure be a unique learning opportunity. I won’t be  posting recipes or material from class, but I can take photographs and I will share my experiences as a pastry student and my time in Chicago.

Once I get more settled into my new lifestyle and apartment, I also plan on resuming my own baking experiments, which I will be sure to post.

Photograph (below): My loaded pastry kit

We chatted for a long time last night about her project and I am excited to get the opportunity to do some very creative custom cupcakes. She is painting portraits of people she’s known throughout her life who have passed away. Each painting will also have a cupcake in it that channels the personality and traits of each individual. 

What’s great about Kat is that she seems as obsessed with cupcakes as I am, so I think we’re going to work really well together. The cupcakes will be completed in the next two weeks for Kat to photograph while she is in town for the holidays.

I will be sure to post pictures of the cupcakes and updates on Kat’s thesis work. The photograph pictured above is one of her paintings. You can check out her website at www.katgallery.net and her blog at http://appleseed.tumblr.com/.

Some other things that are adding a skip to my step:

1. I received information from the French Pastry School today about my schedule for the first week of classes. Exciting!

2, Seckel pears, lady apples, and red currants. The pears and apples are miniature-sized. I was able to find them at Meijer and they make beautiful, edible table decorations.

3. www.chefscatalog.comhas free shipping on all orders until the 15th. They also have Cuisinart Green Gourmet cookware on sale. It is eco-friendly. Also related, not in a food way, but an online shopping way, is  www.retailmenot.com. My Mom is currently obsessed with this website. You can find coupon and discount codes for websites when online shopping. Score!

4. Eclairs. I am going to make eclairs this weekend that have a spiced pate a choux dough, dulce de leche pastry cream filling, and a milk chocolate glaze. Check back for the post and recipe!