Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

I have had a passion for chocolate croissants ever since I saw the movie It’s Complicated. In the blogging community there has been much talk about this movie. The design bloggers are thrilled with the house because it is another beautiful set design by Nancy Meyers and her group of professionals. These are the same people who brought you the beautiful Hamptons house in Something’s Got to Give. I am also a fan of the design aesthetic and find myself looking at the details of interiors of houses in my favorite movies. What is so great about It’s Complicated is that there is so much eye candy that pleases both cooks and designers. Just take a look at Meryl Streep’s kitchen in the movie. She is planning on having her architect, played by Steve Martin, redesign it.

Would you trash this kitchen? I wouldn’t. It is charming and quirky and suits her family well. There is even a dent in the refrigerator door that you can see when you watch the movie. The story behind that is that when the refrigerator was deliverd to the set, they discovered the dent and wanted to send it back, but brilliant minds intervened and said “Why shouldn’t she have a dent in her refrigerator? She raised three kids. Real people have dents.”

But to get to the heart of this post, I have to tell you that my favorite scene in the movie was when Meryl Streep took Steve Martin to her bakery after hours and fixed him chocolate croissants.

Here they are eating Croque Monsieurs. I do not have a picture of the chocolate croissants, but the scene was evocative. It was late at night and they were hungry. They were “really” hungry. She offered him anything on her bakery menu and he chose chocolate croissants. The scene of her cutting and stuffing the croissants with chocolate was nirvana. Their enjoyment was even better. I became obsessed. But I haven’t had time to make croissants from scratch until now.

Life has been “complicated” and with the trip back to Lake Lure there have been other priorities. But yesterday morning I decided that it was time to tackle them. The recipe that I used was in From Julia Child’s Kitchen. It is a lenghthy recipe that goes on for pages and I don’t want to repeat it all here. There is a very similar recipe on the web at All Recipes which will get you the same results. To make them chocolate croissants just add 1/2 ounce of shaved chocolate to each one before rolling up.

Croissants are nothing more than a yeast dough that incorporates layers of butter. The butter is layered in by a folding process. The below picture shows the dough ready for its third turn. The butter is already between two layers of dough.

The top third is folded to the middle.

Then the bottom third is folded over it; like folding a letter.

It is then turned a quarter turn, rolled and folded again. There are many steps along the way when you can put it in the refrigerator and forget it. After the fourth turn and fold you can weigh it down and put it in the refrigerator for up to two days.

The final step is cutting the triangles of dough, sprinkling them with chocolate and rolling them up. They are ready for the final rise and baking, or you can freeze them. I chose to freeze six and bake the other six.

Although the process took me two days, there was very little real hands on time required. Now that I have done it, I will definitely be making chocolate croissants again. Who knows, maybe I can open a bakery like this one. You may consider purchasing commercial LED lighting products from Vonn lighting to make your bakery look more appealing and aesthetic.

No, actually I don’t think I am up to that. And maybe making croissants from scratch is too complicated. But I certainly hope my garden looks like this.

Dream on!

It is very early on Thursday morning and I have just baked Ina Garten’s croissant bread pudding because today is Barefoot Blogger posting time. Peggy of Pantry Revisited chose this first Barefoot Contessa recipe for the month of December and it is a good one. I was especially interested in this bread pudding because I have been experimenting with dishes to serve at a brunch later in the month. The beauty of the dish is that it goes together quickly and is so adaptable. I did not add anything extra to the recipe this time, but it lends itself to many flavor options. Peggy added cinnamon and pecans. You could also add orange or lemon zest to it. It might even be good with almonds and almond extract. I halved the recipe because we were not anxious to eat a casserole that serves 10. I also used the small croissants and dried cranberries instead of raisins. Let me know if you have other suggestions and feel free to join our group of Barefoot Bloggers.

CROISSANT BREAD PUDDING

Ingredients

3 exra large whole eggs
8 extra large egg yolks
5 cups half and half
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
6 large croissants, preferably stale, sliced horizontally
1 cup raisins

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, egg yolks, half and half, sugar, and vanilla. Set the custard mixture aside. Slice the croissants in half horizontally. In a 10 by 15 by 2 1/2 inch oval baking dish, distribute the bottoms of the sliced croissants, then add the raisins, then the tops of the croissants (brown side up), being sure the raisins are between the layers of croissants or they will burn while baking. Pour the custard over the croissants and allow to soak for 10 minutes, pressing down gently.

Place the pan in a larger one filled with 1 inch of hot water. Cover the larger pan with aluminum foil, tenting the foil so it doesn’t touch the pudding. Cut a few holes in the foil to allow steam to escape. Bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake for 40 to 45 more minutes or until the pudding puffs up and the custard is set. Remove from the oven and cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Printable recipe

I have always made my apple pies the same way, the way that my Grandmother and Mother made them, but I am trying to get away from using Crisco. All butter crusts are hard to handle though and I don’t have a source for pure lard. We have friends coming to visit tomorrow and I decided to make a dessert from what I had on hand. I had Granny Smith apples and the ingredients for a pie crust. This time I did a combination of Crisco and butter and the pie dough rolled out like a dream. It lifted easily from the rolling board and baked up beautifully. I am hoping that the combination will prove to be consistant and not just serendipitous.

MY NEW FAVORITE APPLE PIE

For the crust:
2 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour ( I used King Arthurs)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup Crisco shortening
1/4 cup cold butter cut into small pieces
1/2 cup milk

For the filling:
5 Granny Smith Apples, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 to 3/4 cup Sugar
1 to 2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbls flour

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place sliced apples in a large bowl. Mix together the sugar, cinnamon and flour and add to apples. Toss to combine and let stand so that the apples will release their juices.

Place the flour in a medium mixing bowl. Add the salt and stir to combine. Add the 1/2 cup crisco and the cold butter pieces. Working with a serrated steak knife or pastry cutter, cut the shortenings into the flour. Be patient with this. The butter and shortening should be small pea size pieces when done. Add the milk and mix gently to combine. Divide dough into two pieces and flatten slightly. Cover with saran wrap and refrigerate 1/2 hour.

On a floured surface roll the bottom dough piece into a circle large enough for a 9 inch pie plate. Place in pie pan and add the apple mixture. Roll out the second dough for the top. Slice a crescent in the center and prick several times with a fork. Place over bottom crust and filling. Press edges to seal and crimp the edges decoratively. If you would like brush the top with a beaten egg white and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes. Turn the oven down to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 40 minutes or until the crust is a golden brown.

Printable recipe

What a difference lighting makes. I took the first picture in the evening by kitchen lighting and the second picture in the morning by sunlight.

I have gotten a good response to my Kitchen Reveal. Thank you to all of you who are posting pictures on Wednesday. There is still time to join in the fun. I will post links to all of the kitchens some time late Wednesday afternoon.

The above picture appeared in our newspaper back in 1975. It is so funny to look at this again. I was so skinny and David had lots of hair! That is the kitchen in the first house that we bought. It was this sunny kitchen that sold me on the beautiful old house. Our friends Jim and Janice were the first people that we met in Greensboro. They lived next door to us in our first apartment and Janice and I took cooking classes together. They later moved away from Greensboro, raised a family and we lost touch. Recently we have reconnected and Jim and Janice just moved to Black Mountain, just over the ridge from us. We decided that it would be fun to get together and cook again. Janice and I recreated the menu from 1975. The recipes all came from our cooking instructor Irena ( Kirshman ) Chalmer’s cookbooks published by Potpourri Press.

Here we all are, a little older but still having lots of fun, the girls taking their positions behind the counter and the guys pouring wine and setting the table. Since Jim was pouring in the old picture he is doing the honors again.

The first course for our dinner party is Coquilles Saint-Jacques Nantaise or Scallops with shallots, butter and breadcrumbs. I have to warn you, this is rich with lots of butter even though I cut back some, but it was delicious. Click on the name for the recipe.

The entree was Tournedos Henry IV with Artichoke Bottoms and Sauce Bearnaise. There is more butter in this, but the bearnaise sauce is worth it. It took the two of us to make the bearnaise. The filets are flattened, cooked in clarified butter and then flamed in brandy. They are topped with the artichoke bottom holding the bearnaise sauce. This dish was sublime.