Petit Fours

[Anna Elizabeth Henry]

Petits.fours.wmt
Wolfgang Meinhart, Hamburg [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The name petit four literally means 'small oven' and was so named because of the manner in which the mini pastries were baked. During the earlier parts of the 19th century, ovens were little more than large stone cabinets with a fire burning under them. With such an archaic method, temperature control was nearly impossible. As result, French bakers had only two oven 'settings' very high heat or cool down. The very high heat setting was reached when coals under the oven were burning to maximum capacity. The method was known as 'grand four' or literally 'big oven' and was used to cook meats. Once the fire under the stone cabinet was extinguished, much of the heat remained. And it took a very long time for these ovens to cool down. The cooling process, when the oven still retained the warmer, less intense heat, was referred to at petit four. The trapped heat was just enough to cook, tiny individual cakes – hence their name.

Traditionally these treats were always included as part of afternoon tea services throughout Europe for the whole of the 19th century. For a time the little afternoon treats waned in popularity along with the respite of the afternoon tea tradition. However in more recent years they have made a resurgence in popularity with the advent of baking shows, easy mass production methods that make them more affordable and of course the revival of afternoon tea rituals throughout the world have helped, too.

There are traditionally four categories of petit fours – sec, glaces, frais, and deguises.

Petits fours sec are dry cookies baked at a low temperature for a long time. The most popular example we enjoy today are macarons.

Petits fours glaces are tiny cakes topped with marzipan and then drenched with fondant or chocolate. This version is typically the most fanciful in decoration. These are the ones most of us associate with the term petit four.

Petits fours frais are small pastries that must be eaten the same day or their quality suffers. Typically this version includes madeleines and mini-eclairs and tarts with cream filling that will become soggy if left to sit too long.

Petits fours deguises are fresh or dried fruit that has been dipped in chocolate or cooked sugar. Think chocolate covered strawberries or dried apricots that are half coated in chocolate.

If you are tempted to whip up your own batch for an afternoon tea for Mother's Day or have a fun tea party treat for your children or grandchildren. Here's a video from Martha Stewart making petit fours -

http://www.marthastewart.com/911102/how-make-petit-four

I learned to make my first batch of petit fours from this very informative blog post with step by step directions and handy pictures coupled with recipes for all the various trimmings - http://rosebakes.com/how-to-make-perfect-petit-fours-recipe-tutorial/

Happy baking!

 

[donna]

Anna Excellent thread. I don't need to do thanks to you. Been busy with Four Footed Friends Forum as well as Food Forum.

You are the best.

 

[nitrofd]

In the bakery we would make petit-fours out of the same sheetsize of cake that we would use for rainbow cookies.we would make a loose sponge mixture and divide it into 3 equal parts and then add food coloring to each part,one ree,one green and the other yellow.we would spread them out on full sheet baking pans so the dough would be about 3/8 " thick.lightly bake and then cool. After they cooled we would turn them out one at a time onto a wood sheet board.order of color not important.between the first two layers we would use a thin jelly spread of apricot or cherry and then use the other jelly for the next layer.when this was complete we would put them in the freezer overnight.
The next day you take the dividers to measure out cuts of 18 pieces by 24 pieces which will give you 438 pieces of rainbow cookies,next you transfer about 12 dozen to a screen on top of a sheet pan and ice them with your chocolate icing,and white icing and any other color you may desire.let the icing harden for at least for an hour before you decorate.to decorate you would make a small piping bag out of parchment paper and go at it.
It is a lot of work but the reward is so good.

 

[nitrofd]

I did forget one thing that we would add almond flavoring to the sponge mix to appear that there was marzipan in the finished product.

 

[Bee]

petit fours

I thought that I was on the "Four Footed Friends" forum, and this was going to be about baby animals

 

[Anna Elizabeth Henry]

I thought that I was on the "Four Footed Friends" forum, and this was going to be about baby animals

Good one!

 

[FarawayFriend]

The name petit four literally means 'small oven' and was so named because of the manner in which the mini pastries were baked. During the earlier parts of the 19th century, ovens were little more than large stone cabinets with a fire burning under them. With such an archaic method, temperature control was nearly impossible. As result, French bakers had only two oven 'settings' very high heat or cool down. The very high heat setting was reached when coals under the oven were burning to maximum capacity. The method was known as 'grand four' or literally 'big oven' and was used to cook meats. Once the fire under the stone cabinet was extinguished, much of the heat remained. And it took a very long time for these ovens to cool down. The cooling process, when the oven still retained the warmer, less intense heat, was referred to at petit four. The trapped heat was just enough to cook, tiny individual cakes – hence their name.

Wow, thank you, I did not know that! I always thought the name came from the french word "fouree" = stuffed, and as these delicacies are small and often stuffed with cream or something else, I felt pretty clever when I deducted from that the name Petit fours.
Hahaa, one of our German comedians used to say before he came up with the most improbable theory about something: "For what you don't know yourself, you must invent an explanation" - which apparently I did also and was wrong. Thanks for enlightening me!
(Although I must admit, I might forget about the true origin and still hang on to my "small stuffed delights" theory, as well as I still tend to cling to my childish belief that thunder comes from two clouds colliding ...)

 

[nitrofd]

Wow, thank you, I did not know that! I always thought the name came from the french word "fouree" = stuffed, and as these delicacies are small and often stuffed with cream or something else, I felt pretty clever when I deducted from that the name Petit fours.
Hahaa, one of our German comedians used to say before he came up with the most improbable theory about something: "For what you don't know yourself, you must invent an explanation" - which apparently I did also and was wrong. Thanks for enlightening me!
(Although I must admit, I might forget about the true origin and still hang on to my "small stuffed delights" theory, as well as I still tend to cling to my childish belief that thunder comes from two clouds colliding ...)

Small stuffed delights equal Dim Sum.

 

[FarawayFriend]

Well, I never had Dim Sum with my coffee, but if you say so, I might even try that!

 

[nitrofd]

Well, I never had Dim Sum with my coffee, but if you say so, I might even try that!

Goes better with a cold one.

 

[amweiner]

Thank you for posting this, @Anna Elizabeth Henry! I never knew this history and really appreciate you sharing it.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Thank you for posting this, @Anna Elizabeth Henry! I never knew this history and really appreciate you sharing it.

Agreed !

I love em', but have never really thought about the the name.