Afternoon Tea Baby Shower: Savory Offerings

We continue our discussion of the recently created "Afternoon Tea Baby Shower" with a focus on the savory baked products we prepared.

Palmiers are a classic French baked goods, created from flaky puff pastry rolled into the shape of a palm leaf, flattened, and baked. Typically, palmiers are sweet, with cinnamon and sugar rolled into the buttery layers. In this case, we created savory palmiers, filling them with thin layers of shaved prosciutto, honey mustard, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Smoky, tangy, sweet, and salty, these are the perfect brunch food to complement traditional pastries.



The second of our specially-created savory baked goods started with a basic Southern biscuit recipe. To that, we added sharp Farmhouse Cheddar cheese, applewood smoked bacon, cracked telicherry pepper, and fragrant locally grown sage.



Again, the smokiness of the bacon, paired with the tang of the cheese, and the herbal high-notes of the sage, created a flaky and perfectly balanced biscuit! We can already tell, here at orenji, that these biscuits are quickly going to become one of our favorite accompaniments to many meals!



Along with the savory baked goods, we also prepared a deliciously light salad of locally grown field greens and edible flowers, spicy-sweet candied pecans, Gorgonzola cheese, frizzled leeks, and fresh blackberries. Completing the salad was a fresh and acidic champagne vinaigrette with low notes of caramelized onions.


All in all, the Afternoon Tea Baby Shower was a success. In our next post, we'll talk a bit more about the tea cookies and other baked treats we prepared. Be sure to check back!

"Afternoon Tea" Baby Shower: A Trio of Delicious Scones...

We recently enjoyed the opportunity to provide sweets and treats for a friend and client's sister's baby shower, in the theme of an afternoon tea. The foods provided will be reviewed over the next few posts, but today we turn our attention to a trio of deliciously moist scones. The first type of scone we prepared (pictured above) was rich with Tahitian vanilla and loaded with moist and juicy apricots. Not too sweet-- as any good scone should be-- we added a drizzle of confectioners' icing to bring out the flavor of the apricots. These are perhaps the best scones we have ever tasted, and we hope to have many opportunities in the future to share them with those we bake for...

Our second of three scones was a delicious dried cranberry and bittersweet chocolate scone. A bit denser and more crumbly than the apricot scones, these were deeper in flavor due both to a base of brown sugar, as well as the smooth bitter flavor of the finest Callebaut Belgian bittersweet chocolate. The sweetness of the dough, the tartness of the cranberries, and the bitterness of the chocolate combined to create a pleasing symphony of flavors... these are perfect with tea or coffee!

Our last of the trio of scones were perhaps the most "traditional." Black currants and cream were the base of these moist and crumbly scones-- a hint of Tahitian vanilla adding undercurrents of flavor to delight the palate. Sprinkled with crunchy demerara sugar (a large-crystalled brown sugar made from natural sugar cane), these were as pretty as delicious!

All in all, we were pleased with our collections of tea time scones. Each variety (although we would definitely recommend the apricot!) is available on our 2009 Easter Pricing Guide-- perfect for your Easter brunch.

Keep checking back for review of other delectable tea time treats we created for the baby shower. You might see something you like!

Springtime krispy cereal treats- just in time for Easter!

Here at orenji, we take krispy cereal treats very seriously! One of our favorite childhood memories is making these with our grandmother in her kitchen, the smell of vanilla and marshmallow filling the busy space. Of course, back then, we made them in their purest form-- crispy squares cut directly from the pan and eaten! Now, we put more of a decorative twist on them, infusing flavors like vanilla or peanut butter, drizzling chocolates, cutting shapes. But at their core, they are still the same childhood-favorite treat, packed equally with flavor and nostalgia. Perhaps that is why they remain one of our most popular items!

With springtime here, and Easter right around the corner, we have two types of krispy treats we are currently creating in the orenji kitchens: Easter Eggs and springtime flowers.

Both shapes are enrobed and drizzled with the finest Belgian milk, bittersweet, and white chocolates, and finished with festive seasonal sprinkles!

Tied with beautiful pink or blue satin ribbons, these are the perfect gifts to welcome spring, or to fill that special Easter basket! Remember, there is still time to order your Easter treats from orenji!

An Italy-inspired Cake: Buon Viaggio!

We were recently commissioned to create a festive Buon Viaggio (that is, good-bye and safe travels in Italian) cake for a client who was saying good-bye to some dear friends headed to Italy. A cake in "the shape of Italy," but large enough to feed fifty hungry celebrators was requested. We headed to the orenji test kitchens to get started.

The first challenge was flavoring the cake... We opted for a two layer cake, the bottom layer a dense bittersweet chocolate, and the top layer a buttery caramelized hazelnut layer soaked with Frangelico syrup. We filled the layers with a Gianduja (Italian hazelnut milk chocolate) truffle and bittersweet buttercream. All in all, the cake was as deliciously rich as it was beautiful!

In constructing the cake, we frosted the two-layer sheet cake, and then draped it with a hand-rolled "Italian flag" constructed from rolled sugar fondant. Atop the sheet cake, a second layer cake was added, carved topographically in the shape of Italy (including Sicily!) and covered with bittersweet chocolate fondant. Festive Italian ribbons and hand-modeled white and dark chocolate roses and leaves completed this celebratory cake!

We enjoyed the opportunity to contribute to such a special event, and dust off our specialty-cake skills... and of course, we welcome the challenge that cakes of this sort will bring in the future!

Next up on comparing apples and orenji, a baby shower themed as a "high tea." Be sure to check back, as you won't want to miss this!

Orenji 2009 Easter Pricing Guide Now Available!

Orenji is pleased to announce the availability of our 2009 Easter Pricing Guide! To view the guide and place your holiday orders, please visit the link provided below:

Orenji 2009 Easter Pricing Guide

Listed in the guide, you will find a wide assortment of delightful Easter and springtime treats including:

Milk chocolate eggs filled with our homemade fruit-scented marshmallow

Milk chocolate eggs filled with peanut-butter truffle filling

Bittersweet chocolate eggs filled with caramel-coconut filling

White chocolate eggs filled with Japanese matcha green tea truffle filling

Milk chocolate eggs filled with chocolate-caramel truffle filling

Bittersweet chocolate eggs filled with chocolate-cappuccino filling

Solid bittersweet chocolate eggs with Mexican cinnamon, smoked sea salt, and chili pepper

Egg-shaped chocolate drizzled krispy cereal treats with festive Easter decorations

Handmade fruit-scented marshmallows (with our without chocolate drizzle)

Orange-scented shortbread in festive Easter shapes

Earl grey-infused madeleines with lemon icing

Hawaiian lavender shortbread tea cookies

Green tea shortcake sandwiches filled with white chocolate-cardamom ganache

Apricot and almond shortbread bars

Freshly baked Easter hot cross buns

Our full line of Sweet Fortune chocolates

A selection of gourmet popcorns

A wide variety of breakfast treats perfect for Easter brunch (including the Apricot & Vanilla Cream Scones pictured below!)

We hope that you are enjoying the Spring season, and that we may contribute to your upcoming celebration of Easter. To place an order, simply email us at orenjicatering@hotmail.com or call us at 646.505.9794. We look forward to hearing from you!

orenji 2009: our commitment to our customers...

We have been away from our blogging for awhile, largely due to some "restructuring" of time here at Orenji, in part due to the economic climate. We understand that many of our loyal friends and customers are also feeling the pinch of this difficult economic time, and wanted to offer our thanks for your continued patronage. Our pledge to you is the prompt creation and shipping of your orders-- however small-- with the same beauty and quality you have come to expect from Orenji. We further pledge to more frequent updates and blogs, and hope that you'll remain in the habit of visiting us here at www.orenjicatering.blogspot.com!