One foggy San Francisco day, food stylist/baker/food blogger Bebe of Champagne and Cookies came over to teach my daughter the art of cream puffs. Ever since watching the Great British Baking Show our family has wanted to make, but intimidate by, Choux Pastry dough. After a couple of professional run-ins with Bebe, we put this event on the calendar and made it happen.
We followed the recipe by Yossy Arefi from her book Sweeter Off the Vine: Fruit Desserts for Every Season. We first made the sage-infused blackberry jam. The smell of the ingredients filled the kitchen, I could almost swear I could see a berry-haze in the kitchen. Next Eva got a lesson on mixing pate a choux. The instructions were spot-on an produced a perfect dough. Having a professional on hand to teach the tricks and tips was such a treat, Eva (the namesake of my Signature Modern Food Tote) learned how to fill the pastry bag, properly pipe the dough, and bake the shells to perfection. The filling was made with heavy cream and marscapone which was the perfect compliment to the sweet jam. At times the kitchen was silent with concentration and other times filled with silly laughter. By the end of the process, my son Branch (namesake to my newest "EveryMan" | Market Tote) was helping to assemble cream puffs and of course eat them. I took my job seriously as the dishwasher and documentary photographer.
After the kitchen was cleaned, the cream puffs styled and photographed (and mostly eaten), we toasted our successful collaboration with new favorite drink I learned while visiting friends in Virginia this summer, Tequila Tonics with Lime and we added Blackberry and Sage, never want to waste an ingredient. Soon we found our way to the living room watching the iconic movie Julie & Julia. What a way to celebrate the week before Julia Child's birthday. We laughed, finished off the cream puffs and got to planning a dinner party for our next adventure.
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