We Did It!!!

  It's almost New year's Eve, and it's kind of interesting to look back at things, that happened in a year of 2011. Opening Pushkin Creperie Bakery was a Big Deallll!!!It occupied our mind, and body through the whole year. We got into the space during the Christmas 2010, and received the approved plan for construction after New Year's Eve. It took us 6 months to complete the construction! And we opened our doors on June 30th, 2011. It was long-time dream of ours to have a place like this, and we were happy, that we did it. Thank you PUSHKIN!!!!We Love you!!!! We thank everyone who supported us, who stop by, who came in. We thank our family-Mama, papa, Daniel, Kenan, Anne, Sinan-bey, Canan, Baba. Tnanks to Kathy the Great Super, Jim (landlord), Jim (awesome electrician), his assistant Jim, Vitalik, Ahmat, Kurvan, Igor, Tiles Depot, Home Depot, Brooklyn Roasting Company, Daysha Plaza, Howard, Rupert, and Rupert Jr, Myrtle Assoc. We thank our customers, first one was Paul-the neighbor, Taylor, Seun, Isaia, Hilda,Mike & Alisia,  Jener &Tim, our summer school students from Columbia, and Russia, our regular students from Turkey, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, China, US states, neighbors from upstairs, and Hasan (owner of Farmer in the Deli). Our first ever employee-Aja!
You are all awesome!!! Happy New Year!!!

 This how our space looked like after we decided on layout.

 We got separated from our neighbors!

 Walls were installed, but we were still waiting for main door. The door arrive in March 2011. HVAC was installed at the same time, Electric work was also happening at the same time.

 We had our drop ceiling installed, and light fixtures started working.

 Ohhh, that antique furniture!!! We collected most of our chairs in Flea markets, and Antique/Vintage Stores in NY and NJ. Those chairs looked horrible! We sanded them, stained, and polished.

 The main room was finally done!!! :) I love it!

 Kids were happy to visit the construction site, and of course help.

 Vadim decided to have beard, and shave it when we'll open the doors.

 We built the counter, tables, the tile was done on the floor, the paint job is done.

 I think, it was our first crepe.

 Art work installation.

 Working on the menu, trying food. Heineken did help!

 First Inspection, and we are ready to operate, and serve food to customers!!!

 Filling up the Black board with Menu items.

 We are open on June 30th, 2011.

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Wish to Pushkin to have walls filled with laughs, good friends, and great food!!!

Check for more info and future updates on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/PushkinCreperieBakery

Two Cookies, almost the same recipe!!!

  I love how after the certain time of cooking and baking, the realization of the simplicity of the whole process comes to your life, and all of a sudden, everything makes sense, and you start creating, and playing, and making your own stuff, without being afraid. You heard how in baking everything makes sense, everything matters. So, there was a time, when I was very afraid to replace the amount of ingredients, to replace the ingredient itself. I tried carefully measuring, and stick to what the recipe told me to do. And then, one beautiful morning, my kitchen almost had a halo around, and the voice told me, that it was "Ok" to create. I started with the recipes, that were my "elementary school" of baking -cookies.I remember, that I was baking the batches of shortbread cookies, when I was 7 years old. My mom, did something, that I am as a mom, never do, left me unattended in the kitchen :) I think, that happened, because I was a very mature 7 year old Girl, and I am a mom to immature 9 and 5 year old Boys. :) Cookies...Let's start. One of my favorite customers in my store-Kim, who is a chef, asked me to bake a peanut butter cookie. I was not honest, and told her it was not a problem. I never done a peanut butter cookie before in my life, simply, because Peanut Butter is a not popular product in the rest of the world's supermarket shelf. I was around 16, when my neighbor's father-a pilot, invited us to try American food. There boxes of cereal, jars of peanut butter, and powdered milk. The peanut butter jar was colorful, and attractive. We got the spoons, and were ready to enjoy the Dulce de Leche-looked sweet creamy-paste. You should see our faces! It was a big disappointment for all of us. Since, then, I never bought a jar.
  I took my favorite Butter cookie recipe, and replace the butter with the creamy peanut butter, and tried, and tried, and tried one more time, until, here it was "crispy", "buttery", delicious cookie.

     This is for Kim. PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE.

 1 1/4 cup of flour

1 Tablespoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

115 gr. softened unsalted butter

1/2 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of light brown sugar

1 cup (260 gr) creamy peanut butter

1 egg.

Whisk flour+ baking powder+salt

Beat butter in the mixer with paddle attachment, after 4 minutes, add white sugar, and brown sugar. Beat until butter until fluffy and light (about 5 minutes). Add peanut butter. Beat another minute. Beat in 1 egg. Add mix of flour. Do not over mix! Shape a flat disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 2 hours, or overnight. 

Roll the walnut size balls of the dough with your palms. Place the balls on the baking tray, and flatten them with hand, you can use fork to impress the lines, and make your cookie flatter. Bake at 350 F for 10-12 minutes. 

Another cookie, that I really like, and was based on the same butter cookie recipe is Turkish Kurabye, or Middle Eastern Sesame Cookie.

      This is for my brother. KURABYE, or Middle Eastern Sesame Seed, Tahini Cookie.

 1 1/4 flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of salt

115 gr. of softened unsalted butter

1/2 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of tahini (sesame seed paste)

1 t.vanilla

1/3 cup of sesame seeds for rolling the cookies in.

Whisk flour+baking powder+salt.  Beat butter in mixer with paddle attachment +sugar until fluffy (5 minutes), add tahini+ vanilla. Add flour mix. Shape a flat disk , wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Shape the balls( walnut size). Roll the ball f dough in sesame seeds, and flatten it with your hand. Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes, you'll see the edges will be golden/brown.

    

Croissant from Scratch

 I enjoy a good croissant. There is something special about this small crescent-shaped pastry, that has delicious flaky inside part, and attracts so many people to enjoy a bite. I picked a recipe from " Flour"  book. I like the way it came out, but will not do again. The process was not described correctly (however very detailed). Proofing took 8 hours, which is very long. Was it my fault?-Perhaps... But... I will do the next time classic croissant from the classic pastry chef notes.

New Year's Eve 2011 Cake!

Since, the Chinese Calendar says that 2011 is a Year of Rabbit/Cat, I decided to make a Rabbit cake. It looks like an Easter cake :)