Dessert tagged posts

There are many reasons to enjoy National Chocolate Éclair Day at Kathey Jo’s Kitchen. One of them is the pure deliciousness of it all.

An éclair is an oblong pastry made from choux dough filled with a cream and topped with icing. The éclair originated during the 19th century in France. It was called pain à la Duchesse or petite Duchesse until 1850. The éclair may have gotten its name from the flash of frosting that glistens across its top. When baking the perfect chocolate éclair, steam is essential to the construction of the inner hollow that’s filled with vanilla cream. It takes some patience, but once you’ve perfected your recipe, you’ll have something you can always fall back on for sweetness.

Did you know that MasterChef India pastry experts spent three days constructing a 26-f...

Welcome back to Kathey Jo’s Kitchen! The praline is a Southern tradition. You create it with sugar, corn syrup, milk, butter, and pecans. The praline was traced back to Chef Clement Lassagne, who worked for César duc de Choiseul, Comte du Plessis-Praslin around the 17th century.

Chef Lassagne’s original praline recipe brought together almonds bound by a caramelized coating. He named it for his employer, the praslin. Through the centuries in Europe, the Southern praline eventually evolved from the praslin. In France and Belgium, the recipe often features ground nuts and cocoa, instead of a halved nut.

The pralines of today’s SSouth came through New Orleans via Ursuline nuns. These French nuns taught their young charges the domestic arts, which included cooking and baking...