use real butter

Most of the desserts I like to make involve eggs. Well, they either involve whole eggs or egg yolks. Like soufflé uses yolks and whites separately, as does key lime pie, chocolate mousse, and chocolate cream cake. Then there are those that are heavy on yolks like crème brûlée, tiramisu, flan, cheesecake, and pastry cream. I hate to throw out good egg whites, but the only desserts I know of that use egg whites exclusively are meringues, angel food cake, and macaroons.

The tiramisu I made earlier this week required 8 egg yolks, which left me with 8 egg whites. I’ve been plagued with the fear of attempting meringues at elevation because I still don’t know what flops and what doesn’t compared to sea level. However, consultation with Donna Hay’s pavlova recipe and comparison to a high altitude cookbook recipe for meringues lead me to a successful experiment today. I opted for individual pavlovas because they take less time to cook and because I had no idea how many I’d produce (8 egg whites produce an assload of mini pavlovas).

piped meringue – not so aesthetically pleasing

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This evening we heard a loud thumping in the house. Jeremy and I looked at one another wondering what had broken. Then we heard it again and realized it was the front door. Brita, Lars, and one of Brita’s friends came over tonight to yodel for us! They’re all too short to reach the bell, so they knock loudly. It was the funniest thing ever. The kids were in such a goofy mood and the yodeling sounded more like high pitched squealing, but everyone was enjoying it.

way better than christmas carolers

What they didn’t know was that upstairs in the kitchen, I was conducting an experiment… The Brownie Experiment. I typically make one recipe of brownies – cream cheese brownies. But up here they tend to do weird things. I did some research over the weekend on this. They are classified as cakey brownies. Cakes and cookies have the most serious issues at elevation. There are two other types of brownies: fudgy and chewy. I decided to make one of each for comparison and to warm the house a bit.

they don’t look all that different except for the surface

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While Jeremy was volunteering at the observatory on campus tonight, I finally did something with the granny smith apples I had accumulated. My intent was to try a classic apple tart tatin recipe, but I didn’t want to deal with the skillet or making the pâte brisée (the crust) this evening. Maybe later when I have more energy and time.

20 apple quarters

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