Viennese Sablés

Viennese Sablés remind me of fancy butter cookies. It's impossible to be satisfied eating only one of these cookies; who can resist a crispy, buttery, mildly sweet cookie? This recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking Chez Moi, where she explains some of the different reasons why these cookies are "W"-shaped. In short, it could be either because they came from a pâtissier named Wittamer, or because of the location this cookie was created: Wien (German for Vienna). 

Crackle-Top Cream Puffs

I know I've been posting quite a bit of choux recipes lately, but I think this will be one of the last ones I do for a while. I was on a mission to figure out how to make pastry cream correctly, and I needed to make something using my successful results. Luckily Dorie Greenspan has a lot of different recipes that include pastry cream-filled goodies in Baking Chez Moi. This recipe looked really good in the cook book, and it turned out pretty well when I made it, too! This is pretty much your standard cream puff, but enhanced by a thin crispy layer of a brown sugar crackle on top. It brings a little bit of sweetness and a little bit of a crunch to the table, both of which I can't resist.

Coconut Tapioca

I have always enjoyed tapioca, but I usually ate it out of a plastic container labeled "Jell-O." Dorie Greenspan's Baking Chez Moi includes a recipe for Coconut Tapioca, which I made because it was an assignment for Tuesdays with Dorie.

Mille Feuille

Mille Feuille can be translated as "a thousand leaves" and rightfully so, as you can really feel your teeth sinking into layers and layers of puff pastry in just one bite. Each layer sandwiches a vanilla pastry cream which provides a nice subtle sweetness with a smooth texture to balance out the flaky pastry.

Bubble Éclairs

I originally made these Bubble Éclairs because I wanted to test out Dorie's pasty cream recipe. However, I gave up on the pastry cream after several failed attempts. I ended up making these Éclairs with a cocoa whipped cream filling instead. I also wanted to make these Éclairs because I thought I could knock 2 recipes out in one shot (also making Chouquettes).  All in all, these turned out well and I would make these again.