Coffee Shop Romance

Nine

Myth's pov

Myth walked over and grabbed the pans, and brought them back over to where she was working. There was a bit more space, so it'd be easier to roll out the dough there. She floured a wooden rolling pin and began flattening out a ball of the pastry dough. Once it stretched to the right size, she draped the round gently over the prepped pan and trimmed the edges with a knife she had nearby.

After a minute or two, Myth completed the crust prep and set them aside for when the oven dinged. "Oh wow that sounds delicious. I'm quite impressed." She smiled and ran the back of her hand acrossed her forehead. She was such a messy baker, ending up with bits of dough scattered everywhere.

"Mm don't think I have any in stock at the moment. Tried to make a hazelnut creme last week and failed miserably." She laughed a bit, then shrugged and smiled again. "Rum balls do sound so yummy though, I can't wait."

Myth had been watching them work more than doing some herself, so she pulled herself back and thought about what she needed next. She decided on shaping the danishes, grabbed a large baking sheet, a few jars of various fruit peeserves, and got to work. Earlier, she had on a long sleeve but took it off when they entered the kitchen. Her short sleeve showed off her arms, the light working in her favor to define her muscles a bit more as they flexed with each movement.

Jamie's pov

Setting a second aside to juice a lemon they start with whisking some of  the milk and cornstarch, going until it was well combined and frothy. Then they mixed the rest of the milk, the sugar, and the fresh lemon, setting it to simmer on a stove at medium heat.

Taking a brief moment of relief they watch Myth out of the corner of their eyes, ears fluttering that unique content pattern at the sight of her working, leaving a slight less in her wake. "Nothing to be impressed over, it really is a simple recipe, learned it when I was young." They took a moment from speaking to stir the mixture on the stove before stepping away.

"It's fine that you don't have hazel nuts their opinional, I could probably help you with trying the cream again, if you want that is." Separating the egg yolks and mixing them they slowly tempered the eggs. Adding the eggs and cornstarch mix to the pot on the stove they resumed their mixing.

After a few minutes they took it off, making sure to turn the heat off as well and stirred in the vanilla and butter. Covering it the set the pudding in the fridge to cool and started prep for the rum balls. They glanced over a Myth to watch her work again, it was almost memorizing and they had to pull their eyes away

Myth's pov

The kitchen smelt amazing, with each ingredient having its shining moment. And it wasn't even done yet!
The hints of lemon were Myth's favorite. Her nose twitched as her eyes closed for a moment, enjoying the aromatics. With a sly smile on her face, she returned to her dough.

Myth carefully flattened the dough down to a fourth inch with her flat scrapper and her rolling pin just to see how many she would be making. She counted about six per sheet, which wasn't bad. Being careful not to tear it, Myth cut palm sized squares with a dark wood handled knife. It looked to be well loves, having some substantial discoloration to the blade and handle. But it was shiny and still super sharp, as Myth sliced the dough like butter.

She took a moment to breathe and respond to Jamie. "I think that's still pretty cool. It's not everyday that you find someone with that much skill hidden up in their brain." She giggled with a happy smile on her face. "You know.. I would love that." She casually flipped her knife in her hand as she thought about what to say. "I'll have to check the markets soon, see if they're got anything fancy out there." Myth smiled, nodded, then returned back to the cutting board.

For each different type of filling, Myth created different designs with the pastry. The first she started to work on was strawberry. Its signature look: a pinwheel. This took Myth the longest to do, so she always started with them to give herself enough time to get them right.

She took her blade and gently cut a one inch slit at each corner. Then she dolloped a spoonful of her strawberry preserve she had previously made right in the center off the square. Myth preferred a sharp look, so she took her time to pull every second point towards the center of the pastry.

Jamie's pov

Pulling out more butter, powdered sugar, and baking chocolate they set to work, separating the chocolate into even parts intending to make both dark and milk chocolate sweets. Filling two large pots with water and setting bowls inside they piled the chocolate into them.

They set sugar and heavy cream on the counter to mix into the chocolate later just stirring the two different bowls of chocolate for now. Not needing to really keep an eye on it they glanced over to Myth watching her work rolling out pastry dough.

"It'll be fun, I can teach you many recipes from my Homeland and I'm sure you'll do great with a little extra help. Maybe you can teach me something in return." They mused thinking of all the things they could make together with a thoughtful smile.

Turning back to the now melted chocolate they mixed a small amount of sugar into one, and lots of sugar and cream into the other. Setting the mixing spoons aside and turning the stove heat off they move to cream the butter, sifting powdered sugar into it until it was creamy. Mixing far more rum than the recipe called for and the now cooled chocolate they cover the mixture and set it in the fridge to cool.