Baking Club! on Potions

Atlas Primred

April 20, 2015 11:23 PM

Baking Club! by Atlas Primred

The semester had been going along without too many bumps. When he wasn't focused on his studies, Atlas found much of his free thoughts revolved around his girlfriend, Quidditch, and the Baking Club. As a result, he had put a lot more effort into becoming a better host this year. Although it was impossible to completely change his personality, the teenager tried his best each meeting to improve his hosting skills. Although he tried to not stick with one theme for too long, he found himself drawn to the elegant recipes of France. Although he would never admit it, having a half-French girlfriend did seem to influence his tastes. Something about cooking French food made him feel close to Ann-Marie, even if she was all the way in California.

As the club members entered the room, Atlas tried his best to greet each person. He finally felt comfortable enough with the usual members to start idle conversations without being so nervous. He could still be awkward at times, especially around some of the older girls, but he wanted to do his best to be a welcoming host. Once everyone arrived, he began the meeting. “Welcome everyone, I hope you are having a good week as we move closer and closer to summer,” he began in his usual stiff manner. He had a slight inkling to run his hand through his black hair, as he usually did when he was nervous, but he resisted the urge. Just relax, he thought to himself.

“Today we will be making earl grey tea macarons with honey buttercream filling,” he said after a moment, a wide smile stretching across his face in anticipation. “Although you don’t have to use earl grey if you don’t want to, since there are a lot of different teas you can add to the mix,” he said gesturing to the assortment of loose-leaf teas he had brought in. “As for the filling feel free to add chocolate or whatever suits your taste, but for now I will be following the recipe I wrote on the board.” As Atlas worked, he made sure to explain the difficult parts of the recipe, as a lot of things could result in a failure. “Although the recipe says to add the dry mixture in two sections, I find that adding it all at one time will help you avoid over mixing,” he said as she showed the club his folding technique. “Remember, you want it to be just mixed enough, and basically be the consistency of lava,” he said as he pulled the spatula up to show the class the consistency of the batter.

Once Atlas had piped all the macarons onto the parchment paper, he made sure to demonstrate what ‘set macarons’ looked like. “You can wait the 30 minutes, if you want, however a really light drying spell should to the trick,” he continued as he demonstrated. Atlas smiled as he worked, remembering the time he had set his shirt on fire using a ‘light drying spell’. “Just don’t over do it, you don’t want to bake them at this stage,” he said more to himself than to the class. Thankfully for him and the macarons his control had become much better, although he did still burn a sock every now and then when he wasn't concentrating.

* * *

Once Atlas had finished demonstrating the rest of the recipe, he released the club to start their own work. “For those of you that finish early and want to add an extra something to your macarons, I have a few cauldrons of melted chocolate to dip your macarons in,” he said gesturing to the side table by the drinks. In front of each cauldron was a small tag, indicating the contains of the pot. From right to left they read: White Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, and Milk Chocolate. Even though Atlas prepared plenty of ways for the members to customize their macarons, he figured there could never be too much chocolate in a baking class!

Although Atlas himself a big fan of sweets, he liked cooking for others. Usually he offered his baking club treats to the quiddtich team, but today he thought he would give them solely to Liliana. She spent a lot of time in France, so Atlas hoped she would be the perfect guinea pig to try out his recipe before he made them for Ann-Marie. Although, he would probably leave out that last detail when asking for her opinion .

Now that he had a moment to himself, Atlas walked over to the refreshment table to quench his thirst. Since this past year, he surprised himself at how much of a chatterbox he was turning into during meetings, but he was also secretly really proud of himself. He would rather be a chatter box than the shy boy he was before- at least while playing host. Grabbing a cup of hot apple cider, he began walking around the room, just in case someone needed his help.

OOC: Feel free to tag Atlas if you need any help. The recipe can be found here: http://www.yoo-eatz.com/Earl-Grey-Macarons-Honey-Buttercream-Filling-Recipe-15579665

Subthreads:

Oh, the boys who bake. by Jake Manger

0 Atlas Primred Baking Club! 276 Atlas Primred 1 5

Jake Manger

April 26, 2015 9:23 PM

Oh, the boys who bake. by Jake Manger

Unlike his insanely smart siblings, Jake didn’t invest a lot of faith in academics. He paid attention and tried his best in class, of course, but that sort of thing just didn’t hold his interest. To put it simply, he found school work a bit boring. He was more interested in social things, because he liked being around other people. He also liked to do things with his hands, be it piano, crafting, Quidditch, or anything else.

Those combined with his genuine curiosity regarding new things inspired him to join Sonora’s baking club. As a Pureblood boy, he knew virtually nothing about cooking, so he thought it would be fun and even useful to learn; maybe if he got really good, he could bake for his family or friends, cater his own social gatherings. It would definitely take a load off of the shoulders of his hypothetical future House Elves.

Thus far, the Teppenpaw was finding that he actually really enjoyed baking. His only problem was recipes; he liked to be a bit more creative than that. This sometimes got him into tastebud trouble when his innovations turned out to be not so great in practice, but Jake still felt it was more fun. That was why days like this one made him so happy. Atlas provided an easy space for improvisations, allowing for different flavors in lieu of strict recipe precision.

He stared at the board for a while before he began, debating which of the many provided options he ought to pick. What flavors worked best? he asked himself. Not sure what to pair up, he reached out to a club-mate. “I’m thinking of using a mint tea for the base,” he commented idly. “Any thoughts on what kind of filling I should add to that? Buttercream doesn’t sound right.”

12 Jake Manger Oh, the boys who bake. 280 Jake Manger 0 5