A Doctor in the Kitchen: A birthday party...

To get this blog started (and since I haven't had time to bake anything), I thought I would do some cheating and post some pictures of a few of my past baking projects (look at for my two most ambitious projects in coming posts).

For my birthday a few years ago, I decided that I would have some friends over, and that I would make a few things for them to eat. This was shortly after I had received my Pierre Hermé books ("Desserts by PH" (DbPH) and "Chocolate Desserts by PH" (CDbPH)), so not surprisingly, the baking was inspired by him (though the Korova cookie recipe is not from the books).

The things I made were the following:
Melodie - DbPH
Nutella Tart - CDbPH
Chocolate Dome - DbPH
Pistachio Macaroons
Passionfruit Tartlets (I think, from looking at the pictures... need to check the books though for the Macaroons and Tartlets to be sure...)
Korova Cookies - (recipe can be found here (not called Korova cookies there, but it is the same, and they were called Korova at this occasion))

The best thing was, without doubt, the Chocolate Dome. It is just two thin layers of a chocolate genoise with a wonderful almond chocolate mousse between them and on top. All in a nice dome shape and covered by a chocolate glaze. All very chocolatey, but not too rich, and it just melts in your mouth. Wonderful.

The Melodie was interesting, with the 20 hour apples and the creme bavaroise making a nice combination. I did however find the cinnamon disks to be hard, so it was tricky to properly cut and eat the cake (this could have been due to my baking...). I have at later instances used the 20 hour apples and creme bavaroise combo in other creations, so that part of the recipe I can recommend. (On a side note, I should mention that I have read on other blogs that people have had good results with their "20 hour apples" even when using a higher temperature and shorter time, but how much fun is that...?)

The Nutella Tart was good and rich, but compared to many other PH recipes, it was not that spectacular (when you eat too much PH stuff - especially on the same day - you become a bit picky...).

The macaroons were once again good, but not as good as the chocolate macaroons I had previously made. Since learning about the wonder of those small creations known as macaroons, I have tried a number of different flavour combinations, and still I will have to say that my favourite one is just chocolate.

The tartletts were a bit too fruity for me, but appreciated by others.

The Korova cookies were the best of the cookies, and I have made these again quite recently. These are amazingly good cookies, and if you make them, they won't last long. They are extremely chocolatey and good.

So, without further ado, here is what you have been waiting for; the pictures: