Hi! I'm Jess, and I make thoroughly geeky dessert videos on YouTube! Let's chat over chocolate and plot over pudding!
(Also I'm a former wetland/riparian restoration tech, studied kitchen incubators for my MPA, and even briefly did paleontology work. Toots will bounce around all of that.)
Join us on the #SmallBatchBakeAlong tag if you like making cozy small batch desserts!
Interest tag pile: #food #baking #desserts #chocolate #forestry #photography #writing #accessibility #ChronicIllness
| Say hi on YouTube! | https://www.youtube.com/c/DessertGeek/ |
So I mentioned on Saturday that I failed to roll the Japanese roll cake for this week of #SmallBatchBakeAlong.
The challenge is you're rolling this on a *damp towel*. I thought I was fine, when I was Not, and found out when I went to check it. The sides were mushy. Oof.
I aired it out, topped it with cocoa whipped cream, and thankfully it was still tasty! It's a fluffy and lightly sweet, lightly eggy cake that's a great vehicle for fillings.
Do you like pie? Do you like tiny pies? Do you like TINY CRUMBLE TOPPED pies? Then this video is for you! https://youtu.be/Opmpf3OdctE
It's a taste test of Janie's Life Changing Baked Goods and their pie cookies! Which are more cookie-sized pies than anything and just oh so cute. And truly, we all deserve more tiny treats in our days, don't you agree?
And here's the first of my #SmallBatchBakeAlong bakes, the Pianono roll!
I didn't mention this in the discussion, but I know Jolina, the creator, from my early Instagram days. She's just really nice and it was a lovely surprise to get to include her work.
And this was tasty! I loved the Angel food cake-like, sugar-crisp edge, and while the raspberry jam was intense I thought it was a fun contrast.
It did crack, but didn't care, had cake.
Want Want Lovely Puffs were one of my favorite childhood treats: a tiny, shatteringly crisp cream puff/choux shell, filled with sweet fudgy chocolate. An elevated version of Koala's March or Hello Panda, for a more refined palate.
Or at least they were when I was 17 and they were constantly half off.
But how are they *now*? Well let's find out together! Here's my review for the scoop: https://youtu.be/CGdu23NiqYo
I admit whenever I read 'toot' I immediately think of this stamped art by Paweł Ponichtera. (It was the shipping wraparound for the print we ordered, which are *fencing chinchillas* they're so cool, but we need to figure out how to frame it.)
If you want to check out their work here's their IG, though occasionally they get into body horror as a heads up: https://www.instagram.com/ponichtera.pawel/
Okay, shoutout to Kasama Chocolate for totally winning my vote for 'favorite 2023 LNY chocolate concept + art' with this freaking gorgeous collaboration bar: https://kasamachocolate.com/product/year-of-the-rabbit/
The art! The fact that it's a 55% with TEA BISCUITS! The sesame seeds for extra crunch! So much awesome in one bar!
They ship to the US and they're super nice to boot! (And they're bean to bar so already generally low on lead & cadmium!)
In celebration of the Year of the Rabbit, we collaborated with Noisette by Olivia to bring back this special chocolate bar. It is an homage to Olivia’s Hakka Taiwanese upbringing. The Hakka are a diasporic group of people scattered throughout the world with a distinct tradition of “Lei Cha” (Thunder Tea). This drink is commonly served as a herbal remedy to promote good health and is a welcome gesture for guests.
Since Valentine's Day is terrifyingly close (and I haven't made a new guide yet), if you need some ideas for food lovers I still like this gift guide I made in 2020. The only change is that Good King Cacao is no longer operating, but the rest are still great, from a gorgeous chocolate raspberry jam to the best fruit caramels I've ever had.
You can check it out here! https://youtu.be/KyIAKBUjVmw
For this week of the #SmallBatchBakeAlong I was on testing overdrive. Would the half batch be enough to bake up right? Would the sugar mix of demerara + dark muscovado be a problem?
IT WAS SO GOOD. It was chocolate covered burnt sugar goodness, and we inhaled it.
That photo below? That's of the *second* attempt, because the first was so good it didn't last the night. The second batch used only light muscovado and it was fine, just not the same.
For today's promo, have a throwback to that time I called the Hershey Cookies and Creme bar an abomination after trying it for the first time in over a decade: https://youtu.be/0otOQA88CZ8
I got into bean to bar chocolate because of Askinosie's white chocolate nibble bar and realizing that white chocolate had *flavor*. White chocolate gets seen as 'not good/not chocolate' when it deserves to shine and I feel bars like the cookies & creme don't help.
Have a throwback to the time I tried *everything bagel* blondies, and it worked way better than you'd think? https://youtu.be/_9-jy7U_kbY
Ah, Blondery. Don't ever change. (Apparently Chef Auzerais got a new blondie cutting machine recently so there will be fewer trim pieces per batch, but I really hope she keeps selling the trim bags, they're so much fun and it was so neat to try such experimental desserts!)
