Pink Ombre!

If you say ombre - we say YAY!  Here is a fabulous example of an ombre design (one color varying from light to dark on a tiered cake) for a wedding with a pink theme.   From fushia to light bubblegum pink- even the ribbons are edible! Cheers, Meredith

Serving Southeastern & South Shore Massaachusetts, Cape Cod, Tiverton, Newport & Bristol RI with award-winning wedding day sweets since 2006.
www.artisanbakeshop.com Ph: 508-763-4905

 

Baking Class: Cookies 101

Last weekend we held a baking class entitled: "Cookies 101" where we explored different mixing methods, troubleshooting the cookie baking experience, and made 6 varieties of cookies. For a list of upcoming classes click HERE or visit http://www.theartisankitchen.com/classes.htm .

During the four hour class each student learned different measuring methods and the science behind the art of baking. Here is a sample recipe.

Thin & Lacey Tuile Oatmeal Cookies
42 – 1 oz cookies (1 generous Tablespoon)
Just like the thin chocolate chip cookies, these cookies will spread quite a bit on the sheet pan so be sure to only place 9 cookies on a tray at a time. I love to serve these as ice cream sandwiches with rum raisin ice cream.
Butter which is softened to a melting stage will yield a cookie that spreads and is thin & crispy.
Ingredients

By Cups
By Weight
Butter, unsalted, very, very soft. 1 ¼ c. 10 oz
Brown Sugar 1 ¾ c. 12 oz
Sugar ½ c 3 ¼ oz
Salt ¼ tsp ¼ tsp
Baking soda ¾ tsp ¾ tsp
Cinnamon ¼ tsp ¼ tsp
Nutmeg, freshly ground ¼ tsp ¼ tsp
Honey 2 T. 2 T.
Vanilla 1 tsp. 1 tsp
Eggs 2 2
All-Purpose Flour 1 ¾ c. 7.5 oz
Old-fashioned rolled oats 3 c. 10 oz
Method:
Place the butter, brown sugar, sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, & honey in the bottom of a large mixing bowl or on your stand mixer. Cream with the paddle or beaters for 7 minutes on low or medium-low speed.
Turn off the mixer, scrape the bowl and add the vanilla and 2 eggs. Mix on medium speed for 1 ½ minutes or until the eggs are incorporated, and the mixture looks slightly curdled. DO NOT mix until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Add the flour and oats and mix until combined on low speed.
To make 1 oz cookies, scoop with the yellow handle scoop then divide each scoop in half or just use two tablespoons to scoop balls and scrape them onto the tray.
Using a plain aluminum cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, bake 375 °F for 10-13 minutes. They will be brown across almost the entire top, with a small ¼”- ½ ” coin of blonde in the center.
Cool completely on the tray.

The Artisan Kitchen @ Plato's Harvest

Plato's Harvest is a small organic farm in Middleboro, MA. Sasha & Dave, owners and farmers, invited us to their farm to do a "Bread Share" in their CSA (community supported agriculture, basically you "buy a share of the farm" and get a basket of veggies each week in return.

Here is a great shot of todays CSA Share for July 29, 2009- our Grain and Seed Loaf is right there on the left. Who could resist the whole lot!?



Thanks Dave & Sasha for inviting us to your farm and for allowing us to share in your CSA! If you have any questions regarding CSA or Plato's Harvest visit:
http://platosharvest.wordpress.com/

Lemon Meringue Bombe: Birthday Cake Alternative

My aunt, a.k.a. The Artisan Kitchen Secretary, always has a wild blueberry with a hint of lemon in the filling for her birthday "cake". It honestly throws everyone off that she wants the cake baker to make her a pie.

However, this year she threw me for a loop when she said "Meri, I think I'd like something lemon for my birthday"--WOW I thought! Then, I remembered my last trip to California and the wonderful lemon meringue cake I had at the famed San Fran bakery Tartine.



So we recreated this tangy dessert which we will enjoy at the brand new Mezza Luna Restaurant this evening- check out our holiday menus on the website www.theartisankitchen.com for our new Lemon Bombe!

Egg Free CupCakes

Our egg-free chocolate cupcakes were on the menu for a birthday this weekend, decorated with yellow crowns, orange and yellow daisies and pale green leaves we're sure they were a hit.



Our egg-free cupcakes are featured in a dark chocolate flavor with a bakery style icing- yum yum! No one can tell we left out the eggs!

Custom Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Althouth Wedding Cakes have become quite elaborate we're seeing a rather large trend in wedding dessert displays. We recently created this assortment of chocolate covered strawberries for a wedding tasting. They included chocolate dipped bride and grooms strawberries, sparkling pink chocolate covered strawberroes covered in white and dark chocolate, and finally milk chocolate strawberries striped in white and dark chocolate.



We choose only premium, completely unblemished berries for their superior flavor and use only couveture Callebaut chocolate for dipping which we temper by hand.

A chocolate covered strawberry bar is a fun alternative to a traditional cake or the bar can be accompanied by a small two or three tiered cake for the traditional cake cutting ceremony.

Here's the great note we received from the bride who ordered an assortment of chocolate covered strawberries for her wedding reception at Rotch-Duff House in New Bedford, Massachusetts....

Hi Meredith,
I just wanted to let you know that your strawberries were a big hit @ my wedding reception. Several guests commented that they were the best that they ever tasted.

They looked and tasted delicious! Thanks again.

Take care, S.