mille feuille

it is starting to feel like christmas has been so close. wherever i go, i hear christmas songs playing and christmas decorations have already hung everywhere. so warming! i have made panettone last week, which is a traditional italian bread usually served during christmas. this time, i want to get a little merrier with mille feuille. i think this pastry will soon be a hit around the city, replacing red velvet cake and macarons.

turns out this pastry is crazily easy to make but insanely delicious. however, i didn't make my own puff pastry from scratch and just used the store bought one. if you were planning to make it from scratch, well it may take you some time to make it before you are able to make this mille feuille. once you had your puff pastry in your hand, mille feuille is made just by stacking those puff pastry and layer it with cream and any fillings that you like. i prefer fruits though.. mine was layered with cream diplomat and peaches and then topped with another thin layer of cream diplomat and finely chopped dried cranberries, mint leaves and last but not least.. generous amount of shaved white chocolate. the topping gives you shades of red and green which will go well with this holiday theme. and the minty flavor you got from munching those leaves are just adorable and refreshing.. i want to eat it againnn, now!

one thing that i'm not really content with is the cream diplomat. cream diplomat is basically pastry cream mixed with some whipped cream so that it becomes lighter. i love the taste of it so much, but i didn't get the super smooth satiny cream texture i wanted. it's all because i added the pastry cream into the whipped cream in undesirable temperature. you should wait until the pastry cream has completely cool before you add it to the whipped cream, otherwise your cream diplomat will curdle and looks ugly and separated. i hope none of you follow my mistakes, okay? ;) and look at those roses, they are real roses! bicolor roses with red and yellow color. they are so beautiful, aren't they?! 

KBB#26: panettone

hello everyone, it feels great to be back from my unofficial hiatus last month. let's start this month with last month's KBB challenge. we were expected to make a traditional italian christmas bread. yay! panettone! feel so satisfied making this bread. it is surprisingly good for my taste because usually i didn't like fruit cake or raisin bread but this one is an exception.

at first, i really wanted to excuse my self from joining this panettone challenge. but deep inside my heart i still wanted to make it so much. so until the day before the last day (yeah it sounds confusing..) of November, i decided to make this beautiful panettone by skipping my Wednesday class. hahaha. i did it for the sake of panettone! i made it half a day and i wouldn't be able to do it if i didn't skip class. i hope nobody would punish me for this ;)

fortunately, the result is soo great.. that is why i feel so satisfied with it, at least my sacrifice for skipping class was worth it. i heard some of other's panettone didn't rise in the oven or even when it was being proofed because this bread is not the usual kind of white bread, this is called the rich bread dough which contains so many fat in it. let me share my experience below.. promise you that today i will give you more details on the directions. i didn't think my bread would rise as well when i proofed it, but suddenly when i baked them, they were like poof rising to the top and cracked on the center. they were so beautiful i can't even believe my self made it. so, any of you tempted to make it, let's wait no more and read the recipe below.. :D