February Recipe - Croissants

Our February Recipe is here! This month The Maiden Metallurgist chose our recipe for the month, which happens to be (if you forgot to read the title) Croissants. She has been waiting for almost a year (since May 09) for a reason to make these, and fortunately for us decided now is the time. Her recipe comes from a fellow blogger with explicit instruction in written and picture form. (The recipe comes from her previous blog account so be sure to check the link at the bottom). If making bread scares you - you will do well with these great instructions.

photo credit Elizabeth, A Bread A Day

I've made puff pastry once before which was very similar to this dough. If you have a marble slab you are in luck! If not, the refrigerator will become your best friend! It takes a lot of time so don't wait till the last minute.... and don't be afraid to try it. Baking bread is a great skill to have, and once you have mastered this dough basic bread will be a piece of cake.

I'm not going to copy the whole recipe, but you can find it with this link. Great pictures too. Oh, and if you don't have a stand mixer, a wooden spoon and some elbow grease will be fine in the mixing stage. Thanks for choosing this month's recipe A.

Good Luck!

The Lovely Lady Baker

All tarted up

Yummm. This was my first attempt at lemon bars. In fact, the first lemon bar that I ever had was the lemon bar that Elisa makes (described below). Also yum. I never knew it, but I love the occasional lemon bar. That intensity of color, flavor, impact! Wowwee wow.

Now, having said all that. I thoroughly enjoyed my first foray into lemon bardom. But despite Tartine's fame as a fabulous bakery, I still think I could do better. First of all, I believe that the ratio of lemon filling to crust is too high. I would cut back on the filling and double the crust. Speaking of crust, I did include pine nuts in mine; next time, I will cut them up into little bits (not quite ground up), toast them a little and disperse the tasty nuttiness throughout the dough.

And, well, I would definitely give this another go... as soon as I have a hankering for a sweet, tart treat.

Ummm…Lemon Bars!

Lemon Bars, Oh Lemon Bars – I love lemon bars…Actually this was not my favorite recipe.
The Crust: I put pinenuts in the crust as suggested. I didn’t like the texture of them in the crust, but I liked the flavor they added. Next time, I think I’ll lightly toast and then chop finely.
The Filling: I thought the filling was too “custardy.” Perhaps too many eggs? I prefer Emeril Lagasse’s filling:
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt
My next lemon bars will be a combination: this crust + Emeril’s filling!