Mike’s Kitchen

This years edition of my pecan tart w white choc bavarian mousse and salted caramel glaze. Happy Thanksgiving!

Long time since posting. Limited holiday pies available. Brown butter Bourbon Sweet Potatoe Pie! 9”, $25 each. Local Greensboro orders only. Cash/Venmo only. Orders must be received by November 17th. DM me.

More Pina Colada macs. So good for the summer.

Blueberry/Lemon macs....used 2 pints of blueberry's in the buttercream and the lemon curd is so good.

As winter hopefully disappears and we all get ready for summer vegetable and herb season, keep this in mind. You'll have access to many fresh veggies and grill out more often. Summer is a great time to stock up on 'stock'! Be if veggie, chicken or beef, it's very easy to make a great tasting stock and freeze it for the fall and winter months. There are many great recipes to make stock, and all are super easy.

So nice you need ‘em twice I guess. Same restaurant, same flavors as last week but 20 doz needed for Valentine’s Day.

A local restaurant placed a sudden order for some macarons. Humbled by the order, they are getting Salted Chocolate Bourbon Chocolate (chocolate mac drizzled with dark chocolate and sprinkled with sea salt sandwiching a dark chocolate bourbon ganache). Also, is Strawberry Cheesecake (cream cheese/ marscapone buttercream surrounding a strawberry reduction/jam). Bon Appetit!!

Vegan chocolate donuts. Easy and sooooo delicious.

Galette des Rois. Not hard to make, smells yummy.

So I don't have photos of them, but we had vegan Red Velvet cinnamon rolls for Christmas and NY Day. So good and so very easy! Happy to share the recipe if you want it. No eggs required!

Vegan macarons with a vegan chocolate ganache.

Egg nog macs. Tis the season!

Vegan Chocolate Chunk cookies. Order now for holiday treats!

Made some marshmallows. Smores and hot chocolate time of year!

A client ordered these pecan Tarts with the bavarian mouuse domes covered with a salted caramel glaze and surrounded by maple swiss merengue.

Happy Thanksgiving! Pecan pie (tart) with Bavarian Mousse topping!

Two desserts for a special client. The cake is a dark chocolate mousse cake. 3 layers of cake with a dark chocolate mousse between each and covered in a dark chocolate ganache. The pie is brown butter sweet potatoe pie with a pate brise crust. I’m not big on style as I want the flavors to be there.

Blueberry Lemon macs for a client. Couple doz extra if local and want to buy.

Softening butter while reducing blueberries. Blueberry lemon macarons are on the way!

Holy MAC-keral, time for a dozen Eggnot Macs for the holidays....or some other flavor perhaps. DM me for orders.

Eggnog anyone?

Holiday Orders are being accepted, please DM me for your local order.

Choux au Craquelin with Salted Caramel Cream. Hard to eat just one! Choux pastry (puffs or eclairs) can be tricky but not impossible.

Time to start taking Thanksgiving orders, such as for this pecan tart with bavarian mousse dome covered in caramel. DM me for local orders.

I decided to make the domes a bit more decorative.

Time to start taking orders for Thanksgiving. DM me for prices (all orders should be local).

Pecan Tart with Maple Bavarian Mousse topping

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since my last post. Much of this is how busy it's been of late with my regular job and life in general but with the holidays approaching, my focus is returning to baking and the kitchen.

Nothing beats the smell of baked goods as the holidays approach. And this year, many of us will be on the road at some point to finally reconnect with family and friends we haven't seen since before the pandemic. And no doubt there will be food to eat. ALOT OF FOOD!!!!

You'll start seeing more posted here, both for baked good and meal recipes. I saw a story in the media this past week that holiday meals are going to cost WAY more than ever. Why this may be true, it doesn't have to be that much more.

Be smart in your shopping. Plan your protein (ie. turkey, roast, etc) as if you're a restaurant not an 'all-you-can-eat' diner. By that I mean most people would get an 8-10oz serving of meat. By that rule, a 15lb turkey could feed 20-30 people. Having a godzilla size turkey may look impressive but you'll wonder why you have leftovers for days.

Don't forget to keep the bones and neck, etc. to make soup/broth. My mom does all the time and a few hours simmering on the stove makes a few jars of easily frozen soup base for later this winter. Yum!!!

Same with your vegetables. You're going to make alot of side dishes with onions, carrots, celery, tomatoes, potatoes and more. Save the scraps and make a vegetable stock for later. It can all be frozen and used again throughout the winter.

Plan ahead and look for sales at your grocery store. My local store had a clearance bin of good spices that were months away from 'best by' dates and a fraction of the price. Making stuffing? Get that bread early and freeze it, which also helps dry it a bit. Many stores have their holiday ingredients set out, so get them now. Pretend it's pre-pandemic toilet paper. Most of it is already on sale.

Pumpkin pure is already getting tough to find. But making your own is easy. Bake the pumpkin in your oven for an hour or so (seeded and cut up of course so it doesn't explode), scrape off the flesh and pure it in a blender or food processor. If it's still watery, put the pure back in the oven for an hour or two at the same heat and once you see the cracks open in the pure, it's ready. Once cooled, you'll have enough for two pumpkin pies at least. Plus you can cook pumpkins now while they're onsale and freeze it, rather than getting stuck with a shortage of canned pumpkin.

Butter freezes well, stock up when the sales hit. If you see vegan butter, don't pass it up if it's on sale as well. I've found that for cooking, it can be just as tasty and in some cases creamier than regular butter. Same with vegan sour cream and cream cheese. AND it's healthier.

Have a vegan coming to dinner? There are many easy recipes online for great proteins such as seitan or tofu. As Homer Simpson once said 'You don't make friends with salad!', which in this case means your friend or family member won't be excited to see your vegan option is some lettuce and a tomato.

So with that, let's all get excited about the holidays, seeing our family and friends and baking up a storm!!

Fresh peaches meant another peach crumble pie and a peach blueberry cobblers for some teachers tomorrow!

Peach Crumble pie. I’m not a big presentation person with pie crusts. All about flavor.

Key Lime macs. Cream cheese frosting surrounding a lime curd with a ring of graham cracker crumbs. Non-dairy as well. $20/ doz.

Lemon macarons whipped up for an order. Lemon buttercream surrounding lemon curd. What flavor should be next?

Brookie. A dark chocolate brownie topped with a dark chocolate chunk cookie. Milk or icecream is a perfect pairing.

Made some white chocolate ice cream w chopped pecans this weekend. Mmmmmmmmm