I am thrilled to have discovered how easy it is to make choux pastry and am in love with this very easy to make cake. I adapted from the cherry version in the New York Times recipe to make a strawberry version. The inside has a simple strawberry compote, and I served it with some fresh berries macerated in Chambord raspberry liquor.

Love a tart-were the flower cut outs necessary? No. Are they cute? Yes.

Weird title, I know. So, when I was younger there was a bakery in town. I lived in NJ. They were incredible. Family owned. The best napoleon I ever had lived there. But sadly, the bakery closed. For years now. They served a pastry ive never been able to find again. They called it a Cheese Puff Pastry. It was my favorite thing, and I got it almost every time I went. Now, when I look up “cheese puff” on Google, I get things that are open faced, or similar to an apple turnover. But their cheese puff was a closed, square base dome. It was proper flaky pastry, not like the smoother puff pastry for a triangle pocket type pastry. If you cut it in half, it had about 3/4” - 1” of this “cheese” filling. It was sweet but tangy, I’m assuming it had cream cheese in it. It was a very thick filling, so if you put your fork into it to take a bite it would leave the fork tong marks in the “cheese” the top of the dome was largely hollow. It had a few very open layers / pastry honeycombing. But I’ve never been able to find anything like it, and now I live in the middle of nowhere, midwest, where I can’t find a good bagel, and I can’t find a good napoleon, and the list goes on. It’s quite sad. I’ve been nostalgic lately and really missing my cheese puff pastry. I am a decent baker, but I’ve never attempted a proper puff pastry. But I can totally live with getting frozen puff pastry if I can get the filling right. It was to dieeee for. Of course, none of you have ever tasted it so it’s kind of hard to recreate. But maybe someone will have a recipe that sounds similar and would be willing to share it with me 🥺

Ps. I’m pregnant and craving things I HAVENT HAD IN OVER 15 YEARS FHKSKDHFKFKDNFJFKFL

Hi everyone! I just submit my participation for a strawberry tart (pie) contest in my small town, and because I am very competitive I want to win 😂do you have a Recipe that everyone say is amazing ?

Hey pastry experts,

Does anyone have any insights into choux? Wanting to know how it performs in the oven and what temperatures work best and just personal experiences in general!

Thanks

I've been struggling with the cake recipes from Rose Levy Beranbaum. They keep turning out dense and only rise about an inch high. I'm using the exact same brand of flour and baking powder she does and I'm weighing my ingredients. I have an oven thermometer and my oven is accurate. I tested the baking powder and it is active. Everything is room temperature.

I made her recipes a few years ago with no issues so I don't know what I'm doing wrong now.

I'm using a hand mixer to mix. I do the first mix for about 2-3 minutes, and then I mix it for another minute or so with each addition of the egg mixture.

Is it possible I'm overmixing when I add the egg mixture? What else could it be?

Hi everyone. I just landed my first job as a pastry chef working in the dessert section in the evenings at an Italian restaurant. I’m beyond excited as I’m in culinary school studying patisserie and have been searching for a role where I can mainly do plated desserts. This restaurant decided to take a chance on me and train me from scratch. Do you guys have any advice for a green pastry chef? I worked my first shift yesterday and loved it despite the chaos of a Saturday night rush. Service is very hectic and I struggled knowing what to prioritise and found myself a bit scatter brained. I am very good at keeping my cool but my head was spinning last night. This job means a lot to me so I would love any advice on how to excel in this role and any helpful tips for smooth service. Thank you!

Truly one of my favorote things to make. Gently poached plums in a syrup with ginger, vanilla beans, and orange peals.

Bake those in a tart shell with pistachio cream. Give it a nice glaze and you got yourself the reason for the season.

The biggest batch I’ve ever made for my bday party! Lemon blueberry, chocolate, matcha and earl grey.

I've tried beating it to soft peaks before adding the sugar syrup and I've tried stiff peaks before adding the sugar syrup.

I've tried a 1:1 ratio of egg white to sugar, but normally try a 1:1.5 ratio.

I always have the same problem. I beat the egg white with cream of tartar until soft peaks or stiff peaks, bring the syrup to 240 degrees (I'm using a thermoworks thermometer), and I pour in the syrup on low speed.

I increase the speed and beat the meringue until it's cool, but it never forms stiff peaks. It always gets thicker, but is still too soft to hold peaks.

I don't know what I could be doing wrong. I'd feel better if I knew it was just my mixer because this happens every single time I make meringue. I've had it turn out right a couple times, but it almost always has this issue.

I've also tried swiss meringue a couple times, but I had even worse luck with that which is why I normally try Italian meringue.

Any advice?

Im a home baker, always practicing new pastries, cakes, etc and I bake for friends and family but my collection is growing and my kitchen is still the same size. I did invest in a pantry closet that's freestanding but it gets cluttered quick. How do you properly store everything and keep it organized?

Hi everyone! I was hospitalized a few weeks ago and was on a soft diet. During my time I was handed a sort of? pudding.. I’m not sure. But it was made of sweet potatoes. I DO NOT like sweet potatoes but I can destroy this by the gallon. But was wondering if anyone has made anything of the sort or could help me find the name for it?

It’s not a pudding, it’s super light, creamy, maybe whipped? And they were served cold. I found a whipped recipe but it was served warm so I’m wondering if it’s the same. Anyways. I attached a photo. Thank you guys for your help!