Le Cordon Bleu. Well. What do you think of when you hear those three words? A master chef? A piece of chicken stuffed with cheese and ham or bacon? France? Julia Child? I probably think a bit of all of these but more high standards, super high kitchen skill levels and, where a cookbook is concerned, complicated.

So why, do you ask, did I lug home (well, drove home…I didn’t want to drag this thing on the ION!) the heavy, 500 page copy of Le Cordon Bleu Pastry School from the library? Partly as a challenge to myself. Definitely in the hopes of learning something new. And yes, I was wooed by the beautiful photos (check out the mirror glaze on the cake on page 252) and the elegance of this new cookbook.

I have to say I was pretty excited on my first look through. So many delicious sounding and looking baked goods. Pastries, yes, but also cookies and desserts. Where should I begin?

On closer inspection the first thing I discovered is that a lot of the recipes I was tempted by would require me to go shopping for critical ingredients. As I delved further into the cookbook, that shopping list was going to expand to purchasing new equipment, baking tins etc. Now, as much as I like trying new recipes, I’m not the type to buy a special tin to make a one-off recipe. Nope.

So, my ambitious “to try” list had to be edited down to a more reasonable (practical? economical?) level. I started off with a lemon pound cake. I do not have mini loaf tins so I made it as one large cake and that worked out just fine. Easy to make, moist and delicious, this was all starting out on a high. The Black Forest Gateau and the Chocolate Berry Cake were very tempting but I’m going to hold off until a dinner party with family or friends to give them a go.

The chocolate marble cakes once again required a special tin so I opted instead for “individual” (they’re too big to be “individual”, really) bundt cakes. I didn’t get the swirl right so ended up more with two-tone cakes than marbled. The cake was dense and rich; more than the pound cake was actually. For presentation, I piped whipped cream on the cakes and added slices of mandarin oranges. They looked pretty fabulous and tasted good although a bit heavy for my liking.

The final recipe I tried was my favourite. They were a sandwich-style cookie made with ground almonds and glued together with chocolate ganache. The dough and the ganache came together easily. Whilst they didn’t look like the photo in the book, they did look very good. Colour was even, nice flavour and that ganache. Yum!

So, while I may not have invested in new equipment, perfected my piping or attempted a macaronnade or entremets, I do not feel defeated. I took out a Cordon Bleu cookbook, made a few items with very good result and have two in hand for the future. I’d say that’s très bon.

• Sandi H.

Sandwich Style Chocolate Biscuits

Ganache (make this the night before!)

200 grams / 1.6 cups chocolate (65% cocoa)
225 ml cream
22 grams glucose (I used 4 tsp of white corn syrup instead)
35 grams butter / 2.5 tblsp butter

Dough

120 grams / ½ c butter, softened
25 grams / ¼ c ground almonds (I used a little less than ¼ c)
65 grams / ½ c icing sugar (a generous ½ cup)
2 grams / ½ tsp salt
1 egg
200 grams / 1.6 cups all purpose flour

For the ganache, chop chocolate and place in glass bowl. Heat cream until just below boiling. Remove from heat and mix in glucose/syrup. Pour the hot liquid over the chocolate and mix well with whisk. Mix in the butter. Cover with cling film and let stand at room temperature overnight.

Preheat oven to 300F.

Cream butter, almonds, icing sugar and salt together. Mix in egg and then flour to make a smooth dough. Roll out on lightly floured baking board until 4mm thickness.

Cut into medium-sized circles (or whatever shape is your preference), approximately 20 cookies. Take 10 of the cookie, and cut out a small circle or heart in the middle. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the bottoms of the cookies are light golden brown. Set on cooling rack to cool completely.

To assemble the cookies, spread ganache on the solid disks. Place the biscuits with the cut out on top. Press together lightly to encourage “sealing”. Let sit to stabilize.

These cookies will stay fresh for at least a week if stored in an airtight container.

The ganache can be stored in a glass jar, tightly sealed, in the fridge. It made an excellent glaze for baked chocolate donuts a week later…but that’s for another review!