Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Always learning

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to take a cooking class.  But me being me, I was too cheap to take one.  Sur La Table has cooking classes and depending on what you're taking it can be anywhere from $65-85 per person.  Last month, I was perusing their latest offerings and saw my holy grail class was on sale for $49 so I asked the Mr if he wanted to take a hooky day and learn to make croissants with me.  He seemed enthusiastic and agreed but anything disguised as a hooky day always sounds good, right?

We arrived for our class and waited for everyone to show up so we could get started.  The teacher told us we could divide up into teams of four and when the lady in the row ahead of us tagged the people in her row, we both suddenly felt like we were in elementary school dreading being the last ones picked.  Everyone stood up and I told the Mr we were going up front where two women close to our age were already standing.  We asked if they were with anyone and they said no so our little team was formed! 

Because of time constraints, we had to kind of work backward.  They had croissant dough already made so we rolled it out and she taught us how to cut it and roll them.  We made the pain au chocolats...



 ...and our teammates made the ham and cheese. 


Then it was time to slap on the egg wash which was two eggs and 2 tbsp of heavy cream because croissants aren't rich enough.



We put them by the window to proof in the sun while we learned to make the dough. 

(Not ours, but you get the idea)

Yeast dough has always been my nemesis so I was glad to have guidance on how to let it proof and what it should look like.


We had a lot of fun and not to toot our own horns but our team's croissants turned out the best.  The instructor couldn't stop taking pics and telling us all how good we did especially the rolls on their ham and cheese but ours were the best pain au chocolats.



I felt the sting of irritation from one of the regulars who has taken quite a few classes there as the instructor praised us.  Twas elementary school in another way...yeesh.  We each split up our croissants and dug in to taste our end results.  SOOOO good!!  The butter kind of cooked out a little early on everyone's because the room was sunny but the instructor said it turned out better than she thought given the butter should've been colder. 

We did a little shopping afterward but before we got too into it, we ate our last two croissants because we were starving.  Need that fuel, you know?  ;-)  I would do another class if it was on sale like this one was.  I don't think a $150 day date is something I can justify often but it was super fun and I can't wait to try making them again at home!

Have you ever taken a cooking class?  What did you make/would you want to make?

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9 comments:

  1. I admit I was intimidated since I can't cook and have never baked so much as a cake. But it was actually quite fun and I enjoyed the experience as much as I enjoyed eating the fruits of our labor. I would do it again but I do think it's best at a good sale price. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed it and you got points for being the only normal dude there. (They other guy doesn't count...weirdo.) So I'm thankful you're willing to do these things with me that other husbands typically don't! Yes, no worries on me paying full price unless someone gets a pretty hefty gift card for me there!

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  2. That sounds like fun. Have a great Thanksgiving. Thankful for you and your posts

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  3. I have never taking a cooking class. For the last year I have been trying the perfect the French macaron. I am getting there but I have yet to get a whole batch to be usable. I LOVE pain au chocolat and croissants. But never made them. I buy the frozen ones from Trader Joe's they are the closest to the authentic thing.

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    1. Macarons are next on my list. I saw a great online tutorial that looks pretty easy to follow. (Famous last words!) Trader Joe's was actually the reason I took this class. We've had their chocolate croissants for years and the last time we got them they were pretty bad. Don't know if it was a bad batch or what but whatever motivates ya, right? LOL

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  4. I took the night cooking courses that the local high school offered back in the day. It started as a way to have a night out with my cousins, but I learned some great cooking skills! Still cook lots of the recipes, but the one that remains my standout is the Chocolate Silk Pie...yummmmm.

    Happy Thanksgiving!! And I'm with Dawn, so thankful for your blog and your posts. Look forward to them every day even if I don't always comment!

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    1. Oh man, that sounds like fun! I'll have to poke around to see if I can find something cheaper like that. Ooh, Chocolate Silk Pie is the Mr's favorite and I bet he wouldn't be mad at ya if you wanted to share the recipe! ;-)

      Happy Thanksgiving to you as well. Thankful for you too!

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  5. This looks like it was tons of fun and I'm so glad you guys went and had such a great experience! The food looked delicious and it sounds like the instructor was great, which always makes it more fun.

    Have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

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