“Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.”
Etty Hillesum
The other day I got a package from Britannia Foods with samples of their recently launched snacks, which offered the promise of a break from baking; something that looked like the kids would enjoy. I must be a glutton for punishment because even though I was absolutely exhausted, I decided to make some Caramelised Onion & Garlic Jam to go with it!The morning saw a tiring pizza session, absolutely delicious, but gosh, so much work!! Preheating the oven to make a batch of balsamic roasted strawberries for these Hot Cross Buns I was annoyed with myself. It was bugging that the oven was on, had some extra room and I hadn’t got my act together in time to bake something alongside. It’s a happy feeling to know you can kill two birds with one stone … catch my drift?Does that happen to you sometimes?Pouring in the balsamic vinegar I remembered earlier references to an onion jam that used balsamic vinegar but the recipes I recall were all stove top. Figured I could roast onions in balsamic vinegar and brown sugar alongside the strawberries. Something sweet and something ‘savoury sweet‘ …nice!
Garlic had to be in there because roasting garlic brings out the sweeter side of it. We are a garlic loving family. It’s something that just seems to make life better, even on tiring old days! Being in the kitchen, creating, baking, stirring is all pretty unwinding and relaxing on most days! Summer is here so I’m up pretty early much to the dogs excitement. She takes a chunk out of my earlier free mornings, but she is so CUTE that I don’t mind it!
I served them with the Caramelised Onion & Garlic Jam and the ‘now beginning to get pretty tiresome‘ pre-teen lapped it up asking for more.
Ran them past the ‘not so tiring any more’ teen and she loved them. Offered her onion jam, and she went “EWWWW. Nevah!!” After much cajoling and convincing, a little blackmailing, I finally got her to taste some. She enjoyed it, though hesitatingly said, “Would you mind not calling it jam please? I don’t like the idea of onions in jam!!” Hmmm …So go on, grab some onions and make some Caramelised Onion & Garlic Jam. Make more than what I made because its pretty darned addictive and hits all the good spots in the most delightful way. I LOVED it. Sweet and savoury is right up my street, add garlic and I sing out LOUD! This did not disappoint!
{Disclaimer: I have not received any remuneration from Britannia or any agency for this post. This is my personal opinion on the product which I have reviewed.}
[print_this]Recipe: Caramelised Onion & Garlic Jam
Summary: A different take on what we traditionally think of as jam. This is pretty darned addictive and hits all the good spots in the most delightful way. A ‘smoky oniony garlicky’ jam that pairs well with crackers, rolls, canapes, bread, pizza etc!
Toss the onions in 2 tbsp olive oil, brown sugar and balsamic vinegar. Place the whole garlic cloves in a piece of foil and drizzle the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil over it.
Turn the onions into an oven proof casserole, make a small nest in the centre and place the foil in the middle.
Roast at 190C for about an hour until the edges begin to brown. {I like to do this as I bake something else alongside, or then bake a large portion as this keeps for long}
Remove from oven. When the garlic cloves are cool enough to handle, squeeze the roasted garlic out. Discard the peels and place the roasted onions, garlic and sea salt in a heavy bottom pan.
Taste and adjust the brown sugar or/and balsamic vinegar as required. Simmer on low with little water added if it is too dry for about 10 minutes for the flavours to mature. Cool and store in a glass jar in the fridge.
“Happy Easter. May happy thoughts and springtime flowers brighten all your Easter hours.”
Author Unknown
So what are you making for Easter Mr PAB asked, referring to the ever ‘hungry’ blog!Moi? I had no plans but he talked me into some. Having studied in convents all my life, I’ve been charmed by hot cross buns for long, long, but never baked a batch. Maybe this was the time! Soon enough, the sweet aroma of Hot Cross Strawberry Chocolate Chip Buns wafted gently through the house!
A hot cross bun is a sweet, spiced bun made with currants or raisins and marked with a cross on the top, traditionally eaten on Good Friday. In many historically Christian countries, buns are traditionally eaten hot or toasted on Good Friday, with the cross standing as a symbol of the Crucifixion. Sharing a hot cross bun with another is supposed to ensure friendship throughout the coming year, particularly if “Half for you and half for me, Between us two shall goodwill be” is said at the time. Because of the cross on the buns, some say they should be kissed before being eaten.
My version is non traditional yet quite delicious! I bookmarked a few recipes including one in my Thermomix cookbook, but eventually went for an oft used basic recipe. It’s the one I adapted for Apple Cranberry Almond Olive Oil Pull-Apart Loaf & Popovers from The Pioneer Woman, a ‘light as air’ flavourful dough, one that can take a stuffing, and is quite a fun dough to play with!
Stuffing? Yes indeed! I had a small idea creeping into my head as I had strawberries calling to be roasted yet again. I wanted to try adding a small ‘heart‘ of that roasted goodness into my hot cross buns. I cooked the syrup to a thick reduction to ensure the filling stayed ‘stuffed’ in! Also, instead of traditional currants I opted for chocolate chips.
The recipe never fails. For the ‘cross’ on top I piped some thick stirred plain flour and water. The buns were delicious and disappeared pretty soon. The red heart of roasted balsamic strawberries was a nice surprise as you bit through the bread flooding your palette with flavour and balsamic sweetness. It paired well, as does the chocolate, with an otherwise not too sweet bread.Buttermilk keeps the dough light, and the vanilla bean adds gentle, beautiful flavour. If I had placed the buns apart on a large baking sheet I’d have managed individual hot cross buns, but since I used a smaller baking pan, they rose into each other and resulted in a pull apart bread. No regrets however!!I like this dough recipe, and keep simplifying it as I use it more and more. The basic dough is eggless, butter free and light. Yeast, soda and baking powder combine to make sure it rises well. Its versatile too as I’ve used it in Savoury Chili Cheese & Garlic Olive Oil Pull-Apart Bread some time ago. More recently it popped up on PAB as the base of Sweet Orange, Roasted Strawberry and Chocolate Buttermilk Rolls.It’s one those recipes you can keep returning to, experiment with and enjoy in different avatars. I might try using the dough for a slow overnight rise sometime soon. So many ideas to keep the hungry PAB and kids happy, but often the lack of time!
[print_this]Recipe: Hot Cross Strawberry Chocolate Chip Buns
Summary: Light and airy hot cross buns made with a yeasted {eggless] buttermilk dough flavoured with vanilla beans and chocolate chips. A sweet roasted balsamic strawberry reduction floods the palette as you bite through the otherwise not so sweet bun.
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 45 minutes plus resting time Ingredients:
Buttermilk Dough
240ml {1 cup} buttermilk, room temperature
70gm {1/4 cup} granulated sugar
60g {1/4 cup} extra light olive oil, or any neutral oil
Enough water to make it into a thick paste {approximately 1/4 cup or less}
Roasted Balsamic Strawberries
225gm strawberries
30gm {2tbsp} brown sugar
15ml {1tbsp} balsamic vinegar
Method:
Buttermilk Dough
In a large bowl or your food processor, place all the dry ingredients, followed by the oil and buttermilk. Knead to a soft pliable dough. It will be sticky. Cover and let it rise for at least an hour.
{Thermomix: Place all ingredients in TM bowl. Mix at Speed 6 for 5 seconds. Knead at intermittent speed for 2 minutes. Leave dough in TH for an hour until it doubles. Cover TM if weather is cold.}
Assembling:
Roll the dough into a large rectangle. Spread 1/3rd of the butter over it, and sprinkle half the chocolate chips over. Fold over twice like you would do puff pastry and repeat again with 1/3rd butter and the remaining chocolate chips.
Divide the dough into half, then into 6 equal portions each. You should have 12 portions. On a lightly floured surface, gently roll the dough into balls.
Take a ball of dough, flatten on the palm of your hand, place a scant tsp of completely cooled roasted balsamic strawberries on it, and pull the edges over it to cover the filling. Gently roll back into a ball, ensuring that the filling is trapped in. Place seam side down on a parchment lined baking sheet/pan.
Repeat with remaining balls of dough.
Allow to rise covered while you make the flour mix for the cross and preheat the oven to 220C.
Mix the flour gradually with the water to get a thick paste. Place into a ziploc bag, snip off a corner and pipe crosses over the dough balls.
Bake for 10 minutes on 220C, reduce the heat to 200C and continue to bake for a further 10-15 minutes until nice and golden. Paint with the remaining butter as soon as the buns come out of the oven.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
{Caution: Don’t be tempted to bite into a hot ‘hot cross bun’ as the filling might burn your mouth.}
Roasted Balsamic Strawberries
Toss the quartered strawberries well with the brown sugar and balsamic vinegar. Bake at 180C for about 45 minutes until nice and bubbly, stirring once or twice. Strain the strawberries and reserve in a bowl. Place the liquid in a pan and reduce over heat until nice and thick. We need a thick strawberry reduction for the stuffing! Cool completely, transfer to a clean glass jar and refrigerate until needed.
“Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems.”
Rainer Maria Rilke
Spring is was until here three days ago, and then something happened. Before we could really immerse ourselves into it, we had a summer attack – almost 40C in North India already. That means power cuts, DUST, HEAT and whining kids!Strawberry Frozen Yogurt cheered us up!I’ve been missing {as Mr PAB reminded me this morning} and it’s those dreaded holidays once again! Yes, the ‘not so terrible anymore‘ teen is done with her exams and is home {and hungry yet screaming diet}, and the ‘now threatening to be quite terrible‘ pre teen is on Spring break. Always hungry! “Et tu, Brute?”It’s a struggle to keep the rumbling tummies happy! The lad’s up at 5.30am and sets off cycling with his friends. Comes back in a couple of hours; HUNGRY! The teen emerges out of bed much later; hungry too! She whips up some mean pancakes these days in a matter of minutes, then sits back to indulge. He doesn’t enjoy pancakes but enjoys writing poetry. Was quite obliging this morning and wrote a ‘Spring‘ poem for me in a jiffy, and then gobbled up a couple of Double Chocolate Orange & Oat Energy Bars!In the midst of this, the pooch is now facing her first real hot Indian summer and flops down every now and then. HOT! Hungry too but then again, dogs are always hungry and she is no exception. I have offered Coco the entire range of dog food and she hates it! I now cook her meals as well … and much to my joy, she loves it!She is a real sweetheart and almost as charming as the lad, if not more. She now almost ‘sings for her supper‘ and licks her bowl clean in a matter of seconds {She gets veggies including eggplant, zucchini, beets, potato, carrots, spinach, cracked wheat, dal and eggs all cooked together}, and amazingly she loves it!She’s cute as cute can be. Always ready for a game of catch. Forever N A U G H T Y, and happy to pose for the camera too!Back to the fro yo! Summers here. It’s big time to cut back on calories and revert to low fat food. Fresh exciting zingy flavours are fun. Citrusy marinades, grilled chicken, light salads, fresh fruit, quesadillas, wraps, pasta salads all come to mind. For dessert, fruity frozen yogurts, sorbets, granitas and low fat ice creams really rock! And stuff like buttermilk panna cotta too!This Strawberry Frozen Yogurt was fun and I love the colours. Nothing to it. Just a good balance of flavours and fresh ingredients. I used homemade yogurt hung for 2 days in the fridge to get rid of excess whey and then whizzed in the Thermomix to produce the most sensational fro yo. You can use the same proportions in your ice cream maker. I use frozen strawberries mainly because I am inclined to buy too many boxes and hardly find the time to use the perishable fruit immediately. Besides, the Thermomix is most magical when it comes to ice creams and frozen desserts. Its like having an instant ice cream maker on hand as it blitzes the frozen berries into smooth sorbet, frozen yogurt or ice cream in minutes.
[print_this]Recipe: Strawberry Frozen Yogurt
Summary: Refreshing strawberry frozen yogurt which is great for the season. It’s low on calories and great on flavour. Looks very pretty too.
250gm hung yogurt {hung for 2-3 days in the fridge}
170gm vanilla sugar {adjust if required}
1 tbsp kirsch {optional}
Method:
Place all ingredients in the bowl of your Thermomix and process on Speed 10 for 1 minute at a time, stirring with the TM spatula as required. Repeat 3-4 times until well blended. Adjust sugar if required and blend for another 30 seconds.
Transfer to a freezer safe container. Serve immediately or freeze until required.
“Bread is the king of the table and all else is merely the court that surrounds the king. The countries are the soup, the meat, the vegetables, the salad… but bread is king.”
Louis Bromfield
I have never seen a bread prettier than this one and I have never been so elated baking bread, something I do quite often. This month Daring Bakers led us straight into the wild, ,or rather the wild side of bread baking. The challenge was to bake Dutch Crunch Bread or Tijgerbrood. I was exhilarated when mine began to crackle, roar and ‘tiger up’ in the oven.
Sara and Erica of Baking JDs were our March 2012 Daring Baker hostesses! Sara & Erica challenged us to make Dutch Crunch bread, a delicious sandwich bread with a unique, crunchy topping. Sara and Erica also challenged us to create a one of a kind sandwich with our bread!
Technically, Dutch Crunch doesn’t refer to the type of bread, but rather the topping that is spread over the bread before baking. In Dutch it’s called Tijgerbrood or “tiger bread” after the tiger-like shell on the bread when it comes out of the oven. The final product has a delightful sweet crunch to it that makes it perfect for a sandwich roll. This recipe for the Dutch Crunch topping came from Rose Levy Beranbaum’sThe Bread Bible; an adaptation of a recipe found on Baking Bites. The bread is a common option at sandwich shops all over the Bay Area and is often one of the first breads to run out. This has to be the prettiest bread I have ever made; one of the most satisfying too. Quite a show stopper. If ‘we first eat with our eyes‘ holds meaning for you, make this bread. You can taste it before you even bite into it! Something that looks this pretty and exciting MUST taste good!
Tiger bread (also sold as Dutch crunch in the USA, tijgerbrood or tijgerbol in Netherlands) is the commercial name for a loaf of bread which has a unique mottled crust. The bread is generally made with sesame oil and with a pattern baked into the top made by painting rice paste onto the surface prior to baking. The paste dries and cracks during the baking process. The rice paste crust also gives the bread a distinctive flavour. It has a crusty exterior, but is soft inside.On 31 January 2012, the UK grocery chain Sainsbury’s renamed the product “giraffe bread” after a letter written by a three-year-old named Lily Robinson, suggesting the alternative name, went viral. Sainsbury’s stated that “In response to overwhelming customer feedback that our tiger bread has more resemblance to a giraffe, from today we will be changing our tiger bread to giraffe bread”.
It was certainly a charming end result. I waited with baited breath to see if I managed to get animal prints on my bread; lady luck was with me. The characteristic cracks showed up soon, and then the crust got coloured to perfection. Things like this define the joy of being a Daring Baker. Each month throws up a promising challenge, one that I await with eagerness, almost an impatience. The challenge really had me intrigued, unsure and a bit rattled too after reading much discussion on the forum. I made a meal of it pretty early in the month, around Holi, the Indian festival of colour. That might explain why the ‘now threatening to be quite terrible teen‘ looks so colourful, and the pooch happy as always! {The colours’ off now … }The second part of the challenge was to use it in a sandwich. For the filling I did chicken paillards marinated in a chimichurri sauce, a sauce which is believed to have originated in Argentina. My sis from Houston recently got me a bag of dried chimichurri which I used. Its a great tasting marinade. In the sandwich also went some quick pickled cucumbers that I made the night before, and some fresh iceberg from my little garden. On the side was a colourful fresh salad – cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, ground cherries, white grapes, lettuce and spring onions {whatever I found in the fridge basically}, tossed in a light fruity vinaigrette.
Thank you Sara and Erica of Baking JDs for a breathtaking challenge. Thank you and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice for hosting this fab kitchen!! Do stop by here to see the other bakers prowl the jungle!
Summary: Dutch Crunch bread, a delicious sandwich bread with a unique, crunchy topping. A visually delightful bread which is a common option at sandwich shops all over the Bay Area and is often one of the first breads to run out.
This recipe approximates the quintessential white sandwich roll found throughout the Bay Area. The recipe is simple, quick, and addictive. Should make 10-12 rolls.
1½ tablespoon active dry yeast
¼ + 1/8 cup warm water {it should feel between lukewarm and hot to the touch}
1 ½ cup warm milk {low fat}
2 ¼ tbsp sugar
3 tbsp vegetable oil {plus additional for greasing bowl during rising}
2¼ tsp salt
5 ½ cups {750gm} all purpose flour
2 tbsp vital gluten
Method:
Dutch Crunch Topping
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat with a whisk; beat hard to combine. The consistency should be like stiff royal icing – spreadable, but not too runny. If you pull some up with your whisk, as shown below, it should drip off slowly. Add more water or rice flour as necessary. Let stand 15 minutes.
Coat the top of each loaf or roll with a thick layer of topping. We tried coating it with a brush but it worked better just to use fingers or a spoon and kind of spread it around. You should err on the side of applying too much topping – a thin layer will not crack properly.
You can place the rolls directly into the oven after applying the topping, or let them stand for 20 minutes.
When baking, place pans on a rack in the center of the oven and bake your bread as you ordinarily would. The Dutch Cruch topping should crack and turn a nice golden-brown color.
Soft White Rolls
In the bowl of an electric mixer or large mixing bowl, combine yeast, water, milk and sugar. Stir to dissolve and let sit for about 5 minutes. {The mixture should start to bubble or foam a bit and smell yeasty}.
Add in vegetable oil, salt and 2 cups of flour. Using the dough hook attachment or a wooden spoon, mix at medium speed until the dough comes together.
Add remaining flour a quarter cup at time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 4 minutes, until smooth and elastic. {Thermomix:Place all ingredients in TM bowl. Mix at speed 6 for 7-8 seconds, and then knead for 2-3 minutes}
Place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled.
Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 10-12 equal portions {or 2 equal portions if you’d like to make a loaf}.
Shape each into a ball or loaf and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet {try not to handle the dough too much at this point}.
Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 15 minutes while you prepare the topping.
Coat the top of each roll or loaf with the topping as described above. {While the original recipe recommends letting them stand for 20 minutes after applying the topping, I got equally good results by putting them directly into the oven, and by letting them stand for 20 minutes while the first batch baked}.
Once you’ve applied the topping, bake in a preheated moderately hot 190°C for 25-30 minutes, until well browned. Let cool completely on a wire rack before eating.
“All human history attests That happiness for man,the hungry sinner! Since Eve ate apples, Much depends on dinner.”
Lord Byron
This recipe is inspired by my search for ‘quick breads‘ when I first saw the Daring Bakers challenge for February. One thing led to another and googling for cinnabons I found several links online to the Cooks Illustrated recipe for Quick Cinnamon Buns. I added apple to the filling too. The QUICK result – Quick Apple Cinnamon Buns!Of course I procrastinated since the challenge said quick breads that would be ready in next to no time, no rising etc. “Yeah, no problem, I can do this tomorrow!“. I did but that tomorrow came too close to posting date.I posted Double Chocolate Dessert Popovers instead and I’m finally blogging this quick bread to feed a friends hungry blog!These are for Suma @ Cakes & More, a very sweet and extremely helpful food blogger in Bangalore. I have endlessly bothered her for baking stuff from Bangalore that I cannot find in Gurgaon/Delhi, and she obliges happily each time. My list began hesitatingly with dark cocoa {from Nilgiris} and vital gluten … then I stole a mile when offered an inch! Now I regularly get parchment paper, instant active yeast, piping bags and much more from this lovely lady.She hesitatingly asked me a short while ago if I would do a guest post for her, and I was amazed! After all I have pestered her to do, it is her right to ask, and for me to oblige!So for you Suma, here’s a ‘quick bread’ which works great for breakfast, and doubles up as a comforting delicious dessert too.It’s a wonderful feeling to have dessert baking while dinner is served. Bonus … the house smells so good! If you are wary of the yeast monster, these are quick buns for you. And, even if you aren’t afraid of the yeast factor, yet want some fast track yumminess, these are worth every bite. Do head across to Cakes & More for the recipe!
“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.
