Whose that girl....and whose that nightie

I have to go and buy clothes tomorrow and we are looking for a new sleepwear company as the one we have been using has become way too pricey.

Oh and whose that girl.

Boy all youse guys want to put a tiny dude in your mouth?

I guess that Napoleon is really dynamite. I mean he won our pastry poll. The results:

Napoleon 66
Sophia Loren 37
Cannoli 9
Spinge 5
Sfogliatelli 0

Quite an upset. I can't believe that nobody wanted the poor sfogliatelli which is one of the most popular pastries at Court Pastry. In fact when old timers order they almost always order them or the cannoli's first. Oh well what the hell do I know.

Next up. Who is the coolest.

Napoleon doesn't figure in that pool.

This poll is getting kind of hairy!

It's getting hairy. The beautiful Italian tart Sophia Loren is the underar.. underdog as a greasy Napoleon is running away with it. I guess all gay dudes are voting for the Napoleon. I mean I thought you would split the vote with the cannoli which after all is a long tube stuffed with cream. But little Nappy is a landslide vote getter. What's up with that?

I just fear that if it is a close shave that we want, poor Sophia is not going to cut it. So to speak.

Holy cannoli look what freakin' pastry is winning!

Hey forget the cannoli's take the Napoleons cause they are kicking ass. Not since the original perverted Frenchie stormed through Europe as any pastry kicked ass like this. Now before Jason tells me he was French you must remember that his was Corsican so that mean's he is half a guinea. Anyway it is the surprising top vote getter even out pacing that delicious tart Sophia Loren. So here is a quick recipe from About.com

Ingredients

17-ounce package frozen pastry
chocolate or vanilla pastry cream*
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 ounce semisweet chocolate, melted

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly flour bread board and rolling pin. Roll dough to 13 x 17 inch triangle, 1/8 inch thick. Transfer to cookie sheet. Prick dough with fork. Cover with another cookie sheet. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove top sheet and continue to bake for 5 more minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on wire rack.

Cut pastry into thirds, lengthwise. Mix powdered sugar and water. Stir until smooth. Turn over 1 pastry strip on rack. Pour sugar glaze over strip. Smooth with spatula. Quickly pour stripes of chocolate over glaze. Drag knife over top to make decorative design. Let stand until dry, about 30 minutes.

To assemble: Place one unglazed strip on serving platter. Spread half of pastry cream on top. Top with the other unglazed strip. Top with rest of pastry cream. Top that with glazed strip. Chill until firm, about and hour. (Don't chill longer than 3 hours. It may get soggy.) For serving, cut with serrated knife.

Hey time for a little Nappy!

Hey some of youse guys have a Napoleon complex! Full of tasty creme with chocolate and vanilla on top how can you go wrong.

Now get into the refrigerator and beat the crap out ouf a cheesecake!

You call it Bigné, I call it Spinge, let's call the whole thing off. Well let's eat the freakin' pastry first and then call the whole thing off.

Talk about you mispronunciations. The Bigné di San Giuseppe is actually my favorite pastry. As made in Carroll Gardens premier pastry store Court Pastry it is by far the best pastry you can get. Now it is impossible to get a photo of it unless I take one myself because they never last long enough to get photographed. What they are basically is a pastry shell filled with delicious ricotta cream with a cherry and a candied orange slice with some chocolate chips mixed in the cream. It is heaven.

The pronunciation is weird. When you were a kid you would go in and ask for a dozen St. Joseph's because it traditionally came out only on St. Joseph's day and a week or two afterward. I mean they didn't always have it like they did the cannoli or the eclair. So it was a special treat.

The real name was the St. Joseph Speeen-gie. That is how you would say it. Nothing was better that when he put the big paper sign in the window "WE HAVE SPINGE'S" Man you would rush in to get them. They are the best I tell ya.

Here is a quick recipe.

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups water
5 Tbs butter
3/4 cup flour
4 eggs
1 tsp limoncello (lemon liquor)
1 Tbs vanilla
confectioners sugar
oil for baking sheet

Directions
In a medium pot, bring the water to a boil over high heat.
The second the water comes to a boil remove the pan from the heat and add all the flour at once. Stir immediately until smooth.
Add the butter and return the pan to medium heat and keep stirring. The flour and water will form a ball. You will need to stir until the ball no longer sticks to the sides or bottom of the pan.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Add eggs one at a time. Stir each egg completely into the pastry before adding the next.
Stir in the limoncello and vanilla.
Let the batter rest for at least 15 minutes.
Using a soup spoon, place spoon size pieces of batter on a greased cookie sheet. Leave at least 2" between the drops of batter.
Bake at 400F for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375F. Bake for another 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. They will be approximately double in size.
Turn the oven off and let the pastries "dry" in the oven. Don't remove until they are completely cool.
Gently open and fill with cannoli cream or orange flavored ricotta filling.
Dust the tops with confectioner's sugar. Add cherry and a candied orange sliver.

Put two one a plate with a cup of espresso on the side and leave me alone.

You pronounce it "Spear-a-dell" you hipster doufous douches!

I guess other then Peter the rest of youse guys are tourists. I mean you never heard of a "Sfogliatelle." Of course it is pronounce "Spear-a-dell" which in Italian means
"Many Leaves" or as we used to call it in the neighborhood "The Venetian Blind."

It is primarily a cannoli cream filled pastry with an orange-ricotta flavored filling in puff pastry with layers that looks like the Venetian blinds you were supposed to have hanging in your window. My grandmother, heck all the grandmothers in Carroll Gardens marked you as lousy if you didn't have Venetian Blinds. I mean there was one Jewish family that had shades and everybody called them the same thing. Beatniks. If you didn't have Venetian blinds you were a beatnik and smoked funny cigarettes and didn't wash. Disgracia!

Anyway nothing is more comical than to watch yuppie assholes or tat covered hipster doufuous douches go into Court Pastry and try to order a "Spear-a-dell." The only thing that is funnier is when they go to Mastellone's deli accross the street and ask for "Broccoli Rabbi. Disgracia!

What's your favorite Italian Pastry?

Hey I was so busy I had no time to eat all day. So that leads me to our new poll. What's your favorite Italian Pastry?

Cannoli

Napolean

Sfogliatelli

Spinge

Sophia Loren

Descriptions and details to follow for those of you who don't no your pastry.

"Leave the gun, take Sophia Loren"

Hey we are off to a hot start in our new poll.

I didn't want to load the dice "Barbara Eden" style by having a great cheese cake photo as enough of you knuckleheads love it as it is. So I cheated a little and used a smaller photo to give the other cakes a fighting chance.

The cheesecake discussion is very interesting to me because I think most cheesecakes are really overrated. And Nichevo, sorry but Junior's is way overrated. It is often dry and sour because they mass produce it . And the Cheesecake Factory, shit that really sucks wind. They must have illegal immigrants sewing those cakes together for 50cents an hour.

By far the best cheese cake I ever had is from Court Pastry in Carroll Gardens. Yes I am prejuidiced but so what. It is a ricotta cheese cake which is always light and fluffy and they will put six different types of fruit on it if you want. Pineapple, cherry, blueberry, strawberry, peach and kiwi. I once brought a cheesecake from Court Pastry where there five other cheesecakes including two from Junior's and my cake was totally devoured while the rest sat alone like Alphaliberal at his high school dance.

Here is a reciepe for a great ricotta cheese cake. Try it and get back to me.

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
2 pounds ricotta cheese
2/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
6 eggs
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons orange zest
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Set rack in the middle of the oven. Butter and flour a 9 1/2 inch springform pan, and tap out excess flour.
Place the ricotta in a large mixing bowl, and stir it as smooth as possible with a rubber spatula. Stir the sugar and flour together thoroughly into the ricotta. Stir in the eggs 1 at a time. Blend in the vanilla, cinnamon, orange zest, and salt. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
Bake in the center of the oven for about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, until a light golden color. Make sure the center is fairly firm, and the point of a sharp knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. It will sink slightly as it cools. Cover, and chill till serving time.