Notes about Recipes in this book

• French macarons

  • darcie_b on February 15, 2017

    I've tried a couple of macaron recipes and this one provides the best explanation for each step. It's a bit fussy but the results are worth it. I didn't follow the drying instructions to the letter (I had old egg whites that were stored in the fridge but weren't air dried as the author suggests), but it turned out fantastic anyway. Ingredient proportions seem to be spot on.

• Elephant ears (Palmiers)

  • twoyolks on January 02, 2020

    For such simple ingredients (basically, puff pastry and sugar), this packs a lot of flavor. Be careful when baking these, as they can burn fairly easily, particularly if they're in a hotter part of the oven. I had never made puff pastry before but the instructions made it easy and not overly time consuming.

• Christmas sablés (Sablés de Noël)

  • twoyolks on January 02, 2020

    I was really excited by this recipe but the actual cookies fell flat. In general, they're very subdued. They don't have a lot of butter flavor. They're not very sweet. They only have a little bit of cinnamon.

• Pastry cream

  • emilyrf on February 03, 2016

    I didn't love this pastry cream, although I love this book. It came out quite loose after chilling, which after a bit of research seems to be because the ratio of liquid to starch is quite high, and he only uses egg yolks. I now use a recipe from the Culinary Institute of America which is MUCH better for piping, and this utilises whole eggs and a bit more cornflour. I tend to substitute some cornflour for all purpose flour because I find it gives a glossier finish.

  • TheWayEyeRoll on January 24, 2022

    I made two batches. The first was a bit runny. I'd never made pastry cream before so i wasn't sure of the consistency I was looking for. The recipe says thick but that's open for interpretation. I expected it to thicken up more in the refrigerator, but it doesn't. So I tried it a second time, cooking it longer until it was closer to my desired final consistency. Both batches tasted excellent. The first was eaten like pudding. I served the second batch between sheets of puff pastry with a dusting of powdered sugar - sort of a quick Napoleon. My only complaint about the recipe was the author's method of cooling the cooked pastry cream. The author seems very concerned about bacteria growing during cool down, so he says to line a baking sheet with plastic wrap, spread the cream over that, then put plastic wrap on top and then put in the freezer for 15 minutes. It was very messy and wasteful. The second batch I put in an unlined pie tin, and covered with plastic wrap.

• Pâte sablée

  • Wojtanowski on August 21, 2018

    Easy dough...very forgiving...made it, chilled it, rolled it...chilled it...could do it one day and bake the next...delicious too..great for tarts.

• Wild blueberry tart

  • Wojtanowski on August 21, 2018

    Made with pâte sablée pastry it was fine...people enjoyed it...but I didn’t care for the custard/blueberry filling...strange consistency but tasty and not too sweet.

• Jelly roll sponge (Génoise roulade)

  • Wojtanowski on October 09, 2018

    really nice sponge - very easy to work with for a rolled up cake...nice flavor too

• Raspberry and hazelnut tart (Tarte aux framboises et noisettes)

  • Wojtanowski on August 21, 2018

    Delicious...made it with almond flour instead of hazelnut flour...fairly straightforward if you follow the directions which are well laid out....turned out great...favorite for a dinner party...very dramatic.

• Hazelnut praline paste

  • TheWayEyeRoll on February 01, 2022

    This was not difficult at all and the result is delicious. I'm trying to save it to make the hazelnut mousseline but I can't help taking a spoonful every now and then. Because I was making the paste I did not worry too much about separating the nuts once they are put onto the baking sheet to cool. I also did not bother with the cocoa butter/clarified butter as the author said that was for protecting the caramelized nuts from humidity and keep them crunchy - not an issue when you are grinding them up right away.

• Raspberry jam

  • senzler on March 27, 2022

    Such an intense raspberry flavor

• Plum tart (Tarte aux quetsches)

  • senzler on March 27, 2022

    This is amazing. Well worth the time