Pastry Maestra

Free Video Tutorials on Baking, Pastry making and Creating Desserts. Have a sweet life!

Pastry Maestra

Frozen Desserts

by

“F

rozen dessert” Now – that’s a nice thought, right? Did you think of an ice cream? I did! The supermarket freezer loaded with different brands and flavors of ice cream, or a local ice cream shop with window display full of freshly made artisan ice cream! Mhm, that image is certainly worth a thousand spoons…sorry – words! I’m so distracted now that only a hefty dosage of frozen delight can repair my train of thoughts, and I think I have just the thing in my freezer! Chocolate, half a gallon of course! O.K! Now I can talk about frozen desserts until brain freeze hits me!

Dado’s Bread

by

I

’m very picky about my bread! The crust has to be crunchy, of course, and inside – I want beautiful taste, airiness and softness, in that order and without exception. One thing I hate the most is the soft and chewy crust, and that often happens when Jugo blows. What the fudge is Jugo? Well, Jugo is a strong, relatively warm, but highly unpleasant wind that blows in Dalmatia – southern Croatian region – from the South-East, meaning from the sea.

Paris-Brest, the Most Delicious Bicycle Wheel

by

I

have a confession to make. Embarrassingly, I couldn’t ride a bicycle until just a few years ago, believe it or not! I couldn’t hold the balance, and I was scared of falling. Who likes to fall on the tarmac? Not me! At the same time, my nephew (age 4) learned the skill in one afternoon and became the ruler of the nearby parking lot! Although I can ride the bike now, there is another type of wheels that I prefer much more – the sweet, cream-filled ones!

Mini Poppy Seed Bundt Cakes

by

B

undt cake is a cake baked (surprise, surprise!) in a bundt pan, which is a round, ring-shaped fluted pan, also called gugelhupf [gügəlˌhu̇(p)f] pan. What the fudge is gugelhupf?! Is somebody choking me, or do I need a Heimlich?!

Popped Amaranth Granola Bars

by

P

op till you drop – that’s my motto! How about you – do you like popcorn? I love popcorn! Hot from the microwave, or directly from a saucepan, crispy, salty, with some butter melting on the top, of course! I particularly like to nibble the extra crunchy ones that didn’t pop all the way! Anyway, I must admit that until recently I was living in the dark, thinking that corn is the single edible ‘dancer’ around, but – as they say –“It takes two to pop”, and yes – there is another ‘popping’ agent available – amaranth!

How to Make Soft Caramels

by

W

e are playing with sugar today, folks! It always amazes me how it is possible to make a heavenly bite using only ordinary, everyday ingredients like sugar and cream! No less than a miracle, that’s what it is!

Tiramisu

by

T

iramisu, in Italian tiramisù, which means “pick me up”, is a rich, creamy dessert made of ladyfingers soaked in strong coffee and luscious mascarpone cream. Why pick me up, you ask?

Chouquettes – the Lipstick’s Nemeses

by

“H

air? Check! Nails? Check! Makeup? Check and check! Finally I’m ready to go! Oh, look – chouquettes! Mmmm…I’ll just have one! Darn! Now I have to do my lipstick again…but it was worth it!”

How to Pipe with Melted Chocolate

by

O

ne thing that always takes my breath away is a display of those perfect French-style decorated entremets [ɑ̃tʁəmɛ] (for modern pastry chefs, an entremet is a multi-layered mousse-based cake with various complementary flavors and varying textural contrasts)! That glossy glaze and delicate chocolate piping on the top, ah, be still my heart!