Kismet's Pastries

Hello! My name is Kismet Goldstein and I'm currently a Senior at Johnson and Wales University, and i'm majoring in baking and pastry arts. I’m in JWU because I strive to broaden my pastry knowledge to obecome the best in my field. When I come to class everyday, I always think about trying to strive to get on the same path as Adriano Zumbo. I love how complex his desserts are and I ache to bake like that one day. I feel as if what sets me apart from the rest of my peers is my dedication and passion for my craft. I’m always eager to be better and improve the skills I already have. I’m willing to go the extra mile just to do so.

[flakeypiedough]

These are pictures of my lemon meringue tart and tartlets! I was so excited to see how these turned out because I loved making them. First I baked the shells for both my 6” and 3 mini tart and tartlets. Then, I added a layer of dark chocolate, again, as a barrier between my shell and my lemon curd filling. Next, I made and added my lemon curd to my tart shells, finished it off with some freshly made Swiss meringue. I used an 868 star tip because I really liked how made lines it made in my design. After that, I got to use a torch to toast my meringue and give some contrast to the product. To top it off, I dusted again with some powdered sugar. When making the lemon curd, I admit, I added some extra lemon zest to my formula because I love it extra lemon-y. It came out amazing and it reminded me of a childhood lemon bar my neighbors used to make when I was younger. If I couldve done something to make my product better, it would’ve been to whip my meringue to more of a medium/stiff peak, because mine was on the softer side. Overall, extremely satisfied with this dessert.

[flakeypiedough]

These babies are my mini chocolate tarts. I had made a chocolate short dough, almost. And baked the shell before hand. Then I let them cool down and made a really nice chocolate mousse to fill those empty shells. Then I made a chantilly cream to top the dessert and garnished further with crushed Oreo cookies. Lastly I did a light dusting of powdered sugar on them to add some much needed contrast to my product. These were awesome to make because it was our first time in class working with chocolate dough, and I thought our dough turned out really nicely. One thing I could’ve done to improve my product was pipe the mousse in a more consistent and even fashion. I didn’t consume any because I’ve been eating way too many sweets recently, but I know it sure looked good! These made me really happy :)

[flakeypiedough]

These are my 4” pecan tarts. I had blind baked mini shells and then melted and added a layer of dark chocolate to act as a barrier between my shell and my filling. I added chocolate to that the shell wouldn’t get soggy from the filling. Then I added my crushed pecans and filled the rest of the space with the syrup-based filling. I then baked it and drizzled more dark chocolate on top so whomever ate this dessert knew it contained chocolate. I enjoyed making this cute dessert because it was quick and easy to make, it was just frustrating waiting for it to bake at the end of the night. Something I could’ve done to improve this product was crush the pecans a little more finely and consistently. Overal, enjoyed making this in class :)

[flakeypiedough]

This was by far my favorite pie ive made so far! This is my Valentine’s Day butternut squash pie, with freshly puréed butternut squash and basic pie dough. I had cut out each individual heart and placed them with egg wash on the crust, which was blind baked. Then I filled the pie with the filling, finished baking, and garnished with love! Or, my other heart cut outs. Either way, something I could’ve done to make this pie better was not try to pick up a piece and move it when it’s already been placed on the filling... that was extremely frustrating. Overall though, my favorite thing I’ve made this segment.

[flakeypiedough]

This is my very first pie ever! It’s a home style apple pie with a basic pie dough filled with Granny Smith slices. I then put little wheat leaves on top as decoration. If I could have made this pie better, I would’ve done the edge of the pie differently. Maybe made it cleaner or did a different pattern of marks. I loved this because it was my first pie and didn’t come it half bad :)

[flakeypiedough]

This is my 8” and 4” Linzer torte. It was made with a linzer dough that was filled with almond cream and raspberry jam. Then it was topped with a very simple lattice crust, slivered almonds and baked until golden brown. After a ring of powdered sugar was sifted on. I definitely hated working with the linzer dough because it got soo warm soooo fast. It was way too frustrating and it was difficult to make my crust perfect. But I still did it. If I could make it better, I would definitely try to work in the freezer when working with the dough!!

This specific dessert originated in Linz, Austria and dates back as far as 1653 in several French cookbooks. This pastry didn’t really become famous in the US until about the 1850s when an Austrian traveler by the name of Franz Hölzlhuber brought the Linzer Torte to the US, to Milwaukee. From there, it spread through the rest of the country for every American to enjoy.

  “History.” Jindrak Online Shop, www.linzertorte.at/en/history. 

“Linzer Torte.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 June 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linzer_torte#History. 

Stradley, Linda. “Linzer Torte History, Whats Cooking America.” What's Cooking America, 8 Nov. 2016, whatscookingamerica.net/History/Cakes/LinzerTorte.htm. 

[flakeypiedough]

This is my 8” and 4” coconut chocolate cream pie! Both of these pies contain dark chocolate, coconut pastry cream and vanilla chantilly, garnished with some dark chocolate/white chocolate-coconut bark, with toasted coconut sprinkled on top. This was my favorite pie to make so far because our Chef really let us take the creativity and expand it as far as we’d like. I’m excited to make more of these pies, as well as eat them! The only thing I would’ve done to make these pies better was to shape the pastry cream into a bigger dome shape, and made my chocolate bark a bit smaller before garnishing my pie.

[flakeypiedough]

These are my mini blueberry pies! The pie on the top is a short dough with a fluted crust, filled with the cooked juice method of blueberries and topped with streusel topping. The bottom pie is the same short dough but with a lattice crust instead of the streusel. I loved making a mini lattice! So cute! But I didn’t like the way it tasted because the formula had too much nutmeg, even after I scaled it in half. So I just didn’t like the flavor of the filling. In order to improve on these pies, I should have let them bake just a little longer to get a better golden brown on the crust. I also think that I should’ve pressed the lattice down more.

[flakeypiedough]

This is my first lattice crust apple pie! This is a short dough pie with cooked fruit and juice method for the apple filling. Then the stars are made from wheat dough. To be honest, I’ve never made a lattice crust so this turned out way better than I expected! I also could’ve made this pie better if I didn’t try to push down the edge of the crust with a fork, it makes the pie look unclean. I loved decorating the lattice with the stars!