Autumn update

Morning pastries

As we head into official autumn (calendar-wise), I wanted to share a few things I’ve been baking lately - scones for my mom’s assisted living facility; pastries for a neighbor’s morning gathering; French macaron trials for classes I’m teaching through our local school district’s adult enrichment program; late summer fruit torte - all good stuff!

Cinnamon oat crunch scones

Sometimes it’s nice to simply show you what I’ve been up to without all the steps and recipe details. I know we all like to experiment and see how things go. That’s me for sure. I’m always here to answer any questions you might have and share tips and techniques. All you have to do is ask.

Don’t forget to check out my recipe page for all kinds of base recipes to get your creative juices flowing. Or set up a class for yourself and a few friends.

One important baking project was spurred on by a neighborhood cookout to celebrate Carla and Jay’s recent marriage. Carla’s husband Daryl died suddenly 2 years ago and Jay’s wife had died 7 years ago. C and J met a year or so ago and realized that they should be together - and so they are. Congrats to Jay and Carla!!

I made my favorite financier cakes with a mini tiered/roasted strawberry butter-creamed affair surrounded by individual petite cakes and fresh Michigan blueberry garnish. Yummy!

For another neighbor’s morning pastry request I went with almond blueberry Danish, tart cherry feuillitées and orange pecan crumble pull-apart buns. Triple yum!

Almond cream blueberry Danish

Tart cherry filling in puff pastry, topped with oat crunch

Orange pecan crumble pull aparts

Here’s another one - I needed to use up some laminated dough in my freezer before it was too late. That yeast doesn’t last forever you know. Using half a batch of dough (the other half became another Danish-y cream thing), I rolled it out to about a 10”x10” rectangle, spread it with a mixture of 2 tablespoons (28 g) soft butter, 70 g brown sugar, a couple of ounces (~60 g) of toasted ground walnuts and 2 teaspoons espresso powder, rolled it into a log, then sliced ten 1-inch slices. I baked them in buttered/sugared individual 3-inch cake tins/ramekins and then rolled them in espresso sugar (mix espresso powder into granulated sugar to your liking) once out of the oven. Pretty tasty I’d say!

Espresso walnut buns

In preparation for some upcoming French macaron classes I’m teaching, I wanted to do a couple of test batches. I’ve been tweaking my recipe and hope to share it soon. I’ll admit that macaron making has been out of my baking life for awhile. Dough is my passion, but I feel challenged to jump back in and get it juuuuuuust right! So many variables.

These are a pistachio version with an apricot honey Swiss meringue buttercream filling and a central dot of reduced raspberry purée. Yup.

Another version with roasted strawberry buttercream and a center of dark chocolate ganache. Double yup.

Isn’t baking wonderful?!!

Oh - and one more. A peach blueberry version of Marian Burros’ classic plum torte.

Ready to bake

All baked up

Talk about delicious! We enjoyed this torte for dessert topped with vanilla ice cream at cousin Jen’s recently. Triple yup.

Autumn is all about spices, nuts, pears, pumpkins, apples, maple, chocolate, custards and more - get into that kitchen and bake up some goodness!