Author Archives: fancyfrenchfilly

Petanque is a game much like bocce ball. Obviously played in France. To quote the recipe book…”This is the most time-consuming dessert to make in this book.” That certainly turned out to be true!! There are so many components in this dessert. Hazelnut cake, A hand-made chocolate box, hazelnut-almond praline, praline pastry cream, chocolate “gravel”(theContinue reading “37th Recipe: Pe`tanque”

This recipe was all about the Chocolate !!! There was chocolate meringue straws, layers of chocolate ganache, and a trio of chocolate mousse…white, milk and dark chocolate. Here’s the picture…. Another special mold was needed for this. Since the recipe made enough for two of these, I chose not to buy 2 molds, but instead,Continue reading “36th Recipe: Chocolate Pandemonium”

The difficulty in this recipe lies most with getting them to look as beautiful as the picture in the book. Being slightly artistic in nature…I couldn’t wait to try. And I was so disappointed when I fell short. But on a brighter note…they tasted great, and the attempt was fun anyway. Here’s the pic…. TrulyContinue reading “35th Recipe: The Royale”

The author explains that the name “Jerez” represents a region in Spain that is known for their sherry. Sherry wine has a pretty broad taste spectrum. There are dry, sweet, and nutty varieties. I used a cream sherry; dry and sweet. Here is the picture in the book…. That’s caramelized pine nuts you see, surroundingContinue reading “34th Recipe: Jerez”

Let’s get right to it…… That’s the picture in the book. The top decorations consist of a vanilla bean, a toasted apricot (which is in the filling) and some……??physalis or ground cherries ????? Really? Nothing else looked good to decorate with ?? Not sure at all where THAT came from. The dessert itself consists ofContinue reading “33rd Recipe: Daddy Mac”

Oh! Soooo exciting ! I’ve been waiting to learn to make these ! They are the utterly classic epitome of a good pastry chef. So easy that they’re hard. Only 4 ingredients–powdered sugar, egg whites, sugar, and almond meal; used as a base for so many variations of color and flavor. The classic cookie. Here’sContinue reading “32nd Recipe: Lemon Poppy Seed Macarons”

This one is a surprise. And not in a good way. This is the first one that I did not let anyone but my husband taste, before I just threw it out. We all know (and normally love), this recipe. At least a version of it. The classic chocolate and crème jelly roll, served atContinue reading “31st Recipe: Buche de Noel”

This recipe is pretty self explanatory. Eclairs. With bourbon pastry cream. The only difficulty with this recipe was using the chocolate transfer sheets for the pretty tops. Here is what they should look like….. You can buy all types of designs. I decided to keep mine close to the original recipe’s design. I do thinkContinue reading “30th Recipe: Bourbon Eclairs”

Well, here we are at the second to highest difficulty level. 2 1/2 macarons. There are only 3 recipes in this level. and there are a full 10 in the highest difficulty level. Do I sound intimidated ??? I feel this one went really well, in spite of my fear. Here’s the pic of howContinue reading “29th Recipe: Moulin Rouge”

Pretty self-explanatory, uh ? Here’s the pic….. This is the last recipe in this difficulty group of 2 Macarons. Next one up will be in the harder category of 2 1/2 macarons. I again was not quite sure why this one was labeled with this degree of difficulty, unless maybe they considered the chocolate curlsContinue reading “28th Recipe: Beer Float”