August 27, 2012

Pâte à Choux Swans (Daring Bakers' Challenge)

Vanilla and Mocha Pate a Choux Swans

I'm continuing to have a lot of fun with the Daring Bakers' monthly challenges!  This month, we were challenged to make filled pâte à choux swans (or, more generally pâte à choux shapes).  Prior to this challenge, I had no idea what pâte à choux was - I soon discovered that it is the pastry used for cream puffs.  I love cream puffs (here in Seattle, they're often served at pho places - is that the case anywhere else?) so I was very excited to get started!

Kat of The Bobwhites was our August 2012 Daring Baker hostess who inspired us to have fun in creating pate a choux shapes, filled with crème patisserie or Chantilly cream. We were encouraged to create swans or any shape we wanted and to go crazy with filling flavors allowing our creativity to go wild!

August 2, 2012

Blueberry Pie Cookies

Blueberry Pie Cookies


Camping is one of my favorite summer activities.  Car camping, boat camping, backpacking...I love it all, and one of my favorite things to do after I arrive at the campsite is to relax with a good book and something tasty.  Most of the time, these are store-bought cookies or crackers.  Sometimes, they are tasty homemade pastries.  Recently, I've been dreaming of bringing along the ultimate summer baked good (pie, of course).