The Little Ovens

Hi all,
We're well into the petit four unit here, so here is our second tray, showing what we made on days 3 and 4 of this unit.

On the left, we have allumettes, or matchsticks. We made a coconut puff pastry and spread royal icing over it before we baked it. To be honest, in the rush of everything, I didn't even get to try these.

Next is a surprise favorite...pate de fruit. Now, when I think of a fruit jelly dessert, I generally think of, at best, Chuckles, which are just ok, and at worst, those nasty jellies you get on Passover, which are gross. So it was such a nice surprise when this turned out to be one of my favorites from the tray! Chef Cynthia had gotten several different fruit purees, and we were allowed to choose what we wanted to make. This is a peach-lychee pate de fruit, or, er, peachee. A definite taste sensation!

Next up we have the nougat. Now, this isn't what you'd find in a Snickers bar, as much as I love a Snickers bar. What defines a nougat is that it contains nuts and honey. We used several different types of nuts, and it came out really well. I think I cooked mine more than I would have liked, as it was really hard. That's not wrong, though, it's just a matter of preference. As in, I prefer not to break my teeth on nougat.

In the middle of the tray is opera cake. Let's just take a minute to appreciate opera cake, in all its glory. You have three super thin layers of hazelnut sponge, filled with ganache and coffee buttercream. Yeah, this one's right up my alley. It's so good I took home all the trimmings. We've been eating smooshed pieces of this cake for days, and it's delicious. I'm only slightly ashamed to admit it!

Third from the right is more coconut puff pastry. This time, my partner Nicole and I decided to do mini vol-au-vents, which we filled with a raspberry jelly. You all know my thoughts on raspberry, so I'll just say that other people really enjoyed it.

Second from the right are Sarah Bernhardt cookies, named for the famed 19th century French actor. If you think they look like a part of the female anatomy, well then, you'd be right. Ah, the French! So witty and ribald! Anyway, the base is an almond macaron, and it's filled with a whipped ganache, glazed in chocolate, so naturally, they're awesome.

And last but not least (well, maybe least), we come to the langues de chats, cat's tongues. These are very thin wafer cookies. While they're quite good in their simplicity, I can't help but think they'd be tastier with some chocolate sandwiched in the middle of them to make Milano cookies. But I've been known to overdo things, from time to time.

Well that's all. Our petit four test is quickly approaching. We have to make three assigned petits fours plus one of our choosing. Yikes.