Pastry Inspirations

Went for my first cooking class in our dear Lion City today, and was inspired to start blogging again.Realised that my last entry on my previous blog was on March 14 2006 !


Something about pastry - never fails to make me feel happy and generally excited about creating more edible works of art. Guess it has to do with the therapeutic process of making the pastry dough ( all that whisking, beating, stirring, folding, kneading etc ) and smelling that heavenly aroma emanating from the oven after all the effort. Of course the final step of putting each wonderful morsel into your mouth is the peak of the whole experience. Also, the satisfaction of seeing others enjoy the fruits of my labour just gives me that buzz as well.

Today's class was on making that old favourite : the eclair.

Eclair cases are made of choux(pronounced "shoe", just in case you were wondering) pastry. Had actually attempted making cream/custard puffs ( which use the same pastry ) more than 10 years ago, so with the memories being rather faint as to the whole process, I decided to sign up for this class, run by Palate Sensations.


Here are the results - they tasted as yummy as they look. :-)
They are filled with chocolate cream or coffee cream, via little holes made at the bottom of the cases ( see above photo ).

Have to thank the teacher, pastry chef Nan Ong, of Classique Gateaux, who made the final chocolate glaze to finish the product, as well as my dear friend, Carmen, who attended the class as well & did the traditional ( log-shaped ) ones. My little touch of inspiration was the addition of almond slivers on top of the round ones. Thanks also to Lynette, the person behind Palate Sensations, who generously offered the almonds even though they were not part of the ingredients included. :-)

Am gonna make more for the upcoming birthday celebrations for our nation. Maybe I'll try some other flavours and add fruit as well. I have some nice ripe strawberries in the fridge. Yum.....