Gourmandise School Pastry Class

  

This month I started the first level of the Pro Pastry Program at The Gourmandise School in Santa Monica and I LOVE it! I have already learned so much not only about baking and chemistry, but also about the history of the food industry.  My teacher is amazing and so far everything we've made has really turned out great.  This photo was from the first class where we talked about chocolate. We tasted several different percentages of chocolate, pure cocoa nibs and even cocoa butter (the white block in the middle) which was revolting.  I think my teacher might love chocolate as much as I do...

 Cheddar & Chive Biscuits, Lemon Poppy Seed Cake, Carrot Cake with Pistachios, Blueberry Muffins

 Triple Chocolate Brownie Cookies

Homemade Toffee

Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

Dark Chocolate Brownies (severely undercooked and OUT OF CONTROL amazing)

"Lemon Bars" shaped as a cake, with Vanilla Meringue

I never like lemon desserts, ever, but something about this really stood out to me!  Maybe because we used very sweet Meyer lemons, but this was seriously an amazing dessert.  

The crust was salty and fluffy and filling was dense and sweet.  I was super excited to use a torch on the meringue!  

Holiday Party

Last weekend my roommates and I held our second annual holiday party, where I overdecorated our tree with Candy Land themed ornaments.

Gingerbread Village

Cozy Decorations

Candy from Dylan's

Champagne with Pomegranate Seeds

Savory Table 

Caprese Skewers

Sweet Table

Snowflake Sugar Cookies 

Funfetti Cupcakes

Peppermint Oreo Balls

Of course we had way to much food, and so many left overs, but it was so hard to limit ourselves we got excited!  Everything turned out great and I can't wait to do it again next year.  

Happy Holidays!

Beverly Hills Brownie Company

 

After passing the new Beverly Hills Brownie Company several times, I finally stopped in to see if it was as good as it sounded. The store itself felt empty, a little cold and sterile. The brownies themselves looked like they were on display at a bake sale, which was cute but didn't match the modern decor of the space.

 

The selection wasn't too large, but enough. They had red velvet, gingerbread, mint chip, caramel blondie, walnut and cream cheese chocolate chip.

   

 They also had mini bite size brownies which were cute.

   

 I went with the simple classic, a good start to test the quality of the place. It was really good!

   

 It definitely had a strong coco and cinnamon flavor which I liked a lot.  Even though I enjoyed it, if I'm going to get a brownie in Beverly Hills, it's going to be from The Farm.

Barefoot Contessa's Outrageous Brownies

Out of any homemade recipe or box mix I have ever tried (and there have been many), this Barefoot Contessa mix makes by far the best brownies ever!

Using my new KitchenAid, I mixed the wet ingredients in with the dry ingredients that come in the box. The secret is melting the stick of butter with these chocolate morsels and folding it into the batter (which has more chocolate chips inside).

It's super easy and bakes pretty fast!

The brownies come out PERFECT everytime!

Taste of Beverly Hills: Picnic In The Hills

The final Taste of Beverly Hills event today was themed "Picnic in the Hills" and was sponsored by Target. They handed out large jars at the door, and set up an adorable lemonade stand which was necessary on this insanely hot day!

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The stand perfectly captured the essence of Summer.


The bar tenders were cranking out lemonade, which included mint, strawberries and watermelon.


It was great! Super sweet and refreshing.


We were even allowed to take lemons home!


Mint Hummus on a Cracker, and Curry Chicken Salad on Pumpernickel from Literati Café


Assorted Baked Goods from Richard Ruskell Pastries at the Montage


The best chocolate milk I've ever had from Ruskell Pastries at the Montage


Strawberry Thyme Flavored Ice from Ice Ice Shavie


Farro Arugula Parmesan Salad from BLD/Grace


Fried Chicken with Fresh Corn Salad from Lexington Social House (this was a favorite)


Roasted Tomato Tartlet with Blue, Goat and Ricotta Cheeses from Vinoteque on Melrose


Peanut Butter Empanadas with Fluff and Chocolate Sauce from Vinoteque on Melrose


Sweet Tomato Gazpacho with Bacon from The Curious Palate


Root Vegetable Ravioli with Butter Sage Sauce from Erbe Matte (this was another favorite)


Chocolate Challah from Got Kosher?


An Interview with "Hungry Girl" Lisa Lillen


Mini Sloppy Joe from Clementine (this was another favorite)


Pizza from Pitfire Pizza


Debi Mazar and her husband Gabriele Corcos from "Extra Virgin" Cooking Pasta and Salad



Mini Cornbread Muffins with Blueberries from Huckleberry


Spinach, Quinoa and Pulled Pork from Huckleberry


Rigatoni Bolognese from Terroni


And Finally, a Q+A with Giadi De Laurentiis!

What a great weekend, I'm so happy to have been able to attend. Can't wait for next year!