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Archive | December, 2010

Crème Caramel LA: It’ll Flan You Over

I’m a hardcore fan of flan, a chilled caramel custard. My nani (my mum’s g’ma) makes some of the best flan known to mankind, but you can’t buy it in stores! However, in 2011, you can have Crème Caramel LA’s flan shipped to your front door and available for pick-up at your local farmers’ market!

I first “met” the mastermind behind Crème Caramel LA (CCLA), Kristine de la Cruz, via Twitter. We happily tweeted back and forth about our excitement to try each others’ baked goods at Eat My Blog, a biannual charity bake sale run by the donations of homemade goodies from food bloggers and local eateries. A week or so later, we were volunteering at the event and for an hour, we just knew each other as Kristine and Anisha. It later dawned on us that we were both “acquainted” — oh Twitter! By the way, the Eat My Blog-ers raised over $3,700 dollars for the LA Regional Food Bank!

Crème Caramel LA's bacon bread pudding; photo credit: Cathy Chaplin of gastronomy blog

Kristine brought bacon bread pudding for fellow bakers/volunteers to sample. The forkful of cold bacon bread pudding was phenomenal and I can’t wait for my next excuse to order a nice warm one! This bacon-in-pastry + bacon-infused-cocktail trend is here to stay, no? I happily pranced home with her original flan and a bag full of baked goods.

While I was out with friends, my family devoured most of the flan, saving me two small bites. Those two tiny dessert spoons-worth of flan were enough for me to declare that Crème Caramel knows how to flan. It was creamy, slightly buttery, and had a perfect balance of sweetness. I was impressed by the flan’s richness factor, as it wasn’t as heavy as one would expect from a custard. Yep, all that from two bites. The moral of the story is to order some flan, stat! CCLA’s back-story is that Kristine borrowed the successful recipe from her aunt and uncle San Francisco and brought it to Los Angeles — how lucky for us Angelenos! According to their website, they try to source ingredients locally whenever possible.

politely borrowed from www.cremecaramella.com

Where to get Créme Caramel LA?

In 2011, Crème Caramel LA will be at your local farmers’ market (look at their website for the latest developments). Starting January 4, they will be taking online orders (48 hours notice) for delivery to LA and the OC for a $15 flat fee. If you’re out of the SoCal area, don’t fret — you can order bread pudding (only, as of 12/29) via overnight delivery.

What to order?

When they have a stall-front, expect a rotating flavor-of-the-month. For delivery, you can order six-packs of:

créme caramel: original, chocolate, and café
bread pudding: original, chocolate, and caramelized bacon

Follow the sweetest developments:

On Twitter — @CremeCaramelLA

Website — www.cremecaramella.com

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Categories bread pudding, delivery, farmers' markets, flan

World Wide Fred: Desserts

27 Dec

I am obsessed with kitchen products that also serve as kitchen art. When it comes to quirk, I’m a sucker for products made by World Wide Fred and I thought I’d share my favorite dessert products with you, for that best friend, office co-worker, or girlfriend that loves to bake (hint hint, nudge nudge).

I wish I knew about these ABC cookie cutters before my holiday baking spree. Expecting alphabet cookies? I think not. Already Been Chewed is more like it:

I personally own the next product, the Batterfinger. My best friend gifted me this “handy spatula” for my 21st birthday — she knows me too well. I love batter, but ever since I’ve received this tool, I have an excuse to eat more batter than usual. I also use it to scrape the sides of my ice cream maker, because it doesn’t scratch the freezer bowl as it churns.

A CAKE-wich?! This silicone pan is GENIUS! I can only imagine my satisfaction as I replicate my favorite brown bag lunch (1st grade to 7th grade) into cakey form. Peanut butter and jelly frosting, hell yeah! Or, what about a peanut butter, banana, and Nutella filling? I think I’ll be gifting myself this bad boy.

If you’re fancy and you know it, clap your hands… or buy these tea cupcake silicone molds! Okay okay, so cupcakes aren’t as trendy as they were a few years ago, but who wouldn’t love to bake + serve these cupcakes at a “ladies’ lunch” (mind you, I abhor that phrase). I can see these cupcake molds being a big hit a bridal shower.

Finally, Peace of Cake is perfect for that hippie in all of us or that chic in the overpriced Lucky Brand jeans. It’s another silicon cake mold that packs an important message: bake cake, not war.

If you’ve liked any of these products, head to World Wide Fred’s website or demand that your local, quirky home products store carry this brand. If you’re in Los Angeles, head over to Yolk [next to LAMILL Coffee Boutique in Silver Lake]. They have a great supply of WWF kitchen and desk products.

visit:

Yolk: Free Range Design

1626 Silverlake Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90026

www.shopyolk.com

Disclaimer: I have not been endorsed by World Wide Fred or Yolk to showcase these products. Also, all of the photos have been *borrowed* from www.worldwidefred.com, but I’m sure they won’t mind.

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Categories kitchen products

“Je suis un maca-loon”

19 Dec

macaloon \ mack-uh-LOON \

–noun

1. an individual obsessed with Parisian macarons

2. the writer behind www.fiftytwodesserts.com

I’m obsessed with the French macaron. My first macaron just so happened to be at Ladureé, the patisserie of Pierre Desfontaines, the creator of the modern macaron. Seriously though, how flippin’ cool is that? I was wandering the Louvre for the very first time, came across an outlet of the famed patisserie , and ordered a precious macaron. I wish you were there to observe how delicately macarons were placed into a box with tongs! Needless to say, my chocolate macaron was delicious.

Years later, more macarons are popping up at Los Angeles eateries. Before I made up my mind to bake up these finicky, dainty meringue cookies, I dropped major coin at bakeries and restaurants. That being said, now I only drop minor coin.

The following list-in-progress compiles shops to snag macarons in Los Angeles. I’ve yet to try every macaron listed, but this will hopefully be the leading reference for all of us maca-loons. Eventually, you’ll see a guide rating macarons from 1-5 pieds (feet)! If you have any suggestions, be sure to leave a comment or email 52desserts [at] gmail [dotcom].