Baking and Patisserie 2

Monday we began cookies. Things weren't really going well. Master and I partnered up. The night started with a lecture - some girl in the bathroom called Chef L a "nazi" - which, I hate that word. But then I pointed out to Master that we've both seen that girl out in the hall during class on the phone, so no wonder she failed the class twice - Chef L is really strict about the rules. But. We get out around 11:30.

Anyway we made madeleines, three versions of mexican wedding cookies, and biscotti. I don't know why, but I felt majorly rushed - I felt like I was way behind. We screwed up the madeleine twice - first time mixing the eggs in right away, and then the next the butter wasn't soft enough. But the third time, the batch turned out well.

But by that time, I was having these chest pains that were freaking me out. I was bent over trying to breathe while still putting together ingredients.
Mexican wedding cookies:
sift confectioner's sugar, then cream butter and sugar.
add pastry flour, vanilla extract, and chopped nuts to creaming mixture.
3 shapes: small ball, small ball rolled in nuts then thumbprint for filling, and icebox (log 1.25 inches in diameter) then slice thin.

They got dipped the next day: some in chocolate, the rounder version in powdered sugar as soon as it came out. This isn't our dipped tray - I accidentally dipped the madeleines in the wrong side. Oh well.


Lessons Learned:
We learned how to make paper cones for dripping chocolate our of parchment paper. This works really well for a thin drip. Fold the parchment to make two triangles (kind of like starting an origami crane). Then cut the triangle in half. Grab with two fingers along the hypotenuse, fold one corner into the tip. Roll the other side around, then shuffle your fingers to make the tip sharp as a point. You should be able to fill the cone without any water dripping out. Fill with chocolate, then cut the tip enough to drip out the chocolate.