Here is the recipe from the Hallmark Home and Famly Show from Tuesday October 23rd, 2012
Here is the link to purchase books and the featured Cheesecake Pans from the show.
Here is the site if you missed the show: Hallmarks: Home and Family Show.
Thank you so much!
George
You can register for classes at www.cookswarehouse.com or phone 800-449-0996
Friday: October 26th: 6:30-9:30pm Brookhaven Location
Friday Night Date Night Dinner Party Hands On
Learn together as a couple how to produce a dinner party for your friends. Lots of techniques, fun and great flavorful food. With this full menu you will learn who does what in your kitchen and how to time your prep time so you can enjoy the party too.
Menu: Fromage Fort with Crusty Garlic Brushed Baguette, Crispy Chicken Cakes with Dill Mayonnaise, Prawn Salad with Roasted Eggplant, BBQ French Herbed Salmon, Roasted Herb New Potatoes, Snap Beans with Beurre Noir and Moulton Chocolate Cakes with Chantilly Crème.
October 27th, 2012 10:30am-1:30pm Midtown Location
Deep Rich Chocolate ~ Back to the Basics Hands On
Every baker should have each of these recipes in their repertory. George is the former pastry chef for the Walt Disney Co and would create many new desserts for the guests. Now you can too
Menu: Blackout Cake with Poured Chocolate Ganache, Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie in a Flakey Crust, Chocolate Mud Bars with Frosting, Italian Chocolate Biscotti and Mini Chocolate Baked Donuts with Raspberry Sauce.
October 28th, 2012 1:00pm-4:00pm Decatur Location
Cake Baking 101 Hands On
No More Boxes! Cake mixes have so many preservatives. Make these fresh and simple cakes that will delight your family. You will learn the proper way to mix, bake and ice cakes like a professional.
Menu: Rich Devils Food with a Fudge Frosting, Hummingbird Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, Banana Chip Bundt Cake with a poured Glaze, Red Velvet Cake with a 7 minute Frosting and Snow White Cake with a Toasted Coconut Frosting.
October 29th, 2012 7:00pm-9:00pm East Cobb Location
Say Cheesecake! Demonstration
George is the author of two award winning cheesecake cookbooks. You have seen his cheesecakes in the 1980s from the Emmy winning Golden Girls Show. Learn how to make great prefect sweet and savory cheesecakes with ease.
Menu: Chipotle Chile Cheesecake, Taco Cheesecake, The Golden Girls Cheesecake, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cheesecake Bars and Lemon Curd Cheese Pie.
Texas.. & Chocolate !
I am here in Texas for a whirlwind tour.. 5 classes, 5 cities, 4 car rentals, over 200 students, 4 hotels and 6 air flights, 2 different airlines flying thousands of miles.. in 5 days! Yes.. 5 Days! It has been a few years since I have been here teaching in Texas and it was great last night seeing so many past students.
Here is a great fast easy recipe we made last night.
Enjoy!
George
Cinnamon Rolls.
Hot and fresh.. when you hear those two words you think of cinnamon and warmth from a kitchen. Years ago I created a Cinnamon Roll that I taught on the pilot of The Mike and Maty Show.. feeding the entire 250 people in the audience hot cinnamon roll lead to being on the show as a regular.
This week LA Weekly had an article on the top 10 cinnamon rolls of Los Angeles. I have eaten in a few and really.. Nothing special. Here is the link:
Now I am a little biased.. YOu choose for yourself.. Here is alink to mine.. And look at the picture.. You get plenty of icing! Lots of it! Plus in 1995 I won the Best Cinnamon Roll Recipe from OC Register.. I think I woudl win today too.
See’s Candy makes it the fourth!
The three S’s has been a motto for years. If you have ever walked into the See’s candy stores around the west you will always see a older lady in a black and white picture on the wall. That’s Mary, mother of the founder Charles. After his father had passed in 1919 in Canada, his mother Mary came out Pasadena to live with he and his wife Florence. 462 South Marengo Avenue, Pasadena, CA.
Charles started experimenting with his mothers candy recipes. Some of the original candies are still sold today. Chocolate Walnut Fudge, Victoria Toffee, Hand Dipped Bon Bons and Maple Walnut Creams.
Researching where the first candy factory/store was I found the address. 135 North Western, Los Angeles, CA. Close to the old Bullocks Wilshire. They first had Indian then Harley's outfitted special for delivery of the boxed chocolates. The driver looked a little bit like a off-duty LAPD officer.
Checking on google.maps I found it was still there and the conservancy was trying to have the city grant it historical status. Looking at the building I was saddened. I thought that if it was still standing I could maybe take pictures and send them to the CEOs office to get them to save it from the wrecking ball. (The owners wanted to put a strip mall in).
Here is the dilapidated building from google.maps. May 2011. You can see the decorative "tooth" work above the windows and those 4 windows how they curve in at the top.
The other day I drove past the address to find what I was expecting to be a torn down building as nothing in the news stated that the city had grated historical status. I found to my surprise a Tom N Tom Coffee. It’s one of the largest coffee houses in Korea. They had taken the entire two-floor building and converted it about 3 months ago. I still would love to see a plaque outside of it. One of my favorite things of Europe is that where ever you walk they have plaques saying what happen at that site or who lived at the location etc…
2009: LA Times Article to designate the building a landmark
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/06/local/me-sees-candy6
2012: Fortune Article on Warren Buffett and See's
http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/08/22/sees-candies-buffett-berkshire
Many times I need to pinch myself. Am I really here? What is going on? Don’t wake me up as I don’t want it to be over…
Last Saturday I was grateful to be asked by Pasadena Heritage to honor Julia Child. This would have been her 100th Birthday. It was a garden party set in her former childhood home on Magnolia. Perfectly named street in fact.. It is lined with century old magnolia trees with blossoming flowers the size of dinner plates!
A few years ago I was in New Zealand on a stop in Christchurch (a few days prior to their horrible earthquake). I met up with Stephanie Hersh (Julia’s long time personal assistant). We talked hours on end. I asked her if she knew if Julia’s childhood home was still standing. Stephanie mentioned that she and Julia drove around one afternoon and could not locate it. Thinking it had become a gas station.
Leave it to the Pasadena Heritage to have documentation that the house the McWilliams family owned is standing and information on two other homes that have influence on Julia growing up.
I told about my first meeting with Julia in 1989 at a food conference and the many times we worked on projects together from ribbon cutting a new cooking school to teaching youth in the tenderloin district of San Francisco how to make pies. Besides the talk I put together a table of my 9 cookbooks that Julia had personalized over the years and two of the magazine covers she had adorned. Plus my prize possessions.. A copper pot, a blending fork and my 1993 “prom” picture of Julia and I together.
Many times over the years I have felt Julia’s presents. Saturday was again one of them.
Julias Home
Students making the food
Outside Porch with Flag
This past September what would have been Julia Child's Birthday. So many have written, talked and blogged about her. They even made a movie about one blogger.
I was so lucky to have worked a number of times with her at events from Teaching underprevliged kids how to make pies to opening new cooking schools as the ribbon cutters. We traveled from Texas to San Francisco together..
Many of you know I conduct Culinary tours of her former home in the South of France. Well this picture is her childhood home in the Suburb of Los Angeles in Pasadena.
I will be the guest speaker this upcoming Saturday for the Pasadena Hertitage Group. I will be talking about the many times Julia and I worked together (funny never in the kitchen). Also a display of some of the tools I was given and my collection of autogaphed cookbooks and covers of magazines. We will also be serving appitzers fitting as to what Julai would have served. Simple yet elegant. This is a closed event for the Hertitage Associates. But if you would like to join them the website is: www.pasadenaheritage.org .
If you cant join us, here are a few recipes for Saturday:
I'm Back!!!!!
In a few weeks I will be back to Central Market throughout the state of Texas. Next week any former students that I have US Postal addresses for will be receiving information about the classes and all of my books including my new book coming out this week. This will be my last US Mail to all of you. I will be corresponding though here and my newsletter. Please make sure you are in my email data base.
All classes are from 6:30pm to 9:00pm Monday Oct.1st: Dallas Location Tuesday Oct. 2nd: Southlake Location Wed. Oct 3rd: San Antonio Location Thurs. Oct 4th: Houston Location Friday Oct 5th: Austin Location
I will be teaching a class, all on chocolate desserts. With a recipe from my newest cookbook all on donuts! 150 Best Donut Recipes!
Extraordinary Fall & Holiday Chocolate Pastry Party
The fall and holiday season is upon us and time to create showstopper deserts with ease. Learn from George how to make perfect pastry. Author of 9 award-winning cookbooks, George will create desserts that will have all of your guests in Awe.
Menu: Semi-Sweet Mocha Flour-less French Torte, 5 Chocolate Brownies Drenched with Bittersweet Glaze, Pots de Crème, Milk Chocolate Mini-Cakes with Truffle Filling and Baked Chocolate Donuts with Vanilla Macadamia Sauce.
www.centralmarket.com to register
The Waffles of Norway
I recently returned from a 7 day cruise of The Netherlands and Norway. We started in Rotterdam the home port of Holland America Lines and also the ms. Rotterdam. We sailed to Oslo, the Fjords, Flam and a few places in-between.
Many places served waffles. cold waffles. I am used to a nice crispy hot butter melting waffles. Not the Dutch or Norwegians. They make waffles and stack them up with just a towel on top to keep warm. Served with a nice raspberry compote and thickened cream or sour cream. Here are the waffles I had above Flam, Norway
Here is a moist cake that is all "Southern" With using Canola Oil is will stay much moister longer.
It is a cross between a banana cake with pineapple and pecans.
Enjoy!
Hummingbird Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
This and many more cakes you can find in my books.
Last week I was in Chicago judging contestants (James Beard winning chefs to home chefs) for a new show called The Taste with Anthony Bourdain and Nigella Lawson it will be on ABC in the fall. It was exciting to see the process for the first 20 contestants. Then… I was tired of the same “point of view” everyone had. Nobody was original. Everyone used the words.. Fresh, localized, close to home, organic, farm to table etc. It was like everyone heard it and penned it! I questioned most of them on the view they had. Fail!
Now I ask restaurateurs if you are into farm to table and nothing being grown/raised further then a 50 (or what ever you have chosen) mile radius, what about your supplies such as dishes, pottery, tables, linens, glassware etc.
After the Los Angeles Open Cast Call I drove to Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice, CA to a wonderful place that carries pedestal cake plates and domes. Speaking with Sue the owner of Bountiful, she told me that the cake plates come from one of only two American glass manufactures left in business. She carry’s about 40 different colors, shapes and sizes. All in all the shop had hundreds stacked all over the place! It’s a site to see. I picked up a Buttercream colored plate.
I love road trips! This past July 4th weekend I set out to show the Midwest to Neil and Jonathan. Neither had been to the areas we setout for. We started at Cedar Point on the 4th. What says America then a rollercoaster ride off of Lake Erie? Small towns of Ohio to the big cities, we covered hundreds of miles in 6 days. A goal was American Products and small towns.
Last June I was impressed with the new “Made in America” campaign from Starbucks. Many products are coming to market and a great heavy mug that I gave to my father for Fathers day. It was made at the American Stein and Mug Company in East Liverpool. This area that overlooks the Ohio Rver and borders West Virginia is in dire need of production factories to return. Only a few pottery makers were still in operation.
Homer and Hall had tours and a warehouse with seconds, remainders and first run pottery. I bought too much to where we had to ship boxes home. The Homer Pottery was packed with hundreds of shoppers looking to get the great deals.
Put your food on US Made pottery! It will taste so much better…
Homer Laughlin Co. “Fiesta” Pottery
Hall China Company
Bountiful
1335 Abbot Kinney Blvd
Venice, CA 90291
310-450-3620
Here in Southern California it seems most homeowners have a citrus tree of sorts. I have 5! When my lemon tree is packed with fresh lemons I love to zest, juice and save the bounty. This year I decided to make a recipe that I got from my former tour guide that used to work with me in Italy. Maria Teresa... She was a very special lady!
One warm night in Rome a group of us sat at a family owned trattoria.. After the feast of roasted vegetables, pastas and the like the son brought a bottle that had been in a block of ice to the table with little glasses for each of us. Limonchello. I was hooked. You can only take a small bit, but refreshing it is! I created a lemon cake that we soak in the lemonchello and serve with fresh berries.
The Recipe: Italian Limonchello
I first made this cake in the early 1980s in a small Hollywood cake bakery called The Cake Walk it was on 3rd street and La Brea in the middle of all of the studios and the action. Daily we would get filming crews, stars and the like. For weddings the groom would always pick this cake as the base. Funny how you can make a cake and the flavors and aroma of the kitchen take you back to days gone bye.
Here is the glazing of the cake.... We used to boast.. "Glazed with Harvey's Bristol Creme Sherry".. The only bottle of Harvey's was in the display case next to the cake. We used jug sherry at a tenth of the cost. Today I use Galleano Winery Sherry Crema Cask Three.. (Below is the link to order and more information).
Galleano Winery Sherry and Website
The city by the bay! Since I took culinary classes in the city I get asked where are the places not to be missed. One day a place is hot the next it’s closed. Here is my personal list in no special order…
San Francisco Ferry Building One Ferry Building
(415) 983-8030 ~ www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com
In 1898 opened as a transportation hub for the area. In 1989, it once again served as a transportation hub as the Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the bridges and ferry service once again was used. In 2003 it transformed into the beautiful Ferry Building Marketplace.
My love for this building goes beyond the foods and historical value.. It’s now the center core of the city mainly during market days and mornings.
18th Street Food Rumble Area!
Between Delores and Mission…. A long block of bliss. First watch the parking signs. It’s not easy to get into these places…
Tartine Bakery: 600 Guerrero
415-487-2600 http://www.tartinebakery.com
My favorite bakery for breakfast and coffee. If you go.. make it a weekday when the locals line up. Know what you want.. check the website out.. You order your pastry in the first line and the drinks in the second. If there are two of you.. You better not hold a table while one is ordering.. That’s a no no… Any of the fresh blackberry or cherry yeast things and a must are the Morning Buns.. If you are daring.. try making your own from their book Tartine Bread. If you want a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving order a month ahead.. order two in fact.. pick up the day before which you will see a line about 100 people deep (you get to cute to the front since you have a pre-order) and you can sell your extra pie for $200!
Bi-Rite Creamery 3692 18th Street
It can be foggy and cold and Bi-Rite will still have a line with 30 minutes wait. Check their website for the flavors of the day.. Again.. its best to know what you want prior to getting to the front of the line.. If you don’t want to wait.. You can always pick up a copy of their new book.. But really that would take so much longer.. My holiday flavors I love are Ginger Pumpkin and the egg nog.
Defina Restaurant and Pizzeria Delfina
3621 18th Street ~ 3611 18th Street
415-552-4055 www.definasf.com
This Italian establishment has won numerous awards from James Beard Foundation (2008 Winner). You can get a table as long as you book in advance or an early spot like 7pm. When I ate here after a wedding at city hall we sat next to a group of 12 spry 90 year olds.. They all were from an assisted living home and they go out to eat once a month to a fine place. Now this is a place I want to end up!
Again, check the website for the menu of the day. I love how so many are doing this without having to guess what you want.
Omnivore Books 3885 Cesar Chaves Street
415-282-4712 www.omnivorebooks.com
Bookstores come and go.. (Borders, B.Dalton).. Cookbook stores come and go.. (The Cooks Library)… But Omnivore is here to stay. Celia Sack, owner of this small tiny yet functional cookbook store does it different. You have to think out of the box.. With the giants like Amazon selling books so low and postage free how does one have a store? Celia’s ideas are inspirational. All stores could work this way not just cookbook stores. She has a book signing at least once a week, most are free, so you can exchange cooking stories with your icons. A quarterly cooking contest with procedes going to charities, She sells vintage and Antiquarian books (I have jumped on a number of candy, baking and one of my favorite Brown Derby books) She has huge events sometimes at the Castro Street Theater.. Also a worthy signed book of the month type club. You should at least receive her tweets and newsletter as to what’s going on in the publisher world. Once I wanted a book signed for a friend and the author was coming the next week. They took care of it for me. Now just try to get that on Amazon!
Tante Marie’s Cooking School 271 Francisco Street
415-788-6699 www.tantmarie.com
I must say I have never taught here.. But I have taken a number of specialty classes. If you are in the city for a few days and would like to hone your skills on a subject like knife skills or pies and tarts.. This is the place. Since 1979 Mary Risley has been teaching the world is a better place when you know your way around a kitchen!
The Ice Cream Bar 815 Cole Street
Just the name itself insights the taste buds to jump. A 1930s ice cream soda fountain. The owners found the back bar on ebay and drove miles and states to get it.. When you walk in you can see the bar is the focal point of the operation. All of the concoctions are named with humorous over tones. Try the Hot Fudge Sundae as the fudge is home made as the ice cream has been churned and the whipped cream is silky and smooth.
Let me know if you have a favorite foodie haunt in SF..
Today after the SD Living Show I headed into my kitchen to make a batch of Orange Marmalade. Its not one of the go to flavors of the jarred fruit for me.. In fact I cannot think of when I put some on toast.. Humm London maybe? But I wanted to create a batch of flavorful orange Marmalade.. Here is the recipe for you to try. Here in Southern California the oranges grow everywhere so the cost is only in the sugar.
Tune in tomorrow for the show! I will be making two No-Bake Recipes.. Here they are:
No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
No-Bake Key Lime Butter Cookies.. Click on to get the recipe!
Reasonably I don’t have too many pet peeves. Or at least I don’t think I do. When I do thou I voice it in my classes and presentations to see if I get a laugh out of it and if others feel the same way… This one is a keeper.
Toll House Cookies. Purchasing a 12 oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips just to make a batch of the famous cookies. Bliss.. until you mix up a batch and start eating the raw creamy buttery chocolate dough. I only yielded about 18 cookies! I looked on the package and the recipe states.. Makes 60 cookies. Sixty Cookies! Did I eat that much dough? The next time I made them, I didn’t eat any dough, not a smidgen. I took the dough and cut it into 6 equal pieces. Then I took each of those pieces and cut those into 10. What I had was ten smaller than marble size cookies that were actually burned when I baked them for the exact timing that the recipe called for. I don’t think Mrs. Ruth Wakefield really intended us to eat cookies with only 2 chips in per cookie.
Here is the original recipe and yes it states the yield is 60!
I really think it should say. Yield: 1 dozen plus dough eating.
When I am working on a recipe I am always making sure the yield will come out the same for you as it did for me. I would hate to have made a batch of muffins that supposedly yielded 24 and I only got 18.
Here is a great cookie that I have put together.. They are moist and full of flavor. Browned Butter Pecan Chocolate Chunk Cookies. They yield 20 cookies, but if you eat any dough you will get 12!
Here is the recipe.. Enjoy!
Last week when I was at the farmers market I almost bought a bag of cherries. Almost does not cut it! I had bought peaches to make jam and tomatoes that tasted unlike their distant relative from the supermarket. I got to thinking this morning that maybe I had time to pack some brandied cherries. After going to two farmers markets today I found some for $4 a pound. After a few stops (Kitchenware store for an OXO cherry pitter), BevMo for Brandy.. supermarket for more jars and sugar.. I finally got the jars of Rainier Cherries jarred and ready for their 4 month in the dark.. Oh how I wish I had a root cellar!
If you would like to make my Brandied Cherries here is the recipe:
It was time... I ran out of Peach Jam. Last year after reading Russ Parsons Jam making story in the LA Times I only could think of Peach Jam! So I made 12 jars last year.. Now I am out.. I still have a number of berry jam jars left...
Here is the recipe.
Make sure you follow the directions perfectly and you will be well rewarded!
Banana Pecan Three Layer Cake
Last night I thought I would bake a cake... I was about to get out the normal 9-inch pans and then decided that a taller version would be oh so much better! I had about 5lbs of over ripe bananas that I kept in the freezer. Time to defrost them!
After mixing the batter and popping the cakes into the oven I thought I would check out Facebook.. After a short chat with a few friends the buzzer rang... I took the cakes out and placed them on a cooling rack.. Grab the iphone... snap snap.. Posted! Within 5 minutes these pictures went viral! You would have thought it was a star in trouble. No just a pastry chef that has baked for the stars!
The excitement of the posts were overwhelming.. From the high seas of crews around the globe to a colleague in the sky flying 40,000 feet in the air to UK and French friends.. to even my buddy Brian that is serving in Africa in the US Army. I wish I would have had a cake for each of them!
Today I iced and decorated the cakes.. Again. mayhem. This time from a few of my friends that are tv and music stars!
If you want to create mayhem and the world to talk here is the recipe... If you would like to get the pans to make the cake in.. you can order them from my store.. Also check out my new book you can pre-order!
Banana Pecan Cake with Cream Cheese Icing.
