all good things.

I’m very excited about a few baking-related happenings on the horizon, and I wanted to give you, my loyal readers, a sneak preview of the good stuff (along with some gratuitous tempting dessert photos).

Gratuitous dessert #1: Baked Alaska.

Anyway, first and foremost, I’ll be graduating pastry school this December!! December 16th, to be exact. I can’t believe the day is almost here. A wise man told me when I started that it would be over before I knew, it, and so it is. I’m happy and sad at the same time. I’ll miss school. Although it was stressful, and I had to make some sacrifices, it’s been so much fun. I’ve met some great people, learned sooooo much about baking and desserts, and have some very entertaining stories to share. I would encourage anyone who’s thinking about it to just do it. It’s never too late to pursue your dreams. 🙂

Gratuitous dessert #2: Crêpe Suzette complete with Flambé.

Secondly, a new book is in the works!!! It’s still in the very preliminary stages, but is being worked on as I type. Hey if there are any desserts you’d like to see in the new book, tell me! I’m all about suggestions. 🙂

Gratuitous dessert #3: pumpkin cheesecake.

Finally, there are some exciting developments and upcoming events for Small Indulgences overall, including three Holiday Fairs, among other things. I can’t speak much on it yet, but let’s suffice it to say that it’s all that and then some. (I’m intentionally be mysterious to pique your curiousity and make you come back.)

Thank you all for your continued readership, support, feedback and dessert-eating. Without you, I wouldn’t be here. And here is always the best place to be. :),

In closing, some words to live by:

“Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours.” – Swedish Proverb

Recipe Sunday: Crêpes.

Hello and welcome to the second installment of Recipe Sunday! As promised, this week’s Recipe Sunday featured recipe is crêpes! This follows last week’s featured recipe, macarons, quite nicely, in keeping with the whole french theme,

I was looking for a good  crêpe recipe, and I was forwarded this one by a friend. Now, this sounded pretty good and not too hard, so I went with it, however I made a few minor alterations. The recipe, as I used it, is below, complete with photographic evidence of its success. Enjoy!

crepes, baby, crepes!

Crêpes

What you’ll need (for about 15 crepes):

2 Cups Flour

2 1/2 Cups Skim Milk

4 Eggs

2 Tbsp Butter (melted)

Pinch of Salt

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Vegetable Oil (for the pan)

What you’ll do:

Whisk together the flour and salt in a bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the eggs. Mix well.

Pour in milk, a little at time, and stir after each addition. Keep stirring batter until small bubbles form on the surface. Then stir in the melted butter. Batter should be thin and easily poured.

Pour a little vegetable oil on a folded paper towel, and wipe the pan evenly. You may need to recoat the pan during the process – I had to recoat it twice. Be careful not to burn your hand. A paper towel really doesn’t protect your had from a sizzling hot pan. Yes, I found out the hard (and dumb) way.

hot pan = burnt hand. (this is the actual pan I used, in case you want to use a similar one.)

Pour enough batter into the pan to coat the bottom, but no more than that. Swirl the pan around so the batter is evenly spread. Cook for about 30 seconds. Flip with a metal spatula. Heat the other side for about 20 seconds. Take it out of the pan, and put it on a plate to cool. Repeat.

stacked.

Let them cool, then fill them with whatever you want. Traditionally, Crêpes are filled, folded in half, and then folded in half again. But you can really do whatever your heart desires – I’ve seen them rolled “burrito style” as well.

the traditional fold.

FYI: You can also refrigerate them and eat them over the next  few days. I did. 🙂

The Magic Pan.

So I was having dinner at my cousin’s house tonight, and she told of an old crêperie that used to be in Philadelphia called “The Magic Pan.” I’d never heard of this place (apparently it’s been gone for quite some time), but I just adore the name. So from henceforth, my crêpe-making pan will also be known by this charming moniker.

where the magic happens.

Yes. I did it. I made crêpes for the first time. I altered the recipe slightly (I’ll post it this coming Recipe Sunday, for all you crêpe fans, so be sure to tune in). Anyway, I was really careful to keep the layers thin, as two people mentioned that when they tried making them for the first time, they wound up looking more like pancakes.

not pancakes.

So, the hardest part was actually deciding what to fill them with! Often when presented with too many choices, one loses the ability to choose. So I knew I had to use the mini pears, that was a given. And the first crêpe I ever had was from a street vendor in Paris, and it had Nutella in it and that was heavenly, so I busted that out too, and noticed while doing so, an unopened jar of Marshmallow Fluff – this was going really well. After some careful consideration, I settled on two combinations: Nutella and banana for half of them; and Fluff, mini pear and caramel for the other half.

pretty maids, all in a row.

When they were all filled, I gave them a final dusting of powdered sugar.

crepes are the new cupcake.

This was so much fun – I love the fact that you can fill them with anything! I see much more experimenting in the near future. This may even wind up being a crêpe Christmas.The Magic Pan will definitely be gettin’ a lot of action. Now if I could just find a magic man… 😉

 

The perfect pearing.

There’s this farmer’s market down the street from my office that I get all my fruits and vegetables from (they also have a killer selection of dried fruits and nuts in the cutest little containers which I now have a gigantic collection of – they’re perfect for coloring icing in). Anyway, I go there at least once a week, usually twice, and the same man and woman are always working and they could probably recite exactly what I’m buying without even looking in my basket at this point.

Well, not this week. I had just made my usual path around the store: tomatoes, bananas, mushrooms, Polynesian fruit mix, grapes, pears…but wait! What is this I spy mixed in among the pears? I stopped dead in my produce-shopping tracks, as I scrutinized this new face among my old friends, and suddenly a big smile unwittingly spread across my face as I realized what I had discovered. It was the Small Indulgence of the fruit world: a mini pear.

little bump, big bump.

Not even half the size of a regular pear, these mini-pears were like my fruity dream come true! Not only can I make mini-desserts, but I can use mini-ingredients to make them! It’s the perfect pearing.

ideal for spooning.

I bought as many as I could shove into the bag. I was so excited, that I even made my friend look at them when I returned to work. Funny, but I don’t think he was quite as stoked.

Anyway, now I have to figure out what to use them for! I really want to try my hand at crêpes, and a friend gave me a really good recipe for them today (very similar to this one)….mini-pear crêpes? As the Magic 8-ball would say, “signs point to yes.”   

To be continued…..