NATIONAL PASTRY DAY!

Today is National Pastry Day. I know that the term pastry covers a huge range of baked goods that includes flour, butter, sugar, eggs and milk, but I thought today I'd mention the pâtisserie.  

I can rarely pass a Pâtisserie here or in France without going in and sampling the pastries. But the term pâtisserie has a very specific meaning in France and Belgium. It refers to a French or Belgian bakery that specializes in pastries and sweets. In those countries it is a legally controlled title that can only be used by bakeries that employ a licensed master pastry chef.

I am not a maître pâtissier, and I imagine you're not either, but for National Pastry Day, I thought I'd post my go-to pastry recipe for Mini-Chocolate Eclairs.

My favorite eclairs are not the long thin "traditional" hotdog shaped eclairs (although I like those, too), but rather, the mini-eclairs. Pâte à choux.. little puff pastry. I've been making for years. They are simple to make and easy to fill. They're so easy and yet look so beautiful and taste fabulous! Hope you enjoy making these as much as I do!

I've adapted this recipe for Mini Chocolate Eclairs from Paula Deen. It is one of my favorites because it's easy and fabulous! I never use margarine, so I've dropped that alternative from the recipe. Real butter is always best. As always, I use the very best dark chocolate for the topping. I've changed a few measurements and directions in the recipe for the novice Eclair Chef. If you're a purist, just click on Paula Deen's recipe above.

Because these eclairs are so small, feel free to have 3 or 4. Yield depends on how small you make them, but I can get about 40 small eclairs from this recipe. They're great for a crowd!

Want to make these even more chocolate? Add a handful of chocolate chips or chocolate chunks to the egg cream filling or fill with chocolate cream instead: just add 1/4 dark cocoa to the dry ingredients. To fill the eclairs, I use a pastry bag, but if you don't have one, you can always fill a Ziploc bag and cut the tip off to pipe the filling into the eclair.

You will probably have some extra icing. Half the recipe if you ice sparingly. I'm all about chocolate, so there's never much left.

MINI CHOCOLATE ECLAIRS

Pastry:
1 cup water
8 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
3 eggs

Filling:
3 cups whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla

Icing:
3 ounces unsweetened dark chocolate
2 cups sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F.
Heat water and butter to boiling point. Add flour and stir constantly until mixture is smooth and forms a ball when tested in cold water. Remove from heat and let cool. Beat in 3 eggs, one at a time. Drop dough from teaspoon, elongate slightly to form small eclairs (or drop in 'puffs'), onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for approximately 30-35 minutes or until light brown. Set aside to cool.
Prepare filling by mixing all dry ingredients. Very slowly add milk over low heat and cook until mixture thickens (don't let heat get too high), so you don't have any lumps. Then pour this custard into the beaten eggs, stirring quickly (so eggs don't cook). Cool and add vanilla.
With serrated knife, slice pastry puffs lengthwise (or if you have puffs make a hole), but not all the way through. Pipe custard mixture into the center.
Melt chocolate for icing, add sugar and cream. Cook over medium heat until soft ball stage.
Let cool and beat until smooth.
Ice tops of eclairs.

National Brownie Day: How Temperature, Butter, & Sugar Affect Your Brownies

Today is National Brownie Day! Be sure to search on DyingforChocolate.com for 150+ Brownie recipes. as I always say, you can never have enough recipes! 

A few years ago I came across this handy dandy chart at Delish on How Temperature, Butter, and Sugar Affect Your Brownies. All you need to know in one place. So helpful! Thanks, Delish! Be sure and check out lots of Brownie Recipes here on DyingforChocolate.com, as well as at Delish.com.

COTTON CANDY HOT CHOCOLATE: Cotton Candy Day

Today is Cotton Candy Day which seems odd since I always associate Cotton Candy with summer. Growing up we bought Cotton Candy fresh from the spinner at the Fair, the Carnival, on the Pier, or at the Amusement Park, all summer activities in my hemisphere. Now, you can buy Cotton Candy already made and packaged at the candy store or supermarket. You can also make your own using a Cotton Candy home machine available on Amazon and elsewhere. Cotton Candy used to be pink only, but now Cotton Candy comes in all kinds of bright colors -- pink, blue, yellow and more. It even comes in a chocolate flavor.

So because it's winter, I'm posting a recipe for Cotton Candy Hot Chocolate. The cotton candy is used as you would use marshmallows--on top of the cocoa. The cotton candy also acts as the sugar for your cocoa, so you can reduce the sugar in your hot chocolate recipe. This would be a great recipe for Valentine's Day, too. Just add some sugar heart candy! Bookmark the recipe. Of course you can always just make your own cocoa your own way and top with Cotton Candy, but I always like to have an alternate cocoa recipe.

Where did Cotton Candy originate?

Most people think the origin of cotton candy (also known as spun sugar" "fairy floss" or "candy floss") is a simple documented fact. It's not. There are several stories recounting the invention of cotton candy. All are interesting. None are definitive. Most accounts credit the invention of cotton candy to enterprising American businessmen at the turn of the 20th century. The Cotton Candy machine was patented in 1899 by William Morrison and John C. Wharton. The 1904 Louisiana Exposition in St. Louis is often cited as the place where cotton candy was introduction to the American people. The truth? Spun sugar was known long before this time. Mid-18th century master confectioners in Europe and America hand crafted spun sugar nests as Easter decorations and webs of silver and gold spun sugar for elaborate dessert presentations. At that time, spun sugar was an expensive, labor-intensive endeavor and was not generally available to the average person. The invention of modern machines changed all that.

COTTON CANDY HOT CHOCOLATE

Ingredients 
1-1/2 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1-1/2 ounces unsweetened cocoa
3/4 Tbsp cornstarch (or flour)
1 Tbsp sugar
1-1/2 cups milk
Cotton candy

Directions
In saucepan over low-medium heat, combine cocoa powder, chocolate, cornstarch, and sugar with small whisk. With a little bit of milk, whisk chocolate to avoid lumps. Add milk gradually while whisking continuously. Turn off heat when hot chocolate thickens and reaches consistency you like. If it's too thick, add more milk. Serve hot with cotton candy on top. The cotton candy serves as the sugar, so adjust the sugar amount to your taste.

COOKIE TIPS FOR THE HOLIDAYS OR ANY TIME!

It's Cookie Time! So many cookies to make; so many cookies to bake; so many cookies to eat! 

I've seen some wonderful new recipes and decorating techniques this holiday season. Be sure and do a few searches to expand your Cookie Repertoire! Scroll back over DyingforChocolate.com. I've posted over 500 cookie recipes over the years! You can never have too many cookie recipes!

Here are a few Cookie Making Tips. Love to hear any tips you have. Make a comment below.

COOKIE TIPS 

1. For me the most important 'tip'is to make sure you Chill the Dough. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP, if your recipe calls for it. Put the dough in the refrigerator for a few hours or put it in the freezer for 10 minutes. While you're working, if the dough becomes soft, just pop it back in the freezer for a few minutes.  (Drop cookies may be an exception - and don't need chilling--check your recipe)

2. Use the Correct Ingredients. If you haven't made the recipe before, follow it exactly and measure the ingredients carefully. You can experiment on your next attempts.

3. Up for debate: Some say that you should always roll out your dough between sheets of Wax Paper, not Parchment, because wax paper peels easily off the top of the dough. If you do this, you can then cut out the cookies, and they'll peel right off the bottom sheet. And, yet, some people swear by parchment. Give them both a try and see what you think.

4. Add Salt and Leavening to Butter and Sugar Mixture. If you really want your salt and leavening well distributed throughout the dough, beat it in with the butter and sugar.

5. Butter is major to the spread of a cookie. (You can use other fats, but I don't. I love butter!). Generally speaking, more butter equals flat, crispy cookies while less butter equals higher, cake-like cookies. Speaking of butter: Whipped spreads are not good for baking. Use real butter. I mostly use unsalted butter, and I add salt as an ingredient so I can control the amount of salt. Also, French butters will have a higher fat content that may mess with your recipe, so I usually use U.S. butter for baking. 

6. Sugars: White sugar makes a crisper cookie than brown sugar or honey. Cookies made from brown sugar absorb moisture after baking, so they stay chewy. Most chocolate chip cookie recipes contain both brown and white sugars.  Not sure about which sugar is right for your cookie? Consult a cookbook or go on line. I have over 10 types of sugar in my pantry.

How to keep brown sugar soft? Put a marshmallow or a piece of white bread in the container. The white bread won’t get moldy nor will the marshmallow, and you’ll always have soft brown sugar. I like marshmallow better .. maybe it's just aesthetics.

7. Mixing: Proper mixing is important. Some recipes have a creaming step in which the fat and sugars are beaten together until light-colored and fluffy. Other cookies require a sandy texture, so the fat is cut into the flour. Over-mixing can incorporate too much air into the dough, resulting in flat, overly spread-out cookies. Follow the recipe instructions.

8. Temperature (also check out Tip #1): Unless specified, ingredients should be at room temperature before mixing. 

Softened butter means room temperature (do not put it in the microwave to achieve that temp-you probably won't). Yes, Virginia, take the butter out the night before. 

For cut cookies, chill the cookie dough before baking. The cookies will hold their shape better. For drop cookies, you can keep them at room temperature before baking; the spoonfuls of dough will spread and flatten out.

9. Eggs: Make sure you're using the right size and bring eggs to room temperature.

10. Salt. Don't skip the salt. It balances out the sugar and brings out the flavor. And, yes, you can bake with Kosher salt.

11. Chocolate: Use the best chocolate chips or chocolate baking discs. I also use chopped high-end chocolate. My favorite chocolate for baking: Guittard.

12. Equipment and Baking: Not surprising to anyone who bakes, different baking sheets and ovens produce different results. I use rimmed baking sheets (jellyroll pans) for cookies rather than thin flat sheet pans, although some people swear by flat unrimmed cookie sheets. Instead of greasing each baking sheet, I use parchment for easy cookie removal and clean-up. Some of my friends use a silipat liner, but I don't. It's your choice.

13. Use fresh ingredients. I always replace baking soda, flour, spices, flour and baking powder at the beginning of the cookie making holiday season. This goes for chocolate, too, of course! You're working hard on these cookies, and you want the very best ingredients.

14. Making a big batch of cookies? Be sure and cool the cookie sheet before baking another batch. Otherwise your dough might melt, and you'll have weird looking cookies.

15. Be sure and cool cookies on a wire rack. Don't skip this step or the bottoms might become soggy. And, definitely cool completely before storing them. However, my friend Patti swears by using brown paper grocery bags instead of wire racks. She says the cookies come out well, and the paper absorbs any greasiness.

Love to hear other tips! Please comment!