Day Eighty-Eight

Croissants!  This is the first time I’ve ever made real, true croissants.  I want to make them again because it was pretty fun.   Before ^

                                     And after….



Beauties!



Not bad for my first try!  I had a lot of help from Chef, of course.

We also made this beautiful crackled beer bread. 



It’s made with rye flour and beer (duh).  I ate a lot of this tonight and it was very good.




We also made waffles.  I thought we were going to make Belgian liege waffles, but these were regular old French waffles.  We cooked them in a cast iron waffle maker. 



And topped them with powdered sugar. 



You know what we ended up doing with the leftover brioche loaves?  We sliced it up, dipped it in an orange blossom-almond syrup, topped it with frangipane, sliced almonds and powdered sugar, and baked it off.  Miam-miam!  It’s called Bostock. 



I can’t believe we made all of this stuff today.  WHAT am I going to do with twenty croissants?!


And now, my last interview!  Today we’re featuring Kelsey.  Kelsey is one of my classmates in pastry school.  I think she’s fallen in love with pastry over the semester; she’s incredibly passionate about everything we do.  I see her having her own cake business one day.  Her gum paste flowers are amazing! 



Where is home? 

Manlius, Illinois.  A very small town in the middle of Illinois.  I consider myself to have two home towns since most of my family lives in Walnut, IL, and I have spent many days there. 

Former profession?  

Student at NIU, I was a History Major. 

What made you come to pastry school?   I felt like I didn't belong at the school. I enjoyed my history classes but nothing else. I knew I couldn't live off of my Scentsy  income and wanted to do something else I loved so I went for it. I just needed a change and I found the school and just signed up.  

Do you have any secret talents?  

Not really.  

What has been your favorite week in school so far and why?  Least favorite?  

I haven't really had a week that I didn't like. I've had tough weeks, but those are more caused by things that are going on at home not in school. I think my favorite week was Sugar Candies week. I didn't expect to like making candies so much, but I really enjoyed making all of the candies.  

What do you want to do after graduation?  

That is kind of up in the air right now. 

What’s your favorite dessert to eat?  

I like simpler desserts.  Nothing too fancy.  

What’s something you have learned in pastry school?  

I've learned so much.  So much about food science, types of foods, and myself.  I could not just pick one thing.

Thank you, Kelsey!