Welcome to Just Desserts, Alexandria VA

Born from a lifelong passion for baking, Just Desserts is the perfect spot to take the baking class you always wanted: Holiday Pies and Tarts, Cupcake Extravaganza, or Chocolate Night Out…

Want to throw the perfect birthday party but don’t want the mess? The Cupcake Birthday Party will be perfect and can be customized for all ages and occasions.  We take care of the shopping, set up, and clean up, and your group bakes, and decorates!

Need a delicious special occasion dessert or food gift?  Just Desserts has a variety of options, all custom made using the freshest ingredients.

Weekly Loaf: Brioche

 

Brioche on the Rise

During the 4th and 5th week of the weekly bread challenge, I tried two different brioche recipes.  One recipe called for half bread flour, half all purpose; the other called for all purpose flour only.  One had two rises, one had three and the amount of butter was different in each recipe.  Both loaves were tasty and rich, but the loaf with the bread flour yielded a much denser loaf.  Bread flour is usually used for chewy loaves (i.e. baguettes) due to its higher gluten content so that was a surprising ingredient.  Brioche is not difficult but requires a very long mixing time in a stand mixer, butter at just the right temperature in order for it to be incorporated properly, and an overnight rise in the refrigerator.  The recipe I would make again is from Baking with Julia; an excellent cookbook with outstanding instructions and explanations for all sorts of tasties!

Weekly Loaf: French Bread

 

 

French Bread

French Bread

 

 

 

One recipe = three loaves of French Bread.  Great color on crust and delicious chewy center.   I baked the bread in a very hot oven using a special pan designed for baguettes because I have one, but a free form loaf baked on a cookie sheet would be great too.  One loaf eaten within hours by family – two loaves in freezer for a yummy treat another time.

Weekly Loaf: Cinnamon Chocolate Babka



Week two of my personal 52 Loaves Challenge: Cinnamon Chocolate Babka.  Babka is a slightly sweet, rich yeasted bread with an eastern European heritage including a variety of  fillings and shapes.  I have eaten and LOVED  it so it was a perfect candidate for the challenge and for the cold, damp Saturday we had.  The dough was a lot like making brioche and was easy to work with – this bread would be a great addition to brunch or an afternoon tea.  I made a free form, braided shape and it was delicious!  Put half of it in the freezer for this weekend when we will have company to share it with.  I adapted the recipe from Peter Reinhart’s excellent book: Artisan Breads Every Day.

Winter Baking – My Favorite!

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Cold weather? Check.  Blustery breezes?  Check.  This is my favorite baking season – a great excuse to stay in and try new recipes.   I have resolved to make 52 new bread recipes  this year; I am considering it continuing education.  This takes me out of my baking comfort zone and requires a number of new techniques and ingredient interactions for success.   This week I made cinnamon raisin bread; it did not rise properly but it is delicious!

Looking to 2012…

Chocolate Truffle Tart with Mascarpone Cheese

A great big thank you to all my customers for giving me a record year!  As great as the holiday season was, I always look forward to this time of year when business is slower and I have chance to do some planning and brainstorming for the coming year.  Visions of testing fruit based desserts are dancing in my head so that I have a great menu ready to go for the spring season.  Strategizing about classes to offer that provide my repeat students with something new while keeping the range of recipes accessible for beginners.  I hope to increase my private parties and class registration levels this year and am spending time on the internet looking for local websites and blogs to help drive business my way, in addition to utilizing social media more effectively.  Your comments or questions on my website, my products, my classes or any other ideas are always welcome.  Happy New Year!

Tis the Season

I am so grateful for all the orders I have received – I think it will be my best December ever!  This time of year calls for lots of list making and organization…consider that my bestselling Celebration Dessert Trio requires 7 different recipes.  One mini tart has at least 3 components and 5 to 6 steps to completion  (i.e. make crust and chill, roll out crust and cut for tartlet pans, press into tartlet pans, bake crust and remove from pan, make filling, fill and/or bake, garnish with a berry, or more commonly, another item made from scratch!).  Still need something for your festivities?  I am accepting orders until the 20th!

Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for my loyal customers!  So glad to have had the opportunity to have made 32 desserts for 18 customers’  Thanksgiving celebrations!  Apple pies, pecan pies, chocolate pecan pies, toffee bars, cinnamon apple bundt cakes, and the most ordered item:  the singularly delicious pumpkin cheesecake!  Time to start making sugar cookie dough – a few orders in the works for next week already!

Apples and Pumpkin

Apple Crumb Pie

Apple Crumb Pie

 

Crunch time is here! Thanksgiving orders start going out tomorrow: pumpkin cheesecakes, apple pies, pecan pies, apple bundt cakes, a few delicious miscellaneous tarts, and 14 dozen toffee bars.  14 pie crusts rolled and ready to bake, 20 pounds of apples to peel, pecans to toast, and a few solid days in the kitchen.   Happy Thanksgiving!

Up to My Ears in Flour

Flour, Sugar, Butter, Eggs = Yum!

Taught a great Holiday Pies and Tarts class on Thursday; the petite pecan chocolate tartlets with the cream cheese crust were especially tasty out of the oven.  Did some pie crust troubleshooting with students – a perennial challenge for aspiring bakers.

Must be November – time to start working flat out…between today and Monday I am fulfilling orders for 130 bags of sugar cookies, 15 dozen mini tarts, 8 dozen toffee bars, 4 dozen raspberry thumbprint cookies with toasted coconut, and 12 dozen almost flourless chocolate bites.  Looking to next week to start organizing for Thanksgiving orders…

Sparkling Sugar Cookies

This week I will be working on assembling 130 bags of sparkling sugar cookies for a special event on Friday night.  Fall for a Cure is being sponsored by the DC/VA/Baltimore Chapter of the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation.  Our dear family friends have been deeply impacted by this disease and Just Desserts is glad to support their fundraising efforts to find a cure.  www.umdf.org