At our latest book club meeting, we dined on the most fabulous food we have had to date. The ladies went above and beyond the call of duty to set before us food that Adelicia herself would have approved of without a doubt.
Menu
Strawberry Punch
Chicken Salad Croissants
Fresh Fruit Tray
Chocolate Truffel Cookies
Napoleons
Creme Puffs
Oreo Truffels
Almond Creme Filled Puffs
Chocolate Waffle Cookies
from Sandy Crawford/San Antonio
Melt cocoa & oleo and set aside. Beat eggs & add sugar and beat. Add chocolate mixture & beat.
Fold in flour & vanilla. Drop from teasoppn on waffle iron and bake for 50 secs. Let cool and then ice.
1.4 c. milk, 2 heap T. cocoa, 1/4 c. oleo, 1/2 box confectioners sugar, 1 t. vanilla
Bring to a quick biol milk, cocoa & oleo. Add vanilla and powdered sugar and beat.
OR -- get a can of fudge frosting and frost the cookies with that.
Classic French Napoleon
Ingredients:
For Puff Pastry:
1/2 of a 17 1/4-ounce package (1 sheet) frozen puff pastry, thawed
For Cream Filling:
1/4 cup granulated or superfine sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup half and half or light cream
2 slightly beaten egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup whipping cream
For Glaze:
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3 tablespoons boiling water
Fruit Preserve or Jam Filling: (optional)
1/3 cup seedless raspberry or strawberry jam or preserves
Chocolate Drizzle Topping:
1 1/2 tablespoons melted semisweet chocolate
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Instructions:
For Puff Pastry:
Preheat oven to 425°F/220°C. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or plain brown paper; set aside.
Unfold puff pastry sheet and trim edges to a 9-inch square. Cut pastry into nine 3-inch squares. Transfer pastry squares to the prepared baking sheets; prick pastry. Bake in a preheated oven for 18-23 minutes, or until golden. (Or bake according to package directions.) Carefully remove pastries from baking sheet. Cool on a rack.
For Cream Filling:
In a heavy, medium saucepan stir together sugar, flour, and salt. Slowly stir in half-and-half or light cream. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture is thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 1 minute more. Slowly stir about half of the hot mixture into beaten egg yolks. Return all to saucepan. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Transfer mixture to a bowl. Cover surface with plastic wrap and cool just until warm without stirring. In a small mixing bowl beat whipping cream until soft peaks form. Fold whipped cream into warm pastry cream.
For Glaze:
In a medium mixing bowl combine confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Stir in enough boiling water to make a glaze of spreading consistency; set aside.
To Assemble:
Use the tines of a fork to separate each pastry square horizontally into 3 layers.
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Creme Puffs
Choux Paste:
1/2 c. butter
1 c. water
3/4 t. salt
1 c. flour
4 eggs
Grease two large cookie sheets. Prepare the choux. In a medium saucepan, heat butter, water, and salt until the butter mixture boils. Remove from heat. Add flour all at once. Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until mixture forms a ball and leaves the side of a pan. Preheat oven to 375.
Add eggs to mixture one at a time mixing well after each addition until smooth. Cool mixture slightly.
Using a large spoon and rubber spatula, drop in 12 mounds on cookie sheet swirling the top. Bake 50 minutes. Remove from oven. Cut a slit in the side. Bake 10 minutes. Turn off the oven and dry the puffs 10 minutes in the oven. Cool. Prepare filling.
Almond Creme Filling:
In a 2 quart saucepan, combine 3/4 c. sugar, 1/4 c. flour and 1/4 t. salt. Add 1 1/2 c. milk. Over medium heat, cook, stirring until mixture thickens and boils, about 10 minutes. Boil 1 minute. In a small bowl, beat 6 egg yolks with a fork slightly. Beat a small amount of milk mixture into the yolks. Slowly add the egg mixture to the milk mixture stirring. Cook over medium-low heat until mixture thickens and coats spoon well - about 8 minutes (do not boil). (To check thickness, lift spoon from the mixture for 15 seconds. The spoon should not show through the mixture) Remove from heat. Stir in 1 1/2 t. of almond extract. Cover surface with plastic wrap and chill well for 2 hours. In a small bowl with a mixer, beat 1 1/2 c. heavy or whipped cream until stiff peaks form. With a rubber spatula, gently fold into custard.
When puffs are cooled, slice each top off and fill each shell with chilled cream. Replace the top and sprinkle the top with confectioners' sugar.
We all enjoyed our night with Claire and Adelicia and hope you will pay them a visit by reading the
book. Please also take the time to visit with Tamera Alexander at her
blog and
website. Adelicia would be pleased to know that you also visited
her mansion if you are ever in the Nashville area.
Our ladies have voted that they want to meet every two months instead of three months now. So, in August, we will be meeting to discuss . . . .
