“Coffee is a way of life!”
Sunalini Menon, India’s coffee ambassador
Regular readers of my blog need no introduction to my all time favourite flavour … COFFEE! It’s my first love in food that shows up in layered cakes, cookies, biscotti, panna cotta, ice cream and so much more. Coffee makes the beginning of my every morning bright, so you can imagine my excitement when I got an invite to meet India’s Coffee Baroness, Sunalini Menon.She was in Delhi to conduct an exclusive coffee cupping and food pairing session to unveil Café Coffee Days {CCD} latest premium coffee, Mysore Royal, that she had created for India’s leading coffee café chain. Walking into CCD that morning transported me into a space I love best. Give me a quite café any day, filled with lilting coffee aromas, the buzz of experienced baristas perfecting the much needed cuppa, the ambiance.
Mysore Royale is an aromatic Arabica coffee grown on the ancient slopes of the Bababudan Mountains near Bangalore, the historic mountain which has seen the journey of the elixir of life, coffee. Bringing this unique majestic brew to life is credited to Ms Menon, the connoisseur, the artist. Speaking on this new blend, India’s coffee ambassador says, “With flavours of bittersweet chocolate, caramel and the whisper of rich, ripe fruits, with flecks of sweetness, Mysore Royal is a full bodied wholesome rounded cup with lilting brightness to make you feel like royalty.
The experience was mesmerising, nothing short of magical. Just the name transported you into smooth luxury, a blend that announced its class. What else would you expect from a label that entices you with bittersweet chocolate, caramel and hints of rich, ripe fruit owed to the enthralling diversity of the Rajgiri plantation. I don’t consider my self a ‘coffee literate’ person by any standards and hence my intrigue into the coffee cupping session that morning.The super talented, soft spoken, warm lady is a virtual coffee encyclopedia. She knows the coffee bean inside out {each layer of ‘the fruit’ it comes from}, each strain by the name or number, is well versed with coffees from Ethiopia, Uganda, Vietnam, Brazil, Columbia, knows leaf viruses that attack plants and equally well the inventors of different coffee making machines. Her journey into the coffee cup covered all that and more – the viscosity and the texture, blends, origins, plantations in India, fair trade representation, barista coffee competitions … and so much more!She demonstrated five different techniques of brewing Mysore Royal – Indian Filter {dabba filter}, French Press, Stove Top Espresso, Siphon and Electric Drip Coffee Maker, each altering the taste of the coffee, giving the taste buds a different treat. She’s been in this line for over 30 years and is responsible for putting Indian coffee on the global map.Talk tea and you think India. That seems to be about to change with the energy the lady has unleashed on the coffee front. Our greatest strength seems to lie in ‘gourmet‘ or ‘premium’ coffee. Sunalini also treated us to pairings with the coffee, spoiling us with crisp oatmeal honey cookies, light cheesecake, deep divine warm brownies, hummus surprise sandwiches among others … all from the café.I think this robust coffee will pair well with food like Lime Buttermilk Pound Cake, New York Style Bagels, Espresso Coffee Cream Cake, Chocolate Almond Olive Oil & Whole Wheat Biscotti, Whole Wheat & Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies, Ulyana’s Almond Cake {fat free}, Stone Fruit Tea Cake and of course macarons! You could tell the magic worked on me. I was back home and brewing Mysore Royal for Mr PAB {a true coffee lover too} thanks to the goodie bag with tins of Mysore Royal and the French Press from Cafe Coffee Day.Six ‘brewing’ minutes later, the aromas of the coffee awakened our senses, then the kids asked for their share. I brewed some more with hot milk, then chilled it for them for the next morning. Slurp, slurp! ‘This is really good Mama‘, could be heard for long. “Is there more? Please???” A step further, change of season and coffee drinking days are here, so of course I had to pack in some coffee for Mactweets, as this month, we celebrate the equinox with Macarons de la Saison! What heralds this season for you? For me, the nip in the air signals for that cup of coffee. I made a quick batch of Mysore Royal coffee macarons, picked the lilting flavours of bittersweet chocolate and coffee for the butter-cream within. NICE!!Paired beautifully with a well brewed cup of Mysore Royal. Coffee days are here again. With a blend that entices the palette with flavours of bittersweet chocolate, caramel and the whisper of rich, ripe fruits, would you be tempted to try some? I think we can tempt the firmest of tea drinkers to cross over and feel the magic that coffee has to offer!
Do you want to join us making MACARONS?
If you do, you are most welcome to join us for the challenge. 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!
“The smallest seed of faith is better than the largest fruit of happiness.”
Henry David Thoreau
Inspiration comes in strange ways. I’m racing with the wind, time is no longer my friend, the hands of the clock whiz by at a dizzy pace … and the pressure of baking macarons for our baby, MacTweets appears to be a lost case. Then uncannily enough I get a direct message on Twitter from Shulie, my sweet talented friend from Food Wanderings asking if I’d like to do a guest post for her on macarons. I want to say yes but I know I can’t manage it.I should say no … but predictably, I say, “Yes of course, sure!”How ambitious of me! Didn’t realize that Shulie is doing a series on macarons on tree nut free macarons. Blimey! With the current humidity and high heat here in North India, where the monsoons are knocking on the door, I wonder what I was thinking. In good times, with perfect weather, I can barely find my feet with normal almond meal macs! Have you met Shulie @ Food Wanderings … an immensely talented and wonderful food blogger of Indian Jewish descent, born and raised in Israel, who now lives in the US. She is fun, has a wonderful style of writing and a knack of blogging the ‘right’ things {read the most delicious coffee ice cream recently posted}. She loves food photography and styling to the point of ‘silliness‘ and I begin to wonder if she’s another long lost twin!She promised to come down to India to buy pots and pans after I blogged about vintage pots & pans from my favourite little shop in New Delhi. It’s another passion we share … pots, pans, cookbooks, accessories, food culture. Shulie confesses to possess ‘many other food quirks’ and that gladdens my heart. She’s a lot like me! Mac time! I bravely peeped into my freezer to see what it held for me. Black sesame seeds. Should I? The devil may care attitude kicked in, and I threw a 1/4 cup of black sesame seeds into the Thermomix with 1/2 a cup of sugar! Left the feet to fate … time to think of pairings with fruit to fit the macarons intoMacTweets. The theme this month – FRUIT, not a difficult task for fruit passionate me.Black sesame seed macarons sandwiched with fresh cherries in a dark chooclate ganache were the happy ending of my mac-adventure this time, colours inspired by the tea set I found in a night market in HKG last month.
If you do, you are most welcome to join us for the next challenge. 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!
This post featured in the Foodbuzz Top 9 on 5th July 2011 via @ foodwanderings. “Today’s Top 9: July 05, 2011
The best of 2,261 posts from the Foodbuzz Community, as chosen by our editors and users. You’re looking at #3!”
“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.
“If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
Harry S. Truman
All aboard! The Mactweets Express took off for adventure this month! Jamie and I tugged you along with us at your own peril, asking you to take your life into your own hands … for if you came along with us to the Savannah, the desert, the forest or the jungle, as you chose, you could only survive by creating a macaron inspired by the wild animal of your choice, whether beast or bird, but well armed with the right equipment and enough patience!! Yes indeed, MacAttack 8 asked us to TAKE A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE!Did you succeed and make it out of the dangerous wilderness of your kitchen alive?
… by hook or by crook succeed I DID!! Was time for the MacAttack, and this one like most others left me anticipating feet in every attempt, and as always, the attempts were plenty, and sob stories a thing of the past!! In the scorching heat and in that vast untamed wilderness that was my kitchen: the pastry bag, the mixer, the mighty spatula met to tame the beast! Failed macs went into the oven, were baked until crisp, cooled and ground … and voila! That made for basic ingredients and led to double macarons! I tamed the failed beasts, ground them to smithereens and finally found my feet!
Just back from a small vacation in the Himalayas in the North East of India, from a beautiful place called Gangtok.It was here that we took the kids to see the zoo. It was beautifully maintained, built over acres and acres of land, LOTS of climbing {oh my weary legs}, and it was raining too. Most of the animals and birds were hidden away because it was raining. We were fortunate enough to see the ‘common leopard’ which was happy to put up quite a show of himself, seemingly enjoying our company. He was an utterly beautiful creature!
I made my macs before we left on vacation. At that time I was mac-inspired by cheetahs, leopards and tigers … the big cats were calling my name. There were paw prints in my dream macs, and ROARS, stripes, circles, spots. You name the ‘catty’ stuff, I tried them! Hmmm, don’t know whether it was the weather, the heat and the humidity, but the jungle is never easy to win over, so the macs put up a fight. 3 failed batches later, I boarded the MacTweets Express yet again. FEET were meant to happen, they had to be conquered. I used the failed ground macs as the basic nut and sugar mix, used a slightly lighter egg white and was piping in an hour. This time was awarded with a success! Yes, we had FEET!! Not the most perfect feet, but FEET nevertheless!
The flavours were supposed to be vanilla macarons with chocolate spots and stripes, but repeated failures meant giving in to the temptation of coffee, so in went some yummy coffee from the FSK girl. Always good and always a winner. So here we are double macs with a mocha ganache filling. The recipe posted below is the one I’ve had success with in the past!
Do you want to join us making MACARONS? If you do, you are most welcome to join us for the next challenge. You can find all the information at our dedicated macaron blog MacTweets. We generally post the round up by the 15th of every month, following which a new challenge is posted!
Coffee Macarons with Mocha Ganache Adapted from Ottolenghi – The Cookbook Macaron Shells 110gm vanilla sugar {or granulated sugar} 60gm whole almonds 60gm egg whites {of 2 eggs} 40gm Castor sugar 1/2 tsp ground coffee Mocha Ganache Filling 100gm dark chocolate 1/2 tsp ground or instant coffee 2-3 tbsps low fat cream For macaron shells:
Whiz the almonds, coffee and vanilla sugar with 1/2 a vanilla bean in the coffee grinder till well ground. Sift 2-3 times.
Whisk the egg whites and Castor sugar till it forms a thick aerated meringue, firm but not too dry.
Turn the nut mixture into the bowl, and fold gently to get a lava type batter.
Pipe out the macarons, leaving an inch in between each. Hold the tray firmly and tap the underside firmly. This should help to spread and smooth out the macarons.
Preheat the oven to 140C.
Bake in preheated oven for about 12-13 minutes. They are ready when they readily leave the paper when lifted with a palette knife. Remove from oven as soon as this happens, and leave to cool completely.
Mocha Ganache
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, 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.
Note: Macarons tend They taste much better after maturing for 24 hours.
