Half-Way There

I'm already HALF-WAY through pastry school! I just had my mid-term exam and had to make a 6-inch cake with a mousseline filling and marzipan;  I went with a Passionfruit Mousseline (sooo delicious).  It was a lot of work and of course it's not perfect I'm still improving, but I'm happy with it.  Plus I got to do my favorite: Disney!  Cakes are definitely stressful for me but I'm excited to get to work on becoming better, especially since our final exam is a wedding cake (yikes!).  
Up next is Chocolate I can't wait!

My First Try At Party Favors!

To celebrate my graduating from college, my sisters and I had a conjoined Graduation Party  for the three of us; my twin and I from college and my younger sister from high school.  Already having a lot on my plate as my Petit Fours exam was that same week, my mom asked if I would like to make the favors.  She thought making some chocolate truffles and candies for our over 70 guests would be a great idea.  Of course I agreed and got to thinking what the best candies and chocolates would be. It was my first time showing everyone from friends and family what I could really do so I wanted to make a good impression.  I came up with a few ideas and got to work:

From top left clockwise:
Almond-Praline Truffle, "Jelly Ring" Bon Bon,
Soft Chocolate Caramel, Lavender-Honey Caramel

Almond-Praline Truffle 

my favorite of the truffles

I've made so far

Soft-Chocolate Caramel 

w. Fleur de Sel

which I had made in pastry class and

absolutely L-O-V-E-D

(as did my sisters)

Dark Chocolate Strawberry-

Kiwi "Jelly Ring" Bon Bon

started as a mistake and ended 

up being delicious!

Lavender-Honey Caramel

this was last minute but I was 

dying to use lavender  

Although it was really hard work I really liked making all these favors and got some great feedback on them, everyone loved them!  It made me extremely happy to hear that from everyone and made it all worth it. And for the extra cherry on top I did well on my Petit Fours test!

Lemon-Pistachio Biscotti

My Lemon-Pistachio Biscotti were also a hit (see pic left) as were a batch of Raspberry Pate de Fruit and Coconut Macaroons (sorry for the lack of picture but don't worry I'll surely be making them again!)

*****************

Have a party coming up and need some ideas for favors?? I would love to help! E-mail me at dmprevete@aol.com or leave a comment.

DONUTS TO DOUGHNUTS -- Stop #2: Bomboloni

BOMBOLONI
187 Colombus Ave.
New York, New York
www.bomboloni.com

This next doughnut shop I heard about from the chef at Trois Pommes Patisserie during my internship.  She didn't speak too much of it but I was interested in their concept.  Bomboloni (Italian for doughnut) features round shaped doughnuts with a variety of fillings, such as Blood Orange, and Espresso.  It also offers other Italian specialties and gelato.  I was mostly intrigued by this doughnut shop because of the Italian influence hoping it would satisfy my taste even more.  So, one Saturday afternoon I took a trip to the city with my boyfriend to try a few of their doughnuts.

The storefront is located uptown just a block away from Central Park.  It features indoor and outdoor seating and unlike Dough has a very retro feel to the decor.  There was a short line when we arrived and some tables were already filled with people enjoying some Italian treats.  We arrived up to the glass case filled with over 15 types of doughnuts for $1.50 each of 6 for $7.  We decided to go for it and got 6 doughnuts for $7.  The variety of fillings would satisfy any type of taste buds.  There was some for the simple palette and some for the more sophisticated palette.  We went with a little bit of both.  Six doughnuts is a lot to choose, especially from over 15 different types, but surprisingly we did it pretty quick.  I already had a few ideas in my head while waiting online until we were greeted by one of the helpful Italian staff behind the counter.  I knew right away I wanted to try the Raspberry and the White Chocolate Pistachio bomboloni; raspberry being one of my favorite fruit flavors and pistachio due to the fact that I've been in a "nut" kick lately.  For the last four bomboloni we wanted to try different flavor profiles so we chose, Baci, Caffe, Peanut Butter, and Orange & Dark Chocolate. 

Yes, I know that is A LOT of bomboloni.  We thought about it for a little bit and trust me this was the better decision, we wanted to get a good taste of everything Bomboloni had to offer.  So we took a walk to Central Park and sat down to enjoy the doughnuts on a table by the usual Central Park food trucks overlooking the Great Lawn.  We opened the box (pictured below right) and took a good look at each other trying not to laugh at the fact that we were really going to try all of these doughnuts.  Without much wait, we dug in.  The texture of the doughnut is much different from that I've had before.  The consistency is much more like brioche than a typical yeast-raised fluffy doughnut.  I was happy to taste something different from the usual doughnut and actually liked the texture very much.  Although biting into a cloud-like fluffy yeast-raised doughnut never disappoints, it was nice to have a doughnut with a denser bite and crunchier exterior.

Pistachio & White
Chocolate

Although my boyfriend and I both loved the doughnut itself, the fillings were disappointing.  Generally, the fillings either lacked flavor or had too much flavor.  Starting off with the Baci flavored bomboloni, it was one of the better tasting doughnuts out of the bunch.  The chocolate cream filling had a nice chocolate flavor however, it lacked the nutty hazelnut flavor you would usually get from a Baci chocolate.  I'm a huge fan of the dark chocolate and nut filled chocolate so I was a bit disappointed, as was my boyfriend.  The Pistachio & White Chocolate Bomboloni was up next (pictured left).  This was one other better doughnut out of the six.  It was glazed with white chocolate, filled with a bright green pistachio cream filling, and topped with crushed pistachios.  Again, this doughnut didn't completely upset but it lacked flavor.  If I closed my eyes, took a bite, and had to tell you the flavor of the doughnut I would probably have to take more than one bite and think about it for a while. Although I am a firm believer in simplicity in desserts, I do like a punch from those simple flavors.  I would have liked to have tasted more pistachio from the cream, but it wasn't a complete disappointment.

From top left clockwise: Caffe,
Raspberry, Pistachio & White
Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Orange
& Dark Chocolate, and Baci

Moving on to the Caffe Bomboloni, the cream-filling was too dull once again.  My boyfriend and I are huge fans of coffee, cappuccino, and espresso-like flavored ice creams, glazes, and other types of desserts so we were excited for this doughnut.  It ended up being good not great.  The espresso-flavored cream was too mild for our taste buds and we were starting to see a trend.  Then, we moved on to the Peanut Butter and Orange & Dark Chocolate Bomboloni.  I'll cut to the chase, both doughnuts I spit out.  There was something amuck about the peanut butter filling.  It tasted like a peanut butter vanilla pastry cream, which to me just doesn't seem right.  The combination of the cream and peanut butter did not go very well together, perhaps too sweet.  Similarly, the orange filling in the Orange & Dark Chocolate bomboloni was probably the worst out of all the fillings.  It oozed out like an orange jam and tasted as if I were biting into an orange lollipop, way too sweet.  I don't spit out sweets too often, I like to give everything the benefit of the doubt by giving it a good chew and maybe a second bite, but it was not happening with these doughnuts.  Lastly was the Raspberry bomboloni, which was just a simple raspberry jam filling and dusted with powdered sugar.  I was happy to see that it was not as sweet as the orange filling, but it's hard to mess up raspberry jam.

In the end, we didn't finish one single doughnut between the both of us (see picture left).  I think that was a good enough sign that we weren't too satisfied.  There was something strange about the cream fillings and didn't make our taste buds too happy.  As I previously mentioned in the Dough post, I do a lot of my judging on whether of not I want another helping, and in this case I didn't want another of any of the doughnuts.  Although I loved the concept and decor of the doughnut shop and had no complaints about the service, overall I was disappointed bringing my rating of Bomboloni to:


 2 out of 5 STARS and sadly a recommendation to skip it.

DONUTS TO DOUGHNUTS -- Stop #1: DOUGH

DOUGH

305 Franklin Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11205

As previously mentioned on my Favorite Food Stops page, I've had my fair share of doughnuts from Dough at the Brooklyn Flea Market in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  There was no denying that at first bite I fell in love with their unique flavors, from Passionfruit & Cacao Nibs to Cafe Au Lait.  I became a fan instantly and wanted the full effect of what they had to offer.  So I decided to take a ride with my twin sister Debra for a taste of their doughnuts from their shop in Clifton Park, Brooklyn. 

Only a short ride form my grandmother's house, we found the shop very easily and purposely parked a few blocks away to enjoy a nice walk on the sunny spring day before guzzling down a few doughnuts.  Arriving at the shop it was fairly small, laced with wood trimmings and a rustic decor.  The smell of fresh doughnuts immediately grabs you as you walk in a take the few steps toward the large case full of doughnuts.  With over 10 different type ranging from $2 -$2.50 each, we noticed some we had already been introduced to and some new and intriguing flavors like Nutella, Dulce de Leche, and Chocolate Cream.

Going in the shop my sister and I already had an idea of which doughnut we definitely wanted to try.  Being huge lemon fans we were dying to try the Lemon Meringue doughnut, filled with lemon curd and topped with gooey meringue.  To our dismay, they were all out!  Naturally taken off guard, it took us a little while to decide which doughnuts we wanted to try.  Sticking with the lemon, we opted for the Lemon Poppy Seed, and the Toasted Coconut doughnuts and decided to take a seat on two of the few stools overlooking the kitchen.

Toasted Coconut

Lemon Poppy Seed

We started with the Lemon Poppy Seed doughnut (pictured left) and loved it; the simple lemon glaze and crunch of the poppy seed complemented the dough very nicely with just a hint of sweetness and not too much bitterness from the lemon, making it a doughnut that even non-lemon fanatics can enjoy.  Next we tried the Toasted Coconut doughnut (pictured lower right).   Unfortunately we both felt the doughnut was lacking a bit.  We were expecting a bigger burst of coconut flavor.  It you're lucky enough to get a great deal of toasted coconut shreds on your glaze then you were able to taste some coconut, however we did not get so lucky.  We wanted more coconut! Sadly, we were disappointed.

Lemon Meringue

As we were finishing up the last doughnut, we were pleasantly surprised to see them pull out a rack filled with Lemon Meringue doughnuts (pictured left).  Although we had no complaints about the service the woman working the counter told us there were none coming out soon so we were not expecting any (hmm?).  To no ones surprise especially not our  own, we bought yet another doughnut to try to make up for the lack of flavor in our last one.  We sliced open the fluffy meringue-topped doughnut and out oozed the bittersweet lemon curd.  We were both excited yet hesitant as we knew this doughnut was going to be messy, seeing that the curd was just a bit too loose to handle neatly.  We bit into the doughnut starting with the fluffy meringue, then the dense dough, and then the lemon curd.  All three make for a nice bite, but it was tough to eat!  If I had an entire doughnut I don't think I could have stomached the whole thing and trust me I could eat.  The meringue and curd both had a nice sweet flavor but to me, the doughnut lacked that addictive quality and "oozed" more excess to me.  I prefer a bit more subtlety in my sweets and less of a "punch" of sweetness.  I base a lot of my judging of sweets on whether or not iI want more after I have finished my first helping.  If I don't give it a thought then I know that it was not my favorite.  Maybe the Lemon Meringue doughnut would be a great treat for someone with a sweeter tooth but my sister and I agreed that we would have preferred something a little less "in your face," and a little more sweet and simple.

On our way out we took a box of some doughnuts we thought our family would like and some we may want to try as well, including the Dulce de Leche doughnut and the Cafe Au Lait, we we loved at the flea market.  Taking a quick bite, I was happy to see that I still liked it as much as I did the first time.  However, the Dulce de Leche I was disappointed with.  It tasted more like a brown sugar glaze than it did a "dulce de leche" glaze.  I was expecting more of a milky-caramel flavor and didn't get it!  

After trying the doughnuts multiple times I found myself asking the question "Why do they have to be so big?"  I feel like I would love the doughnuts more if it were about three-quarters of its size.  I want to be able to take home a box of doughnuts and eat more than one of them.  Of course I have eaten my fair share of "Dough" doughnuts in one sitting but I don't thinkI will find myself doing that too often and that to me is a huge factor.  Overall, I have tasted some great doughnuts at "Dough" and from time-to-time I will probably be craving one of those large masses of doughy deliciousness.  However along with these great qualities came some disappointments and questions bringing my rating of Dough to:

 4 out of 5 STARS and a recommendation to go try it!

DONUTS TO DOUGHNUTS

Which Doughnut Takes the Cake?

Food has always been an important subject in my family; from figs and tomatoes, to the large italian dinners, and all the way through to the delicious pastries, cakes, and candies.  It's always been hard to compare all the great food I had growing up to any other pastries, pasta, or even fruit out there.  I have yet to have any that compare to the sweet perfectly plum figs from my grandfather's garden.

Aside from the usual Italian pastries and cakes that my grandmother would bake for the family, she made us all fall in love with doughnuts.  Every family get together would consist of the usual desserts and two boxes of doughnuts from Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.  The doughnuts ranged from a simple vanilla glaze to an over-the-top cream-filled doughnut.  For the twenty years (give or take) that I've been eating these doughnuts I have always opted from the classic sugar-raised doughnut, and the occasional jelly-filled or marble doughnut here and there.  I love to try everything so naturally I've tried just about every kind of doughnut my grandmother has brought to the dessert table, but nothing compared to the subtle yet sweet taste of the classic sugar doughnut.

Having now a greater taste for food and the desire to venture out to find the next greatest fare, I wanted to compare the new, hip, and modern doughnut shops to that of which I grew up with.  That being said, I did my research and found a couple of doughnut shops from my own knowledge and from that of my friends and mentors.  With two shops in mind I went to work and tested out these doughnuts for myself using a rating system of  one to five stars (going from bad to great).

The competition is going to consist of three more posts.  I'm going to compare three doughnut shops: Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop, Dough, and Bomboloni, and pick a winner!  Keep checking back in for the next posts, these doughnuts are worth it!