Petit fours have been becoming increasingly popular over the last few years. They're perfect for those of us concerned about portion control. You can satiate your sweet tooth without overindulging with the bite sized sweets.

There's a certain conception that most people have of petit fours. Most of us think the treats have to be small square or round cakes with a poured fondant icing and a piped decoration on top. There's much more to it than that. Petit four translates from French as 'small oven,' which refers to the ovens after the large items had been baked. The heat in the oven was a lot lower after the bread or large cakes (in the case of the nobility) came out, so things like smaller cakes and cookies that needed lower temperatures could then be baked.

In a strict sense, a petit four can be any small cookie, cake, creme puffs or tartlettes. Even sugar coated nuts and fruits could be considered petit four, technically speaking. According to Larousse Gastronomique, petit fours became popular during the reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King himself.

When we work on the small desserts for teas or buffets in my pastry kitchen, we use almond cake to make the petit four glacés. It's a very dense almond cake that we then layer with different flavors of marmalade, top with marzipan (only on the top layer), and then pour fondant over in a very thin layer (after cutting the cake into small squares of course). They're so rich it's a good thing we cut them in such bite-sized pieces.

Last week, I wrote a post asking why I cannot find decent macarons in the United States. Apparently, I'm not looking hard enough. Comments from all over the country revealed people's favorite shops where they buy them. Although I have not yet tried the macarons at all these places, I thought it would be useful to create a U.S. macaron directory.

So far, it looks like most of these places are located in California. Feel free to comment with new shops to add to the directory!

Columbus, Ohio: Becke recommends Pistacia Vera at 541 south third street. Try their salted caramel macarons.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Ann suggests that we try the macarons at 316 North Milwaukee St., at Harlequin Bakery.

New York, New York: To think that in my own city I failed to discover Macaron Café which is just around the corner from my mother's office at 161 west 36th street, just off 7th avenue. Thanks Tom Avel for letting us know about this shop. Kat Kinsman enjoyed the macarons from Alain Ducasse's Adour at the St. Regis hotel.

Yountville, California: Although I did not care for Thomas Keller's macarons at Buchon Bakery in NY, Kelly enjoyed them at Keller's Buchon in Yountville at 6534 Washington st.

San Francisco, California: Verena suggests Boulangerie at 2325 Pine Street. Ivan claims that Tartine Bakery at 600 Guerreo St., by 18th street, is the place to buy macarons. Mathew points out another shop located at the Ferry Building Marketplace, shop No. 10 - Miette.

Berkeley, California: Verena also reccomends Masse's Pastries at 1469 Shattuck Ave.

Los Angeles, California: Jon raves about the macarons at Boule located at 408 N. Cienga Blvd and at 413 N. Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills.

Beverly Hills, California: Apart from Boule's Beverly Hills location, you can stroll into Paulette at 9466 Charleville Blvd. If you're not in Beverly Hills, you can order from them online. That's what John did.

Ever since I returned from my school year abroad in Paris, I have been on a quest for delicate luscious creamy macarons. Unfortunately, every time I purchase them in the U.S., I am disappointed.

Why is it so hard to find decent macarons in the United States? The ones at La Maison du Chocolat are not bad. But, they're overwhelmingly chocolatey. Many times, they even taste too greasy.

Yesterday, I went to Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery in Manhattan and was jumping up and down with excitement when I saw macarons. They looked just like the ones I had at Ladurée in Paris. Except, when I looked at them closely, I noticed that the layer of cream in the middle was much thicker and heavier. A bite into a macaron from Bouchon Bakery is more like a bite into a heavy creamy delicious cake. Although it tasted quite excellent, it lacked many of the characteristics I love about the macarons I've tasted in Paris, mainly its lightness and slightly crunchy exterior and creamy interior.

Can someone recommend a shop where I can find a decent macaron?

My obsession for those heavenly creamy, crispy, sweet French pastries, called macarons, began when I lived in Paris. I would go to the Ladurée, the pastry-shop and tearoom, almost every week to sit down like an old woman and drink tea and snack on a macaron. Ah, the wonderful gastronomic moments spent at Ladurée! It deserves its own blog post.

Recently, I discovered another incredible pastry-shop in Paris, Pierre Hermé, where you can try some interesting flavored macarons, such as caramel with fleur de sel and passion fruit with chocolate. The tiny store, located at No. 72 rue Bonaparte on the Left Bank, almost always has a quick moving line started out the door. As you enter this chic pastry boutique, your eyes are automatically drawn to the many gorgeous fruit cakes on your left. And then, as you get further into the store, all your senses are overwhelmed by the beauty -- the fresh aroma of baked sweets and the stunning displays of various cakes and macarons.

My experience at Pierre Hermé was like a glance into heaven. By the time it was my turn to order, I was speechless. I had spent the entire time in line absorbing the smells and the delicious goodies instead of figuring out which macarons I wanted to order. One of the shopkeepers gave me a menu of macarons. I studied it closely and finally bought a box of 16. Check out my favorite flavors and more after the jump.

I am in heaven. First I find flame decals for my Kitchen Aid. Now I've found the best web site ever, at least in my opinion.

Pastry Chef Central has everything a pastry chef (or geek) could ever want!
The site is basically split up into two sections: tools and ingredients. The tools section has several categories each filled with wonderful, beautiful toys, I mean tools. The ingredients section doesn't have any sub-sections, but it doesn't need any as it's choc full of lovely and fantastic things necessary for all manner of delicious desserts.

There's a third section, actually. It's a resource area with recipes and an "Ask the Chef" link.

The site is great. It's easy to read and follow. It's neat and clean, as any pastry web site should be. Best of all, Pastry Chef Central has lots of pictures! Can you actually see me drooling? Does anyone have any other pastry/baking websites to share?

On Monday, I was lucky enough to go to a demonstration by a Certified Master Pastry Chef named Frank Volkommer. There are really only a handful of CMPC's in the country so to see one at work is quite a treat. Chef Volkommer has taught at the Culinary Institute of America and is currently the corporate pastry chef for Cargill Cocoa and Chocolate.

Quite often these demonstrations are dressed up sales pitches for a brand of chocolate or other product. This one was no different, but that didn't make it any less interesting or relevant (at least to pastry professionals). While Chef Volkommer was using only Cargill brand chocolates, the demonstration was really about how to air brush colored cocoa butter into truffle molds to get colorful truffles.

Chef Volkommer made a tasty passionfruit ganache filling first. He then went into detail about a couple of different air brushing machines and how to use them for cocoa butter. The trick is to keep the parts of the air brush gun warm while using cocoa butter, if you're interested in trying this. The Chef went about finishing the truffles and set them aside to cool for later.

A hot cup of coffee and a rich, buttery, cinnamon-sugar pastry is a wonderful way to start off a Sunday morning - especially when, because of Daylight Savings Time, we had to "leap forward" a hour last night and are all a touch sleep-deprived. For once, I'm not talking about a cinnamon bun with this sweet pastry, although it is not too far off the mark. Cinnamon Butterflies, also called Cinnamon Ears, are similar to cinnamon buns in that they begin with a buttery dough that is rolled out and wrapped into a cinnamon-sugar-filled spiral. The difference is that the Butterflies are set on their side and pressed in the center so that the ends of the roll are pushed out into "wings" (or ears). The pastry is Scandinavian, and as is traditional with so many recipes from the region, each one is topped with sprinkles of a very large-grain sugar, or lightly crushed sugar cubes, for additional sweetness and crunch. Gattina, from Kitchen Unplugged, made this batch, as you can read the full post for the recipe.

A good cannelé is one of the things that foodies will spend years seeking. Typically, it is a small pastry with a custardy center and slightly crisp/chewy, intensely caramelized crust. There are special molds available to achieve the proper, traditional shape, but having the molds alone doesn't give you the ability to produce a good cannelé, and so there are few bakeries (especially in the US) that carry the French delicacies. Once you know how to make them, however, it seems like it is possible to do so in a good metal pan of any shape. Melissa, from The Traveler's Lunchbox, has clearly take a page from the Pimp That Snack book with her utterly amazing Cannelé Colossus, which she made in a full-sized bundt pan. Her spectacular pastry took three hours to bake, in addition to a fairly long prep time, but it was worth every second.

It's not often that you hear a food blogger, though they are quite generous with praise, describe a dish in just one word: fantastic.

Zingerman's, the famous Ann Arbor delicatessen and foodie hub, is expanding its offerings with the opening of a new baking school. The Bake! baking school is part of Zingerman's Bakehouse, which is responsible for the indulgent pastries and artisanal breads that the Zingerman's group sells. The classes, which run from $40 to $125 each, all teach single skills and are aimed at imparting professional tips and techniques to everyday cooks. Scones, baguettes, strudels, pizza dough and sourdough breads are all topics that will be covered and the classes will vary in length based on the complexity of the subject matter and the time involved in making the product. Students can take one class or a series, depending on what skills they want to master. For those who want to do it all, the school is offering a "Bake-Cation," which is a four-day class that covers everything from quick breads to sourdough with homemade starter. Every single course is entirely hands-on.

King Cake is a staple of Mardi Gras celebrations. The pastry is made with a rich, brioche-like dough that is light in texture, but made with plenty of butter and eggs, and wrapped around a decadent filling of either cream cheese or marzipan. Usually shaped in a round, the cake is frosted with tri-colored icing: purple to represent justice, green to represent faith, and gold to represent power. Amanda and Tyler (the cook and the eater, respectively) from What We're Eating baked up a decadent Mixed Berry & Cream Cheese King Cake to celebrate the season, filled with a combination of berries, cream cheese and sour cream for a sweet, fruity take on the seasonal favorite. The berries are actually cooked with sugar to form a quick jam, which is layered with the cheese mixture inside the cake. King Cakes can be eaten for breakfast or dessert, and this one seems like a prime candidate for the former category.

It's a shame that I didn't see this vegan turkey recipe before I tried making the rather... interesting... Tofurkey shortly before this past Thanksgiving. The Tofurkey was a tofu-based "roast" with a wild rice stuffing and a faux-giblet gravy on the side. The vegan turkey from Two Vegan sisters almost reverses the order of ingredients, ending up with something that sounds much more appetizing. At the center of their "turkey," they used seitan, a wheat-based meat substitute, and covered it in a layer of stuffing that was shaped into a turkey-like mass and had turkey/stuffing legs added. The whole construction was covered with a layer of homemade (vegan) puff pastry and baked until golden. A turkey and stuffing savory pastry? It seems hard to go wrong with that!

And if you're not a vegan, this idea could still work for you. I can picture sausages or even real turkey in the center of this faux bird. It would certainly be an interesting take on the traditional bird at your next family dinner!

[via the ppk blog]

If you never saw the show Sweet Dreams on the Food Network (which is, much to my surprise, still on the air even though it seems like it has been years!), you have been missing out. Hosted by Gale Gand, the pastry chef/owner of Tru restaurant in Chicago, the show was one of the very first programs to be entirely dessert and pastry oriented. And for any fan of baking, it was a must-see. Gand is extremely talented and is the author of a number of cookbooks, but in Gale Gand's Just a Bite: 125 Luscious Little Desserts, she tackles the types of bite sized desserts that are oh-so elegant and still rich enough to satisfy.

Impressive enough for any pastry chef to present after a really elegant meal, the recipes in the book are also- thanks to Gand's clear instructions - perfectly work-able for the home chef looking for something a cut above the average dessert. It includes lots of retro-inspired recipes that will take you back to your childhood, with (Caramel-Orange Rice Crisps) or without (Peppermint Stick-White Chocolate Bark) a twist. Among the other recipes are Cannelés, Blackberry Brown-Butter Financiers and Banana Brûlée Spoonfuls.

Piping frosting onto cupcakes, instead of simply spreading it on, can really change the look of your desserts. With neat little swirls, the presentation will look a cleaner and more professional. I have a pastry kit and will use the various star tips from time to time, but the best - and by far the easiest - way to pipe on frosting is to use a regular plastic bag. Simply scrape the frosting into the bag with a spatula, twist the bag at the top, just above the level of the frosting (this pressure forces it to go forwards, rather than getting stuck in the bag) and snip off the corner. A large opening is the best for covering large areas, but a small opening can let you get really precise when you want to use this method to ice cookies or other intricate patterns.

Kids love to use bags like this for decorating, by the way. They are much easier to maneuver than a spatula full or frosting and usually end up making less of a mess. Use a ziplock bag for an extra barrier between the frosting and the floor, just in case.

When I read the article in the New York Times where a chef tested Crisco, coconut oil and other fats for frying and baking, I was very surprised to hear that Crisco came out on top in just about every test. I'm familiar with how shortening works, so it wasn't the performance that surprised me, rather it was the fact that there was not a crowd of foodies (or at least readers of Gourmet magazine) outside the test kitchen complaining that an all-shortening tarte tatin, which usually has a very buttery puff-pastry base, beat out butter. Butter unquestionably tastes better, especially in such a simple dish, and the only way to really screw it up is if you have a lot of difficulty working with pastry in general. To get a "firm and crumbly" crust with butter, it sounds like the testing chef seriously overworked his dough.

But to get back to the main point, the thing that was really surprising was not the tarte tatin result, but the fact that they didn't consider testing trans-fat free Crisco in addition to regular Crisco. Surely a taste test that pitted this against an alternative with trans-fats would have been more useful to professional and non-professional chefs alike! Crisco Zero has been on the market for about a year and a half now. It's not quite as widely available as regular Crisco, but it can usually be found at regular grocery stores. It offers the same performance - resulting, for example, in a flaky pie crust - but does not have any trans fats per serving. I've used it before with good results and it seems like a potential alternative for chefs trying to reconfigure their recipes to exclude trans-fats.

Pairing lemon with other fruits in desserts is a great idea, as the bright, tart flavor of lemon really helps to highlight other flavors. Bea, from la Tartine Gourmande, used this strategy when making her luscious Blackberry Tartlets with Lemon Cream. The tarts are quite easy to make because the elements are made separately and combined before serving. The tart shells are made with pâte brisée and are prebaked, a step that you could easily do a day or in advance if you want to try the tarts during the holidays and need to save time. The lemon cream, which is really like a light and rich lemon-flavored custard, can also be done ahead of time. Before serving, the cream is spooned into the tarts and garnished with fresh berries. It looks like Bea gave some a sprinkle of confectioners' sugar and garnished others with small sprigs of mint.

Although she used blackberries in her tarts, Bea is quick to point out that you should use whatever type of fruit is seasonally available - strawberries, raspberries, etc. We're suspect that the tarts will taste just as good without any fruit topping, too.