I decided as a final learning experience for my 20 % project I wanted to sign up for a cooking class that would enhance my learning in a more guided and professional way. I was wandering through Pinterest when I came across a store that offered numerous cooking classes: Sur La Table. To my delight, they were offering a "Basics of French Pastry" class at the location near me. I signed up and soon became very excited for what would be my first class. I knew that this experience would be a wonderful way to round out my learning experience.
As this was my introduction to cooking classes, I had no idea what to expect. I was anticpating spending the 2 hours of class time whipping up some tasty desserts all while wearing a white apron and hat. Ok, so I figured the former part of the sentence would be true- probably not the latter. As I enter the class, I was assigned to a cooking counter with two other people. I learned that I would be sharing in the experience with them, including ingredients, tools, and final product. At this, I was a little dissappointed. While I am a very social person, I was hoping to be able to have the entire experience myself. The couple was very nice and it was fun working with them in the end.
The goal of the day was to make two separate items: a Pate Au Choux and a Lemon Meringue Tart. I was happy to be making both as they were both new experiences for me. Pate Au Choux is a versatile dough for French Pastry making that can be used in many different desserts, especially eclairs, cream puffs, or profiteroles. As I had studied about this in one of my earlier projects, I was ready to put my knowledge to the test. As for the tart, I had never made a tart shell before but I had made a lemon meringue. I learned about the difference between the types of Meringues and when/where they are most effective. My only dissappointment was that the staff at Sur La Table ended up rolling out the tart shells and placing them into the pans for us. Other than that, we were able to make everything else from scratch.
It was a great experience being able to make French Pastries in a location where I had every tool or ingredient imagineable at hand. As a culmination of this project, I have found that I have learned so much about the art of making pastries and other desserts. I have such a great love for baking and feel truly lucky to have been able to take the time to learn and explore in the kitchen. I look forward to finding a way to keep up with the baking, and after this class, maybe even take another Sur La Table class in the future!
It was a great experience being able to make French Pastries in a location where I had every tool or ingredient imagineable at hand. As a culmination of this project, I have found that I have learned so much about the art of making pastries and other desserts. I have such a great love for baking and feel truly lucky to have been able to take the time to learn and explore in the kitchen. I look forward to finding a way to keep up with the baking, and after this class, maybe even take another Sur La Table class in the future!