chocolate shortbread cookies from thomas keller's bouchon bakery

part 1 of 2 of my christmas gift to my coworkers.  

i knew that i wanted to bake something for christmas presents but i just didn't know what.  i thought about cupcakes, cookies, bars.... but all the portions seemed too big.  i wanted something bite-sized and easily packaged so that i could have a present for everyone.  

chocolate bouchons from thomas keller's bouchon bakery

rich. decadent. chocolate. bouchons. with ice cream.  all i can say is yum.

brioche au chocolat from joanne chang's flour bakery

i had half a batch of brioche dough from when i made sticky buns sitting in the freezer.  i needed to the freezer space so i looked in joanne chang's flour: spectacular recipes from boston's flour bakery + cafe to find something suitable to make with the other half of the dough.  i love chocolate so i naturally i choose a recipe entitled "brioche au chocolat"

what is this? to put it simply, its chocolate bread.  it takes some advanced preparation but this pastry can be made in 5 simple steps. continue reading to find steps 1 through 4

step 6: enjoy!

pasty cream. flour bakery style.

part 1 to making brioche au chocolate.  pastry cream.  knowing how to make a good pastry cream is important since it is the foundation for so many desserts.  

all finished! ( please excuse the bad lighting )

cookbook library -- flour: spectacular recipes from boston's flour bakery + cafe.

my first and only visit to joanne chang's flour bakery was in november 2011 when my boyfriend mentioned these delicious sticky buns he used to get on his walk to work back when he lived in boston.   he told me that these said sticky buns competed against bobby flay on the food network's throwdown and won.  after that i was convinced.

we strolled in around noon and the line was out the door!  that was a sign that this place had to be good.  and i was right.  before i knew it i had a mouthwateringly, gooey sticky bun in my hands.  i left flour that day with my tummy feeling very satisfied and my heart feeling very happy.

it wasn't soon after that we discovered that she had a cookbook.  i was so in love with the bakery that i had to have it.  and so may i present to you.... 

sticky buns from joanne chang's flour bakery.

after waiting and waiting for the brioche to proof, i was finally able to make my sticky buns.  i must say, this recipe is very time consuming (about 30 minutes of kneading, 6 hours to proof in the refrigerator, and 2 hours for the dough to rise... more or less 9 hours in total), but it was definitely worth it.  the bread was moist and rich.  the goo was sticky and flavorful.  i only have one word to summarize it.  YUMMY!

a nice golden brown :D

brioche loaves from joanne chang's flour bakery.

the last time i tried to make brioche, they turned out kinda horrible.  the bread was hard and almost inedible.  ever since then i have been scarred.  i didn't want my bread to be rock hard.  thats the complete opposite of what bread should taste like.  but i have decided to face my fears so that i can flour bakery's oh so famous sticky buns.

to ease my fears i will do this step in batches.  well.... i had to since the recipe calls for the dough to proof for at least 6 hours in the refrigerator....

look at it go!

chocolate hazelnut cookies from joanne chang's flour bakery.

sorry that i don't have my own pictures but i decided to make these on a whim and honestly, i just forgot.  sorry.  i'll update this post when i make them again.  which will be soon because they were super delicious.  

photo borrowed from playingwithflour.com

macaroni gratin from thomas keller's bouchon. cupcake style.

my boyfriend has his team holiday lunch potluck and he volunteered me to make his favorite macaroni and cheese.  i made this for him once because i was testing recipes from thomas keller's bouchon cookbook and he hasn't stopped requesting it since.  and luckily for him, i love it too. 

so there i was, the night before, prepared to make this delectable goodie and they boyfriend says to me "how am i going to reheat this?".  that was a problem.   i guess its not common for offices to have an oven and the pyrex pan i was planning to use would be too big to fit in the microwave.  after a couple of minutes of brain-storming, we came up with a solution.  a very cute solution, might i add.

Fresh out of the oven!

homemade honey boba.

i. love. boba.  there i said it.  i love it.  I'm in love with it.  however, i'm very particular about the ingredients in it.  the milk has to be fresh and it can't be too sweet.  boba that comes from powder?  just forget about it.  that being said, i naturally had to learn to make it on my own.  the recipe below is simple, only three ingredients: honey, brown sugar, tapioca balls.  yes, it takes a little time but the end result is worth it.  nothing is more satisfying than that tall glass of jasmine milk green tea with honey boba after a long day and a very delectable meal....

now if i could only learn to make grass jelly as well......

homemade citron honey ginger concentrate.

with flu season right around the corner i have something that will make you feel warm and tingly all over!  its easy, delicious and can help soothe that sore throat.  

honey lemon-y ginger-y goodness.

i'm sure you've seen it around the asian super market.  its in a jar marked "citron honey tea" and its contents has a similar consistency to jam?  my local asian supermarket had a deal on them and i was going to pick one up until i looked at the ingredients.  the first one was ... dun dun dun ... high fructose corn syrup ... what else?  being health conscious and all, i put it back. :(

after some researching, i realized that this concentrate was quite easy to make at home.  all i needed was a jar, honey, anything citrus-y ( lemons in my case ) and ginger!  so i set out to make my own homemade "citron honey tea" :D while making it, i suddenly found that i couldn't stop watching the honey slowly seep in between the slices of honey.  it reminded me of ants digging tunnels in an ant farm.  i have no idea why but i couldn't help but watch!

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hello world.

hello everyone.

my blog is currently a work in progress.   please check back for further updates.  stay tuned!

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