“Macarons should be eaten slowly with each mouthful savoured. They should be eaten somewhere pretty and refined.”
Yellow Magpie
Nothing in the cookie world seems to have evoked as much interest and admiration as macarons! Sweet and pretty bites, inspirational to make, absolutely charming, yet intimidating for bakers like me. At MacTweets,our mac-obsessed kitchen, Jamie and I called to mark World Macaron Day on March 20th. These Blood Orange Macarons with Maple Orange Chocolate Pastry Creme are my tribute to this delightful invention!I’ve missed making macarons for a while now and was happy to be faced with a MacTweets challenge for World Macaron Day. Been thinking long on what to make and what not to, and then thanks to sweet blogger friends like the lovely and talented Shayma, I made these addictive bites. They might not look perfect, but they tasted fabulous!Life is busy and we have had family and friends from overseas visiting us over the past few months. They all know I food blog, so with them come delicious ingredients and kitchen stuff I might not ever dream of. I feel special … very special!…and felt even more so when a few days ago the Spice Spoon girl tweeted to ask when my folk were visiting as she had something to send for me. My cousin from Pittsburgh flew in a few days later. With him came these beautiful spice boxes from William Sonoma – Dried Blood Orange Peel and Pure Maple Flakes.The minute I saw the pretty little jars I knew what my macs were going to be – Blood Orange with Maple filling. I had already a thread of orange in my mind as my life is overflowing with tangerines. All the little shrubs have branches hanging heavy with this beautiful fruit … the little pooch seems to take a keen interest in the fruit too; little Coco who is ALL EYES!!Pretty orange life and there is only so much bitter marmalade I can make. I thought I would sweeten the filling mildly with maple flakes and add a dash of orange from the little bitter tangerines. The shells baked fine, the little feet appearing in a few minutes of baking, blushing a pastel orange. Of course we had a power cut again, but thankfully the frills had formed so no harm done! I was quite happy. What I wasn’t happy with was my choice of filling. A pastry creme obviously isn’t firm enough for these fiddly creatures. They got soft overnight and I had some fixing to do!I had a fix in mind … chocolate can fix anything, even a broken heart, and then I came across Mardi’s macaron post asking ‘Why do my macarons have hollow shells. That set me thinking! It was time to read up again.My macarons are also hollow at times and OK at other times even though my recipe is the same. So mac-obsessed me set off to try Mardis recipe.I have to say they are the best tasting macarons I have ever made even though the shells weren’t anywhere near smooth. They looked so good 6 minutes into baking, just the perfect macs, but soon after threatened to crack up, but then shriveled slightly. Maybe it was because of undermixing, but the flavours were da bomb! You can find her recipe, perfect macarons and beautiful post here…To remedy the filling, I melted dark couverture chocolate and stirred it through the maple orange pastry creme, then chilled it. Delicieux!! There was a slight hint of bitterness from the tangerine peel and the balance of flavours was perfect! Thank you my sweet friend Shayma @ The Spice Spoon for adding wonderful spice to my life; inspiration too! I am sure you’ve been to her beautiful blog;it’s a treat in every sense!
Do you want to join us making MACARONS?
If you do, you are most welcome to join us for this challenge, or the next. You can find all the information at our dedicated macaron blog MacTweets. We generally post the round-up by the end of every month, following which a new challenge is posted!
[print_this]Recipe: Blood Orange Macarons with Maple Orange Chocolate Pastry Creme
Summary: A perfect balance of flavours. Blood orange peel macarons, with a bitter orange dark chocolate filling, laced with mild flavours of pure maple. {Makes about 15 macarons} Prep Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Ingredients:
Run the powdered sugar, cornflour, almond meal, egg white powder and blood orange flakes in your processor until well blended and fine. Sift into a bowl.
Beat the egg white until foamy, then add the granulated sugar and beat for approximately 2 minutes until stiff peaks form.
Fold in 1/4 of the dry mix until no streaks remain, then add the remainder of the dry mix and gently fold in until you get a lava like batter. {donot overfold}
Place into a piping bag and pipe circles onto parchment paper.
Tap the trays sharply to get rid of air bubbles and allow to rest for 30-45 minutes.
Bake in double trays at 140C for 12-15 minutes, until the shells are firm and no longer jiggly. {My oven uses just the lower element for baking, so I place the double trays towards the top of the oven}
Cool.
Maple Orange Chocolate Pastry Creme
Whisk together the flour, tangerine rind, maple flakes, sugar, salt, melted butter and egg in a heavy saucepan. Slowly add in the milk, whisking to ensure no lumps form. Place over medium heat with vanilla bean and bring to a simmer. Make sure you stir constantly so that the cream doesn’t ‘catch’ the bottom of the pan. Stir constantly until thick, remove from the heat and push through a sieve. Stir in the blood orange flakes, add the melted chocolate and whisk occasionally as it cools. Chill to firm up.
Thermomix Maple Orange Pastry Creme
Place all ingredients except blood orange flakes in bowl of TM, mix on reverse speed 2 for 5 seconds, then cook at 90C, Speed 4 for 7 minutes.
Push through a sieve into a bowl, mix in blood orange flakes and stir occasionally until cool.
To assemble:
Match equal halves of macarons, and keep together.
Use a small spoon and deposit a tiny amount of pastry creme on the flat side of the macaron and sandwich with another half of the same size, squeezing gently. Rest in fridge for a day to allow the flavours to mature.
“If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.”
Benjamin Franklin
Some days I just dazzle myself with my efficiency, days that are few and far between, but it gives me confidence that I can still achieve quite a bit on better days!! It was a cake for my SILs birthday, AND macarons, all done on fast track. Inspiration came from our MacTweetstheme for January and the Bavarian mousse on this Chocolate Bavarian Mousse Cake; that is how this Strawberry & Kiwi Bavarian Cake with Razzle Dazzle Macarons came about to be.On a day like this I raced and baked a sponge, made a Bavarian cream, then a mousse, layered a cake and even had it chilling in a couple of hours!! Even more dazzling … got the macs piped even as the kids grumbled getting out of bed and into the shower; ffound ‘feet’ before 8am, just after I had banished the kids to school!! Cake demoulded, ganached and snazzed up with my macs and I was a happy baker! The ganache wasn’t in my plan, limited as it seemed because of the time crunch, but the daughter begged for chocolate to be included in the master plan. I think the cake would have looked beautiful without the dark chocolate hues, but teens need to be kept happy, so…The macarons ran with the basic colours of fruit in the cake, pink for strawberries and green for kiwi. I was lucky to find feet so early in the morning. For the boost of mac-confidence I have to applaud the uber talented Stella @ BraveTart…and she is brave. She bakes mean {readGORGOEUS!!} macarons, and did away with many mac myths in a second.Reading her post made me feel ultra confident, and a day old egg white out of the fridge did yield the frills or feet! I also dumped the granulated sugar in with the whites and whipped them altogether, but this time wasn’t nervous. Bravery is a strong emotion, and I was rewarded in under 10 minutes …pretty little mini macs.The sponge is a basic one, a 3 egg recipe that lives in my head… 3 eggs + 1/2 cup sugar + 1/2 cup flour. Minimal ingredients {with the seed of 1/2 a vanilla bean} and minimal fuss that results in a light airy sponge. This is my to-go recipe for a Swiss roll too!I did try to rustle up some shimmer and glimmer to jazz the macarons to meet the razzle dazzle theme, but the shimmer is rather muted! Well the thoughts {and my morning} dazzled in any case. The macarons were sandwiched with some dark chocolate ganache reserved from the frosting.Bavarian is fast becoming my choice of filling in cakes, one that finds its roots in a crème anglaise of sorts, as we still moan the lack of local whipping cream in India. The mousse compliments fresh fruit beautifully, and is delicately flavoured with vanilla bean. It was a little less firm in the filling as I used kiwi too {I think the high citric content in kiwi interferes with the setting of gelatin}. It did set though, but just. Next time I might stick to just strawberries to get a firmer mousse … like the one below!The weather that whole day {week actually} was cold and rainy, hence the cake pictures aren’t bright and happy. I had some mousse left over as the cake was taller than my desert ring, so I set some in glasses. I absolutely love the idea of doing individual portions like these that can be made ahead, and dressed up with seasonal fruit, as in this case strawberries perked up with some fresh basil!These were GOOD, oh so good! The Bavarian set perfectly, the little vanilla bean specks flavouring it beautifully. I topped the goblets with a strawberry puree, like the one layered in these White & Dark Chocolate Desserts with Strawberries. To add colour and flavour, I snipped in some fresh basil which I am fortunate to have these days. I left these in the fridge for a couple of hours again, and the strawberry, lime and basil flavours matured nicely!The play of textures and the visual appeal was great! Dolled up with a macaron and I have never heard the fridge door opening SO MANY times! The kids were constantly in and out of the kitchen to look at it longingly. The minute dinner was done, it was a race to the fridge again. Door opened again! “Now?”
Do you want to join us making MACARONS?
If you do, you are most welcome to join us for this challenge, or the next. You can find all the information at our dedicated macaron blog MacTweets. We generally do the round-up by the end of every month, following which a new challenge is posted!
[print_this]Recipe: Strawberry & Kiwi Bavarian Cake with Razzle Dazzle Macarons
Summary:A marriage of flavours and textures, 2 desserts, one basic mousse. Add in some fresh seasonal fruit, top with macarons and you have … Strawberry & Kiwi Bavarian Cake with Razzle Dazzle Macarons, & Vanilla Bavarian Mousse with Strawberries & Basil
1/2 vanilla bean scraped {or pure vanilla extract}
Basic Sugar Syrup
1/4 cup water
3 tbsp granulated sugar
Zest and juice of 1 lime
Vanilla Bavarian Mousse
4 egg yolks {large; 5 if small}
300ml whole milk
200ml low fat cream, room temperature
1/2 vanilla bean scraped
75gm sugar
1 1/4 tbsp gelatin {increase in warm weather}
200ml cream, chilled
2 tbsp powdered sugar
Chocolate Ganache
200gm dark chocolate bits {or chopped}
200ml low fat cream
1 tbsp honey
Fruit for filling
300gm strawberries, chopped {reserve 3-4 for garnishing
2-3 kiwi, peeled, chopped {reserve 1/2 for garnishing}
Vanilla Macarons
1 egg white, aged a day
1/4 cup almond meal
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla powder
1/4 tsp egg white powder
2 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
Strawberry Puree for the Bavarian Mousse Goblets
300gm strawberries, chopped fine
2-3 tbsp powdered sugar {increase/decrease as per tartness of strawberries}
Juice of 1 lime
6-8 leaves fresh basil, chiffonaded
1tbsp water
Method:
Vanilla Sponge
Preheat oven to 190C. Line the base and sides of a 9″ round tin with baking parchment.
Beat eggs, vanilla bean and sugar over simmering water until the eggs are thick and mousse like, about 7-10 minutes. Once they triple in volume, remove from water, and continue to beat until the mixture cools dwon {about 5 minutes}
Fold the flour in carefully, in figure 8 moves, to ensure you don’t release the air.
Turn into prepared tin, and bake for about 30 minutes, until the cake is light golden and springs back when touched.
Remove from tin, take off parchment, and coole completely on rack.
Vanilla Bavarian Mousse
Bloom gelatin in 2-3 tbsp of water. Place in a bowl of hot water to dissolve fully.
Whisk the yolks with the sugar in a bowl.
Heat cream, milk and half the sugar {15gm} until simmering. Meanwhile whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar with a balloon whisk, and add 1/3rd of the hot milk mixture over it, whisking continuously until well combined. Pour this back into the pan with the remaining milk mixture. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until the cream is thickened and coats the back of the spoon. {Don’t allow it to boil}. It is important to constantly stir to prevent the bottom from curdling or burning. If that happens, take a balloon whisk and whisk vigorously. If you fear your custard curdled too much, remove from the heat and pass it through a fine sieve before proceeding with the recipe.
Thermomix: Place all ingredients in TM bowl, and cook at 90C, Speed 3 for 7 minutes.
Remove from heat immediately and stir the gelatin well into this hot mixture well, then quickly strain this into a bowl. Cool over a bowl of crushed ice, stirring frequently.
Once cool, beat the remaining 200ml chilled cream to soft peaks, and gently stir into the mousse.
Chocolate Ganache
Chocolate Glaze
Place chocolate in a bowl.
Heat the cream and honey in a pan until simmering. Pour over the chopped chocolate and stir until smooth. Reserve 1/4 cup ganache in a piping bag for macarons.
Assembling Torte
Cut the sponge horizontally into 3 layers. Place in dessert ring on serving platter. {Dessert ring should fit nice and snugly. I use this adjustable dessert ring I bought in Sydney.} Place one layer of cake, top with the strawberries and kiwi, then half the Bavarian mousse. Repeat with the next layer. Cover and chill overnight for the Bavarian to set.
Unmold from the dessert ring, frost with the ganache and garnish as desired. Chill until ready to serve.
Vanilla Macarons
Preheat oven to 140C.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Blend the powdered sugar, almond meal, vanilla powder and egg white powder briefly in the bowl of your food processor to mix. {you can sift it too}
In a large clean bowl, beat the egg white and the granulated vanilla sugar till it becomes firm and holds peaks, about 2 minutes.
Carefully fold the dry ingredients into the beaten egg white with a flexible rubber spatula. When the mixture is just smooth and falls in ribbons like molten lave, stop folding. {Do not overmix}
Using a teaspoon, or piping bag, drop / pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1″ circles evenly spaced one-inch apart.
Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons, then rest for about about 15 minutes {to an hour}.
Bake them for about 15 minutes until the shells feel firm to touch.
Let cool completely then remove from baking sheet.
To assemble macarons
Match equal halves of macarons, and keep together.
Pipe a tiny bit of the reserved ganache from above on the flat side of the macaron and sandwich with another half of the same size, squeezing gently. Leave to set.
Strawberry Puree for the Bavarian Mousse Goblets
Lightly crush the chopped strawberries with the powdered sugar with a fork until the strawberries release their juices. Mix in the rest of the ingredients and reserve in a bowl in the fridge. Distribute over the glasses once Bavarian is set, and chill until served.
Notes: I bake my macarons on the upper shelf in my oven, using just the lower element for heat. I also use double baking trays.
“Women are made to be loved, not understood.”
Oscar Wilde
As usual a fight to the finish! Another month almost gone; one would think the New Year had just begun!MacTweets time again. Over at our mac-obsessed kitchen, it’s time to share some special mac love . Jamieand I called for just that this February to honour St Valentine. Even though I’ve had loads of mac luck the past few months, this time the feet proved elusive.
Mac Attack #16 – MACS ARE IN THE AIR …With Chet Baker crooning My Funny Valentine, take your romantic heart and scurry into your kitchen and bake a batch of French macarons for that special someone, the lover, the spouse, the best friend, the children, the one whom you want to offer up something special, the one whom you want to make smile.
Create something new, something exciting, something wildly romantic! Nothing says I Love You like a sweet little something, the size of a kiss, the flavor of your wildest desire, the macaron.
My black sesame valentine macarons struggled at high sea, after 2 batches of failure, I managed one with a little success. My fault as I tried stupid tricks. Thermomix experiments with 1 egg white=FAIL. Sesame and almond meal with lofty dreams also failed, well almost. Thankfully got a few feet in a tray, the pop macs didn’t work, so I had to be happy with 2 pairs! I think I overworked the sesame seeds while grinding.My mac experiments coincided with another experiment, an attempted fast track dessert. The teens diet has had severe repercussions on our sweet life. Desserts have been reduced to pitiable levels and the lad is whining all the time. Couldn’t take his pressure the other day, and in a hurry whipped up some eggless chocolate mousse of some sort. While Mr PAB enjoyed it oodles, the kids were a little iffy as in some parts the melted chocolate became grainy as I didn’t whisk it in too fast.I had some left and decided to redo it for the starving dwarfs.Mousse-a-cotta or panna-mousse is what eventually found its way back into the goblets, and found its way into the dwarfs tummies at express speed too! They loved the second fast track attempt, one that I added a dash of espresso to as well. I served them with my pair of precious feet, the failed ones vainly trying to fly the flag on sticks! Posting these now, with hope for a brighter mac future!
Do you want to join us making MACARONS?
If you do, you are most welcome to join us for this challenge, or the next. You can find all the information at our dedicated macaron blog MacTweets. We generally post the round-up by the end of every month, following which a new challenge is posted!
Black Sesame Macarons with Nutella
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup powdered almonds
1 tbsp black sesame seeds
1 large egg white, at room temperature
2 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp egg white powder Method:
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Grind together the powdered sugar with the almond powder and sesame seeds so there are no lumps; use a blender or food processor since almond meal that you buy isn’t quite fine enough.
In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they begin to rise and hold their shape. While whipping, beat in the granulated sugar until very stiff and firm, about 2 minutes.
Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in two batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula. When the mixture is just smooth and there are no streaks of egg white, stop folding.
Using a teaspoon, or piping bag, drop / pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1″ circles evenly spaced one-inch apart.
Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons, then rest for about an hour.
Preheat oven to 140C. Bake them for 15-18 minutes.
Let cool completely then remove from baking sheet. Sandwich with Nutella. Mousse-a-cotta
Serves 4
250ml low-fat cream
100gm dark chocolate
1/2 tsp espresso powder
1 tbsp sugar
1 sheet of gelatin Method:
Soak gelatin sheet in cold water for 5 minutes, until soft.
Put cream, espresso powder, sugar and chocolate in a pan and simmer for 5-7 minutes until the chocolate has melted.
Squeeze out the gelatin sheet and stir into hot cream mixture. Take off heat and stir till the sheet is completely dissolved. {Don’t let the cream come to a boil}
Cool slightly and pour into goblets. Chill for at least 4 hours. Serve chilled.
“The power of imagination makes us infinite.”
John Muir
It was definitely inspiring and a great wrap on 2010. I’m talking about the Donna Hay Strawberry & Vanilla Macaron Trifle I made over Christmas. It made me look at the endless charm that macarons offer with wonder. Having won sort of won the battle with feet, or rather managing the frills on the fiddly macs more often than never {100% success is yet to land on my platter}, I wanted to explore different ways of incorporating macarons in dessert.Laduree in Paris might have introduced some delicious made in France cupcakes, and the tables might look to be turning around once again making cupcakes the new macarons! Been hearing that sort of mild buzz on the net recently; also that these cupcakes are ‘out-of-this-world‘ good. They do look novel, creative & pretty, but then that’s Laduree for you! Nothing but the best!!However, in my mind, I’m not ready to give up my macaron ‘fascination bordering on obsession’ just yet. Feet still give me endless joy; each batch popped into the oven still a heart-stopping adventure. The kids walk by nonchalantly exclaiming, “Oooh pretty, you got feet! Can I have one?” So many failed batches later and we are a well versed mac household who know the importance and the mood swings that come with the failures & success of the pitter patter!I made this cake, inspired by mac thoughts for a sweet old lady who lives near by. She’s over 80, sprightly as can be and bursting with positive energy. Two days without seeing me and she’s at my gate with her walking stick checking if all is well, filling me up on the neighbourhood happenings, telling me that the lime tree is full of fruit etc. She sends me tangerines from her tree each year to make Bitter Orange Marmalade … one of my absolute favourite pass-times. It gives me as much joy, well almost, as finding feet! Seeing translucent pretty marmalade take shape from the very tart tangerines is in my mind, priceless!It was her birthday a few days ago, and I knew the cake had everything she would love … strawberries, cream and orange. I added macarons around and on top for effect as I was elated to have found enough feet to go around a cake! Gosh, it isn’t often that I find so much mac-success, so mac-inspiration was in order.
Mac-Inspiration is our theme for our monthly macaron event on Mactweets this month …STARTING THE NEW YEAR WITH THE OLD AND THE NEW : MACINSPIRATION! You can combine or integrate your macarons into any dessert, making it a new part of an old favorite, or turn your macarons into your favorite dessert, inspired in flavor, texture, color.
What dessert would you be inspired to see recreated in macarons? I continue to be inspired by fruit in season, the colour palette that nature amazingly offers, textures … and of course macarons! Ever since sweet Jamie & I got together and launched MacTweets{a blog dedicated to making macarons}, there has been no dearth of inspiration! This time, my macarons are inspired by strawberries & cream, a simple dessert that we love to love. I made vanilla bean macarons, and filled them with slices of strawberries and cream {also did a few with candied orange slices and cream}.
Do you want to join us making MACARONS?
If you do, Jamie & I would be happy to have you join us for this challenge, or the next. You can find all the information at our dedicated macaron blog MacTweets. We generally have the round-up by the end of every month, following which a new challenge is posted!
Strawberries & Cream Mac-o-range Cake Serves 6-8 Orange Sponge
1/2 cup plain flour
1/8 cup cornflour
1/2 + 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 large eggs, separated
1/8cup oil {I used sunflower oil}
3 tbsp water
Rind of 1 orange {I used kinnow, a mandarin orange/citrus hybrid, like a satsuma}
1 tsp orange extract, or pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cream of tartar Method:
Preheat the oven to 190C. Line a 7.5-8″ round tin; grease and dust with flour.
Mix together the cornflour, plain flour, baking powder, salt and1/2 cup powdered sugar in a large bowl {I used a balloon whisk}.
Beat the egg whites until frothy. Add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and cream of tartar and beat till droopy soft peaks form. Reserve.
With a whisk, lightly mix the oil, water, yolks, rind and extract together. Stir into into the dry ingredients.
Beat with an electric beater on low speed until smooth.
Gently fold the beaten whites into the yolk mixture.
Turn into the prepared tin and bake till well risen and golden brown, about 45 minutes/until done. Check if it is done with a wooden pick. {Slide a sheet of foil lightly over the top if it begins to brown too fast}.
Leave in tin for 10 minutes, then turn out and cool completely on rack.
Once cool, cut into 2 layers. Filling
200ml low fat cream
2-3 tbsps powdered sugar
200gms strawberries, chopped Method:
Whip the cream and sugar to medium peaks. Fold in the chopped strawberries. Whipped Buttercream Topping Method:
200ml low fat cream
1 tbsp melted butter
2-3 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp strawberry extract {optional}
Beat the low fat cream, sugar and extract, and pour in the melted butter in a steady stream while beating. This will reintroduce the fat back into the low fat cream and allow it to be whipped to stiff peaks. Assemble
Sandwich the cake with the filling
Frost the sides and top of the cake with the whipped butter-cream.
Garnish with sliced strawberries, candied tangerine slices and macarons
Vanilla Macarons Macaron Batter
1/2 cup powdered vanilla sugar
1/4 cup almond meal
1 large egg white {30gms}, at room temperature
2 1/2 tbsp granulated vanilla sugar
1/2 tsp egg white powder Method:
Preheat oven to 140C.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Grind together the powdered sugar with the almond meal briefly so there are no lumps. Don’t over work, else you might get oily almond butter.
In the bowl, beat the egg whites until they become frothy. Beat in the granulated vanilla sugar until very stiff and firm, about 2 minutes.
Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in two batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula. When the mixture is just smooth and there are no streaks of egg white, stop folding. {If you draw the spatula through the macronage, the line drawn should disappear to the count of ten.}
Using a teaspoon, or piping bag, drop / pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1″ circles evenly spaced one-inch (3 cm) apart.
Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons and get rid of trapped air bubbles, then rest for about an hour.
Bake them for 15-18 minutes, watching carefully. {I bake mine on the highest shelf, as my oven functions on just the lower element}
Let cool completely, then remove from baking sheet.
Sandwich with some whipped buttercream and strawberry and candied orange slices.
♥ Thank you for stopping by ♥
May I share with you my 5 minutes of fame which made me do the Happy Feet dance?
I was featured in the January 2011 Indian edition of ‘Better Homes and Gardens’ with an interview and 4 recipes in a 3 page feature.
“I got the sun in the morning, and the moon at night…” From the musical ‘Annie Get Your Gun’
These lines come back to my head sometimes, more often these days, especially since I am kind of finding feet easily. The lines from the musical Annie Get Your Gun, a play I auditioned for when I was in Delhi University. Needless to say, I didn’t grab a role {Shahrukh Khan did … snapped up a lead role}. All I did get was to help behind the scenes, sets etc. It was too many years ago, when Barry John and his Theatre Action Group helped us stage the play in college. What remains in my mind is the fun we had, the exuberant screenplay, costumes, lights, singing, dancing… and FEET tapping!
Yes of course, I’m back to my macaron obsession, the endless obsession to find feet as perfect as those walking the net, at Ladurees, at Mactweets, at Jamies, at Barbaras … the list is endless.The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall...said Ralph Waldo Emerson, and that leads to our challenge at MacTweets this month…
…Did you catch the FALL in there? Yes, it’s MacTweets Attack Season 13…lucky for some, unlucky for none, Jamie & I hope! It’s to do with fall macarons.Did fall leave you with an impression, with a ‘connect’?This is the time of the year in the Northern Hemisphere where the leaves turn red, gold, auburn … where the days grow dark and cold. Jamie & I have called for ‘fall in feet’ in macarons this time. Whatever it means to you – flavours, colours, emotions. If you are in the Southern hemisphere {we hear you Shaz}, bid fall goodbye.
It was a strange morning, where I had no time as usual, but much to do. I had lemon curd to make, Ottolenghi’s puff pastry to put together, sponges to bake, cookies for the lads outstation trip…and of course, the quintessential feature of my life – laundry! No time for the net or books, an egg white in hand, I turned to my adopted David Lebovitzchocolate macarons recipe.It’s a simple one – 1 egg white, 1/4 cup almond meal, 1/2 cup icing sugar, 2.5 tbsp granulated sugar, 1.5 tbsp cocoa powder. While measuring the stuff out at express speed, I saw the ground coffee beans that Asha sent me.
Thus began a strange conversation in the head, and a battle for flavour. I rapidly changed my mind from chocolate to coffee. For me, coffee is very fall, just the thing to cheer me up when the weather becomes cold and the days become short, I was virtually chatting to Asha in my head. “Asha, that coffee calls my name every time I look at it, you know”. Beating the whites, I added some egg white powder for good measure.
Thank you for the dried egg whites Bina, where would I be without friends like you? A few quick whisks in, and Bina was virtually peering over my shoulder…”Count to 10 Deeba, the cut in the batter should disappear, then it’s good.Yes, now it looks fine to me”. Another buzz and it was sweet Lili Phuah who contributed,“I find it easiest to make the macarons using a teaspoon vis-a-vis a piping bag“.“OK”, I nodded, remembering reading her macaron mail for the nth time. So I played along, a virtual party, but I loved it…
I went the teaspoon way, and woot, it worked. This is what I’ll do in future too. It’s a little more painstaking as compared to a piping bag, but it does give me more control, and better ‘plops‘!By the end of the session, I had the shells resting …with such hope, I just knew I would soon be doing the jig {but then of course, I have always suffered such confidence!}. I found success pretty soon. Saw Jamie beaming at me across my macs, taking me back to that first tweet we shared when she found her feet when I threw her the macaron gauntlet… that was ages ago, and how this whole macaron madness began! Literally dragged Mr PAB to the kitchen the minute he woke up – he beamed with pride! Knew his wife would find her feet one day! Now all is good with the world!!
History repeats itself they say, and it happened for me. I had a project a few days later, some folk coming in for a shoot, and I brazenly decided to take another stab at macarons that very morning. As if I didn’t have enough to do already, but confidence goes to the head, as it did to mine, and I decided to do a Pumpkin Pie Spice batch. Substituted the cocoa powder with 3/4 tbsp of pie spice … and could not believe the feet when I saw them! Maybe I’m finally getting into the swing of things…who knows! 2 ‘feeted’ batches of macarons later, I think it’s time to pay some attention to variety in fillings! Yes, have found feet, now to find flavour!
What does FALL charm you with? Vibrant fall colours, harvest, or is it the holiday season? Are deep cinnamon flavour, apples, cranberries & walnuts your calling? … Or then, is it the warm comfort and luxury of hot cocoa or warm spiced cider? My fall macarons are coffee for the warmth of the season, and pumpkin pie spice for all things nice! I ‘fell’ for both!!
Do you want to join us making MACARONS?
If you do, you are most welcome to join us for this challenge, or the next. You can find all the information at our dedicated macaron blog MacTweets. We generally post the round up by the end of every month, following which a new challenge is posted!
So here we go, feet for Macfeet, Macfall … errr MacTweets!
Coffee Macarons & Pumpkin Pie Spice Macarons with Dark Chocolate Ganache as adapted from David Lebovitz’s recipe Macaron Batter 1/2 cup powdered sugar 1/4 cup powdered almonds 1 tbsp ground coffee or 3/4 tbsp pumpkin pie spice 1 large egg white, at room temperature 2 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar 1/2 tsp egg white powder Method: Preheat oven to 140C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Grind together the powdered sugar with the almond powder and cocoa so there are no lumps; use a blender or food processor since almond meal that you buy isn’t quite fine enough. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they begin to rise and hold their shape. While whipping, beat in the granulated sugar until very stiff and firm, about 2 minutes. Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in two batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula. When the mixture is just smooth and there are no streaks of egg white, stop folding. Using a teaspoon, or piping bag, drop / pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1″ circles evenly spaced one-inch (3 cm) apart. Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons, then rest for about an hour. Bake them for 15-18 minutes. Let cool completely then remove from baking sheet.
Dark Chocolate Ganache Filling 100gm dark chocolate 2-3 tbsp low fat cream Method: Melt half the chocolate, coffee and the cream on simmer in a pan, stirring constantly. Once melted and bubbling, take off heat. Add the rest of the chocolate and stir until all the chocolate has melted. Cool. To assemble Match equal halves of macarons, and keep together. Use a small spoon or piping bag/nozzle, deposit a tiny amount of ganache on the flat side of the macaron, and sandwich with another of the same size. Sandwich them, squeezing gently. Leave to set in fridge.
“We’ll drink a drink a drink
To Lily the pink the pink the pink
The savior of the human race.
She invented medicinal compound.
Most efficacious in every case.” Brobdingnagian Fairy Tales
The MacTweets time again, and this time we’ve gone PINK in support of Breast Cancer Awareness for Pinktober. Through the month of October, I tend to think a lot of PINK. Often, the first song that comes to my mind is this funny pub song. Have you heard it before?I’m not sure if we were taught it in school {a pub song seems somewhat inappropriate to be taught in school}, but I can sing it out loud, along with the ‘Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree’, and of course Ob-La-Di-Ob-La Da ! Hmmm, hail the human mind – complex, intriguing, and connected; and this month, musically inclined to sing PINK too!
Jamie and I thought we’d go PINKthis month, as October is officially the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and October every year is kicked off with a PINK cake on Mr PABs birthday. We were sure the mac gang would rise to support the challenge {Lori, you put words into my mouth}, and would be more then happy to strut their PINKS.Cancer has touched so many of our lives, a 6 letter word that can create havoc in a small space of time, can turn the world upside down … yet it throws up amazing survival stories and celebrates the human spirit.
About my macaron saga … when you least expect it, you will see the mountain move! FEET, the bane of my baking life. Feet that have the power to bring me to my knees with ingredients as few as sugar, nut meal and egg whites repeatedly. Who was to know I would find feet? Sigh, I cannot but tell you of my woes of the lack of feet, the trials and tribulations, reading, tweeting, silently trashing the failures after sugar overdoses of every sort. Looking at yolks and weeping, yet not having the courage to make a batch larger than a single white. Quite unbelievably, I found feet on one batch, and that too baked out of a new oven!
You see, with the kitchen finally remodeled, a few weeks ago Mr PAB decided it was time for a new oven. This followed a rather alarming in depth ‘interrogation’ about macarons and those evasive feet. He is super confident of my baking skills, but is majorly perplexed at my repeated macaron failures. He sits and takes in the Mac Tweet round up month after month & wonders why I am still so foolishly footless!So off we went oven shopping, with loads of advice from all quarters, market researches done to the hilt, models, price ranges, everything. We barely entered a store, and he said “That’s the one”. All the research fell to nought. “This is the one”, he insisted. I whispered, “It’s out of budget, it’s imported and I’m not sure if it’ll work”. The guy who owned the shop sang the virtues of the ‘model‘, and Mr Man suddenly turned to me, “What about feet?“. I didn’t know whether to answer him, or try not to laugh at the shop owner who couldn’t figure out what ‘feet’ had to do with all this! Whatever… but we came back with THAT one!
So here are my feet this Pinktober … Pinkarons with some degree of success. Will fine tune the macarons in the days to come. This month has been far too busy, so I haven’t had the time to try more batches. I added the ‘pink ribbon‘ on top after the shells were baked and had cooled. It’s pink royal icing which I let dry for a day.
I had some fun on the side with origami. Clearing my files I found some old print outs of origami boxes I used to make ages ago. The lad loves origami and is constantly making complex storks and inter-locked stars, so I invited him to make star boxes with me. One disdainful look and he exclaimed, “From a print out? No!! I can only make them from you-tube!’Ugh, the sign of the times to come. I sat in solitude and made my own boxes, and used one for my pinkarons!
Do you want to join Jamie and me making MACARONS?? If you do, you are most welcome to join the ‘Attack’. You can find all the information at our dedicated macaron blogMacTweets. The rules for can be foundhere. You can always join us next month too. Just drop us a mail or tweet.
CHOCOLATE MACARONS Recipe & inspiration fromNorthside Kitchen For the Macarons: recipe from Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess
1 2/3 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon of ground almonds
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
4 large egg whites
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 baking sheets
1/2 inch plain pastry tip and pastry bag For the ganache filling:
6 tablespoons of heavy cream
5 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3 tablespoons of unsalted butter
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Sift together the powdered, ground almonds, and cocoa powder
Whisk the egg whites until half stiff, and sprinkle the granulated sugar into the egg whites. Continue to whisk until very stiff, but not dry.
Fold the sifted ingredients into the stiff meringue in increments using a silicone spatula.
Fit the piping tip into the bag, sit it in a tall glass, turn the bag back to form a cuff, and fill with the macaroon mixture.
Pipe out 2-inch rounds on the baking sheet and leave to stand for 15 minutes (will form a skin).
Bake for 12-15 minutes. The macaroons should be dry on top but chewy underneath.
Remove the macaroons from the oven and let them cook on a wire rack. When they are cool, spread the ganache on the underside of one, and stick another (right side up) on top to create a sandwich. Should make around 18 macaroon sandwiches.
