Apple Bird

Here we learned how to make a apple bird garnish! This was a really fun and scary lab to do as I keep thinking I would do something totally wrong with my apple and then fail. It was really fun seeing everybody's birds and how they were totally different to each other!

 So we first made a base for out apple bird by cutting about 1/3 off a side of the apple.

 We used the paring knife to cute "V-shaped" wedges for the two side feathers and the top.

 The "feathers" with the body, I should have put a little more lemon juice as it was starting to brown a little.

 The bird with all the feather, I felt like I should have push the feathers out more to make a more outstanding bird.

 

 I felt like the head of the bird doesn't really look like a bird's head, more like a turtle...

The head was made by cutting a 1/4" strip from the base piece that we cut out.

 Finished product of the bird.

 I thought I made the sides pretty even but I should have made the feathers pushed out more. Totally regret that right now.

The head kind of ruins the magnificent bird (in my opinion)

Apple Loaf with Walnuts and Cranberries

For the first lab we had to do in Food Art was the loaf! Our assignment was to make two loafs (on different days) and to choose the ingredients in them. My group choose the apple (as you can see in the title) as our flavor for the first loaf because I had this urge to eat something apple flavor...and for our mix-ins we had walnuts and cranberries. I think the cranberries didn't really go well with the loaf so if I were to make this next time I wouldn't put it in.

Our end product

The recipe:

Ingredients:  

• 1 Apple (shredded and squeezed dry)
• 185 mL walnuts (chopped)
• 125 mL cranberries (fresh or dried)
• 310 mL flour
• 185 mL sugar
• 5 mL baking powder
• 5 mL salt
• 2 mL baking soda
• 2 mL cinnamon ( you could put lesser if you don't like cinnamon or none at all)
• 1-2 mL of nutmeg (same with the nutmeg)
• 2 eggs
• 125 mL vegetable oil (we used vegetable oil) or butter (melted) or plain yogurt (it doesn't really have to be plain yogurt) or sour cream
• 5 mL vanilla extract
• 5 mL citrus zest (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. Lightly butter/spray one 9-by-5 inch loaf pan or three 6-by-3 inch mini pan.
2. Mix in the flour, sugar, baking powder, alt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl.
3. Add your dry mix-in (walnuts and cranberries) in the flour mixture.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk 2 eggs, 125 mL of vegetable oil (or the other ingredients that you choose), 5 mL vanilla extract and the citrus zest (optional).
5. Stir in your fruit or vegetable (apple) into the egg mixture.
6. Fold in the egg mixture into the dry mixture until combined.
7. Spread the batter in the prepared pans. Baked until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes for a standard loaf pan and about 35-40 minutes for mini loaf pans.
8. After they are done baking, cool 30 minutes in the pan(s) on a rack and then turn out onto the racks to cool completely.

 The glaze:

The glaze is an optional thing for your loaf. For this loaf we made a Brown Butter Glaze which was really simple to do.

Ingredients:  

• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 2 mL of confectioner sugar (which is icing sugar)
• 1 mL of mil

 Method:

1. Brown the 3 tablespoon of butter over low heat; cool slightly. Whisk in the confectioners' sugar and milk. Use immediately!    

 Our product: