Canolli's, Cream Puffs, and Catastrophes!

Woops... sorry it took so long... Canolli's and Cream Puffs it is... These were for a client... every Easter he orders a pastry to bring to the in-laws.  This year when he asked for Canollis I was nervous... making canolli shells is not something I have a longing desire to make... so I bought them! hahahh... My canolli cream is pretty decent if I do say so myself. And my cream puffs have always received raved reviews... Those I make totally from scratch.  Those this client prefers a whipped cream center as opposed to a custard, which is fine by me!!  Here are the finished results.

This week you are getting two posts in one!!!  I was having a melt down on Wednesday night... mostly just cranky for no other reason than I was cranky! hahaha... it happens sometimes... the poor boyfriend is still getting used to it, but I try not to take it out on him... in order to get over it, I needed cupcakes.. this is a standard for me... cupcakes make everything better... I figured why not make those red velvet ones I wanted to try... As I previously posted, I make my cupcakes low cal using diet soda or seltzer... I had it in my mind to make red velvet cake with diet dr. pepper...

Thats some vibrant looking batter... well if there is one thing I have always believed about baking, its that it is a science.  There are no variations without some major thinking, planning, and testing.  Everything looked right, followed the normal instructions for the low-cal cupcakes... but something went terribly wrong and I know what it was... I made them when I was pissed off and grumpy... If you bake a fruit pie and you are in a sour mood, I can guarentee your pie will be sour!!!   So as I was becoming totally unglued... so were my cupcakes...

 

I almost lost it when they werent coming out of the pan properly, just crumbling away... the tops stayed to shape, but the bottoms just fell right off!! Totally unglued!  A light bulb went off... your creations feel you... i gave in to the disaster... peeled off pieces, dipped them in fat free cool whip and was done!! hahaha... they still tasted ok, they just were a little out of it... much like I was...

So remember.... never bake angry, upset, or frazzled... unless thats the type of result you want!! ;-)