Bon Appetit by Sandra Byrd Read Free Book Online

Delacroix. I swallowed. “When will he send a report?”
    Patricia waved her hand, as if that didn’t matter. “In a few weeks, probably. Come, let’s get to work”.
    She showed me to a station where she’d already made some lemon tartes. “You remember how to candy the lemon slices to go on top, non?” she asked with a sly grin. I grinned back. In Seattle, it had been my pointing out the lack of candied lemon slices on her tartes that led her to agree to my working for her in the pastry kitchen.
    “Oui
, I remember,” I said.
    “Bon
. You will candy the slices and make the dipped chocolate coffee beans for the
mousse au chocolat
. Also, today, I will have you make something very special for Céline.
Les chouquettes
, for her
goûter
. I have a wedding cake order and cannot get to the chouquettes”.
    I hid my smile, knowing that to smile too often in France is to not be taken seriously. But the fact that she was allowing me to make the
goûter
, which means “to taste,” for Céline’s afterschool snack was an honor.
    I put an apron over my plain uniform and began candying a hundred or more quartered lemon slices. An hour later, I cleaned up and found the recipe for the chouquettes from the big book in the prep room. I mixed the ingredients together, dipped them in large-grain sugar, and put the pan into the oven. If I ever wanted a recipe to turn out, it was this one. For Céline. And for me.
    Chouquette Recipe
    Ingredients:
    12 Tbsp butter, cut into 1 Tbsp chunks
    1¼
cups warm water
    ½
tsp salt
    1½
cups all-purpose flour (not bread flour)
    4 large eggs
    sugar or hail sugar (also called pearl sugar)
    Directions:
    Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
    In a heavy saucepan, melt butter. Pour in water and then add salt and bring to a boll. As soon as the water bolls, reduce the heat to medium and pour in all the flour at once. With a wooden spoon, beat the flour into the liquids till the flour is incorporated and the entire mixture is sticky and pasty. It will pull away from the sides and bottom of the pan into a large lump. This should take only a minute or two. As soon as it pulls away and is incorporated, remove from heat.
    Take the dough out of the pan and put in a bowl. If you have a standing mixer, you can put it in there and use the whisk attachment. Otherwise, put it in a large, glass bowl and get your mixer out. Beat in the four eggs, one at a time, on high speed. Make sure each egg is completely incorporated before adding the next.
    The dough will remain pasty, but will be glossier now, and smooth. Drop lumps of dough onto a cookie sheet, lined with parchment if you like. The lumps should be about a tablespoon in size. Twelve lumps fit well on a standard pan, leaving them room to “puff”. Drop sugar on top of each puff. The best kind of sugar to use is “hall” sugar, because it doesn’t melt while baking.
    Bake for about 30 minutes, watching carefully. The chouquettes will puff up nearly triple in size and become golden brown with slightly darker brown edges. Take out of oven and allow to cool.
    Optional: insert the tip of a Reddi-wip can into them when cool to make mini-cream puffs.
    Makes 12–18 chouquettes.
    While the chouquettes were in the oven, I went to the front of the bakery to look at the case and see if the coffee beans were completely dipped or half-dipped. I scooted behind Simone, who finished helping a customer and turned to me with a motherly smile.
    “The pastries are different here from in America, eh?” she said with obvious Gallic pride.
    “Oh, yes,” I said. “In every way. The selection,” I waved my hand over the dozen or so offerings, “the beauty, the craftsmanship. The taste. Pastries in the United States are often made with …” I struggled for the word.
“Préservatifs”.
    A look of horror crossed her face.
“Les préservatifs?”
    I nodded. “Yes”.
    Her face drained of color. I smiled weakly and went to the back to check on my chouquettes.
    How strange. Of