06 April 2008

Springtime in Paris

Well, my Sunday dish this week was roast chicken rather than baking. I was going to make cookies, but due to a mix up with the recipe, and the resulting culinary disaster, they will have to wait until next week...

In the meantime, after the beautiful spring pictures from Amy, and, er, the White House, I'm continuing my spring theme with this picture of spring on my street in Paris:

2 comments:

Cicero Sings said...

Springtime in Paris ... sounds so romantic!

I notice you are trying to cook without baking powder. Here is a recipe for Baking Powder:

Sift together the following and keep in an air tight container:

• 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Brown Sugar ... use white sugar with a bit of molasses mixed in. I spent some time in Cote d'Ivoire and this is how we made our brown sugar! White sugar is just sans its molasses so all you are doing is adding it back in. As for icing sugar, one needs a high speed blender to make their own ... or use cooked icings. I like whipped cream toppings better ... less sugar.

Probably someone has already given you these recipes ... but just in case they haven't!

Hopie said...

Cicero Sings - thanks for your suggestions. The thing is that there's no cream of tartar in France - which makes it hard to make your own baking powder! They do have a rising agent called levure chimique, which works in most recipes that call for baking powder so that's what I usually use.

It's the same problem with molasses. The only sweeteners they really have are white sugar and honey... Hence all the fluffy pastries! It's a crazy country I tell you. :-) But they do have crème fraiche which goes well with almost anything...

Yea whipped toppings are delicious. I'll have to go looking for some good recipes!