In Spain, it's traditional to bring treats into the office around your birthday. I like to bake; but I don't like getting fat...which means that I usually bake something, try a little, and then give the rest away. In the US, people just took their treat and went on their merry way. In Spain, however, bringing in treats means that I'm fielding questions about whether it's my birthday, why I decided to make something, etc. etc. (You'd think that people wouldn't really care when random treats come along, geez.)
At last, my birthday has come around so I finally get to bring in treats without following it with a huge explanation...it even fell on a Sunday so I could bake ALL weekend! I was super excited so I started looking at recipes about 3 weeks in advance. I eventually landed on 4 things...
Gameplan:
Cookie Crusted Profiteroles w/ Vanilla Creme Filling: Saturday: make dough for profiteroles and cookies, form and freeze. Sunday: make 1st stage of filling. Monday morning before work: bake profiteroles. Finish and bottle filling. Fill pastries in office.
Croissants: Sunday: make dough and freeze. Monday morning: final rise and bake
Chocolate Cookies w/ White Chocolate Chips: make and bake Saturday
Apple Walnut Mini-Muffins: make and bake on Sunday
Croissants: Sunday: make dough and freeze. Monday morning: final rise and bake
Chocolate Cookies w/ White Chocolate Chips: make and bake Saturday
Apple Walnut Mini-Muffins: make and bake on Sunday
I really wanted to make the profiteroles and croissants...but I had to have the cookies and muffins as a backup in case the first 2 didn't pan out. There was a lot to do so took Friday off for grocery shopping. =)
As I began the prep work, I thought that perhaps I was a bit too ambitious...
Too late now! Full speed ahead!!!
Saturday went pretty much to plan. Making and piping out the profiterole dough was something I had done before...just now I topped them with a cute little butter cookie hat! (I'll have to think of something to do with the extra cookie dough seeing as how I had to make 4x the quantity required.) Vanilla filling didn't get made...it was really hot so I lost motivation and put it off until Sunday. Cookies came out pretty well though...one down, 3 to go!
Thankfully, Sunday was a bit cooler due to the overcast skies and rain. Much better weather to stand near the oven and bake. Making the croissant dough was really labor intensive (which was, of course, part of the appeal) but it was made more difficult by Barcelona's summer heat. The butter got soft very quickly and I was making frequent trips to the freezer. (In case you didn't know, croissant dough requires a significant amount of butter to be folded and layered into a base dough. How else do you think you get the layers?) But I eventually got it done and froze everything for Monday. Made the vanilla filling and was pretty pleased with it. Muffins came out fine. 2 down...2 to go!
Monday morning, I woke up at 5 to finish the profiteroles [bake] and croissants [final rise and bake]. Why couldn't I bake them a day or two beforehand? Don't be naive...neither would have never withstood the humidity of Barcelona for that long! Had to be done the day of.
Profiteroles baked up beautifully from frozen! They were adorable with their little cookie covering! =) Mini croissants turned out pretty well too. As everything was cooling, I folded whipped cream (none of that canned stuff) into the filling from Sunday, bottled everything up, and packed up to go to work.
Now, what am I going to bring in for American Thanksgiving?...
As I began the prep work, I thought that perhaps I was a bit too ambitious...
Saturday went pretty much to plan. Making and piping out the profiterole dough was something I had done before...just now I topped them with a cute little butter cookie hat! (I'll have to think of something to do with the extra cookie dough seeing as how I had to make 4x the quantity required.) Vanilla filling didn't get made...it was really hot so I lost motivation and put it off until Sunday. Cookies came out pretty well though...one down, 3 to go!
Thankfully, Sunday was a bit cooler due to the overcast skies and rain. Much better weather to stand near the oven and bake. Making the croissant dough was really labor intensive (which was, of course, part of the appeal) but it was made more difficult by Barcelona's summer heat. The butter got soft very quickly and I was making frequent trips to the freezer. (In case you didn't know, croissant dough requires a significant amount of butter to be folded and layered into a base dough. How else do you think you get the layers?) But I eventually got it done and froze everything for Monday. Made the vanilla filling and was pretty pleased with it. Muffins came out fine. 2 down...2 to go!
Profiteroles baked up beautifully from frozen! They were adorable with their little cookie covering! =) Mini croissants turned out pretty well too. As everything was cooling, I folded whipped cream (none of that canned stuff) into the filling from Sunday, bottled everything up, and packed up to go to work.
Clockwise from bottom: profiteroles, muffins, croissants, cookies. Treats went over pretty well! I had a 2 hour meeting before lunch so I filled the tray before I left...and it was empty when I got back! =) The croissants were very popular. People were hesitant to get a profiterole until I labeled them. Overall, the profiteroles were my favorite and they were so easy to bake from frozen. The cookie crust helped the top stay nice and crunchy and it contrasted really well with the creamy filling inside. I'm temped to make some and keep them on hand...but then that would take another couple hours out of my day.
And here goes a special shout out to my mule!
Now, what am I going to bring in for American Thanksgiving?...
Ohmygosh!! What gorgeous treats! I wish it had been your birthday when you visited us. Can we bake something together next time??
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