Holly:And here I was thinking you had texted me something exciting, like a naughty pic.
Owen:You already saw me naked.
Holly:Partially. I didn't get the best bits.
A naughty picture? Usually I would never be so reckless, but with Holly, all I wanted was her. Since I was changing anyway, I ran downstairs and pulled one of the sugar cookies she had made out of the container. It was shaped like a Santa hat. I framed the shot as best I could and sent her the picture, holding my breath as I finished dressing.
Her response came as I left the condo.
Holly:I think you need a bigger cookie.
37
Holly
“Good morning, and welcome to another episode ofTheGreat Christmas Bake-Off. This show exists because of the fans who tune in for every episode. We love fan participation, which is why today's episode is the fan-favorite challenge. Fans from around the world have voted on what dessert they'd like each contestant to cook. Contestants, open your envelopes and see what you're going to be making today, then turn on your ovens, and let's get baking!”
My oven had been on all night. The picture Owen had sent me had made sure of that. I mean, I knew his Christmas package was big, but damn. I didn't think I was going to be able to concentrate. But I needed to. It didn't help that I was wearing a marginally too-sexy outfit. To engage my fans, I'd had them vote on what I should wear for the episode. Unfortunately, I’d made the mistake of not trying the clothes on before putting them up for a vote. This one was once again way too snug—another casualty of my stress eating problem.
It was a sexy nutcracker outfit with thigh-high black boots. I had thought it would be fine because it was a flared skirt with a military-style jacket. What I’d failed to account for was the deep V-neckline and the fact that I couldn't button the top buttons on the jacket. My boobs were swollen from all the salty food and sugar and alcohol I'd been consuming. All I could think about when putting on the outfit was Owen taking it off me.
At least I could move in it. For my dessert, the fans wanted me to make acroquembouche. A classic French dessert, it was a tower constructed out of cream puffs, and then the whole thing was wrapped in gossamer strands of pulled sugar.
While somewhat time-consuming, the dessert did look impressive. For the bake-off, however, I knew I couldn’t just make a classiccroquemboucheand call it a day. To pump up the volume, I was going to make mine look like a Christmas tree, complete with edible ornaments. The trick was going to be making sure it wasn't cheesy.
Back when I was still in culinary school, my pie-in-the-sky dream had been to own an awesome dessert café. In addition to beautiful tarts, cupcakes, and cookies, I would also make wedding cakes, mainly because I wanted to craft sugar flowers like Sylvia Weinstock. I loved how the hundreds of handcrafted sugar flowers cascaded over the towering wedding cakes she produced.
To make a winning dessert, I was going to do something similar with thecroquembouche.
“I’m jealous of the dessert you were given,” Fiona said. “I have to make a Christmas punch.”
“How is that supposed to be a dessert?” I asked her.
“I don’t know,” she said with a sigh.
“Ice cream?” I suggested.
“That’s all I did at my last job. Hopefully inspiration strikes me in the next thirty minutes.”
I spent the next half hour making cream puffs. The trick was to precook the dough before piping the cream puffs. Otherwise they wouldn’t puff up.
After the large batch of dough was cooked, I piped it onto baking sheets in little balls and stuck the trays in the oven. While they cooked, I started on the decorations for thecroquembouchetree. I needed to make ornaments, a tree topper, greenery, and winter flowers. The flowers would all be molded sugar, but I didn’t want everything to be made out of the same material. I wanted some variety in the flavors.
Each of the ornaments should be a type of candy. I would make chocolate sugar truffles and blown-sugar ornaments to hang off sugar branches. I was trying for a more abstract tree, which was good, because I did not have time to make hyperrealistic sugar art.
To make the flowers, I first made the fondant and added tylose powder to make a gum paste. Because these were going to be poinsettias, I colored the sugar a deep red then rolled it very thin.
I didn’t need a mold to make the petals; I freehanded them then used a fondant tool to furl the edges of each petal. When the cream puff shells were done, I removed them from the oven and let them cool while I finished making the flowers. Fortunately, we had most of the day. Otherwise I didn’t think I would be able to finish.
While the flowers dried, I made the branches the ornaments would hang on. Then I turned to the ornaments.
I checked the clock. The day was already half over, and I still had a series of truffles to make in addition to the filling for the cream puffs. Since the cream puffs were the base of the dish, the filling took precedence. I made a vanilla custard filling in the double boiler, adding cognac for extra flavor, mindful of the clock. It was going to be close. While that cooled, I made the truffles.
Truffles traditionally were simply chocolate with cream added—ganache essentially—then rolled into a ball. Truffles could be rolled in dark chocolate powder, nuts, or dried fruit. I wanted mine to be fairly colorful, so I crushed freeze-dried raspberries and coated the chocolate. The rest I coated in candied orange peel, chopped hazelnuts, or bitter powdered chocolate. I set them in the fridge then turned back to my cream puffs.
The custard was cool, so I piped it into the cream puffs. They were perfect little golden balls filled with a tasty surprise.
Don’t think of Owen. Plus his balls aren’t at all little.
