FLOUR!

My sister Kathy and I took a baking class this week. It was actually a baking demonstration held at Flour Bakery in Boston.....

....and it was fabulous.

The sold-out class was conducted by Sarah and Rona (Rona, I'm so sorry...I hope I am spelling your name correctly). Sarah is a Pastry Chef at Flour Bakery and although Rona acted as her assistant for the class, Rona's daily duties at Flour include training the bakers. Can you imagine?? She actually gets to train the bakers!  These girls were so much fun to watch! It was abundantly clear that they are totally and completely passionate about what they do.

By the way....the pics were taken with my IPhone, so if the quality is a little "rough".....I know you'll get over it.

The class was held inside the main room of the bakery after it had closed for the day. Our original date was supposed to be at the end of August, but Hurricane Irene rearranged that for us.

The last recipe I made from the new Flour cookbook were unbelievably decadent brownies.  A couple of years ago, I tried to re-create their double chocolate cookies. Both times, I thought I died and went to heaven. For this class, five delicious, mouth-watering recipes from the Flour cookbook were demonstrated.

Chocolate Chip Cookies, Raspberry Crumb Bars, Brown Butter Rice Treats, Ginger Molasses Cookies and Homemade Oreos.  Sigh. Samples were freely passed around and for those that wanted to take their treats home, little white bakery boxes were provided. My samples made it to the car but after that I can't recall what exactly happened, Your Honor.

So now, I know their little secrets.

And I'm not telling anyone.

..and neither is my sister Kathy.

Of course, bribery might work....but only if there's chocolate involved.

Or maybe a sticky bun or two.....

...but we can't wait that long.

After class was over, Rona proudly showed us around the bakery kitchen. This girl loves what she does.

You can just tell.

If only I had a pick-up truck and a gaggle of strong men....this baby may have found it's way home with me. So what if I have to build a new room onto my kitchen......can you imagine how many cakepops I could crank out with this 80 quart bowl?

Yowsa!

                               All in all, I'm pretty excited to taste try these new recipes.

.......are you?

Bailey's Hot Fudge Sauce

Although you would never know it to look at her, my mother was the Queen of Ice Cream.

Quite simply, she loved it and never turned down an opportunity to sit and savor it's cold, creamy sweetness. When it came to ice cream choices, my mother always declared that James McManus Ice Cream was really delicious, but Bailey's was by far her favorite.

When I was a kid, a trip to Bailey's Ice Cream Parlor was a special treat. Bailey's set the bar pretty high as far as ice cream was concerned. No matter what Bailey's we visited in the Boston area, there were always people sitting around at little metal tables and chairs, happily eating ice cream from silver pedestal dishes. I remember that the outside of the dishes glistened with icy condensation as the long handled silver spoons scraped every last drop. (Insert drooling here.)There was a long marble counter with high round stools and there was always a small water fountain with little white paper cups. Why was it that a cup of cold water tasted so good after a dish of Bailey's ice cream?

For those who chose to add hot fudge sauce to their ice cream selection, the iconic silver dishes were always placed on top of a white saucer to catch any blobs of hot fudge or butterscotch that may drip over the side. I can see it like it was yesterday. And if I concentrate hard enough............I can taste it too. Go on and try it.

You know you want to.

Bailey's Hot Fudge Sauce

1/2 cup butter

2 unsweetened chocolate squares

2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

3/4 cup evaporated milk

 Over medium low heat melt butter and chocolate squares, take off heat.

 Add 1/3 of the sugar and 1/3 of the evaporated milk, mix with a whisk until smooth.  Add remaining sugar and milk, stir until smooth.  

Return to heat and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes.

Pour into canning jars or an other type of container, let cool and close jar. Note: This is not a canning recipe, the canning jars are just a cute way to give it as a gift. Recipe can also be doubled.

Then, only thing left to do is take a quick look around to make sure no one is looking.....and..........

 

 

.....................scarf down a spoonful or two.

 

 

I'll never tell.