Merry Christmas from Carmen of Baking is my Zen

Merry Christmas to you and your families!

Below are photos I've taken and posted using a Christmas theme on

my flickr account called Baking is my Zen LLC .

This year,  I joined the flickr group Christmas Countdown 2010,

~ Enjoy the different photos depicting Christmas Time ~

Here are the photos in the order they were posted to my

flickr set called "Christmas/Holiday 2010"

All I Want For Christmas Is You

by Mariah Carey

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (1993 TV Special)

by Johnny Mathis

 

Frosty The Snowman

by Jimmy Durante

Let it Snow!

by Dean Martin

The Polar Express ~ "Believe"

by Josh Groban

The Christmas Shoes  

By NewSong



Grown-Up Christmas List

By Amy Grant

"I'll Be Home for Christmas"

Rascal Flatts Official Music Video

Step Into Christmas

By Elton John

 

Last Christmas

by Wham

 

"Wonderful Christmas Time"

By Paul McCartney

Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer

Beatles Christmas

Happy Xmas –(War is Over)

By John Lennon

Do They Know It's Christmas?

By Band Aid -  (Music Video with Names of Singers)

Jingle Bell Rock  

By Bobby Helms

Merry Christmas Darling

By  The Carpenters - (1992 Remix)

 

Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town

By Bruce Springsteen

 

THE CHRISTMAS SONG

Nat King Cole featuring Natalie Cole ~


Deck the Halls

Sung by Dickens Carolers



I Won't Forget This Christmas

By plusOne

Silver Bells (Christmas Special 1965)

By Andy Williams and Osmond Brothers

Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree

By Brenda Lee

Christmas Canon

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Feliz Navidad

By José Féliciano



The First Noel

By Phil Wickham

Mary Did You Know?

By Mark Lowry

Joseph's Lullaby

By MercyMe

 

O Holy Night (Spain, Merida)

By IL Divo

 

The Virgin's Lullaby

by The Nativity Voices

~      ~      ~      ~      ~      ~      ~

What did I  bake for Christmas? I baked Rugelachs for my family.

I'll post that recipe in a future post.

How about you?

What did you bake for Christmas?

Have a blessed and Merry Christmas!

Peace,

Carmen of Baking is my Zen



Crepes Suzette ~ A FLAMBE Experience

Hi…I’m Carmen. Welcome to my blog, Baking is my Zen.

Have you ever tried Crepes Suzette? If you tell me ‘no’, then I want to share with you one thing…it’s so delicious, you’ll thank me many times over for bringing it up.

It’s our twelfth Pastry Techniques Class, (12/18/10), at The French Culinary Institute, and we are now playing with FIRE! Well…not really. We made Crepes Suzette. These are crepes flamed with Grand Marnier.

There are four components combined together that deem this dessert to be called ‘sophisticated’:

1- thin crepes

2- orange butter

3- grand marnier

4- garniture: candied julienned orange rind

“Crêpe Suzette is a French dessert consisting of a crêpe with beurre Suzette, a sauce of caramelized sugar and butter, tangerine or orange juice, zest, and Grand Marnier or orange Curaçao liqueur on top, served flambé.

The most common way to make Crêpe Suzette is to pour liqueur (usually Grand Marnier) over a freshly cooked crêpe with sugar and light it. This will make the alcohol in the liqueur evaporate, resulting in a fairly thick, caramelised sauce. In a restaurant, a Crêpe Suzette is often prepared in a chafing dish in full view of the guests.”

Check out this video of crepes flamed with Grand Marnier.

PASTRY STUDENTS listen as Instructor/Chef Rebecca Kaiser demonstrates how to make Crepes Suzette. Chef Claudia Silva assists Chef Rebecca in the preparation of the dessert components.

The Crepes Suzettes were flambéed, then plated. The students were invited for a taste test. It’s a wonderful dessert! I dare say, WOW! The candied julienned orange rinds bring a dimension to this dessert that makes it memorable.

FCI pastry arts students in action…

FCI students that appear in this blog:

Angel Han

Caitlin Jensen

Carmen Ortiz

Carrie Cullen

Jose Toro

Lloyd Gould

Shahul Hameed

Soo Hyun Kang

Tomoko Kubo

Xiaoran Zheng

Here’s a recipe for Crepes Suzette and Candied Orange Rind I found online if you’re interested in making this dessert. It’s similar to the one we made in pastry class.

Crepes Suzette - Recipe

Candied Orange Rind - video

Peace in Baking,

Carmen

Baking is my Zen…sweet nibbles for the soul