I am missing a fondue party right now.
This is killing me for two reasons:
1) I flippin' love fondue.
2) I am missing said party because I am having a brunch tomorrow morning, the star of which is to be danish pastries. I just pulled them out of the oven and... they're a disaster.
I'm missing fondue for a disaster.
I'm a little traumatized here.
I knew my December batch was too perfect and that I had gotten a little too smug with my pastry chef-ness, I knew I would have to pay for it down the line somewhere...
Allow me to elaborate.
Visually, well, from a bird's eye view at least, they are a stunning masterpiece of pastrydom. They are the flakiest things I have ever seen come from a household oven. Behold Exhibit A:
But alas, the top view tells an incomplete tale! For, alas, they were.... burned (Trogdor strikes again!). They taste ok (not perfect, but ok) if you just eat the top, but the flavor is not as delicate and nuanced as it should be. And if you eat the whole thing.... it's just a disaster. The texture is all wrong too, it's like they're too tough and heavy. In a way they almost remind me of bad biscuits instead of the Most Perfect Pastry Ever Baked (which the last batch was). Just see for yourself:
I can't serve these. They are simply unacceptable. They certainly aren't worthy of being my piece de resistance.
So I'm starting over again. At 8pm, the night before the brunch, starting over. I've been up since 5am and this recipe takes a good five hours, but I will get it right!
And now you all know: I screw up in the kitchen sometimes too.
The pride cometh before the fall...
