Holiday Baking with Taylor Burns @ Las Cosas

I attended the Holiday Baking with Taylor Burns class on Saturday morning at Las Cosas. This was a class with a guest chef. Chef Johnny Vee who is the regular instructor was stil present, but the recipes are from the guest chef – in this case Chef Taylor Burns, the pastry chef at El Farol.

Class description: Join pastry chef extraordinaire Taylor Burns from the fantastic El Farol as she teaches us some fancy and extraordinary pastries and desserts and prepares us to wow friends and family in the coming holiday filled months. Sauces and garnishing will be discussed as well as we prepare: Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Pudding with Rum Caramel, Pumpkin & Gingerbread Tarts with Pepita Brittle, Sweet and Spicy Pecans (great for gifts and parties), Chocolate Dipped S’more Sandwiches with Homemade Graham Crackers & Marshmallows, and more! (Hands-On)

Per usual the menu items are split up among class members. This was a smaller class menu items were split into smaller jobs. I was working on the s’more sandwiches mostly with Taylor Burns. Taylor was the guest chef at a lesson earlier this year – Spanish Desserts with El Farol @ Las Cosas. We got to make olive oil crackers in that class, so this time I assumed we would be making the graham crackers and I was right. So excited. But even better, we made the marshmallow too!

Chocolate Dipped S’more Sandwiches with Homemade Graham Crackers & Marshmallows

Making the Graham Crackers

So we got a recipe for the graham cracker dough, but one was already prepared so we rolled it out so we could cut out the crackers.

I had a choice between square shape and circle shape. I chose the circle shape and began cutting out the crackers.

The crackers were placed on a baking sheet with silpat mat.

These are the crackers after baking.

Making the Marshmallow

The tray of ingredients – granulated gelatin, cold water, sugar, egg whites, light corn syrup (not pictured), honey, and vanilla extract.

Egg whites ready to be whipped.

Sugar, corn syrup, water and honey in pan. It got boiled to 234˚F.

After blooming the gelatin.

Sugar syrup being added to the whipped egg whites

The sugar syrup and whipped egg whites being mixed.

After adding the vanilla and mixing some more.

Piping the soft marshmallow on the graham cracker.

Finished piping on all the crackers. A few of us got to try piping, but it was hard to control the marshmallow. The tray was then set in freezer to allow it to set more.

After coming out of the freezer and putting the tops on.

After half-dipping the sandwich cookies in melted chocolate.

The Other Menu Items

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Pudding with Rum Caramel included chocolate chip banana bread, bread pudding, rum caramel and whipped cream.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread – all-purpose flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, very ripe bananas, sour cream, eggs, butter, vanilla extract, chocolate chips, and walnuts.

Bread Pudding – banana bread loaf, banana, eggs, egg yolk, milk, heavy cream, vanilla extract, brandy, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, salt, butter and sugar.

Rum Caramel – sugar, corn syrup, water, heavy cream, and dark rum.

Whipped Cream – heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract

Pumpkin & Gingerbread Tarts with Pepita Brittle included gingerbread tart crust, pumpkin pie filling, pepita brittle, and whipped cream.

Gingerbread Tart Crust – all-purpose flour, ginger, white pepper, nutmeg, cloves, salt, butter, and molasses.

Pumpkin Pie Filling – pumpkin puree, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and salt.

Pepita Brittle – pepitas, sugar, water, light corn syrup, salt, butter, vanilla extract, and baking soda.

Whipped Cream – heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract.

This is a plate of the pepita brittle.

Sweet and Spicy Pecans included pecan halves, egg whites, water, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, and salt.