Thyme-y Beet and Green Gratin

In recent weeks, I have rediscovered the beauty of gratins.  It started with Ina Garten's Zucchini Gratin...and I haven't been able to stop gratin-ing since!  I especially love making individual gratins a) because I can put my tall ramekins to use and b) they are just too adorable to resist!

So after zucchini gratin came beet gratin.  I was just sitting looking at the farm veggies and thinking, what could I gratin today?  (Yes, gratin is no longer just a noun; it has become a verb in my kitchen vocabulary).  Beets?  And their greens?  I was a little weary at first because I had never heard of a beet gratin and wondered if I was missing the "ick" factor.  Would this actually be good?  Would the pink color of the sauce be more Pepto-Bismol-y than pretty-in-pink-y?  I was torn whether to use the classic gruyere or instead go with goat cheese, a famous companion to the beet.

In the end, I took a chance.  It would be beet and green gratin with thyme and gruyere.  A few tweaks to Ina's recipe, and it was all set.  I'm so glad I tried this because it turned out to be a lovely surprise!  Why is this not a more popular dish?  It was divine.  The beets and greens were soft and sweet, the sauce a beautiful, deep pink, and the thyme just added a burst of freshness in flavor...plus gruyere is proving to taste delicious on anything.

Thyme-y Beet and Green Gratin

adapted from Ina Garten's Barefoot in Paris (Zucchini Gratin)

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 medium onions, sliced thin in crescents
• 5-6 medium sized beets, chopped (just under bite-size)
• greens (and stems) from the beets, chopped
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper (reduce if you want less spice)
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 heaping tbsp fresh thyme leaves (run your knife through the leaves a few times to help let out some of the oils/aroma)
• 3/4 cup bread crumbs (I used a mix of dry bread crumbs from an old baguette and fresh crumbs from a seedy, whole wheat loaf)
• 3/4 cup shredded gruyere

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
2. Melt the butter in a large pan over medium-low heat.  Add the onions and cook for 20 minutes on medium-low (or low if you notice them getting brown too quickly), stirring often, until very tender but not necessarily brown.
3. Add in the chopped beets and cook, covered, for 15 minutes on medium-low or until the beets are fork-tender.
4. Add in the greens and cook, covered, for a few minutes or until the greens are wilted and tender.
5. Add the nutmeg, salt, and pepper and cook uncovered for 3 more minutes.
6. Turn the stove to low if it's not already there.  Sprinkle the flour over the beets and stir in.
7. Add the milk and cook for just a minute more until the sauce has thickened to your liking.
8. Remove from the heat and stir in the thyme.  
9. Taste and adjust the seasonings.
10. Combine the bread crumbs and gruyere in a medium bowl.
11. Portion the beet mixture evenly among four tall ramekins.  (Alternatively, spoon the whole mixture into an 8x8inch baking dish).
12. Sprinkle the bread crumb and gruyere mixture evenly over the four ramekins.
13. Bake for 20 minutes until the gruyere is melted and delicious.  (Alternatively, don't bake the gratins just yet.  This is a great do-ahead dish.  I baked 2 of the ramekins for dinner right away and put the other 2 in the fridge.  Two days later I baked the fridge ramekins, and they came out wonderfully!  The time in the fridge does them no harm and may even help to develop the flavors.)

Gorgeous beet color.  Naked gratin!

Dressed in a lovely cheesy, bready coat. 

Golden brown and melty.  Crispy on the top with a soft, luscious inside.

The whole time while making beet gratin, I had company.  Sassy company.

Table stretches.

I do not condone this behavior, but after chasing Sassy off the table multiple times, I gave up.  Not exactly sure what to make of this look she kept giving me...

At least she had the courtesy to sit on my papers rather than directly on the table?

Thank goodness I had plenty of counter space to work on with the food!  No one wants Sassy fur in their gratin...I think fur is the only thing that would not make for a scrumptious gratin.  Alas, have no fear, the kitchen table was thoroughly cleaned after Sassy left.

How Mr. Cucumber became Mr. Pickle

Let's all be honest...it took us several years to figure out that a pickle was, in its earlier life, actually a cucumber.  No?  Ok, well it took me well into my aged years to make this connection.  I liken the change of a cucumber to a pickle to that of a caterpillar to a butterfly.  While a cucumber doesn't drastically change its shape like a caterpillar in this transformation, it does take on a distinctly new identify.  Once pickled, no one calls a pickle a cucumber.  Once metamorphosed, no one calls a butterfly a caterpillar.  You can never go back from either of these changes, in name or form.

Cucumbers are lovely.  Pickles are lovely.  They are just very different.  I can't say that one is better than the other.  Cucumbers have a lovely freshness and crispness, and pickles have an intense richness of flavor.  They each have their own applications.  To continue the analogy, both caterpillars and butterflies are lovely in their own ways: the former for its cute rings and odd movement and the latter for its beautiful and colorful wings.  Again, they each have their own place in the world.  But I digress...

Here we are talking about pickles; in my kitchen, butterflies are not a food (although Sassy cat does like to hunt them).  I am a recent pickle convert.  Before I was deterred from pickles because I only ever encountered the icky, generic ones that would appear unwelcomely on the side of my plate when I ordered a sandwich.  Those unfortunate experiences made me turn my nose away from all pickles.  My journey to pickledom, however, started as I developed more of a liking for acidic, vinegar-y tastes.  Perhaps first came the chutneys, then the more sour salad dressings, and finally splashing my sauteed veggies with same vinegar at the end of the cooking process.  Last summer, swamped in radishes of all shapes, colors, and sizes, I pickled some.  They turned out lovely!  This summer, I was visiting Louisa, and she introduced me to Bubbies Bread and Butter pickles.  One pickle and I was hooked.  Two pickles and I was obsessed.  Three pickles and I was addicted.  When we finished the container a day later, I knew I was going to have a pickle problem.

With all problems, there's a solution.  In this case: either buy more Bubbies or make my own pickles.  Well, I was going to be lazy and buy Bubbies with the full intention of studying the pickles and ingredients to later make my own.  However, my Whole Foods, tiny as it is, did not have them!  I considered buying another brand of bread and butter pickles, but I resisted.  I was just going to have to dive into the pickling process on my own.  I bought some cucumbers.

I started researching bread and butter pickles online.  They all seemed relatively standard.  I was relieved, however, to see that Smitten Kitchen had just the recipe for bread and butter pickles I needed. I can always trust her, and in this case, I was not really sure what I was doing, so I was happy to have a good recipe and good directions.

These pickles are delicious and slightly sweet.  They are perfect on their own as a snack, in a burger, on toast, or on an egg.  The possibilities are endless!  Just make up a big jar, keep them in the fridge, and pop a few out whenever your breakfast/lunch/dinner needs some pizzazz.

Bread and Butter Pickles
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 pound cucumbers, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds (I used 3 cucumbers)
• 1 large white onion, thinly sliced into crescents 
• 3 tbsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1 tbsp mustard seed
• 1/4 tsp celery seed

Directions:

1. Mix the cucumbers and salt in a large bowl.  Cover the bowl with a plate or plastic wrap and let sit for 2 hours, stirring a couple of times.
2. After 2 hours, drain the cucumbers.
3. Combine the vinegar, sugar, and spices in a medium-large pot.  Bring to a boil, stirring so the sugar doesn't burn.
4. Add in the drained cucumbers.  Stir into the liquid.  Bring the liquid back up to a boil.
5. Once boiling, remove from heat.  Let cool completely, then package in a glass jar and store in the fridge*.  Let the pickles sit for a good 24 hours before eating them so that they can absorb lots of pickly goodness.

*Please note: these are not directions for true pickling in that I do not have experience with sterilizing glass jars so that their contents can be left at room temperature for months/years.  These are fridge pickles!  Keep them in the fridge so they don't spoil!

Cucumbers from both my CSA and the farmer's market. 

Onions ready to join.

Salted.

Spices, sugar, and vinegar ready to go.  Yes, I keep my vinegar in an old glass yogurt container. 

Into the pot.

Lots of liquid coming out after 2 hours of sitting in salt!

Drained

Ready to plop into the spicy, boiling tub.

Mix mix mix.

Already starting to take on the golden color of turmeric!

Pretty mixture of colors and shapes!

Thank you old tomato sauce jar.

See you in 24 hours.

Ready for some crunchin' munchin'.

Now all I need is a crinkle-cut knife to make really legitimate pickles...anyone know where I can find one?

Sweet or Savory

When it comes to breakfast, there's always the question: sweet or savory.  For me, this usually comes down to granola with yogurt or almond milk and fruit vs. an egg with toast.  I love both options equally, but some mornings are clearly sweet mornings and others are clearly savory.  A major deciding factor is the heat, and it has been hot recently, so I've been tending more to the cold, refreshing fruit-based breakfasts.  I decided this week to photograph and document my two most favorite breakfasts to date.  These are both throw-together and taste-as-you-go dishes, so the measurements here are somewhat approximate.  Hopefully they'll inspire you nonetheless!

For the last several weeks, I've been rather predictable with regards to breakfast.  Almost every morning, I have the same yogurt, fruit, and granola bowl.  I usually hate repeating dishes, but this is just the most perfect breakfast - filling, nutritious, and cool for those already hot summer mornings.  The following recipe encompasses my favorite fruits - bananas and blueberries - but any other fruits would work beautifully.  At the beginning of the summer, I was obsessed with mangoes, so I blended mangoes into my yogurt instead of banana.

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe banana (make sure it's ripe because you want that sweet kick)
• plain, unsweetened yogurt, as much as you'd like (I probably use between 1/2-3/4 cup)*
• a very large handful of blueberries
• a sprinkling of granola, to your liking

Directions:

1. Blend your banana and yogurt to your desired smoothness in a mini-prep or blender.  
2. Pour into a bowl, add the blueberries, and sprinkle granola on top.  Enjoy!

*Now, here's where I change it up slightly.  Every time I buy yogurt, I try to buy a different kind.  However, I'm picky and only eat full-fat yogurts, of which there are a limited number of kinds.  Therefore, I can't always get a new brand, so I just try not to get the same thing I had a week or two before.  My most recent love: goat's milk yogurt.  A close second: sheep's milk yogurt.  These both have a unique little flavor to them (yes, the goat's yogurt tastes ever so slightly of goat cheese, but I love this fact), making them so much more exciting than regular old cow's milk.  However, goat and sheep yogurt are significantly more expensive (I mean, how much milk can you really get from one goat?), so I alternate with my favorite brands of full-fat cows milk yogurt.

The best part about this dish: serving it in an elegant bowl.  How sophisticated breakfast suddenly becomes!

Garnished with my current granola, featuring oats, almonds, almond butter, pepitas, sunflower seeds, coconut, brown sugar, brown rice syrup, coconut oil, applesauce, and almond extract.

As I mentioned, I eat my yogurt almost every morning when it's so hot out.  There are some mornings, however, when I feel I need an extra bit of protein or I'm just in a salty mood.  For example, the other day, I went to a pilates class in the early morning, and when I came back, I was absolutely craving something green.  Luckily, we still had a bunch of swiss chard in the fridge from our CSA!  Perfect: an egg with swiss chard.  Now, of course the recipe below takes some time, so it would not be ideal for a busy busy, rushing morning.  However, swiss chard can be cooked the night before, kept in the fridge, and then reheated (or not) in the morning, and it will still taste superb!  In an attempt to eat more savory breakfasts, I'm going to start cooking up some veggies the night before for a quick and easy, egg-y and plant-y creation in the morning.

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• half a red onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 bunch of swiss chard, stems and leaves chopped
• pinch of nutmeg 
• butter for greasing the pan
• 1 egg
• salt and pepper to taste
• parmesan cheese, grated
• basil, chopped

Directions:

1. Cook the onion in some olive oil over medium heat for 5 minutes or so, until the onion is translucent and starts to brown.  Add in the garlic, and cook, stirring often, for 1 minute.  Don't burn your garlic!
2. Add in the swiss chard stems and leaves.  Season with the nutmeg as well as some salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the chard is wilted and the stems are soft.  This will take a few to several minutes, depending on how fresh your chard is.  If you want to speed up the process, you can cover the pan with a lid to trap the steam.
3. Meanwhile, heat a small frying pan over medium heat.  Butter the pan generously then crack an egg right into it.
4. When the edges of the egg start to brown (1-2 minutes), flip it over and cook for just another minute or so if you like your yolk runny, as I do.
5. Put as much cooked chard onto a plate as you can eat (I started with half the batch...but then went back after I finished my plate and polished off the rest of the swiss chard in the pan...no vitamin K deficiency here!).  Place your cooked egg on top.  Add a little salt and pepper.  Grate some parmesan cheese on top and then spring on lots of basil.

A colorful breakfast full of vitamins, protein, and omegas!

This is why you want a runny yolk - so that is flows over the chard and envelops it in its richness.  So luscious!

Dinner with the Ladies

Great friends.  Cooking.  Delicious yummies.  What could make for a better Saturday night?  Nothing, in my opinion.  Last week, Mags, Abigail, and I decided to have a classy dinner and movie night.  Abigail had done a fabulous job cheese and bread shopping for our appetizer.  Then, we cooked up a delicious ratatouille and pasta for our main course.  Finally, Abigail had prepared not one, but TWO fabulous, summery desserts: a raspberry strada and a peach galette.  Can you say yummm?  The dinner and dessert were separated by a walk to the movie theater, "To Rome with Love", and then a walk back.  It was the perfect combination.

Three kinds of cheese from three animals: goat, cow, and sheep.  Lovely baguette and fresh fruits, including wild blueberries, completed the scrumptious platter.  And so beautifully presented (props to you, Abigail!).

The perfect platter...yes, I was the first to dig in...

For the ratatouille, lets be honest, we didn't measure.  And that's how it should be.  Basically, we just threw a bunch of veggies in a pot and tasted the seasonings as we went.  Here's roughly what we put in it:

• olive oil
• 1 onion
• a few cloves of garlic
• 2 carrots
• 4 tomatoes (blanched and peeled), chopped
• 1 large eggplant, chopped
• 2 medium zucchini, chopped (these came from Abigail's garden - delicious!)
• 2 green peppers, chopped
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 2 bay leaves
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 big handful of basil, chopped, plus another several leaves chiffonade for garnish on top

As per usual, we started by sauteeing the onion in olive oil.  Then we added the garlic.  After the garlic cooked out a bit, we added the carrots and continued to cook it for a few minutes.  Then, we dumped in the rest of the veggies and cooked it for a while.  Finally, a couple tablespoons of tomato paste and white wine went into the pot along with bay leaves, salt, and pepper.  Once the vegetables had softened into a stew, we threw in lots of basil and turned off the heat.  Some more fresh basil leaves on top finished it off perfectly!

Veggies into the pot.

All cooked down and stewy.

Garnished.  Beautiful, enticing colors.

Abigail had full control of the pasta, but I tried to watch closely to learn her secrets.  Here's what I think she put in this simple but amazingly flavorful pasta dish.

• olive oil (several tablespoons)
• garlic, roughly chopped
• a few handfuls of cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• one box of long pasta, linguine I believe it was, cooked al dente
• 1 big handful of basil
• lots of grated pecorino romano (maybe a cup)...to taste!

She heated up the olive oil and garlic until the garlic was slightly browned.  Then she added the tomatoes and cooked it for another few minutes.  Finally, she tossed in the pasta, basil, and the pecorino.  The cheese melted into the hot olive oil and pasta to create this lovely, salty coating on the pasta.  The basil and tomatoes offered the perfect fresh balance to this cheesy pasta!

The perfect bowl for the perfect pasta.

Most of our dinner came from the farmer's market, my CSA, Abigail's garden, or small local shops.  The perfect summer dinner made with the best and freshest ingredients.  Success!

Two delicious dishes!  Fresh, nutritious, and completely satisfying.

And here we are, the three lovely ladies.

 Who's coming to the next dinner party?  You're all invited!

 (Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of dessert...I was just too excited to eat it!  I can't be blamed for my fleeting mind when yummy eats are right in front of me!)

Mini Whole Wheat Raisin Bagels

A while back, I wrote a post about making bagels.  I was so happy with that batch that I decided to make some egg bagels a few weeks ago.

Poppy on the left, sesame on the right.

These bagels were incredible...so fluffy on the inside with a fantastic chewy crust on the outside.  Just amazing.  We left to go on a short vacation the day after I made them, so I froze the remaining bagels.  Upon my return, I was craving a bagel.  Unfortunately, when I opened the freezer, they were nowhere to be found.  B and C had eaten all of them in my absence.  One of my biggest pet peeves is people eating the last of something someone else made without first asking that someone.  After seething with anger and frustration for a few hours, I made up my mind.  The only way to fix the issue was to make another batch.

By now, you probably realize I hate making the same thing twice.  Therefore, I decided that I would again make bagels but that I would follow another Peter Reinhart recipe (slightly different from those I had been using previously) and that I would make some custom modifications.  The result: mini whole wheat raisin bagels.  Why?  Because normal bagels are just too darn big for my tummy.  Because why not add a little nutrition?  Because raisins are nature's candy.  I also added just a hint of cinnamon.  I didn't want the bagels to be cinnamon raisin (because that might have limited the topping options); I just wanted to wake up the dough a bit.

Mini Whole Wheat Raisin Bagels
adapted from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day

Ingredients:

Dough

• 1 tbsp (21g) barley malt syrup (you can also use honey or rice syrup apparently)
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp lukewarm water
• 169g (6oz) whole wheat flour*
• 285g (10oz) bread flour*
• 150g raisins
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon

Poaching Liquid (for each pot of water - I used two to make the process more efficient)

• pot of boiling water
• 1 1/2 tbsp (28.5g) barley malt syrup (or honey)
• 1 tbsp (14g) baking soda
• 1 tsp (7g) kosher salt

Directions:

1. Stir together the syrup, yeast, and salt in the lukewarm water.
2. Put the flours in the mixing bowl of your mixer and add in the syrup-water mixture.
3. Mix with the dough hook on low speed for 3 minutes.  The dough should be a stiff, coarse ball.  Let rest for 5 minutes.
4. After resting the dough, mix again for 3 minutes on low speed.  In the last two minute of mixing, add in the raisins and the cinnamon.
5. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead by hand for 3 minutes.  The dough should be stiff yet supple and barely tacky, more satiny.
6. Place the dough in a clean, lightly oiled bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature for 1 hour.
7. To shape the bagels: First, prepare two sheet pans, lining them with parchment and brushing the parchment lightly with oil.  Divide the dough into equal 2 oz pieces.  I used my scale here!  Form each piece into a ball.
8. Poke a hole through the center of the ball, making a donut shape.  Holding the dough with both thumbs in the hole, rotate the dough, gradually stretching the hole until it is between 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter.  
9. Place each shaped bagel on a sheet pan.  For each sheet pan, brush a piece of plastic wrap with oil and cover the pan with the plastic wrap, oiled side down lest the plastic stick to the bagels.
10. Refrigerate the shaped bagels overnight.
11. The next morning/afternoon/evening, remove the bagels from the refrigerator 60 to 90 minutes before you plan to bake them.
12. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
13. Immediately check if the bagels are ready for baking using the "float test".  Place one of the bagels in a small bowl of cold water.  If it sinks and doesn't float, shake it off, return it to the pan, and wait another 15 to 20 minutes before checking it again.  When one bagel passes the float test, they are all ready to be boiled.  Mine were ready 45 minutes after taking them out of the fridge
14. Prepare the poaching liquid.  Bring a pot of water (or two) to a boil.  Add in the syrup, baking soda, and salt.  Maintain the liquid at a simmer.
15. Lower each bagel into the poaching liquid (fitting as many as will fit comfortably in the pot at a time).  After one minute, flip the bagels in the liquid.  Cook for another minute.  (In the meantime, sprinkle the parchment paper - the spot from which you took the bagels to be poached - with cornmeal or semolina flour.)  Use a slotted spoon to transfer the boiled bagels back to the pan (still lined with parchment but also now sprinkled with cornmeal or semolina). 
16. When all the bagels have been boiled, transfer the pans of bagels to the oven.  Immediately lower the oven temperature to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.  
17. Bake the bagels for 8 minutes, then rotate the pans.  Bake for another 6-8 minutes or until the bagels are golden brown.
18. Cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes (well, maybe not that long; it's hard to resist them) before slicing or serving.

*I'm sorry I don't have the cup conversions on these, but the original recipe calls for 3 1/2 cups bread flour, so this is how much total whole wheat and bread flours combined you should have.

The yeast was certainly active!  Look at that bubble.

2 oz bagels instead of the suggested 4.5 oz.

Sorry no picture sans plastique wrap.

Perfect dough to raisin ratio, in my opinion.

The perfect size for breakfast!  I have only sampled them with butter and cream cheese thus far, but I imagine they would be fantastique with any sort of cheese (a brie, a goat?) or a savory sandwich (currently craving chicken and avocado in there...).

These bagels are so yummy and chewy!  The subtle hint of cinnamon is perfect, and the whole wheat flour adds just a little bit of flavor and texture without making the bagels feel too heavy.  A success!  What bagel recipe will I try next?

Cherry Almond Coconut Deliciousness

We have been experiencing some incredible heat for the last few weeks.  The result: my ice cream consumption (and accordingly, production) has doubled!  It had been several batches since I had made frozen yogurt, so I decided to go the fro-yo route this time.  I saw a recipe on Smitten Kitchen for cherry, almond, coconut frozen yogurt and was immediately sold.  I drooled just looking at the picture! As luck would have it, I had a half-used can of coconut milk in the fridge as well as some cherries that desperately needed to be eaten soon.  I just halved the SK recipe, and voila!  A perfect mid-afternoon snack for a toasty day.  It immediately cools you down!

Cherry Almond Coconut Frozen Yogurt
Recipe slightly adapted* and halved from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt (I used Wallaby Organic because I think it has the most divine smooth and creamy texture)
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar**
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons cherries, pitted and chopped
• 1/2 cup full fat coconut milk

Directions:

1. Mix together all ingredients.  Stir until all the sugar is dissolved.
2. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
3. Freeze according to the directions of your ice cream maker.

*I was going to follow the recipe entirely, but as I was halving it, I had a mental math lapse.  The original recipe called for 3/4 cup chopped cherries and 3/4 cup sugar.  Didn't you think 3/4 cups divided in two was 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons?  I realized my mistake only after I added the cherries to the yogurt but before I added the sugar, thank goodness!  It was a happy mistake in the end...the more cherries the better I say!

**Next time, I'll just put in 1/4 cup.  It wasn't too sweet like this, but I think I would have preferred it more tart.

New favorite way to serve ice cream: a coffee cup!  The handle makes everything better: you don't end up warming/melting the ice cream with your hand and/or freezing your hand holding the cup!

Mmm soo refreshing!

The only problem with this recipe (or maybe our intense freezer) is that you need to wait upwards of 20 minutes for the fro-yo to thaw before you can serve it.  Next time I make fro-yo (obviously it won't be this exact recipe because I try never to make the same thing twice), I'm going to employ my fix-all solution: cognac.  This will lower the freezing point a bit and should lower the time it takes the fro-yo to go from the freezer to the bowl to the belly!

My Little Eclair

My pet peeve: giant pastries.  Bakeries filled with giant muffins, scones, cupcakes, danishes etc. make me upset.  No one needs a muffin that big.  I end up not buying anything when I go in these places because I'm just so annoyed.  When you have a small pastry, you are just as satisfied.  Perhaps you are even more satisfied because you savor the three or four bites so much more than the repetitive many many chomp chomp chomps it takes to finish one of those monstrous sweet things!  Plus, the sad reality is that the larger things are, the lower the quality tends to be.  Too much of a good thing?  More like too much of a bad thing more often than not.

One of the biggest offenders I have found: the eclair.  When I do see them, which is rather rare actually, they are huge!  When I decided to make eclairs the other day for my mom's Cercle Francais 14th of July party, I made them Fred-size.  Actually, they turned out a little larger than I wanted (mostly because my pate a choux was not as stiff as it should have been...so they expanded), but I was ok with it...the solution: just share with a loved one!

So here they are.  I followed the recipe in the Flour cookbook, but as I mentioned before, I made them smaller.  (As much as I love Flour, they are a giant eclair offender...)

The beginning of the pate a choux.

Flour next.

Begin arm work-out...

...keep going.  Feel the burn!!

Plop.

Beautiful, rich eggs go in next.

Soooo shiny (perhaps a little too liquid, I would discover later).

Why make 12 giant eclairs and feed only 12 people when you can make two or three times as many mini ones and make two or three times as many people smile and say yummmm. 

Out of the oven, nice and puffed...but they could have been more puffed.  Also, not showing you the other tray because something wacky happened with those and they are not so easy on the eyes...don't worry though, they will be consumed!  A little chocolate cover-up goes a long way.

Hello plumpies.

"Tropez cream" I had made earlier now being folded with whipped cream to lighten it up.

Finished cream.  I have yet to find something this doesn't taste good on.

Ganache - one of the most simple yet most delicious things to make.

The best quality dark chocolate and cream combine to make the most delicious ganache.

Sliced down the middle.

Filled with cream.

Dipped in ganache.

Ready to take on the party.

My goal after this task: improve my pate a choux.