French Pastry

Pistachio Dacquoise

February 18, 2012

If you are, like me, still staring at that container load of egg whites in the fridge, left over from all the Pineapple Tarts and Kueh Lapis CNY baking frenzy, then this is one recipe you will appreciate. Less temperamental and with a simpler process than the macarons, these little cookies are every bit as French as their priMA [...]

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Pierre Herme’s Macaron au Chocolate Amer

August 1, 2011

A while back, I was on a roll with Pierre Herme’s sables. I was so entrenched in those recipes that for a while I thought I had found a new defining moment for myself. You’ve probably noticed that I am currently in the mood for macarons and what better way to merge the two obsessions [...]

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Raspberry White Chocolate Macarons

July 27, 2011

Here’s one for the Sweet Tooth Fairy. Without cocoa powder to neutralize the sweetness of the macaron shell, this biscuit is sweeter than the Chocolate Macarons I had made earlier. (Actually strangely enough, I found that as you let the macarons age for a few days, they became less sweet, so the chocolate macarons were [...]

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Chocolate Macarons -Experimenting With Adriano Zumbo’s Recipe

July 18, 2011

Have you noticed something interesting among successful pastry chefs? Whether it be Pierre Herme, Australia’s Adriano Zumbo or our own Singapore home grown Chef Pang Kok Keong, they invariably have an accolade of macaron trophies that applaud their pastry wizardry. I deem the macaron the holy grail of baking. I started experimenting with it possibly [...]

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Creme Brulee With Caramelised Banana

July 13, 2011

We all know that the meaning of food has expanded beyond the humble role of a sustenance fuel…. how else would one explain the popularity of reality TV programs like Masterchef, Topchef, Ironchef, Hell’s Kitchen…? Among these productions, my favourite has to be the Australian Masterchef. As Lisa Abend stated in her book, ‘The Sorcerer’s [...]

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Financier Pistachio

July 6, 2011

As a curious and somewhat avid baker, nothing delights me more than sussing out interesting ingredients, flavourings that I can experiment with. My frequent overseas business trips take me to markets which are bigger and more mature in such disciplines affording me access to interesting ingredients which are otherwise hard to come by in Singapore. [...]

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Hong Kong Egg Tarts – Flaky Egg Tart, 酥皮蛋挞

July 2, 2011

I have always wondered about the Egg Tart. It has all the elements of a western pastry, from the short crust/ puff pastry and the egg custard to the little tart molds but yet, I have only seen them offered at Chinese Dim Sum restaurants or bakeries in Chinatowns. There is no doubt that these [...]

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Hong Kong Style Egg Tarts – Nostalgic Saint Honore Egg Tarts

June 27, 2011

I didn’t quite expect the kind of positive response for my Danish Butter Cookies when I posted them. Interestingly among the comments for the posts, almost all of them alluded to nostalgia of some form or other… key buzz words included : Nostalgic, Memories, Childhood, Reminisce… Yes, nostalgia is a powerful ingredient as is eloquently [...]

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Raisin Danish Butter Cookies

June 19, 2011

I had mentioned in my earlier Danish Butter Cookies post that I was just one cookie short to complete the full array in the nostalgic blue tin. Here it is , my last instalment of the Danish Butter Cookie collection. Made during that short interval just after I got back from Korea last weekend and [...]

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Madeleine C’bon – Pierre Herme’s Apricot Caramel Madeleine

June 12, 2011

Yes, I am forging ahead, yet again with Pierre Herme’s recipes. I can’t seem to get enough of it – not so much because he is THE pastry guru but because there are so much to discover in terms of technique and methods in the recipes documented in this particular book, Le Livre des fours [...]