Thursday, May 5, 2011

braided strawberry almond cream pastry

if you've known me long or been reading this blog (at all) you should know i have no problem admitting my baking or cooking mistakes.


remember that basic boule bread i told you about yesterday? well, i found another use for it today. or so i thought.


i found this delicious sounding pastry and proceeded to make it. unfortunately i realized while reviewing the recipe - that it called for the basic BRIOCHE dough from the book, not the boule dough...which is pretty different. so...i didn't find another use for this dough...exactly. i must have been half asleep when i read it the first time.

but, alas, i figured this out too late - the "pastry" was made.


for the most part this was pretty easy - having the dough ready to go was awesome (would have been better if it was the right dough...). definitely need practice in the dough-braiding method...then again...right dough...better braids i'm sure.

the recipe also called for almond cream - which was a recipe in the book - that you first need almond PASTE for. i didn't have either of course, but i did have almonds! i used this recipe from my sister's kitchen but halved it. the almond cream was a mixture of the paste (paste is ground almonds, egg white, powdered sugar and almond (or in my case, vanilla) extract), butter, an egg, flour and more almond (vanilla) extract. the paste was oh so yummy - i know i shouldn't have been eating it - but it was just...so creamy...


the original recipe also called for raspberries and raspberry jam, but i went with strawberries.


but oh-my-gosh how huge did this turn out!?


also - these were really really tasty strawberries.


although the "pastry" still tasted like any basic bread towards the ends - the middle was still delicious. that almond cream - mmmm...

i am DEFINITELY going to try this again - with the correct dough and maybe with raspberries instead of strawberries.


still. pretty darn delish. some advice: read, read and read again your recipes. before you start. and then read it again five more times.

7 comments:

Hannah {Culture Connoisseur} said... Best Blogger Tips

Yummy! This looks so great. I have never done any braiding of dough, so this looks like a masterpiece to me! I definitely want to try this out.

P.S. I was just telling my coworker about your dough recipe. She was quite impressed. :)

amy grace said... Best Blogger Tips

@Hannah {Culture Connoisseur} awesome, hannah! just make sure you use the correct dough ;) but the "guts" of the recipe is just perfect - let me know if you want me to send that over to you!

*kc said... Best Blogger Tips

Ha! You're crazy! What part of the recipe did you follow?! jk. but really.

Is almond paste what is used in bear claws? I friggin' love bear claws and the almond (let's call it) paste!! Yums. If so, this recipe could also be a bear leg minus the fruit.

amy grace said... Best Blogger Tips

@*kc hey, good cooks/bakers don't need to follow the recipe ;) hahah but you're right. when do i EVER follow an actual recipe???

Anonymous said... Best Blogger Tips

OMG ! I work with Amy and was lucky
enough to get a piece at work. So
delicious - I want to go back for
another piece. Really good toasted.

Unknown said... Best Blogger Tips

this.
bread.
was.
so.
nummers. :)

Meri said... Best Blogger Tips

You are a heck of a baker! this turned out so pretty, I'm jealous!