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CPA: Certified Pastry Aficionado

Story behind the blog

Uncategorized
November 6, 2011

At work, we get these AMAZING doughnuts from Sublime Doughnuts every Friday. And when I say amazing, I mean ah-may-zing. If you live in the Atlanta area, and haven’t tried these yet, don’t talk to me until you do. I mean it.

Anywho, the reason why I bring this up is because, last Friday, someone decided that they didn’t want to bring doughnuts to work that day (I’m not going to mention names, but you know who you are!) and I was heartbroken.  So to prevent this painful feeling from entering my life ever again, I decided to implement Baked Goods Friday! And what is that, you ask? Well let me tell you! Instead of us having the same doughnuts every Friday, we each take turns bringing some baked good to share with the office (preferably homemade, but I realize that not everyone in the office shares this knack for making delicious items from scratch (oh and that reminds me, at times my cocky side will come out and I can’t help that so please, bear with me; you’ll learn to love me one day)).

I decided to take the reigns this week and pull out one of my favorite crowd-pleasers: croissants. People are so amazed that normal human beings (aka non-professional bakers) are capable of baking such intricate little pastries. But praise and amazement are not the main reason why I like making them; I love making them mostly because your average person hasn’t had a freshly made croissant before. Most people, I’ve noticed, pick up a croissant from a bakery at the local grocery store, which, most times, isn’t baked fresh (you can tell if it’s fresh by the texture of the dough; if it’s flaky and crispy, its fresh). If I broaden someone’s horizon by showing them what real, fresh food should taste like, then I’ve done my job.

Croissants stacked on a plate
The first batch I ever made


After bringing the croissants to work, every single one of my co-workers asked me how I made them. And the more I explained the 101 steps (and 3 days for work) I went through to deliver these croissants to them, the more I realized how difficult this recipe must seem. So we decided to look up the most difficult recipes and see where croissants ranked….

Number 9!

I was pretty surprised, if I do say so myself. I knew all the hard work I went through to make them, but I NEVER though they’d be this close the top. We looked through the other 9 and I was pretty surprised; all the other recipes didn’t seem so intense and even doable for a amateur baker like myself (see the full list here)

Which has led me to start this blog. I’d always wanted to start a blog but never had a real reason to. I mean, who wants to hear about my food obsession. I mean, really? So when we stumbled upon this list,  I figured this blog could be about my baking adventures!

My first task: make every single item on this list.

I will begin baking sometime this week so keep a look out for some pics of how things are going!

Post your comments and let me know what you think. And let me know if there’s anything you would like to see me bake.

Wish me luck!

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3 Comments

Parmesan and Gruyere Cheese Souffle »

Comments

  1. ImperfectPerfection says

    November 6, 2011 at 3:18 am

    I can't wait to hear about your Baked Alaska! YUMMY!!!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Classic Butter Croissants says:
    June 26, 2019 at 12:28 pm

    […] I decided to teach a class on croissants. After all, it’s what started the blog in the first place. I talk more about that here. […]

    Reply
  2. Classic Butter Croissants | CPA: Certified Pastry Aficionado says:
    March 21, 2017 at 6:37 am

    […] I decided to teach a class on croissants. After all, it’s what started the blog in the first place. I talk more about that here. […]

    Reply

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Hi, my name is Sharon. I’m an accountant by day, risk-taking baker and food enthusiast by night. Come join me as I share my favorite recipes and test out new ones along the way!

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