Sweethearts’ Delights: Elegant Éclairs & Paczki (Polish Doughnuts) - Online
Courses: Adult / Culinary -
Winter/Spring 2024
Valentine’s Day is most celebrated with sweets and chocolates gifted as an expression of love. Learn to make two dreamy mouthwatering sweets to share or give to your sweetheart, family, friends or loved ones on Valentine’s Day this year! During this class, you will learn to make a decadent French pastry known as a Chocolate Éclair filled with pastry cream and covered in chocolate ganache, and another wonderfully rich yeasted dessert knows as Paczki (Polish Doughnuts) filled with preserves or pastry cream. The steps for each dessert will be simplified so that any home cook will be able to create professional looking and tasting desserts for Valentine’s Day. Elements of these deserts will include, making the Choux pastry (Pâte à Choux), the sweet vanilla pastry cream filling and the ganache, in addition to making the wonderfully rich dough for the Paczki. Participants will also learning to cook and build each dessert to a level of excellence. Both deserts will make for a very special and memorable Valentine’s Day! Participants can chose to make one or the other, or both sweet treats, or simply watch to be able to make at a later time.
Tess Georgakopoulos
Tess Georgakopoulos has been cooking for well over 40 years, since she was roughly 6 years old. Born into a Greek family, the art of cooking traditional meals using one's senses rather than recipes and measurements was passed on from one generation to the next. Her father was also a trained chef who brought the magic of food to life in another form on the weekends as they cooked elaborate family meals together. Food prepared from the heart, with one's own hands and creativity was, and continues to be an expression of love in her home. As a skilled home cook and baker, Tess enjoys creating original recipes for her family and friends. Sweet, savory, or doughy, she enjoys experimenting and creating in the kitchen daily.
Pressure-cooking with a stovetop cooker has been a part of her culinary repertoire for over 25 years. Tess is creating new recipes and reinventing traditional ones using the Instant Pot, which is taking her pressure-cooking to another level! She has been teaching both in-person and on-line cooking classes through Community Education for a number of years having worked with numerous public school districts in and around the Twin Cities. Tess has recently started writing her first cookbook, and her food blog is also in the works! Some of her creations can been seen on her Facebook page @dishitupgood, https://www.facebook.com/disitupgood/ or on her instagram Feed: Dis it up Good.
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