food and things

So I was asked about the soy milk in the cobbler I made yesterday (which, BTW, was actually very good IMHO). Everybody claimed they couldn't tell the difference. I got plain soy milk, NOT the vanilla flavored stuff, have actually used it before in baked stuff and people claimed they couldn't tell the difference. Given the audience, I trust they are indeed telling the truth. Am not sure the cobbler was all that good; I think the fruit needed some juice. However, the people I cook for are generally so starved for desserts that they are at least nice about anything I make.

I have also actually found THREE recipes for caneles (canneles?) those incredible muffins/cookies/whatever you get in southwest France that are evidently indigenous to Bordeaux. I brought home some pans to make them in. You can buy them at markets sort of all over the place. It's sort of a cross between, well, an American cupcake, and brioche, and a cookie. One description is of a "cookie" made from VERY sweet crepe batter. They are small, buttery, very rich, actually quite dense, have these ridges along the edges they get from the molds you use to bake them in. The shape is SORT OF like a cross between a small-ish American cupcake and a Madeleine. Jacques Pepin (author of one of the recipes) comments that they are "highly addictive", and he is absolutely correct. They have lots of eggs, sugar, milk, not much flour, vanilla, butter, frequently rum or something. Highly addictive is a good description. I brought home a couple of pans for them, and plan to make some. Stay tuned if you wish.

I thought when I first tried one that they were made from some sort of very rich yeast dough/batter/whatever. But they don't seem to be. I will be amazed if I can actually reproduce them here in Kentucky, but I plan to try.

Lillie