Busy, busy, busy

Between weddings, a going-away party, and preparing for the Thanksgiving rush... I haven't had much time for updating.  So here's a photo of one of the many things I've been working o

 

 

He's a bacon fiend, so it was appropriate.  Time to rush to my other job.  I'll update by Thanksgiving at the latest.

20 Days

Today was the 20th day that I've worked in a row... and this will continue for another 10 days until I get Thanksgiving Day off. While I should be totally exhausted, I actually turned down the offer of having today off--although that was mostly because I knew I'd fall behind if I didn't get all the breads finished over this weekend. I have a shit-load of pies next week that have to be done for all the orders on Thanksgiving, as well as my normal workload.

Where did all this work come from? A few weeks ago I got a call from Mac Daddy saying that the head cook at our local cafe hangout was looking for someone to take over the baking duties and would I be interested. Within one day of that call I had a new job. Of course I kinda felt bad about giving my in-store bakery only a weeks notice so close to the holidays, so I told them that I'd still work one day a week until Christmas (and also because I had FINALLY gotten my insurance through them and need to get a few things taken care of before I lose it). My new job is six days a week, so that ties me up with work every single day.

Every Monday I go back to my old bakery and work on whatever cakes need to be done to prepare them for the week. Then Tuesday through Sunday are spent keeping a cafe and catering company supplied with cookies, breads, croissants, and danishes; as well as creating new recipes to replace all the pastries that were coming in from other shops. Hopefully by Christmas, most our pastries will be made in-house. And on top of that, the owner has decided that we'll now provide seasonal pies, cakes, and other desserts that can be ordered in time for the holidays. I only had a few days notice about this, so for Thanksgiving we're only going to have Pumpkin Pies, Pecan Pies, Sweet Potato Pies, and Apple Pies available. However, for Christmas we'll have all that and Italian Creme Cakes, Tiramisu, Carrot Cakes, Rhubarb/Apple Pie, and a variety of gourmet Cheesecakes (seriously, I make a fabulous cheese cake... come on out after next week and check it out for yourself!).

So the upshot is that I'm busy, stressed, challenged, and wiped out at the end of every day... and damn it, I LOVE IT! This is why I gave up my technical writing career and went to culinary school, and I can't quite believe that I've made it to this point so quickly. Things are going to get interesting now and I hope that I not only can keep up, but that I'll also kick some major pastry ass.

PMS Cookies

Ok, they don't taste like anything related to PMS (ewwwww!), nor are they cookies. They're more of a Haystack that satisfies all the food cravings I get around "that time of the month." Believe me, PMS Cookies sounds much better than Menstrual Haystacks. These delights cover the four food groups required when dealing with serious PMSing: sugar, chocolate, salt, and crispy stuff.

Haystacks to Sooth a Savage Period

12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
12 oz. butterscotch chips
12 oz. salted cocktail peanuts
12 oz. Chow Mein Noodles (the fried kind)

1. Dump the butterscotch and chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Heat the bowl in the microwave for a minute and stir the chips. Repeat, in 30 second intervals, until the chips are completely melted. As the chips will hold their shape until touched, stir after each heating. DO NOT OVERCOOK!
2. Dump in the nuts and the fried noodles and stir until everything is coated.
3. Spoon mixture on to wax paper or aluminum foil in 1 - 2 inch haystack piles and let setup in the fridge.

Still Waiting

I dropped off the cheesecake at the shop today to find out if this is what they'd like to carry in the future.  With 2.5 lbs of cream cheese per cake, it's very rich... but it's also much cheaper to make a high quality product than what they're currently paying for someone else's stuff.  I do have several other recipes that will cost less to make, but I'll wait to see what the owner and the head cook thinks first. 

They were prepping for another huge catering gig when I stopped by, so I just handed it over and got out of the way.  I wish I could have stayed to help out, but I have to get ready for my old job in a few minutes.  Only three more days before I start working there full time.  I can't wait.

That's Good Soup

The Phantom Limb:
"Revenge, like gaspacho soup, is served cold, precise, and merciless."

The Monarch:
"Yeah, yeah, you can never have enough precision in your soup."

The Venture Bothers: Showdown at Cremation Creek, part 1

Orange Biscotti Recipe

Because it's a nice morning and I have a little bit of time before I have to go to work, I'm posting one of my favorite Biscotti recipes.  The amounts for the ingredients in most of my work recipes are by weight instead of volume.  This could be a problem if you don't have a kitchen scale.. and if you don't have a kitchen scale--I advise you to get one as it's a WONDERFUL tool (and not that expensive either).

Orange Biscotti

Makes about 4 dozen biscotti

10 oz bread flour

1 tsp baking powder

6 oz eggs

6.5 oz sugar

1 oz orange zest

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp. almond extract

.25 tsp. salt

7 oz slivered almonds (do not toast, this will be taken care of as it bakes)

6 oz candied orange peel, minced (this is optional, another way to increase the orange flavor without the candied orange peel is to add 1/2 tsp orange extract.  If you use orange oil, use 1/4 tsp as it is very strong)

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.  Sift together the flour and baking powder in a bowl.  Whip the eggs, sugar, orange zest, vanilla and almond extract, and salt using a wire whip attachment on high speed for about 5 minutes or until thick and light in color.  On low speed, mix in the dry ingredients until just incorporated, scraping down the bowl as needed.  Using a rubber spatula, fold in the almonds and candied orange peel.

Form the dough into a strip 24 inches long on the prepared sheet pan.

Bake at 300 degrees until light golden brown, about 1 hour.  Remove the pan from the oven and cool for 10 minutes.  Lower the oven temperature to 275 degrees.

Using a serrated knife, cut each strip crosswise into slices 1/2 inch thick.  Place on prepared sheet pans and bake, turning the biscotti once halfway through the baking time, until golden brown and crisp, 20 to 25 minutes.  Transfer to racks and cool completely.  

Store in an air-tight container.

If you want to increase the WOW factor, dip the finished biscotti halfway into melted chocolate and let set.  Or you can dip just the bottom of the biscotti.

A New Start to go with a New Blog

As of next Tuesday, I begin my new job as the head baker for a small cafe and catering company. 

Currently, the head cook has been handling a few of the pastries and bringing the rest in frozen.  My job will be to create new desserts and grab-n-go goods to be baked in-house, as well as to handle all baking requests for the catering side.  In fact, I'm snacking on a pumpkin cheesecake that has to go in for sampling later on today.  It's damn good, but I may have to cut back on the cream cheese amount to bring the cost down.  That's not difficult as there is about 2.5 lbs. of cream cheese in each cake, which is high for most recipes anyway... but that's what makes it so freakin' good!  I've almost forgotten all of my cost control training for lack of use, but that's changing now.  Time to get my books out and start studying.

I'd like to see about moving my old snarkygurl blog here later on, but for now I'll just this to keep my family and friends updated on what's going on in my life.