Fall/Holiday Season Pastry Chef Preview
Already, top talents around the country entertain visions of sugar plum fairies dancing in their ovens. Judiaann Woo learns what's ahead.
Leslie Mackie, executive pastry chef/owner, Macrina Bakery & Café, Seattle "The holiday season is an extremely busy time of year for us. Our customers are always looking for elegant desserts and breads to take to parties and to share at special family gatherings. We have a great team working with us at both our Belltown and Queen Anne locations. I'm still involved in the daily production, but a lot of credit goes to our pastry chef, Aimee Bonilla, who's been with us for the last three years."
Christmas marjolaine. "The desserts at Macrina include both updated variations of American classics as well as those with more European influence, like this marjolaine. Our version starts and ends with a moist chocolate torta with layers of mocha buttercream, crisp hazelnut/almond dacquoise, and chopped candied kumquats and fresh raspberries folded into sweetened whipped cream in between. The top is then glazed with chocolate ganache, and the sides are neatly trimmed to expose the different layers and textures. Instead of the standard rectangular shape, we cut ours into a low square for a sleeker, more modern look. Milk chocolate piping details decorate the top along with some whole raspberries and candied kumquats that have been shaped into orchids."
Chocolate/Amaretto pudding cake. "Steamed pudding cakes can be tricky to make and not well-suited for large scale production. The batter must first be steamed in a covered but vented water bath in fluted pudding molds complete with clamp-on lids. The molds must sit on foil 'hockey pucks' to prevent direct contact with the heat source. This process takes up two burners for 45 minutes, and then the molds are transferred to an oven to bake for another 15. This means only six can be produced in an hour, and once they're baked, they need to remain at room temperature—otherwise they'll go completely solid. They also need a bit of babysitting along the way to make sure they're steaming properly and that they unmold without making a mess. Despite all the trouble, I love pudding cakes at Christmastime, and now so do my customers, who place orders well in advance. They're just so darn good! This year's version will be chocolate/Amaretto with a dusting of confectioners' sugar, decorated with chocolate leaves and whole skin-on almonds covered in caramelized sugar. I suggest serving thin slices of this very special dessert with barely sweetened whipped cream. It's the perfect way to end a special meal."
Maggie Davidson, executive pastry chef, Blackberry Farm, Walland, Tennessee "Even now, I still do regular stages—but always in savory kitchens—to expose myself to different ways of thinking about ingredients and techniques. In fact, a dessert on my menu right now was inspired from a day of making soup at Chez Panisse. Never before have I been so encouraged to work without boundaries, and that creative freedom has allowed me to finally discover my signature style."
Tennessee s'more bûche de noël. "Sam Beall, the proprietor of Blackberry Farm, is nuts for s'mores. He just loves the combination of chocolate, marshmallow, and graham crackers. This variation starts with a melt-in-your-mouth roulade of flourless chocolate cake rolled up with a marshmallow filling flavored with vanilla bean–infused Jack Daniels and crunchy bits of whiskey laced toffee. The roll is then placed on a graham cracker rectangle and enrobed with two coats of shiny chocolate ganache. A slice of the bûche is served with a Dairy Queen–like swirl of warm spicy cocoa, dispensed from a siphon gun, with additional shards of buttery toffee and a swirl of chocolate sauce."
Pumpkin & apples. "Our hotel sits on 4,200 acres at the end of a long twisty road at the edge of the Smoky Mountains. The flat tans, arguably the best cooking pumpkin, are grown for us on our farm by John Coykendall, one of the world's foremost horticulturalists, who provides a wealth of knowledge to our kitchen. The pumpkin cake provides the base for a creamy Calvados-spiked buttermilk semifreddo, swirled with crunchy gingersnap crumbs for added texture. The buttermilk comes from Knoxville and is sweetened with sorghum from nearby Muddy Pond Sorghum Mill, one of the last presses still powered by horses. Alongside are warm cubes of sautéed apples cooked with a little butter and cinnamon, a reduction of fresh pressed apple cider, and a garnish of torn apple/pumpkin paper."
Rick Billings, executive pastry chef, Clio, Boston "As long as there's good intention behind the creation of a dessert, I can only see experimentation as a positive thing. Without forward thinking and curiosity in the kitchen, food would remain stagnant and a little boring. I want to bring back some of that childlike wonder in creating something unexpected, but I also want to use these new methods to strip away some of the unnecessary heaviness and richness of desserts—to get closer to pure flavors."
Further than geode of coconut milk, cassis, cypress & elderflower. "This dessert looks like a frozen snowball or moon rock, but it eats just like a coconut ice cream bar with a light and porous texture. The cue balled–sized sphere rests on a pile of spray-dried coconut powder offset by hemispheres of deep violet cassis gel, little crumbly pebbles of crystallized cypress sugar, and small mounds of Versawhip and xanthan gum–stabilized elderflower cream. The geode is made by filling a water balloon with warm coconut foam before a spin in what looks like a very fancy dog bowl filled with liquid nitrogen. The metal sided glass bowl, given to me by someone at M.I.T., works perfectly for spinning the balloon without liquid nitrogen splashing everywhere. The centripetal force pushes the foam against the inside walls of the balloon, where it freezes to create a hollow center. The balloon is then scored and dipped in hot water to release the frozen sphere, which gets another quick dip in liquid nitrogen to set. I'm told we use more liquid nitrogen in a week than any other source in the greater Boston area, and that includes all the labs."
Concord grape/goat's milk capsule. "Alex Stupak of WD-50 in New York City, who used to be the pastry chef at Clio, has taught me a lot over the years, including this encapsulation technique which suspends a liquid center in a sealed frozen tube. In this case, the frozen exterior is concord grape juice thickened with gellan, which gets spread onto acetate strips, shaped into a tube, and filled with sweetened goat's milk flavored with a touch of Amaretto. The addition of dextrose works to maintain the creamy texture while allowing the alcohol levels to stay low. The tube is then capped off, frozen, unmolded, and placed on a pile of gingerbread powder. It tastes like a Concord grape sorbet filled with a creamy tangy center. Also on the plate are bits of buttery compressed gingerbread crumble, strips of Meyer lemon zest and syrup, Pedro Ximénez Sherry reduction, sweet crunchy rings of candied and dehydrated angelica, and sage water—dipped angelica leaves."
Richard Ruskell, executive pastry chef, Montage Resort and Spa, Laguna Beach, California "The holidays are a great time to be in Laguna Beach. The weather's nice, and the whole place is just relaxed and mellow. I grew up in Minnesota, so I've had my fair share of bad weather, and let me tell you, it's quite lovely not to have to deal with the snow. We also do a lot of gingerbread decorations throughout the hotel, and it's very family oriented—for wealthy families that is."
Gingerbread soufflé with apple crisps. "This dessert contains many of the flavors that people associate with this time of year: gingerbread, apples, and spice. Chunks of gingerbread are folded into a vanilla soufflé base flavored with a reduction of apple cider. At the bottom of the ramekin is a little apple compote spiced with Ceylon cinnamon, fresh ginger, and a little green cardamom. A pitcher of crème anglaise is served tableside with a few crisp apple chips threaded through a cinnamon stick. I love gingerbread and was so thrilled to discover this wonderful recipe in my mother's 60 year old church cookbook. The recipe contains buttermilk, molasses, and all those good spices."
Banana Tatin napoleon. "Bananas lend themselves to many different applications, and I think they're a nice addition to a fall or winter menu to break up all the apple, pear, and cranberry options. I think they work particularly well in a tart Tatin. The bananas are cut and layered in a rectangular fleximold and covered with a hard caramel with strips of bay leaf, which then get baked until the caramel melts into the bananas. The bay leaf is removed and the bananas are arranged down the middle of two rectangles of puff pastry stacked on top of each other with white chocolate mousse piped around the perimeter. A small scoop of banana ice cream, made by blending fresh bananas into vanilla ice cream with a Pacojet, sits on top along with a big chocolate garnish and a little banana chip. Malted milk chocolate sauce completes the dessert."
Megan Romano, executive pastry chef, Aureole Las Vegas, Las Vegas "I've worked for Charlie Palmer for 13 years—first in New York City, then in Palm Beach, and now Las Vegas. In fact, it was in the kitchen where I met my husband. Professionally, it's been a wonderfully rewarding experience. Here in Vegas, I have my own line of chocolates, and I even managed to have some kids along the way."
Black Mission fig cheesecake wtih dulce de leche ice cream & roasted fig compote. "For this cheesecake, Black Mission figs show up in many different iterations, including fresh, roasted in a compote flavored with orange juice, lemon, and light brown sugar, and baked on top of the cheesecake with a dusting of granulated sugar. The cheesecake itself is light and creamy with a hint of citrus and sits on a crunchy linzer crust flavored with toasted ground almonds and citrus zest. It's served with dulce de leche ice cream with a garnish of caramelized almonds with fleur de sel and a citrus/almond tuile. Here in Las Vegas we get a good cross section of people, and what I've learned is that you have to offer guests something familiar in form or flavor in exchange for asking them to take a risk in other areas. I'm in the business of pleasing people so that's fine with me."
Warm Granny Smith apple strudel with caramel baked lady apples & sugar doughnuts. "I love apples, so I always want my apple desserts to contain more apples than anything else. For the strudel, I cook slices of Granny Smiths in apple cider, sugar, cinnamon stick, and lemon juice until just tender. Strain and cool before rolling tightly in buttered and sugared phyllo dough. After a short freeze, slice strudel into rounds and bake in greased ring molds to preserve the shape before flipping and baking some more until all sides are evenly golden brown. The apple strudel provides the base for a crème Chantilly filled baked Lady Gala apple cooked with a caramel/Cognac liquid. The apple gets a garnish of fresh bay leaf and candied cinnamon stick to resemble its former self. For the doughnuts, slice apples horizontally using a meat slicer and cut into perfect doughnut shapes, using round cutters. Dip apples in tempura batter, deep fry, and dust in cinnamon sugar. Serve two doughnuts through the handle of a long ice tea spoon with some green apple coulis."
Dominique Ansel, executive pastry chef, Daniel, New York City "In my seven years with Fauchon, I traveled all over the world, but this will only be my second year in New York City, so I'm still learning the American culture and expectations. Daniel Boulud, on the other hand, has been here for over 25. He told me I should add a banana dessert to the menu because Americans like banana desserts. Bananas aren't my favorite, but I did one anyway of caramelized banana with salted caramel, banana tuile, and banana chips, and it's one of our most popular desserts. I listen to whatever advice he can give me now."
Four-spice pumpkin mousse with speculoos biscuit & Kriek/cranberry sorbet. "This dessert incorporates Belgian speculoos and Kriek beer with American pumpkin and cranberries. The mousse, a puree of vanilla-steamed pumpkins with cream, is dispensed from a siphon and sits atop a moist dacquoise spiced with cinnamon, cloves, star anise, and ginger. On the plate is a smooth pumpkin sauce and a quenelle of Kriek/cranberry sorbet. Kriek, a cherry beer, is added just before spinning to produce a sparkling rose-hued cranberry flecked sorbet. For texture and crunch, a thin finger of speculoos, a traditional spiced cookie eaten at Christmastime, garnishes the plate."
Gingerbread cake with milk chocolate mousse & Colombian coffee ice cream. "The moist texture of this gingerbread, similar to a light pound cake, is the result of replacing melted whole butter in the recipe with clarified butter. I learned this trick a few years ago, and I find that it works well with any cake where you want to maintain a soft and moist texture. The gingerbread is baked in individual ring molds, and the center is removed and filled with a whipped milk chocolate ganache. A small round of coffee ganache sits on top, and a quenelle of Colombian coffee ice cream sits to its side. I tried about seven varieties of coffee beans before deciding that I liked the flavor and aroma of Colombian the best. A thin transparent tuile of caramelized chocolate garnishes the top along with a streak of dark chocolate sauce."
Jorge Sotelo, executive pastry chef, Disney's Grand Californian Hotel and Spa, Anaheim, California "They say Disney is the happiest place on earth. I can't agree more. In fact, I might just be the happiest chef on earth! I've been with the company for 12 years now, and each day is a new adventure. Whether it's a VIP dinner featuring wine country cuisine or a press event for a new Disney movie, there's always a sense of creativity in everything we do. Just the other day we did a big sugar display for Finding Nemo. We found him, by the way. He was stuck in between some sugar seaweeds."
Wine country apple crisp with Jack Daniels ice cream. "Each component of this apple crisp is prepared separately and assembled to order to maintain a clean appearance and perfect texture. MacIntosh apples are caramelized on the stove with sugar, butter, lemon juice, Calvados, cinnamon, and nutmeg, then finished in the oven until just tender. At service, the apples are placed inside a ring mold on a crust of shortbread topped with a crumble of flour, butter, brown and white sugars, oats, chopped walnuts and pecans, and flaky coconut. Once warmed, the crisp is unmolded and served with crème anglaise and caramel sauce with a scoop of Jack Daniels ice cream hidden below a golden blown sugar apple."
Pumpkin cheesecake with cranberry compote & cranberry jelly with pumpkin milk shake. "This duo combines pumpkin and cranberries, each flavor making an appearance in both desserts. The pumpkin cheesecake is made using mascarpone cheese with a touch of dark rum and is baked in a fleximold with a macadamia nut/corn flake crust. Once baked and cooled, a white chocolate mousse is layered on top, followed by a quenelle of vanilla bean crème Chantilly garnished with pulled sugar and Port/cranberry sauce. Next to the cheesecake is a mini milk shake. At the base of the milk shake is a layer of cranberry gelée, allowed to set at an angle, topped with a refreshing pumpkin ice cream milk shake."
Carina Ahlin, executive pastry chef, Aquavit, New York City "As a Swede, it's great to be working at Aquavit because we have so many others of Swedish descent working here at the restaurant. It makes celebrating our traditional holidays very nice, and since we didn't grow up with Thanksgiving, we always volunteer to work that day so our American staff can spend the day with their families."
Saint Lucia saffron bun. "On December 13, we host a Saint Lucia dinner at Aquavit, complete with a procession led by a girl dressed in white with a candle wreath on her head. It's become a very popular dinner over the years, and now our regulars book a year in advance to be a part of this special celebration. At the end of the meal, each guest is given a traditional saffron bun, or lussenkatt, to mark the occasion. Weeks before, the saffron is steeped in a mixture of simple syrup and vodka to extract maximum flavor and color. This gets blended and added to an egg yolk–rich sweet dough studded with raisins. Each fluffy golden bun is then brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with sugar before getting baked. Every Swedish person I know is crazy for these buns."
Klenätter with whipped cream and cloudberry jam. "Klenätters are similar to doughnuts in that they're deep-fried but they have a slightly denser texture. They're rolled in cinnamon sugar and served with whipped cream and cloudberry jam, which has a taste somewhat similar to sour plums. I get it from a Scandinavian supplier because I just can't get fresh cloudberries here. The dough is flavored with lemon juice, zest, and dark rum. It's rolled thin and cut into a diamond shape with a hole cut in the center with the points pressed toward the middle. I've included this very classic Swedish dessert on our big Christmas Eve smörgasbord buffet for the last two years. It's very traditional, and as far as I know, we're the only Swedish restaurant in the city to serve it."
Jim Mullaney, executive pastry chef, The Cloisters Hotel, Sea Island, Georgia "Each year we create two enormous gingerbread house displays, a reproduction of the hotel for the main building and another with a nautical theme for the Beach Club. I quadruple the amount of spices used in the recipes to ensure the aroma fills the front of each building. That, along with the 18-foot-tall Christmas trees, does a lot to create a festive holiday atmosphere at the hotel."
Christmas tasting. "This trio consists of three small tastings served side-by-side on a marble slab. On the far left is a pithivier of flaky puff pastry filled with hazelnut frangipane and Granny Smith apples with sour cream/cranberry ice cream, Port/vanilla bean reduction, and hazelnut nougat tuile. In the middle is a ramekin of eggnog coconut cream, similar to a coconut cream pie, only without the crust, topped with a peak of golden meringue served with a tiny espresso cup filled with ultrarich French style hot chocolate. On the far right is a short stack of French toast made from sugar crusted–Christmas stollen studded with candied fruits and pecans served with orange marmalade and warm maple syrup flavored with red tart Mayhaw berries, an indigenous fruit, that grows in the swamps and bogs of Southwestern Georgia."
Spiced pumpkin/Saint André triple cream cheesecake with strawberry consommé & cinnamon kataifi. "Saint André, a soft ripened cow's milk cheese, replaces traditional cream cheese in these creamy pumpkin cheesecakes spiced with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice. Each individual square sits on a crust of almond linzer topped with a layer of crispy cinnamon kataifi of shredded phyllo dough. Meringue is piped up the sides in neat rows and browned with a blowtorch just before serving. On top sits a scoop of cranberry sorbet in the indentation of a deep-fried round of sugar-dusted feuille de brick with chocolate decor and a shredded gold leaf. The consommé is made by cooking strawberries and raspberries together in a double boiler with sugar and lemon juice. It's strained and thickened with a little pectin and served with a fine dice of strawberries."
