Adriana Goes to Culinary School: First Class (Quick Breads): DONE!

I am officially done with my first class: Quick Breads!

Time for Spring Break!

This week was a short week- we only had four days of classes.

Monday 3.21.11

Today we practiced custard pies. My partner and I made pumpkin pies.

we put a cinnamon sugar streusel on top. That's why it looks kind of funny.

Tuesday 3.22.11

Today was day one of our two-day practical. In our practical we had to make five products. We had to display the Creaming, Biscuit and Muffin Methods. We also had to make a Chiffon Cake and Swiss Butter Cream.

On the first day I baked my cake first since it needed to cool overnight. I also made my muffins and scones (which is the biscuit method). We ran out of blueberries so we used peaches for our muffins. I was actually happy because they turned out really tasty! On my last muffin practical I didn't put a streusel on top but this time I did and it was so good! I also decided to do something a little different with my scones. I mixed in cranberries instead of rolling them out and filling them with jam. When they were cooled off I made an icing with powdered sugar, orange juice and orange zest to put on top. Here is a photo of my scones and muffins. Chef was really happy with them.

Wednesday 3.23.11

Today was the last day of our practical and also the day we took our big ServSafe test. I am pretty confident that I passed. I really hope I did because I will feel very embarrassed if I have to take it again in 6 weeks.

Today I made my peanut butter cookies. Sadly, they were a little over baked but Chef still said they were good. I think the ovens were a little but too hot. I also made my Swiss Butter Cream and flavored it with Caramel sauce that another student whipped up for the class. I then assembled my Chiffon Cake.

These are my Peanut Butter Cookies:

Here is my Chiffon Cake with the Caramel Butter Cream. I also added shaved chocolate around the edges and caramel on top. At first, I didn't have the caramel drizzled on top but I saw another girl, Rachel, put chocolate drizzled on top of her cake so I told her I was going to copy her idea. After all, imitation is the best form of flattering!

Thursday 3.24.11

Today was a laid back day. We practiced knife skills with our ServSafe Chef and we made pizza. People brought sodas and just relaxed while we ate our pizzas. It was really cool because two classes were exiting their last class going into their externships. As class ends, they take a last lap around the entire campus called the "Walk of Fame" and all the other students and faculty line the halls and cheer them on, bang on the walls and ring cowbells. It was a lot of fun. Can't wait until my "Walk of Fame".

Here is a photo of my pizza. We had to knead the pizza dough for so long! I swear it was like 20 minutes that we kneaded that dough. Everyone was joking that we needed to work out. It's true, my arms were burning the next day! I burnt my pizza, it made big bubbles on the top. Ooops! good thing we weren't being graded.