Happy Valentine's Day

I don't have a recipe for you today, or tales of recent food travels, but I do have a report on my most recent kitchen endeavor: Valentine's Day sampler boxes.  If you are in the Philly area, and would like one, I have a few left!

It took a few days to plan out the recipes, gather supplies, and of course make each recipe.  I used flavor, texture, and eye appeal to guide my choices.  At the start, I wasn't sure what I wanted to include, but I knew that I didn't want to re-create the typical Valetine's Day chocolate box.  I wanted a variety treats, rather than a uniform box of chocolates, to convey thoughtfulness and care.

Contents: Brown butter almond cakes, sour strawberry pâte de fruit, wrapped salted caramels, chocolate cupcake, hazelnut dragées, assorted tea cookies (pistachio, chai, or citrus cranberry), peppermint meringue hearts with dark chocolate ganache.

Now that I've finished the boxes, I realize that its contents reflect my time in professional kitchens.  For example, I taught myself how to make the 'love' cupcakes after an informational interview with a pastry chef.  She told me I needed to start a portfolio if I ever hoped to be allowed into a kitchen.

I remember I used to cook five pound batches of pâte de fruit (fruit gelees) at a Michelin restaurant in SF, and every time I felt like one of those witchesfrom Macbeth.  Do you know the scene with the giant pot? "Double, double, toil and trouble.  Fire burn and cauldron bubble."  No...?  Ok, moving on.  

Whenever I pipe anything, I can still hear the voice of a very French chef correcting my pastry bag grip. 

Hazelnuts with caramel coating, but before adding chocolate and cocoa powder 

My friend Liz and I experimented one day, and taught ourselves how to make dragées in her kitchen using a Culinary Institute of America textbook.  This fundamental technique proved useful in every pastry kitchen I've ever been in since.

Financiers with raspberry hearts

Lastly, financiers (brown butter almond cakes) were my official introduction to mignardise, which is the term for the small little treats that typically accompany the check at fine dining restaurants.  I remember thinking, "I can't believe we're making all of these miniature cakes! WHY?"  To be honest, I was probably just disenchanted by the process of carefully placing three tiny huckleberries into a hundred of these cakes, because the answer has always been very clear for me.  Every time I make something in the kitchen, no matter how routine the recipe might be, I am making a gift for someone to enjoy.  For example, if you've ever watched other people at the table when the small plate of mignardise arrives, it's amazing what happens to most diners.  You go from thinking "I'm so full, I'm never going to eat again" to "these are the most precious little bites, and I feel incredibly special right now".  The magic of that transformative plate of goodies is something that drives my passion for dessert, and I've tried to replicate with these sampler boxes.  I hope you enjoy!