Small Cakes: Petits Fours I

I'm into the fun stuff!  Petit fours translates as "small oven" in French and are meant to be bite-size confections for tea, appetizers, or desserts.  The book has thirty recipes for petit fours, so I will be on this topic for a while.  Today, though, I was able to bake up four of them, beginning with the Basic Petit Fours on page 56.

Begin by separating the eggs.

Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until the yolk just starts to turn pale.  

Add in the flour and stir to blend in.  This will be quite thick.

Whip the egg whites until the peaks are firm and ready to be folded into the egg yolk mixture.

You are now ready!  Pour this into your piping bag and start filling!

The book suggests pouring this into molds or piping directly on the sheet into a variety of shapes.  As I have no real molds (I did experiment with a small tart mold) for petit fours (these here would be a GREAT gift for your favorite amateur baker), I just piped some basic blobs out.  This batter is very runny, so I think that molds are definitely the way to go here.

As you can see, these certainly do need molds.  The cakes themselves were decent, but I know that The Bride is going to complain that they are "eggy."  I don't mind them, though.  I think that when covered in frosting they will be just fine.

Even though it is too big to be considered a petit fours, the tart mold shows how well this recipe would work.

What the heck was that?
Meh.
Interesting, glad I tried it, but won't go back to try this again.
Good, but not repeat-worthy.
Very good, with some modifications this could be seen again.
This is company-worthy. 

Next up was what could be considered a "basic" recipe that will be used a couple of times in future posts, the Almond Paste on page 57.

There isn't a whole lot to this...but you do get to use your extra-large mortar and pestle!  If you don't have one of these, a food processor might do the trick.  Basically, just grind the almond flour, sugar, and egg whites until you have a consistent paste.

This is REALLY tasty stuff and I can't wait to use it later.   It is currently in my fridge waiting for the next post.

What the heck was that?
Meh.
Interesting, glad I tried it, but won't go back to try this again.
Good, but not repeat-worthy.
Very good, with some modifications this could will be seen again.
This is company-worthy. 

Once again, I needed to create an ingredient because after another wild goose chase I determined that it just couldn't be found in Cincinnati this time of year.  It was time to make candied cherries, and I used this recipe to do so.

Pit the cherries (this is key), then drop them in the saucepan with the water, sugar, and lemon half.  Boil for twenty minutes.

Let this rest for two to three hours, then remove the cherries (saving them), add the apple juice, and boil for five minutes.

Return the cherries to the pan, bring to a boil, and then take the sauce to 220 degrees.

Strain, and you now have a necessary ingredient for the Almond Petit Fours on page 57.

Mix together your sugar and almond flour, preferably in your stand mixer bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they reach the soft peak stage.

Scrape the egg whites into the sugar/flour bowl and use the paddle blade to mix everything.  Take care to not overmix, otherwise it will become too runny (mine did).

Your batter is now ready to become friends with your piping bag.

The book tells you to use your star tip to make rosettes...I did but because I overmixed the batter it was too runny and the rosettes became discs.  Oh well.

I placed half a candied cherry on each one (a whole cherry seemed too big) and they were ready for the oven.

OH NO!  These tasted awesome but looked a hot mess.

Most cookie sheets are actually too thin for delicate baking.  The edges were clearly overbrowned.

To remedy this, double up your baking sheets.

Not about to be defeated, I made another batch, ensuring proper distance between the petit fours.

While they are in the oven, whisk two tablespoons of superfine sugar into a half cup of milk and dig out your pastry brush.

Muuuuuch better!  Less browning on the edges and better "poofiness."

As soon as they are out of the oven, lightly brush each one with the sweetened milk, allow to firm up again, and you are done.

WOW!  These are super good!  As I type this (only an hour after finishing up today) I can tell you that they have all been consumed already.

For the first time in this chapter....

What the heck was that?
Meh.
Interesting, glad I tried it, but won't go back to try this again.
Good, but not repeat-worthy.
Very good, with some modifications this could be seen again.
This is company-worthy. 

Last up today was the Croquignoles on page 57.

I was happy to finish with something super easy.  Just mix the four ingredients together until you get a thick batter.

Roll out the dough, cut into coins, and place on your sheet (doubled up just in case).

Twenty minutes later you have a nice biscuit.

And by biscuit, I mean something remarkably tough.  These are tasty, but really need to be dunked in something.  The Bride and I decided that they would be really good with tea.

What the heck was that?
Meh.
Interesting, glad I tried it, but won't go back to try this again.
Good, but not repeat-worthy.
Very good, with some modifications this could be seen again.
This is company-worthy. 

Now if you'll excuse me....