Sunday, December 27, 2015

Cream Cheese and Cherries

So today I was pumped to make this pie I had in mind for quite some time and I think I did quite well on it. :)

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*Homemade Cream Cheese and Cherry Pie with Streusel*
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Dough
All purpose flour 500g
[Crisco] Cold shortening 300g 
Cold water 100g
Salt 10g [2tsp]
Sugar 30g [2tbsp]

1. Combine sifted dry ingredients all together.
2. Cut in the shortening and rub till the consistency of cornmeal.
3. Add water and try to form a round ball of dough.
4. Flatten out in plastic wrap and place it into the fridge to cool for 30 min.

Note: When you're ready to use the pie poke some holes lightly with a fork this will make the crust be able to rise nicely.
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Cream Cheese Filling
[Island Farms *Victoria Style*] Cream cheese 340g
Sugar 70g
Salt 1/2 tsp
Eggs 38g
Sour cream 50g
Vanilla extract 1 tsp 

1. Combine all ingredients together with a hand mixer.

Note: I advise to use [Philadelphia] cream cheese since I noticed after I mixed it that I made the filling with a spreadable kind of cream cheese but it turned out so it's not so bad after all. Though when using the Philadelphia kind you should first cream it with the sugar then add the other ingredients as to in the creaming method.
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Streusel
Butter 63g
Sugar 30g
Brown Sugar 30g
Ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp
Flour 125g

1. Combine all ingredients together and mix by hand till the consistency of cornmeal.

Note: Store in the freezer.
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Now it wouldn't be a cherry pie without cherries so I used 'E.D. Smith's Light & Fruity Cherry Pie Filling' for that then I topped it with the cream cheese filling I made and sprinkled streusel over the filling evenly.

I baked the pie @ 400F for 20 minutes then I rotated the pan and baked it for another 20 minutes until the crust looks golden brown.

Let the pie cool for 15 minutes and dig in!
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Result
Flavour: *****/***** [Deliciousness, but next time I'll try it with Philadelphia cream cheese]
Aroma: *****/***** [The streusel gives it that nice buttery smell.]
Level: Easy and simple.



Too Good To Be True

So for my pie practical I was a little nervous of how my dough would turn out because the other day at home I was practicing but I did the whole process wrong and made the dough way to tough though I learned from my mistake which really helped me ace the physical test.  


1. I first made my mealy dough, I shared some flaky dough with a comrade then I made the apple filling and finally I assembled the pie.

2. I took a one of the flat pie sheets and rotated my dough and cooled it for 20 minutes then I rolled out my flaky dough and cooled that as well. 

3. I place the mealy dough in my shell and fill it with the filling I prepared. 

4. Afterwards I took my flaky dough out of the cooler, rolled the dough up a rolling pin and rolled it out onto the top carefully.

5. Finally I sealed the dough, did decorative slits with a knife, and baked it for 45 minutes.

Result

Flavour: *****/***** [Not too sweet and not too plain]

Aroma: *****/***** [Magnificent]
Level: Easy and simple. [Takes a few tries on the dough]


Saturday, December 19, 2015

"Pingueeny" The Fondant Penguin

 
Ahhhh, at last, it took about 40 long minutes to create this and yet it's blurry :P . Oh well. This was a little project that our baking instructor had each of us do: mold a small ball of cake into whatever you wish and cover it with fondant. His hat is my favourite part!
Merry Christmas everyone!



Wednesday, December 16, 2015

COOKIES

Hi
 I am now in the cookie section. This is my second time in this cookie section. I made sugar cookies today and iced them. I piped on a mint green buttercream icing and put on some white circle sprinkles.

Fondant Cake-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle!

Hi,
    Today was my last day in the cake section. We worked on our fondant cakes it was really fun and cool. I made a teenage mutant ninja turtle. It looked really good. I also made pumpkin muffins with cream cheese frosting in the middle. They turned out really nice. I am almost don't my checklist and everyone has to finish by the end of the semester. I am really sad that this semester is ending I really love baking, but I will be doing it again next year. Hopefully im doing it will all my friends. So that's all.
Bye

Eclairs by Carolin


Monday, December 7, 2015

A Little Bit Of Everything

Okay so we are now starting our third rotation so I have had the chance to be at each station twice. I can tell already that I have gained and improved upon a lot of skills. Our baking midterm was at close to the end of November, it definitely wasn't as difficult as I was expecting. I made a white pan loaf, cloverleaf rolls, chocolate chip scones and double chocolate muffins. It was a busy morning but I managed to finish all my products before I went for lunch(definitely a moment that made me proud:P). While I was at the pies station this time, I got to experiment with a chiffon pie recipe, which after being revised actually turned out really well. Also I got to make a fresh fruit tart where I got to slice the fruit in super thin slices and arrange it on top of the pastry cream in the tart shell, which to me was a lot of fun. Also I got a second shot at being manager....this station is definitely more challenging and comes with more responsibilities than the other stations. For the most part though I kind of enjoy this station because it truly lets you know where your weaknesses are and what you would need to improve upon in order to work out in this industry. We are now in the pies unit which I am really enjoying. Over the summer I worked in a bakery where we baked pies, rolls, buns, loaves and some other products for farmers markets, and every Thursday when I would work all I would do, from 6 in the morning when I started until when I was done at 12, was fill and top pies. the thing was though, I never got to make the shell so I'm really glad I get to learn that part now to.:)
Fresh Fruit Tart

Strawberry Chiffon Pie