Sticky Buns

Sticky buns 

a.k.a. Cinnamon rolls

Made from brioche dough, rum-raisins, toasted pecans, and the mandatory cinnamon sugar

Proofed 

And baked!

It was the last course to a super-scrumptious Indian/Japanese home-cooked meal. 

One of the perks to an international life;-)

A "Slow" Breakfast: Snail Buns & Escargot Puffs

More like a heavy breakfast! Or a fancy one? 

Anyway, not your typical breakfast. But then, why not?

Where do you get snails? 

From a can, of course! 

(I have no idea where they actually come from... Maybe a snail farm?)

These two dishes called for a lot of parsley -- generous sprinklings of it everywhere.

Which is great because we (= my enthusiastic housemate) started a garden awhile back. How wonderful to just walk out of your kitchen for a handful of herbs! 

First, the snail buns:

brioche dough slathered with garlic butter and peppered with parsley.

And then rolled and stuffed with snails.

The dough rose beautifully this time, unlike the disappointingly lackluster rise from my first attempt at making brioche (I think I even wrote about how pie-baking skills were non-tranferable to pastry-baking...). This time, the brioche rose so much that the snails all popped out! Oy!

Hot brioche snail buns.

 And the escargot puffs:

savory cream puffs dabbed with garlicky-parsley butter and stuffed with escargot.

Breakfast is served!

I'm not sure if I've tried escargot before (well, now I know I have). They were a lot like golbangi, not surprisingly. Chewy and squishy as they are, I think I might opt for a more "accessible" filling next time!

Banana Split Pie

The final ice-cream pie of the project!

I lugged over a lot of ingredients for this one...

The bottom layer: 

vanilla wafer crust, homemade caramel, liqueur-infused bananas, and roasted walnuts.

 The top layer: 

triple vanilla ice-cream 

 And finally:

hot fudge, more caramel, more walnuts, and a baby banana:) 

Nomnomnom

Bear Claws

Making Danish pastry; is there anything so wonderful as a block of French butter wrapped in cardamom-infused dough?

 With dabs of remonce (buttery, sugary almond paste)

 How many claws does a bear have again?

 Actually, my first time not only making but eating a bear claw. 

Very almondy!

***

 Awhile back, I remade the Mango Passion Tart.

Some pies are impossible to make here because the ingredients are unavailable.

This is NOT one of them -- mangos and passion fruit are just everywhere!

It's a nice trade-off ;)

A sunny treat!

Burnt Almond Ice-Cream Tartlets

First attempt at making ice-cream in Rwanda

(Yes, I had my itty-bitty ice-cream maker shipped here!)

Chocolate cookie tart crusts

Ice-cream made with local coffee beans:)

Frozen...

"Burnt" (= toasted until dark) almond in chocolate topping

Eh, voila!

My first ice-cream attempt was more ice than cream because of the repeated power outtages and melting the ice-cream probably went through. Ah well, it's about the effort and experience!

Roasted Red Pepper & Poblano Quiche and The Grand Canyon Pie

I spent two and a half glorious weeks in the US, I think for the first time since I started this project. And it reminded me all over again why this project is a challenge, and why it would hardly be one if I were living State side. Just five minutes from my sister's place was a Whole Foods, which had pretty much all the ingredients I needed to bake every pie in the book! And if it wasn't there, I could order it online and have it delivered within a few days. I heart America, if not for anything else, but for the shopping!

So, I got right down to it, targeting pies with "rare" ingredients.

Here: cheddar crust (so cheap!), red pepper, and poblanos (which I was considering growing...)

Using half-and-half for the first time, instead of making my own (=half milk, half cream)

Pies are so pretty right before going into the oven.

First home-cooked dinner: yummy!

And the Grand Canyon Pie

It was a many layered pie: 

Oreo cookie crust, rich chocolate ganache, fresh raspberries, and chocolate & almond whipped cream

Topped with chocolate meringue "boulders" (I think that's what makes it the "grand canyon" pie)

Each bite was chocolaty - creamy perfection!

* * *

And I made apple dumplings (again) and caramel apples with hand-picked apples.

It was a lovely, lovely trip, for many reasons, and a much needed vacation. 

I can't wait to be back again, not only for the baking opportunities, but for the familiar faces and places...:)

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

Yes, I’m still here! A lot has happened since I last updated: I moved twice, relearned how to drive, took a vacation, was a bridesmaid for the first (and perhaps last time) in my life, attended to two trainings, and had work pick up even more speed. This all adds up to very little time for baking, and even less time for blogging. In fact, this pie was made like three months ago!

And it was actually one of my biggest flops ever. All I had on hand at the time were really old eggs, and the yolk kept running into the whites, making them unfit for meringue-whipping.

I think I “messed-up” almost a whole carton of eggs! Talk about pure frustration! Faced with utter failure, I ventured out in the middle of the night in search of fresh eggs. I ended up making the nearby corner store reopen its doors for me just after it had closed for the night. (Many thanks to my former housemate for negotiating for me!)

Even so, it didn’t quite work out... No pretty pictures of the perfect slice exist because it turned out to be more pudding than pie and we all ended up eating straight from the pan with spoons. Ah well, you win some and you lose some, I guess!