My Baking Skills class at the Institute for Culinary Education definitely widened my baking aperture. Before attending the class, cutting up a pre-made log of Tollhouse cookie dough and sticking it in the oven was my definition of baking. I never would’ve thought I’d be baking cakes I can’t even pronounce in English. One of my favorite items on our hit list is the Hazelnut Financier cake (pronounced fee-nahng-syehr). These are lovely French tea cakes, that also go by the name Friands, which aptly means "dainty" or "tasty." After becoming … [Read more...]