Day Five: Flambeeing Apples

As you can see from my first picture, today was exciting! We sauteed then flambeed apples in Calvados. I don't know if you can see the intense concentration on my face (or fear). It was slightly scary doing it for the first time but really fun. I wouldn't try it at home unless your entire kitchen is stainless steel. The trick is taking the pan of the fire, slowly pouring in the liquor, then tilting it toward the gas flame until the whole pan ignites in flames.

We used the flambeed apples in a Tart Alsacciane--an apple and custard tart from the Alsace region of France. The second tart we made today was a baked apricot tart. We also baked gingersnaps from the dough we made a couple of days ago, mixed more tart dough for next week, and prepared vanille kipferl dough. Vanille kipferls are an Austrian crescent shaped cookie made with hazelnut flour. We also made a batch of pastry dough by hand, using the sablage method of mixing it on the counter

My first week of pastry school is now officially over. I have a lot of information to process over the long weekend. Tonight JB and I celebrate five years of marriage at a restaurant whose executive chef graduated from my school. I'm thankful that JB's office is about a 10 minute walk south from the school. Every day after school I've been walking my tarts down to his office for him and his co-workers to enjoy. I hope they're not too tired of tarts, because more are coming next week! Lemon, chocolate, Bavarian cream, nut, rustic onion, tomato...