Calling All Pastry Chefs: We Want Your Pesach Recipes!

CKCA is on the hunt for our community's greatest Pesach desserts recipes! From nutty to chocolately, from fruity to icy, we know there's a lot of delicious things in store for us this Pesach. If you make something delectable on Pesach, we want to know about it. Email your recipe to contest@kosherculinaryarts.com by March 14, and we will select 10 finalists, ask them to submit a picture of their completed dessert, and put it to our Facebook fans for a vote. There will be two winners: One non-Gebrochts dessert and one Gebrochts. Both winners will receive bragging rights, a $75 gift certificate toward classes at CKCA, and the recipes will be featured on our website and published in our Pesach recipe newsletter.

For continual updates on CKCA's Pesach Desserts Recipe contest, make sure to "like" us on Facebook, and sign up to receive our recipe newsletters by visiting http://www.kosherculinaryarts.com and enter your email address in the top right-hand corner. 

And if you want to learn to create amazing Pesach desserts this year, then sign up for CKCA's Pesach desserts class on March 10! Click here for more info! 

***CKCA reserves the right to edit recipes for spelling and grammar, and will do our best to ensure that all recipe ingredients adhere to strict kosher for Passover standards before publishing. One recipe may be submitted per person.***

Highly International Group Graduates from CKCA Pro Pastry

Congrats to our latest graduates of the Center for Kosher Culinary Arts Professional Program in Baking and Pastry. Our students this semester came from such far-flung locations as Seattle, Washington, Deal, New Jersey, Baltimore, Maryland, Chile and Israel. 

The class, taught by acclaimed Chef Instructor Phillippe Kaemmerle, focused on the most intense and classic elements of the bake shop. The class teaches a solid theoretical and practical foundation in professional baking practices, and develops in students an appreciation and understanding for classic technique. We also work to facilitate their transition into the working world.

The next class in Professional Baking & Pastry begins January 2nd and ends March 14. It is a day program running from 2pm to 6pm. For more info contact Jesse Blonder at 718-758-1339 or visit this link. 

Below, enjoy photos of some of the beautiful pastries the students created for their final banquet. 

Visit CKCA's New Website!

The Center for Kosher Culinary Arts, home of America's only kosher program in Baking and Pastry Arts, is proud to unveil the newest version of its website, visible at http://www.kosherculinaryarts.com. The new, fully-searchable site includes all of CKCA's classic recipes, as well as updated class schedules, announcements, chef instructor bios and special descriptions of our most exciting master classes. Updates to our popular date nights and other recreational classes can be found there as well.

Check out the new site today!

Chanukah Apple Fritters With Coconut Creme Anglaise

APPLE FRITTERS

1 lb 2 oz (approximately 6 cups)Pastry Flour
1.5 oz (approximately 1/3 cup) Fine Sugar
.25 oz. (approximately 1 and 1/2 tsp)Salt
.25 oz (approximately 1 and 1/2 tsp) Baking Powder
9 oz (1 cup plus one tablespoon) Eggs – beaten
1 pint Rice milk
1 oz (2 tbsp) Oil
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp Lemon extract


Procedure:

Muffin method:
Sift together the dry ingredients. Combine the liquid ingredients.
Gradually stir the liquid into the dry ingredients. Mix until nearly smooth, but
do not overmix. Let stand at least 30 minutes before using.
Peel the apples and core them. Cut rounds about a 1/4 inch thick.
Dip the apples in the fritter batter and cook in a 375*F oil until golden brown.
Serve with coconut creme anglaise.

COCONUT CRÈME ANGLAISE

1 cup Coconut milk
1 cup MimicCreme or Non-Dairy Creamer
6 Egg yolks
3.5 oz (1/4 cup) Sugar
1.5 tsp Vanilla extract

Procedure:

In a saucepot, combine the coconut milk, MimicCreme and vanilla extract and bring to a boil. Separately, whisk egg yolks and sugar until slightly pale. Temper yolks mixture and add to remaining liquid. Stir during the cooking process. Cook until 180*F. Strain and cool in an ice bath. Drizzle over apple fritters and serve.

Happy Chanukah from CKCA

Chanukah is a wonderful time for frying and baking! With our best wishes for a happy Chanukah, CKCA is happy to share the following recipes to help you enjoy the holiday with family and friends.

Apple Cranberry Latkes
Sweet Potato and Leek Latkes
Classic Potato Latkes
Oven-Baked Latke Cups
Apple Fritters With Coconut Creme Anglaise

ONE WEEK MASTER CLASS IN BREAD BAKING

Delicious, crusty breads of all shapes & sizes—the kind that you CAN’T find in any kosher bakery. Learn to bake them up at CKCA!

Join CKCA and baker extraordinaire Lynn Kutner for a 5 day intensive class on artisan bread baking.

The students will participate in every aspect of this artisanal process including developing the starters, mixing, kneading, rising, glazing, and baking.

A bread baking workshop that is five days in a row is a great luxury. It allows the student to explore a wide variety of yeast doughs, some of which take a few days to develop. Many yeast breads benefit greatly in texture and taste if they begin with sponges and starters. Others can be made straight through the same day with excellent results.



Amongst the breads that we will be crafting are:

Sourdough Rye
Crusty Italian Boule
Classic Focaccia with Rosemary and Salt
Free-form Cranberry-Nut Whole Grain Bread
French Brioche and Variations
Old-fashioned Slow-risen Pumpernickel
Whole Grain Bagels
Traditional Potato Bread, both white and whole wheat
Swedish Limpa (orange-flavored rye)

Fougasse (a Provençal olive-herb-sesame seed bread)
CROWW Bread (a cinnamon-raisin-oatmeal-whole wheat loaf)

Course Tuition = $400
Including all supplies & Materials
Students will receive a Certificate of Completion upon successfully finishing the course.

Master Class in Bread Baking

December 26 – 30,
Mon – Thurs,
9 am – 1 pm

CALL TO REGISTER TODAY!
718.758.1339

TWO WEEK COURSE IN ADVANCED PASTRY TECHNIQUES

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN LEARNING HOW TO CREATE AND DECORATE EXTRAORDINARY TIERED CAKES AND EXQUISITE PLATED DESSERTS, CKCA HAS GOT THE CLASS FOR YOU!

The Center for Kosher Culinary Arts and French Pastry Chef Philippe Kaemmerle will be hosting a two-week class on advanced techniques in pastry arts. The class will focus specifically on advanced presentation cakes and development of plated desserts and desserts presentations.

This class is perfect for graduates of our professional training program in culinary arts, working bakers, cake decorators and pastry chefs, or serious amateurs.

PART 1 - ADVANCED PRESENTATION CAKES
















4 Day program with lecture, discussions, preparation, decoration and finishing of wedding cakes, birthday cakes, anniversary or special occasion cakes.

Students will be able to understand:

1. Selling the cakes/Type of cakes/Various themes
2. Planning, designing of cakes, organizing, transporting
3. Labor/cost issues of producing cakes & decorative items vs. purchase.
4. How to assemble any cakes.
5. How to construct using support dowels and columns
6. Difference between tiered & stacked
7. Decoration techniques/borders
8. Cake covering
9. Presentation

Technical Skills:

Royal Icing: Piping – Drop flowers – Borders – Fleur de Lys – String work etc…
Rolled Fondant: Cover cakes
Gum Paste: Various flowers & individual decorating items.
Marzipan (House made): Roses – Flowers – Leaves – Some figurines.
Modeling Chocolate (Chocolate Plastique). Various flowers – Ribbons etc...
Chocolate spray on cakes

PART 2 - DESSERT DEVELOPMENT & PLATING
















4 Day program with lecture, discussions, preparation, decoration, and plating of traditional/contemporary desserts.

Students will be able to understand:

1. How desserts are developed from concept through implementation.
2. Importance of fresh ingredients, seasonality, locality, availability, ripeness/shipping
3. Traditional flavors versus modern pairings
4. Plated dessert design: high-end restaurants, volume environments, etc
5. Labor, storage space and cost constraints
6. What is feasible/not feasible in different restaurant environments, and general implementation issues.

Technical Skills:

Demonstrate improved efficiency in dessert production techniques
Garnish desserts appropriately, execute a variety of sauce patterns and plate design
Develop a dessert concept within certain criteria (for example: a plate w/ something
hot/cold/frozen, crunchy/creamy, garnish and a main dessert, 2 sauces – made with different techniques, appropriate to main flavor of dessert)
Make quenelles - piping
Chocolate drawings on plate
Sugar Angel hair
Pull sugar – demonstrate pulling sticks for dessert garnish
Set up a service station and follow instructor orders for serving desserts

COURSE TUITION = $800
Including all supplies & Materials
Students will receive a Certificate of Completion upon successfully finishing the course.

Advanced Pastry Techniques
Dec 12 - 22, Mon - Thurs, 9 am - 1 pm

CALL TO REGISTER TODAY!
718.758.1339