Sweet Story: Andree's Waffalloons

Photos: Andree's WaffalloonsSweet carbohydrates to eat are awesome. Nobody is arguing that. They are things to be loved.

But there is something that makes me, personally, love some a little better than others: a great story.

Photo: Andree's WaffalloonsIt can be a little story, like "this is a cookie recipe my grandma always used to make"...or it could be a BIG story, like the one behind Chiffon cake. Either way, it just makes your food taste better to know its story. Or at least, it does for me.

So when I accidentally discovered "Andree's Waffalloons" while doing some research about interesting sweet treats in Connecticut (yes...that's what I do), I was delighted to discover a Belgian Waffle operation in the Hartford area, but that delight was tripled when I discovered the fantastic story behind those syrup pocketed rounds of tastiness, as seen on their website:

It's post-war 1946.  After surviving the invasion of her hometown, Andrée Henrion falls in love with and marries a US Soldier, Richard Fantin. Now she is traveling by ship, alone, from Belgium to New York City, to reunite with her husband. Andrée was born and raised in Belgium’s WALLONIA sector, has never traveled, and speaks only French. Among her few belongings she carries her family’s legacy…a compilation of incredible Belgian recipes. 

Fast forward five children and 53 years later... its 1999 and Richard has been at rest for 16 years. Andrée’s youngest, Claudette, who now has all the treasured recipe books, relocates from New Jersey to Florida, to be with her new found love. Tragically, in the chaos of the move, the recipes are lost! Thankfully, Claudette and her siblings have committed to memory the ingredients and process for making their mother’s delectable authentic Belgian waffles!

Fast forward again nine years later…it’s 2008, and Claudette, owner of Andrée’s Creations LLC (a floral design business named for her mother who passed five years prior), decides to share Andrée’s waffles with the world. But what to name them???? Well, what do you get when you combine a waffle and a Walloon??? And so, the Waffalloon was born!

Andrée’s Waffalloons are unlike any other Belgian waffle you will ever eat. They’re sweet and scrumptious and really do taste best undressed. The Waffalloon’s rich history of far away loves, losses and childhood memories are secret ingredients that simply can’t be duplicated.

So sit back, and taste the love! Ooh, La, La!!!!!

I'm sorry...but isn't that just the sweetest story ever?

I don't know about you, but it made me want to have a mouth full of their waffles (yes, I just paused to give the sound and look of that phrase a good hard look). Well, I can, and you can too, by visiting their website. While they will do special orders in the Hartford area, others can order online: find them here.

Sweet Art: Reading is Totally Sweet!

I'd like to share with you another custom painting I was commissioned to do over the holiday season. This one was extra-special because it was commissioned FOR my friend Julie, by another friend...her sister! So it was extra nice to delight two buddies.

I incorporated several of Julie's favorite book titles as well as some titles which refer to family jokes; I was also able to incorporate her feline friends into the piece. 

Reading is totally sweet, but not as sweet as this artwork!

Custom work starts at $100. For your own custom CakeSpy painting, email jessieoleson@gmail.com.

Greek Yogurt Cheesecake with a Chocolate Shortbread Crust

A few months ago, there was a good-looking recipe for Greek Yogurt Cheesecake with Pomegranate Syrup in Bon Appetit magazine.

But I was pretty sure I could make it better.

My first change was to ditch the graham cracker crust, and instead use mashed-up chocolate shortbread cookies. Then, I figured, why not go whole hog and add a layer of melted chocolate between the crust and cheesecake? So basically, the crust is a layer of these Million Dollar Shortbread Bars. Like for the bars, I used Walkers shortbread since I had a bunch of samples.

As for the pomegranate? Well, I'll tell you the truth. I didn't feel like going to the store for a pomegranate, plus, they're kind of expensive and messy. And would it really taste good with the chocolate? 

Basically, pomegranate amounted to "too hard". So I opted for toasted almonds on top, instead. And you know what? It tasted fantastic. Zingy and tangy thanks to the yogurt-cream cheese topping, it was mellowed by the dark, rich chocolatey crust, making for an unusual but quite nice flavor complement. Aforementioned crust, along with the toasty nuts on top, gave it a nice crunch. The only tough part was that the chocolate layer on top of the crust made cutting difficult, since the dessert must be chilled. So there may be a little hacking involved to ensure a prompt delivery of this dessert to your mouth.

I'm going to call this one a success. A little goes a long way with the powerful flavors of the dessert--a small slice will do. I think this makes it a perfect post dinner party dessert, for when people are fairly full but still want a decadent bite or four.

So while I really took some liberties with the recipe, I still thank Bon Appetit for planting the idea seedling in my mind for this delicious treat.

Greek Yogurt Cheesecake with Chocolate Shortbread Crust 

Crust

• 1 batch Million Dollar Shortbread Bars, prepared in a 9-inch springform pan and cooled

Filling

• 2 teaspoons powdered gelatin
• 1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups plain whole-milk Greek yogurt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Special Equipment

• A 9-inch-diameter springform pan

Preparation

1. Prepare crust. Let set until cool.
2. Once you're ready to make the filling, place gelatin and 1 1/2 tablespoon cold water in a heatproof bowl. Let stand until softened, 5-10 minutes.
3. Pulse cream cheese, yogurt, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt in a food processor, scraping down sides as needed, until completely smooth.
4. Pour water to a depth of 1/2-inch into a small skillet over medium heat. Place bowl with gelatin in skillet; stir until gelatin dissolves, about 2 minutes. Remove bowl from skillet.
5. With processor running, drizzle gelatin into cream cheese mixture; mix until well blended. Pour into prepared crust. Tap pan firmly on the counter to break up any big air bubbles. Smooth top. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill for at least 6 hours before serving. 
6. When ready to serve, toast almonds in 350 degree oven until fragrant. Let cool, and sprinkle on top of the cheesecake before serving.

Pastry Profiles: Almond Croissant, La Boulange, San Francisco

I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm an expert on almond croissants.

But as someone who has eaten many almond croissants in life (it's kind of my job, you know), I have sampled enough to know what works and what doesn't. 

And the version from La Boulange in San Francisco works.

In case you don't know the establishment, La Boulange is a small bakery-cafe chain in the San Francisco area. Well, it was a small chain. Until it was purchased by Starbucks last year for $100 million. 

Yes: One Hundred Million Dollars. Pardon my pun, but that's a lot of dough.

I have been a big fan of La Boulange since before the takeover--one of their locations is just a few blocks away from SpySis's apartment. So far, not much has changed following the purchase. The pastry offerings seem the same, and that is a good thing, because in my opinion, they are exquisite. Especially the almond croissant. I mean...look at this.

Almond croissant is possibly the cleverest and most delicious use of day-old croissants, wherein you split the buttery treat, coat the inside with almond paste, and re-bake. At La Boulange, they not only use a nearly obscene amount of almond paste inside of the croissant, but use more on top, which not only makes it almond-y heaven but also acts as "glue" to hold on an armadillo-like coating of almond slices.

Those almonds on top crisply crunch when you bite into the treat, giving way to a soft, pillowy interior, gooey with almond paste, and then another light crunch when you reach the toasty bottom of the croissant. 

Just looking at the pictures make me want to cry, just a little, because I don't have one right now to eat.

But I'll always have my memories. And hopefully, following the Starbucks takeover, not one thing changes about this recipe.

La Boulange, various locations in the SF Bay area; find one online here.

Coming May 7th...

Get ready. To be released on May 7: The Secret Lives of Baked Goods: Sweet Stories & Recipes for America's Favorite Desserts.

Baker's Dozen: A Batch of Sweet Links!

I'm feeling in a sugar cookie kind of mood, I guess!

Pretty and quite pink: Sugar cookies!

Homemade Lofthouse-style cookies.

Make them magic by shaping them like unicorns.

Or--OMG--make them look like Peeps!

Put 'em in a pot: Skillet sugar cookies!

Sweet idea: decorate your sugar cookies like conversation hearts, as in this post (along with several other cute Valentine ideas!)

Buttery sugar cookies with sprinkles--cute and tasty!

For getting fat quick: Cinnabon Sugar Cookies!

Also great for carb-o-loading: sugar cookies stuffed with chocolate chip cookie dough!

For sugar cookies in the South, I consulted this list of "the South's Best Bakeries". Nom!

What's the difference between a sugar cookie and a snickerdoodle?

And how 'bout the difference between sugar cookies and shortbread?

CakeSpy Undercover: Dominique Ansel, NYC

The photo above documents the beginning of a supremely sweet massacre that happened not so long ago at Dominique Ansel in SoHo in New York City.

It's a very sweet spot in the world, being run by a fellow of the same name who earned his chops acting as Executive Pastry Chef for Restaurant Daniel under celebrity chef Daniel Boulud. As I learned from the Ansel website, "During his six year tenure at Daniel, the restaurant won its first 3-star Michelin rating, a 4-star New York Times review, and James Beard’s Outstanding Restaurant of the Year Award in 2010." He's also been called one of the top ten pastry chefs in America.

But back to the sweets. A mere few minutes before the massacre, me and my friend Erin were surveying the pastry case. We looked at all sorts of fancy Frenchy treats, such as:

and these...

 

and these.

 

I mean, seriously. How does one choose from such a bounty of amazing sweetness? 

On my last visit, I had sampled the "DKA" - Dominique Ansel Kouign Amman. As you probably know, I am a very large fan of the strangely-named treat known as Kouign Amman. I've sampled it in Seattle and Paris and Salt Lake City. And I've enjoyed each variation. This was a fine one indeed--I'd say that next to the one I had in Paris, it was one of the best. 

But on this trip, Erin chose the rosewater religieuse. Look at this thing. 

Delicate choux pastry filled with vanilla-flecked cream and gently rose-scented icing. It tasted as pretty as it looks. 

It's one of those things that is a pleasure to devour. 

But I will tell you the truth, possibly even better than the pastry was the fact that one of the employees RECOGNIZED ME! She told me she loved this site. I must tell you, the fact that I had gone in to buy a pastry and unexpectedly ended up feeling like a celebrity was sure a nice treat. It made me smile for the rest of the day!

Dominique Ansel, 189 Spring Street, New York City; online here.

Sweet Art: Cupcakes at Rivendell

I would like to take a few moments to tell you about a holiday miracle in which I played a part.

A few months ago I was contacted by Santa, who told me he was building a new reading nook for a couple of little girls. One of them was really into the elves from The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and could I do a cupcake illustration loosely based on this, so as to decorate aforementioned reading nook?

"Well, Santa", I said, "Okay".

And so I got a reference picture of Rivendell...

...and set to work. I took some liberties. For instance, the elves in the stories ride ponies. But I prefer unicorns, and I reflected this preference in my artwork. The finished product is pictured above. What a lucky girl to have received such a sweet present from Santa!

For custom commissions, contact jessieoleson@gmail.com.

CakeSpy Undercover: Saratori's di Tully, Albuquerque NM

When you think of an old-school Italian bakery, you probably think...New York. Boston. Providence. New Jersey. Or at least I do. I don't have actual evidence, but I feel like there is probably a higher concentration of such bakeries in the Northeast. 

Albuquerque, New Mexico probably wouldn't even cross my mind in pondering old-fashioned Italian bakeries.

But as it turns out, such a place does exist--a bakery called Saratori's di Tully. 

It's next-door to Tully's, an Italian specialty market that made me feel like I was in Philadelphia or New Jersey for a few moments--big, fat sandwiches at the deli counter, homemade ravioli both in the deli department and freezer, and more types of pasta than you can count. A great place, but you'll have to trust me on that. I'm here to talk about the sweets.

Saratori's di Tully, I hear, is named after two girls in the family--Sara and Tori. If that is true, I hope that both girls are extremely proud to have this establishment bear their names, because it's chock full of  tasty stuff.

They make their cannoli to order, I should tell you that first. Although I have not tried one of these heavenly treats for myself, I have it on very good authority that they're good stuff.

I started with the "Spruzzare Biscotto", which was nice and tender and almond-y--a perfect cookie bite. The texture was very nice--slightly dry, but not like dry-out-yer-mouth. It would have been even better with an espresso, I think!

Next up was a fennel biscotto, which was lightly licorice-y (but not offensive to licorice haters) and not extremely sweet but more like a nice tea cookie. See the fennel seed? It added a nice little burst of flavor at irregular intervals. Sometimes it is nice to have your cookies challenge you a little, you know?

Finally, the "Nonna's Lemon Drop" cookie. It's a general rule that I hold that if it's named after Grandma, it's probably gonna be good. For me, this cookie led to several moments of nostalgia--not for my upbringing, but for the cookies I used to buy at Rocco's Pastry on Bleecker Street when I lived in New York City. If you've been there, you know what an excellent experience it is. Here's the cookie.

 

Very, very good stuff. And a charming and sweet staff.

For a taste of the East Coast in the middle of Albuquerque...dudes and dudettes, you've got to go to Saratori's!

Saratori's di Tully, 1425 San Mateo Blvd, Albuquerque; more info here.