A tofu salad that everyone will eat: Almond Tofu Cocktail.

Yesterday was the annual Memorial Day Potluck Brunch at our church.  This time, I decided to take a little break (since I bake the after-worship goodies every week) and made something that doesn't require baking.  Also something that my family will enjoy eating, in case there are any leftovers to bring back home.  Basically, something that even Dad can eat.

The mangoes and blueberries were on sale that week.  There were also several kiwis and jars of Chardonnay-poached pears in the fridge, so I opted for a refreshing fruit salad/cocktail.  But I didn't want it to be just an ordinary fruit salad--how about adding some jello for an added nutritional boost?

My eyes wandered over to the pantry shelves....where I spotted a can of lychee.  Suddenly, the voice in my head starts talking...

"Hmmm you have mangoes, blueberries, kiwis, pears, and lychee.  How about almond tofu and lychee jelly for a Chinese-style dessert?"



Brilliant!  ...Except I wasn't sure how well almond tofu and lychee will be received by the predominantly Caucasian congregation--I didn't think anyone would know what those were.  At the same time, I don't know of anyone who doesn't like lychee or almond tofu, so I decided to go for it.  I'm all for introducing new flavors and gastronomical adventures to my friends!

Traditionally, almond tofu is made from almond milk, sugar, and agar.  The modern version is made with milk, sugar, gelatin and almond extract, which is a lot easier to prepare.

I bloomed the gelatin and melted it in the microwave.  I heated up half the milk, stirred in the sugar, almond extract, and the melted gelatin, mixing well.  I poured in the rest of the milk, poured it into a container to chill and set.  In the meantime, I also prepared the lychee jelly, using the lychee juice from the can.  The canned juice have more intense lychee flavor than a lychee beverage.

The day before, I cut up all the fruits, the jelly, and the tofu, which had a good almond-y flavor.  In the morning, I gently tossed everything together, being careful not to smush the delicate almond tofu.  For added flavor, I lightly drizzled the syrup from Chardonnay poached pears over the whole thing.

So what did the people think?



THEY LOVED IT.  Someone came up to me and asked what this "light pink fruit" is;  she's never seen or had it before.  I told her it's lychee, and she said it's heavenly!  Another lady came up to me and asked what those "white things" in my fruit salad were.  I wasn't sure which "white things" she was referring to (could've been the lychee, the pear, or the tofu), but it turned out she was referring to the almond tofu.  She and her daughter absolutely loved them! ...then asked where she can buy them.

When I told her that I made them, her shoulders (literally) fell.  Kinda funny, considering the amount of labor (of lack thereof) involved in making this.



But I'm so happy everyone got to try lychee and almond tofu for the first time!  And loved them! 

...Unfortunately, as a result, there was only half a cup of the salad leftover for me to take home to my parents.  But Dad wolfed down the leftovers quickly, saying how good they are.

His surgery is next week.  At this rate, he should be in a lot better shape by then!

'Winged' Sesame Macaron

In case you were wondering, no, these macarons don't have wings.  I said 'winged' because that's how they were made--I just winged them.

There was a small tub of leftover egg whites that's been sitting in the fridge for a while that needed to be used up.  I decided to whip up some Italian meringue.  There was a base for Baked Alaska sitting in the freezer that needed to be frosted, and I could always use some practice.

The meringue turned out great.  I piped spikes of them onto the ice cream on the base to cover the entire thing--maybe dessert for tomorrow?  But now I ended up with lots of leftover meringue.  What to do with them?

Then a thought occurs: can I make macarons out of them??

It's not impossible.  Besides, even if they turn out horribly, at least I would get some practice.  The meringue was going to be tossed out anyway, so it's not much of a loss.

Except I didn't have any almond meal on hand, so I used black sesame powder instead.  As for calculating the amount to mix into the meringue... this is where I just winged it.

I started out with about 140 grams of egg whites and 224 grams of granulated sugar for the Italian meringue, for a total weight of 364 grams (approximately).  After using the meringue on the Baked Alaska, I had about 225 grams leftover.  Since about 38% of it should be egg whites (percentage obtained by dividing 140g with 364g), then there should be about 86.5 grams of egg whites in the leftover meringue.  Based on the amount of egg whites, the amount of other ingredients can be calculated, following the baker's percentage in a macaron recipe.

The particular recipe I followed called for 117% almond meal (in my case, ground sesame) and about 200% powdered sugar and 36% granulated sugar (with the egg whites at 100%).  That means that I would need about 102 grams of ground sesame, 173 grams powdered sugar, and 31 grams granulated sugar.  There was about 138 grams of granulated sugar already in the meringue, so I subtracted that from the total amount of sugar required (i.e. 173 grams + 31 grams), which turned out to be 66 grams of powdered sugar.  Have I lost anyone yet??

I whisked the black sesame powder and the powdered sugar together, and folded it into the meringue.

I piped them out onto the sheet pan, sprinkled on some sesame seeds, let them rest for about 15 minutes, then popped them into the oven--and crossed my fingers.

Half way through the baking, I took a peek through the oven window....

Wow, they're turning out nicer than I thought!  The dome-shaped shells, the developing feet...

Behold...."winged" Black sesame macaron with peanutbutter filling!  The all-sesame powder composition gave them an intensely nutty sesame flavor, while the sweet and creamy peanutbutter silenced the bitterness often present in black sesame, mellowing out the entire thing.  As for the texture, these turned out pretty chewy.  Not sure if it was because I overbaked them, or if it's a characteristic of macs made with Italian meringue.  The shells were also thicker.

Well, that was actually a lot of calculation.  So much for winging it...

Inside Les Madeleine's Kitchen Week 3

As I've mentioned in my last post, my whole family has been under a lot of stress.  With lack of quality sleep, it's been a bit tough getting up at 3:30AM for the morning bake shift which starts at 5AM.  Well, getting up is actually not a problem for me--it's staying mentally alert during the shift that gets tricky.  Dear Les Mads staff--if I come off as depressed, grouchy, dim-witted/zombie-like, and anti-social, it is not because I don't like you--as a matter of fact, I love you all--I'm just exhausted and stressed.  Maybe I'll ask our lovely barista for a double shot of espresso next time to perk me up.

Despite all that, I've still managed to do a decent job finishing up these chocolate religieuse.

Les Madeleine's menu changes monthly, so these will be available until the end of May.  In June, they're planning on switching to strawberry religieuse.  I love how they switch up their menus so both the customers and the kitchen crew won't get bored making/eating the same thing throughout the year.  This will definitely encourage people to come back to check on new items.  Changing the menu also keeps the servers on their toes, since they have to know each menu item and be able to explain to a customer what it is--a very important duty of FOH (front of the house).  A blank stare from a server as an answer to a question leaves a very, very poor impression on the customer.  I have had this happen to me...  

These are Chocolate Tangerine Semifreddo, a new menu item.  Frozen chocolate mousse, infused with tangerine, with a sponge base, finished with chocolate glaze.  Gotta love the sheen on the glaze!  The mousse itself is velvety smooth, starting with rich chocolate flavor and finishing with a slight tang from the tangerine.  The mousse itself is not very sweet, but is balanced very well with the sweeter glaze.  This will be great for the upcoming summer months.

One of the morning-bake items, the Checkerboard Cookies.  The log is sliced into 24 portions and baked.  Known as icebox cookies, these can be frozen in logs, sliced and baked as needed, and store very well.

Once of the items on the "To Make" List (i.e. production list), Vanilla Bean Shortbread.  Prepared dough is pressed into small tart pans and frozen.  They will be cut into quarters once firm and baked as needed (see the trend?).

Another cool thing about working here is being able to sample the prototypes of potential new menu item.  I really enjoy watching a dish or a pastry evolve as it gets tested numerous times and critiqued by the staff.  The passion, the thought, the love that goes into each and every dish/pastry--I think those are the elements required to produce delicious, high-quality food.

Dad's Illness

This week has been quite stressful, both physically and mentally. 

The CT scan and the MRI showed a cancerous mass in my Dad's bile duct.  On Monday, we went to go see a surgeon to go over possible treatments and procedures.  He got my Dad scheduled for an ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography), which involves running a camera-loaded tube down his esophagus, through the stomach, then up the bile duct.  They will insert a stent to open up the duct and hopefully clear up the jaundice.

This is all in prep for the major surgery in the beginning of June.  The surgeon plans to remove his gallbladder, bile duct, and about half of his liver.

Yesterday was the ERCP.  The gastroenterologist doing the procedure was running behind, so we ended up waiting for 4 hours before it was my Dad's turn.  It was additional two hours for the procedure and the recovery from anesthesia.  During that time, Mom and I went to the hospital's bistro, which had a good selection of drinks and dishes (served buffet style)--we were starving by then!  And I saw the most unusual flavor of hot chocolate--Red Velvet Cake.  It was really red too.  And indeed, it had that cake-like flavor in addition to the chocolate.

We picked up Dad who said he was already feeling a lot better.  What a relief...

But now we have to load him up with nutritious foods and proteins.  And of course that includes desserts, right?  I wanted to make him a light, nutritious, refreshing dessert, low in fat, but high in protein.  This calls for....

...Gelatin-based desserts!  Mango and Almond Tofu (or panna cotta) verrine, with strawberry coulis, and fresh fruits.  The texture of the tofu turned out perfect, so smooth, almost custard-like consistency.  Almond tofu is a Chinese dessert, traditionally made from almond milk and agar (which makes this also vegan).  Modern version (which is what I did) uses dairy (i.e. milk or cream), gelatin, and almond extract. 

The one in the wine glass is just Almond tofu, with strawberry coulis and fruits.  Even with his nausea (which hasn't gone away yet), he was able to eat this.  Gelatin can be used to make high-protein, low-fat (as long as no high-fat dairy products are used...), healthy, easy-on-the-stomach desserts.  Perfect for Dad!  I'm so glad he can finally eat desserts. :)

Hmmm....guess I'll be developing more gelatin-based desserts, especially with the upcoming warm weather...

Inside Les Madeleine's Kitchen Week 2 Part II

Here are the rest of the pics I promised from my previous post!

Behold....the Marjolaine!

 Marjolaine is a pastry that consists of layers of dacquoise, whipped cream and buttercream.  Because of its simplicity, many variations of this pastry can be easily created.  One of the chef instructors at my school has his own recipe of the Marjolaine, which consists of hazelnut dacquoise, whipped cream, hazelnut and chocolate cream.  Les Madeleine's is almost exactly the same, except instead of the hazelnut, strawberry cream is used--prehaps for that Neapolitan ice cream flavor combo?

To finish, the entire thing is drenched with chocolate ganache glaze.  Before it sets, criss-cross lines are marked on the top for decoration. 

Each slice is garnished with a hazelnut, since the dacquoise portion contains hazelnuts.  Aesthetics aside, garnishings and decorations on pastries can serve another purpose.  They can show an ingredient in the pastry that may not be so obvious--in this case, the hazelnut in the dacquoise.  This helps alert the customers with nut allergy to avoid this particular pastry.

Here are the Strawberry Domes being assembled...

The strawberry mousse is smoothed into the silicone dome mold. 

 ...then layered with fruit gelees and sponge cake.  Once assembled, they are frozen, at which point they can be easily removed and finished later.
Now, the chef herself in action!  Here, she portions the carrot cake cookie dough onto a sheet pan.

 Look at her go!  It took her less than 10 minutes to portion the entire bowl of dough.  Speed is of utmost importance in mass production.

The portioned cookie dough is kept in the freezer.  Each morning, some will be baked to provide customers with freshly baked cookies.  Making a large batch of dough and storing it in the freezer cuts a huge amount of time from labor--instead of making a small batch each and every single day.
I'm definitely learning a lot here!

Inside Les Madeleine's Kitchen Week 2 Part I

Each and everyday, we "Morning Bake" crew come in at the wee hours of 5AM to bake off the dough/batters that were prepared the day before, and to restock the display cases.

Romina, the owner chef of Les Madeleine's, provides us with a list of items to bake, assemble, and make.

We were running low on Coconut Macaroons, Peanutbutter cookies, and Butter Toffee Cookies, so we arranged the already-portioned dough on the sheet pan.

We also baked off the Carrot Cake Cookies and Black & White Cookies (two of the most popular items) as well.

And remember that Strawberry Dome that my friend bought for me a few weeks ago (it's in my previous post)?  Well, I got to witness the whole assembly.  But for today's post, I'll just show how the domes are finished.

The strawberry mousse is prepared in a dome-shaped silicone mold and frozen.  Here they are, right after being unmolded, ready to be glazed with strawberry glaze.

Glazing going on here...

Once the entire dome is covered, it's left to sit for a bit, to allow the excess glaze to dribble off.  The dome is carefully transferred onto a gold cardboard plate, and decorated with white chocolate crispy pearls...

...Then topped with a quartered and glazed strawberry.  Each must be done by hand--but that's what makes them artisan.
Here are the pics of other goodies...

Coconut Macaroons and Butter Toffee Cookies, baked til nice and golden, ready to be placed in the display case.

Black & White Cookies.  After the cookies are baked, the bottom of each cookie is iced, half with a white glaze and the other half with a black (i.e. cocoa) glaze.

Carrot Cake Cookies.  A generous piping of fluffy cream cheese frosting is sandwiched between two raisin-studded, cake-like cookies, just like whoopie pies.
Next in Part II: Marjolaine, Zucchini Tart, more Strawberry Dome, and the chef herself in action!

Inside Les Madeleine's Kitchen, the rest of Week 1

These are the rest of the pics I took during the last part of week 1 at Les Madeleine's.

Alicia, one of the 'interns', is from Le Cordon Bleu in Oregon.  Here she torches the Meyer Lemon Meringue Tart.  The pate brisee shell is filled with the curd only partially, so it won't overflow when the meringue is piped on top.

Tiramisu Cups.  Chocolate cups (the cups are purchased through a vendor) are filled with layers of mascarpone mousse, ladyfingers soaked in espresso syrup, more mousse, then finished with cocoa powder.

Pate de Fruit (i.e. the pectin jellies that I also made in school).  The orange one on the left is White Peach and the red one on the right is Pabana (a cocktail of passionfruit, banana, mango, lemon).  The texture is way different than the ones made at school--almost as if though they were made from agar.  The lychee that I made at school was like these, while ones I made at home were quite chewy.

I will post pics from this week within the next few days.  Stay tuned!

Happy Mother's Day and Mom's Birthday!

My Mom's birthday always rolls around the same time as Mother's Day.  This year, it was the day before.  And as usual, she didn't really want anything.  She said maybe some good, high-quality chocolates?  Ever since I brought home the truffles I made in Chocolates & Confections class at school, she has never been able to go back to "grocery store chocolates" (that means you, Hersheys.  And Tollhouse.  And Palmers.  And C.K. Cummings).  Even Godiva truffles paled in comparison to what I made in class using Noel and Valrhona.  So I went to Caputo's, a local Italian specialty foods store, and bought several sample size bars of the top-quality chocolates--Valrhona and Amedei.  I also splurged on a 1 lb. bag of Valrhona Tropilia Amer and 8 oz. of Valrhona Caramelia (their newest product).  The Tropilia is one of the cheapest Valrhona chocolates, and while the cacao percentage is high (this one is 70%), the flavor profile is rather dull and flat compared to other more expensive variety.  But that makes it suitable for baking and desserts, since it will allow other ingredients to shine through while maintaining that intense chocolate flavor.

My Mom has been eating just one sample bar per day, savoring each bite;  and any craving inbetween she satisfies with the small bag of Valrhona Caramelia that I had set aside for her.  Ooooh just wait until I use this baby in bourbon milk chocolate mousse!!
Since (other than the chocolates) Mom's birthday was rather dull and uneventful, I decided to make something more special for Mother's Day, of course.  Something elegant, lady-like, flowery and fruity, something that screams, "SPRING IS HEEEEEERE!!!!"...OK, that last part is so not lady-like.
So I chose fruit charlotte--a dessert with a girly name, its girliness further enhanced by the band of ladyfingers wrapped around a light creamy Bavarian filling, and topped with assorted fruits.
I've been practicing piping bands after bands of ladyfingers at Les Madeleine's, so that part was easy.  The hardest part was fitting everything in my tiny oven... but the ladyfingers turned out great!
For the filling, I used a vanilla diplomat cream (pastry cream with whipped cream folded in) with a small amount of gelatin to set it.  I layered it with lemon cremeux and strawberry confit to make it nice and fruity.
The assembly got a bit frustrating.  I made a 'cup' with the sponge, and filled it with the cream, but since I didn't have the mold or acetate strips, I had to tape parchment paper strips for a makeshift mold--which doesn't have the same strength.  But I still managed to get everything assembled and finished.

The ribbon actually makes a difference.  Without it, it looks sort of...naked.  It was probably because I made the strips a little too tall.  Next time, I'll make it shorter.

And just for Mom, a tall candle.  We sang her a happy birthday :)

Here's the inside look.  This turned out delicious! The tart lemon cremeux and sweet strawberry confit blended well with the light vanilla diplomat cream.

Hope everyone had a happy mother's day!

Inside Les Madeleine's kitchen...and I got the job!!

After graduating from the Art Institute, I've been on a job search (of course).    The resort area--where all the 5-star hotels are--involves 33 miles of commute one-way, and I wanted to avoid that.  So I've applied to several restaurants reasonably close to where I live, but they had no pastry chef positions open.

I've mentioned this in my past post, but that's when my friend offered to hook me up with a pastry chef, the owner of Les Madeleine and get some bakery experience while I look for a job.  I was scheduled to start working (sans pay) the beginning of May.

Few weeks went by...and I was still looking.  I was starting to lose hope--when I stumbled across a "Fudge & Pastry Chef" position, posted by a company called Scheels, a sporting goods store.  Strange, I thought.  Why would a sporting goods store be looking for a pastry chef?

It turns out that this place actually has a pastry shop/cafe inside their store.  Yes, it's huge.
So I emailed them my resume.  They called me pretty quickly (within a day or two) and asked me to come in and fill out an application.  So the next day, I went and filled out an application--they then had me take an aptitude test!  It wasn't hard, just a few basic math, grammar, spelling, and writing problems.  Guess it makes sense that they don't want to hire people who can't do basic elementary school math :P
After three interviews (yes...three) they actually asked me if I am interested in working with them!  I replied with a definitive YES!  I am officially hired!! :D

But I don't start until July.  They're still in the process of hiring people, so they want to wait before starting the employee training.  I still have about a month before I start working.  Which was PERFECT, because that will give me enough time to work at Les Madeleine bakery to gain valuable experience.  I have to say this...Thank you God.  THANK YOU. THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU!!!!!
I arrived at 5AM last Tuesday.  Boy was I sleepy...
I just stood and watched the very first day, so things got kind of boring.  Then starting the second day, I got to help with a lot of stuff.

By the end of the week, I was helping them make the dough for handmade doggie treats, cut and portion things, make frostings, etc.

Here is the chocolate religieuse (pronounced "ruly Jews".  Seriously).  Meaning "nun", it's a pastry composed of two choux cremes (filled with chocoalte pastry cream) one smaller than the other, with the smaller one perched on top.  The chocolate glaze acts as a glue to hold it in place.  It's then finished with Italian buttercream.

These are kouign amann, the shop's specialty.  It's like croissant that's layered with sugar and baked, resulting in a rather crunchy and dense but buttery and caramelly croissant-like pastry.

Pate brisee (French pie dough) for the lemon tarts, ready to be baked.

Aaaaand the handmade dog biscuits, also ready to be baked.  They are baked for about 5~10 minutes, at which point the oven is turned off and they are left to dry out overnight.  Made of various whole grains, these preservative-free canine treats can be eaten by people too (although very hard/tough).

It's been only the first week and I'm already having too much fun!

My life right now and mini-catering side job

The past entire week has been pretty intense, both physically and emotionally.  Last week on Thursday, we took my father to the doctor.  He developed jaundice and was feeling very sick.  Upon seeing him, the doctor immediately referred him to an internal medicine clinic, where he went through a series of tests.

Their finding--a cancerous mass in his bile duct.  He's been scheduled for a consultation for a surgery and a possible chemo.  I'm just afraid that this rather harsh treatment of surgery + chemo combo will kill him faster than the cancer will.

But before any treatment can begin, we gotta load him up with protein to help his body prepare for the surgery.  He will need the extra strength.

So that's my life right now.  As for my passion...it's still going strong :)

A church friend asked me to make some fruit tartlets for her party--she'll pay me of course.  It was quite funny, the way she asked...

Friend: "Could you make some of those cute mini dessert thingies you brought to church that one time??"

Me: "....uh...Which 'dessert thingies' are you talking about?" (Note: I bring desserts/goodies every Sunday)

Friend: "You know...it was like, cream cheese filling except they weren't cream cheese and they were in like, graham cracker crumb cups, and some fruit on top?  I love those and I get them all the time at a pastry shop but yours taste so much better."

Me: "OK.  What are they called at the shop?"

Friend: "Oh, I don't know.  I love them but I don't know what they're called."

Me: "....(you get them all the time but have no idea what they're called??) Are they like cheesecakes?"

Friend: "No, they weren't cheesecakes.  They were like, creamy filling in a graham cracker cup-thingies."

Me: "...OK, sounds like you're talking about fruit tartlets."

Friend: "OH is that what they're called??  Yes, I would love to have some for my party!"

So she ordered half a dozen fruit tartlets and half a dozen lemon meringue tartlets.  By this time, I'm used to making them, so it was a breeze.

 And I got to practice making Italian meringue.  My method produces a fairly dense meringue, quite similar to Swiss meringue.  I'm starting to think it may be too dense, so I'll try the other method to see if that'll produce fluffier meringue.

I ended up lots of leftover meringue, so I made some extra lemon meringue tartlets for my parents.

I'm definitely glad they (especially Dad) got at least some of their appetite back.  They ate these without a problem and thought they were very good.  I used a lemon cremeux instead of lemon curd.  Lemon cremeux has a higher ratio of lemon juice and much lower sugar content, making them quite tangy.  The very tart filling paired very well with the sweet meringue and balanced by the buttery crust.

By the way...notice that I do not use graham cracker in my tart crust.  And I fill the fruit tartlets with vanilla pastry cream...not cream cheese. 

Which makes me wonder--can she not taste the difference between a pate sucree shell and graham cracker crust??  Seriously???

Happy Kentucky Derby Birthday!

May 5th was my friend Ami's mom's birthday...as well as the annual Kentucky Derby.  She wanted it Kentucky Derby-themed, so I went looking for cake toppers, decorations, toys, anything that can be used in a derby-themed cake.  Finding none, I opted for using the Kentucky Derby logo, a red rose in a gold horseshoe.
For the actual cake itself, I decided to somehow incorporate an ingredient that the state of Kentucky is famous for.  Of course--Kentucky bourbon!
Chocolate and caramel pairs very well with bourbon.  So I made a chocolate chiffon cake base, filled it with caramel pecan filling, and set it in a 10" springform pan (Oh how I wish I had a cake ring/mold instead...).  I topped it off with Kentucky bourbon chocolate mousse, smoothed the top, and froze it.  Once frozen, I glazed with chocolate glaze.
Then the "fun" part of decorating...
The problem is, I've been under a bit of stress with my father being ill and having trouble sleeping.  My brain just wasn't functioning at its usual tiptop shape.  As I piped the logo design on the cake, I had the hardest time concentrating.  After piping the icing, I set a red rose candle in the gold horseshoe.
And this is how it ended up looking...

...Yikes.  Quite crooked.  And so not professional looking.  I should've just placed the template directly on the cake and traced it.

The royal icing roses looked pretty cool though.  Those are chocolate mint leaves.
At least the cake tasted pretty good.  The texture of the mousse was spot on, but the cake was a bit dry (at least to me) and the glaze too sweet--probably because I used a bag of cheap chocolate chips instead of the quality couverture.

Well this was definitely a good practice in cake decorating.  Hopefully I can get more practice and get better so my cakes won't resemble those in Cake Wrecks.

Faux Pierre Herme's Montebello

My family (including myself) have not been feeling well lately.  Maybe it's the extremely unstable weather during the month of April (typical Utah weather).  With the high of 88F on Tuesday and 32F on Friday (accompanied by sleet/snow), our bodies are having the hardest time adjusting.

As a result, I haven't had my usual "drive" to bake and make desserts for the past week or so.  But I managed to muster enough strength and willpower to make something for our Sunday Bible study.  It takes a lot of planning and concentration to make a whole torte, but an individual-sized Parisian pastries are more manageable.
So I made something that I've always wanted to make:  Pierre Herme's Montebello.

Monsieur Herme's Montebello is composed of dacquoise base filled with pistachio creme, topped with fresh strawberries.  For my version, I used sweet tart shell as a base, and pistachio "creme Chiboust"--pistachio butter with creme Anglaise lightened with Italian meringue.

 The tartlet shells, baked and ready to be filled.

 Prior to filling them with the pistachio "Chiboust", I applied a dollop of strawberry jam for a little tang and to intensify the strawberry flavor.

 Then a small mound of straight pistachio butter, for textural contrast.

 Filled with pistachio "Chiboust"....

 ...topped with fresh strawberries.  The berries are glazed with rose-infused nappage for a nice shine and just a hint of rose flavor.  Before the glaze dries, finely chopped pistachios are sprinkled on. 

They turned out nice!  Granted, they're nowhere near the quality of the real thing (I doubt I'll ever reach the pastry demi-god status of Pierre Herme or Jacque Genin and other masters), but were quite good nevertheless.  Hugh and little Sophie thoroughly enjoyed deconstructing and savoring them.