Week 2 of Pastry Techniques at L’Academie de Cuisine, and once again, there’s so much to tell that just about everything will have to wait until tomorrow. We had a wild rollercoaster of an evening packed with pâte à choux, pâte brisée, pâte sucrée, and the Mysteriously Muscular Pastry Cream. Charming cameo roles were played by the tiny éclair and the beguiling salambo. If you haven’t the faintest cl

Flush with the New Year, I had proclaimed 2012 the Year of the Pie Fairy. I had declared that I would do pie-bys–a sort of kindness attack–by bringing pies unannounced to friends and other loved ones. I haven’t quite gotten to the “unannounced” part yet, but I’ve been busy making baked goods for my dear ones.

I promised yesterday to tell you more today about the first session of my Pastry Techniques class at L’Academie de Cuisine, and CurvyMama keeps her promises. Here is how our evening ended: And here is how it began:

I never thought I’d live to say this, but I am too excited to blog right now. The first night of pastry class at L’Academie de Cuisine was so wonderful that I’m walking on a little whipped cream cloud. If I try to tell you about everything, I’ll never get to sleep and I’ll never wake up in the morning, and that means I won’t get my story done tomorrow, and that means there will be

CurvyMama’s puttin’ on her white chef’s jacket again. But this time it’s not my off-the-shelf chef’s jacket. It’s a jacket embroidered with the L’Academie de Cuisine insignia and my own name. Isn’t that the damnedest thing? This kitchen adventure isn’t another hang-around in a New York City restaurant kitchen. It’s a five-month pastry course at L’Acade

If you’ve been following CurvyMama for long, you might remember how I swooned over the sugar cream pie at Hoosier Mama Pie Company in Chicago. (If you didn’t catch that post, check here.) After two months of inexplicable delays, I am excited to report that I’ve made one of my own, using HMPC’s very own recipe. Hoosier Mama pastry chef and co-owner Paula Haney was lovely enough to share her rec

Ok, you pie-o-phobes, this is the pie for you. So easy! So quick! So impossible to screw up! And oh, the way it makes your kitchen smell! Here’s the brief version, then we’ll walk you through the step-by-step, with photos. You mix dark brown sugar, maple syrup, a little flour and a couple chunks of butter in a saucepan and warm it, stirring, til the butter melts. When it’s cooled a bit, you drizzle

I know I should feel sad that a “pie fairy” is retiring, but I am so overwhelmed with charm by the mere fact that there was a pie fairy that I’ve been giddy ever since I heard the news. Oh, wait, I should back up and tell you what I’m talking about. (See? Like I said, giddy.) For the last 35 years at Christmastime, Columbus, Ohio resident Bill Welch has been receiving a pecan pie from an unnam

With both daughters home for winter breaks, CurvyMama’s inclined to get a little sentimental. As each one reaches new stages of independence, I want–what else?–to make sure she has the requisite seasonings to bound happily into her culinary adventures. Much to my proud delight, both have turned out to be damn good on both the savory and sweet sides of the kitchen. So when my firstborn, Hannah, turne

Wow! This is one of easiest and most flamboyant pies you can make. And guess what? No pastry crust! That makes it great for crust-o-phobics, and also a nice little entry in the gluten-free category.