Orange Creamsicle Macarons

When I was a kid I used to love to get creamsicles at the penny shop near our house.  I think I may have paid a quarter for them at the time.  They were so good- so orangey- so creamy- so delicious.  The Popsicles I buy these days are not the same.  Not quite the same creaminess as they once were.  Did you ever wonder if things really did change or you yourself had changed and your taste buds grew up?  My Dad, who loves them, will concur on this one.  They are  not the same.

These says since I usually would rather be in my sewing room sewing I tend not to make these as much as I once did. Macarons are fussy.  Very fussy.  If its too humid don't even bother to try and make these. I made one batch yesterday with my tried and true recipe and had a complete bomb.  Don't know exactly what happened.  I decided to try another recipe.  I found one and altered it just a bit.  A much better outcome.  I think this will be my new go to macaron recipe.

CREAMSICLE MACARONS

85 grams almond flour or finely ground almonds
150 grams powdered sugar
90 grams egg whites (from about 3 large eggs), room temperature
55 grams granulated sugar
pinch of cream of tartar

In a food processor, combine almond flour and powdered sugar; pulse for 20 to 30 seconds until evenly distributed. Sift at least once through a mesh sieve, discarding any larger particles.

Place egg whites in a clean metal mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on medium speed until frothy, then slowly add superfine sugar, a little bit at a time with the mixer on medium speed, scraping down the side of the bowl periodically. When all the sugar has been added, increase speed to medium high and whip until meringue is firm and glossy and forms medium-stiff peaks.

Pour half of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and stir, folding and scraping a few times until no dry flour remains. Add the remaining flour and mix, folding about 15 to 20 times or just until the meringue and flour are incorporated and the batter falls off the spatula in thick ribbons. Lava like. Do not over mix.

Transfer the batter to a large piping bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round tip, twisting the end of the bag to prevent the batter from leaking. Pipe small circles onto a parchment or silicone-mat-lined baking sheet, leaving about 1-inch of space between them.

Preheat oven to 330F.  This I totally played with.  Some recipes say 300F and some say 350F and some even say 375F.  I had the best outcome with 330F.  It really depends on whether or not your oven runs hot.  Best to have a thermometer in your oven.

Creamsicle Buttercream

1 tablespoon orange zest
1 stick butter
1+ cup confectioners to start
1 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons half and half
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Beat all together until creamy and the consistency you want.  Add confectioners sugar to make it thicker.  More cream to be less thick.

CELEBRATE MACARON DAY!

Little Miss Macaron is a very temperamental girl.   You must be very careful when trying to create her.

Macaron Rules I have learned along the way...

1.  Never get cocky and think your macarons are perfect. Think positive though.

2.  Never be in a hurry when making macarons.  She is a slow girl that needs lots of patience.

3.  Never let four year old child fingers touch macarons that are waiting to go into the oven.

4.  Never think for a moment you can eyeball the ingredients.  You must be precise.  But hey, being precise will not insure perfect macarons either.

5.  Never walk away from the oven. They must be turned after five minutes to insure even baking.

6.  When using different pans, expect different results.

7.  Don't think because you seemed to have screwed everything up along the way that you won't get nice macarons.  She likes to surprise you, yah know.

8.  Never for a moment think you will never get the macaron right.  Because you will. And when you do you will feel a sense of accomplishment like no other in the baking world.  But see if it were easy you wouldnt feel this.  You will be dancing around the kitchen saying you have feet.  Maybe even singing it! 

9.  Never talk on the phone when making macarons.

10.  Try not to make these for an event unless you are really, I mean really practiced.

11.  Don't overbeat the eggs and dont underbeat them either.

12.  Don't overmix the nuts and confectioners into the egg whites, don't undermix either.

13.  Don't underbake or overbake.

14.  Read, read, read, everything and anything you can about macarons only to find you will find your own path to macaron nirvana.

For all of you who have not tasted one, make sure you put it on your bucket list of things to try.
For all of you that think they are horrible, what the heck are you reading this post for. ;)
For all of you who want to try making them and are just tooscared, I say dont be silly- set out some egg whites on the counter now and start preparing for an adventure.

Ginger Pecan Macarons

125 grams pecan meal (sifted)
225 grams powdered sugar
100 grams egg whites (that have been at room temp for 24 hours)
25 grams sugar

Combine almond flour and confectioners sugar together in a bowl and stir to combine. In a mixing bowl whip egg whites at medium speed. When they begin to get foamy add the granulated sugar slowly.  Beat until the whites form medium-peaks and are still glossy.

Fold in your dry ingredients slowly to the meringue.  Spoon into pastry bag and pipe the batter to a diameter of about an inch. And let rest for 30 minutes before baking. Preheat oven while macs are resting to 300F.  Bake for about 11 minutes or until done, turning the sheets halfway through.


Gingered Buttercream


16 ounces mascarpone cheese
1/3 cup minced crystalized ginger

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
pinch of salt

Whip the mascarpone cheese with sugar until combined.  Add in the crystalized ginger.  If you can stand it- wait a day to let the flavor of the ginger permeate the mascarpone mixture.

Note- I am pretty happy with my macarons but I still dont get the feet that other people get.  I will try again next week. If anyone knows why I dont have nicer feet on my macarons feel free to give advice. 

Daring Bakers: French Macarons

It was really difficult for me to do this challenge. I so wanted to do the recipe the way I have been doing it. The way that has been successful for me. I fought this recipe the whole way, technique and all. So silly. I finally decided, especially when the first batch of macarons came out of the oven virtually footless, to treat this as an experiment.

Macarons ARE very temperamental. They like a little heat, certain baking trays, certain ways of folding, certain age of egg whites, certain temperatures of ingredients, certain this and certain that. Really. The best way to approach macarons is like an experiment. Don't think of it as pass or fail. Think of it strictly as a process. Take notes. Because your notes may be so different than my notes. Your pans may be thicker or your oven hotter. But the great thing, yah know, is that even if they flop, have no feet, or crack- they still taste good. No beauty contests will be won but they will still taste good.

See- they may not be pretty but these little hands kept coming back for more.

Macaron
The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Ingredients
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.

Yield: 10 dozen.

Here are some of my past macarons:
Dulce de Leche as the picture implies.
Mint Macarons with chocolate ganache.
Peachy macarons

Pink Macarons with White Chocolate Cranberry Ganache
Chocolate Macarons with Salted Caramel Buttercream

Happy St. Paddy's Day

You know on St. Patty's Day, everyone is Irish. No matter where your ancestors or you came from, you can don some green and drink some green and eat some green! I love corned beef and cabbage. I have it once a year, St. Patty's Day. But if the truth be told, its not really an Irish dish per se. How it got to be that status I do not know. I think a more traditional meal in Ireland would be salmon or some other fish. Here is a quote from About.

"... this celebration was not the only interruption of the lent fast. Since the late 11th century meat was eaten in honor of Patrick - a tradition that emerged from a wrong interpretation of a legend.

Apparently Saint Patrick had tucked away some roast pork for "emergencies" during lent. When he finally took the pork from hiding it was out of remorse. He had just decided to become a vegetarian and asked God for a sign. Promptly an angel appeared and relayed the message to throw the roast pork into the nearest stream. Patrick did so, the pork was transformed into fishes, swimming off lively.

Thus it came to pass that roast pork was called "Saint Patrick's Fish" in Ireland. And as fish is allowed during lent, "Saint Patrick's Fish" was certainly allowed on March 17th!..." Click here to find out more.

And of course macarons are SO NOT Irish, they are French. But hey if were all pretending to be Irish when St. Patty's Day comes then why not these minty macarons!

Mint Macarons with Bittersweet Ganache

125 grams almond flour
225 grams powdered sugar
100 grams egg whites(that have been at room temp for 24 hours)
25 grams sugar

Preheat oven to 300 °F . Combine almond flour and confectioners together in a bowl and stir to combine. In a mixing bowl whip egg whites at medium speed. When they begin to get foamy add the granulated sugar slowly. Beat until the whites form medium-peaks and are still glossy.

Fold in your dry ingredients slowly to the meringue. I our it all in, kind of on the side of the bowl and begin to incorporate it from there.

Pipe the batter to a diameter of about an inch. And let rest for 20 to 30 minutes before baking. Bake for about 11 minutes or until done, turning the sheets halfway through.

BITTERSWEET GANACHE

2 cups bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup light cream

Heat milk and add the warm milk to the chocolate. Stir until all chocolate is melted. Spread on to the macarons.

Macarons, Dulce de Leche

I know, you weren't exactly expecting macarons were you. let me explain.

Today is my first day (and by the way, its going great). I have so much support around me, people at the gym, all of you and your supportive comments, my family and friends. What more could I ask for in this journey.

Last night I had my "Four Corner" friends over (our little group, click here to read more). It was my last day on the indulgent wagon and what could be better then going out with a bang- French macarons. I wasn't so bad, I had soup and salad for us and some toasts with brie. So all in all it wasn't too bad for the last day of indulgeville. I figured that it would be self defeating to eat too much. I only have to work it off anyhow. Who would I be fooling?

So here is my thought for the day on this incredible, nonedible journey. "Embrace the journey", here is what I plan to do. I am going to love every part of this journey, the scale, the hunger, the egg whites, the plateaus, the sore muscles. Every hootin' detail of the whole shebang, I am going to love. Why not? It's my beautiful life and I will appreciate it all!

So alas, enjoy these beautiful macarons. A kiss goodbye to them and a kiss hello to a healthier me.
MACARON

• 125 grams almond flour
• 225 grams powdered sugar
• 100 grams egg whites(that have been at room temp for 24 hours)
  
• 25 grams sugar

Preheat oven to 300 °F . Combine almond flour and confectioners together in a bowl and stir to combine. In a mixing bowl whip egg whites at medium speed. When they begin to get foamy add the granulated sugar slowly. Beat until the whites form medium-peaks and are glossy.

Fold in your dry ingredients slowly to the meringue. Pipe the batter to a diameter of about an inch. And let rest for 30 minutes before baking. Bake for about 11 minutes or until done, turning the sheets halfway through.

Bench Notes:

I find that my macarons do much better on parchemnt rather than the French baking sheets.

Pans do make a difference (at least for me). Play around a little with what you have. The Chicago Metallic one that I have seems to work the best.

Dulce de Leche Cream

Lori's Lipsmacking Original

8 oz of cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat), room temp

1 can of dulce de leche

Beat them together until they are combined and smooth.

MACARONS ARE JUST PEACHY

Once you've tried macarons you have to eat them again and again. So if you do not want to be hooked on them, never, never try them. Having said that, you just have to try macarons. The real hook to these cookies is the intial crunch followed by the soft experience of the macaron itself, then the sweet, smooth rush of filling. In this case it was Peach Buttercream, (al la Dori Greenspan). Helen of Tartelette and Veronica of Veronica's Test Kitchen were truly my inspiration for these fine cookies. I usually use Veronica's recipe but this time I used Tartelette's. And if you dont already know Tartelette has a Tutorial in a magazine which you can find on her site. Veronica has the Macaroon Chronicles which have tons of worth while notes to help you along. If you dont have the courage and just "GOTTA" try them, then order some from Veronica's Petite Bouchees.

Here is the recipe for macarons. All I did was add orange color to my batter.

A NEW OBSESSION... French Macarons

Okay I would have to say that Veronica's Test Kitchen and Tartelette are responsible for making me aware of French Macarons. I had never had one before and thought I had better make one so that I know what all the fuss was about. Okay now I know and now I am addicted. All the flavor combinations hit me as I am lying there trying to go to sleep. Is it me or is this a foodie type ailment?

Anyway, while reading Pierre Herme, I was inspired to try chocolate macarons. I also have been wanting to try some salted caramel frosting. Sweet and salty is so delicious, I just knew I would like it.

After much searching and a little playing around, I came up with a delicious frosting or should I say filling for the magnificent macaron. (My two year old was not cooperating so this is the best picture I could muster up under the circumstances.)

Now the ingredients for the chocolate macarons are from Pierre Herme's book but the directions are adapted from Veronica's Test Kitchen.

The recipe for the salted buttercream is from "A Foodie Froggy". I have changed it up quite a bit. To see her original click here.

SALTED CARAMEL BUTTERCREAM

1 stick of salted butter (8 oz)
1/2 stick of unsalted butter (4 oz), room temp
1 cup sugar
1- 8 oz package of cream cheese, room temp.
2 tablespoons sour cream

Melt salted butter in heavy bottom sauce pan, then add 1 cup of sugar. Keep stirring until sugar has melted. Watch the mixture and stir occassionally. Remove from heat when it turns golden. Pour into a glass or stainless steel bowl. Stir in unsalted butter. Stir in cream cheese. Beat mixture with a mixer. Spoon in sour cream and beat until fully incorporated. Place in the refrigerator. It will set fairly quickly. Voila. Hmmmmmm.

Now the macaron...

CHOCOLATE MACAROONS
(Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé - Little & Brown, United States, 2001)

1 1/3 cup almond powder
2 cup + 2 tablespoons confectioners sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup (100 grams) egg whites

I have added and subtracted directions from Veronica's. The following is my interpretation, at least for this recipe. If you would liket o see her original which I use for all other type of macarons go to, Veronica's Test Kitchen

Preheat oven to 300 °F (I used 310°F to compensate for opening and closing the oven door).

Process the almond flour and powdered sugar in a food processor. Sift twice.

Place egg whites in mixer and beat at medium speed. Continue beating until the whites attain medium-peaks and are glossy.

Remove mixer bowl and fold in your dry ingredients slowly to the meringue taking about four additions in all.

Pipe the batter to a diameter of an inch. And let rest for 30 minutes before baking. Bake for about 11 minutes or until done, turning the sheets halfway through.

After about five or six minutes you will see the characteristic little feet. I found that one of my pans of macaroon were a little underbaked. They need to be a lighter brown to know that they are ready. If yu cook them for too long they will crack.

PINK MACARONS FOR A FRIEND

A friend of mine was just diagnosed with breast cancer. In a few days she will be having a mastectomy. This is the fourth woman I have known that has had breast cancer. WAY, WAY, WAY too many people. The great news is that two of the people I know have survived. They kicked cancer's butt. My Mother in law, who had a very fast moving type of breast cancer, fought hard for three years. I am crying as I write this as she was one of the most loving people I have ever known. It is just recently the anniversary of her death.

I know that my friend will kick this cancer. I decided to give her a treat before all of the chaos begins. I give her these pink macarons as it is the "color" for breast cancer. I give her macarons because they are a special treat and she is a special treat.

PINK MACARONS with WHITE CHOCOLATE CRANBERRY GANACHE
(the macaron recipe is from Veronica's Test Kitchen)

• 125 grams almond flour
• 225 grams powdered sugar
• 100 grams egg whites
• 25 grams sugar

Preheat oven to 300 °F (I used 310°F to compensate for opening and closing the oven door). Run the almond flour and powdered sugar through a food processor and sift twice. Add the cream of tartar to the egg whites and beat at medium speed. Slowly add the granulated sugar and continue beating until the whites attain medium-peaks and are glossy.

Add your dry ingredients slowly to the meringue taking about six additions all in all.Pipe the batter to a diameter of an inch. And let rest for 30 minutes before baking.Bake for about 11 minutes or until done, turning the sheets halfway through.

(In her recipe she calls for cream of tartar, I missed that and did not use it.)

WHITE CHOCOLATE CRANBERRY GANACHE (adapted from rasberry ganache at Tartelette's site)

8 oz white chocolate
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup cranberry puree

To make cranberry puree: Boil cranberry's until soft. Run through the blender and pour through sieve afterward.
In a heavy bottom saucepan, heat the cream to boiling, remove from heat and stir in the white chocolate. Whisk until completly combined, add the cranberry puree. Refrigerate until ready to fill the macarons.

FINALLY HAD THE GUTS

Matcha Tea Macarons with Lemon Curd.

Yes, macarons. I have been researching, reading, saving recipes, buying ingredients and most of all drooling over all the macarons I see in blog land. I finally had the courage or maybe the foolishness to attempt to make them. They are not perfect but they have feet, they are nice shape and most of all they taste good.

I used Veronica's Test Kitchen recipe and just added some matcha to it. The lemon curd is as follows:

Lemon Curd

3 egg yolks
1 whole egg
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
zest of a lemon
1 stick of butter

Combine egg yolks and egg with 1 cup sugar. Add juice. Pour mixture into double boiler and place over a pot of simmering water. Whisk egg mixture for about 8 to 10 minutes. You will know it is done when it coats the whisk. You can also dip a spoon in, run your finger through the lemon curd. If it leaves a trail and the rest sticks, then it is done. Remove from heat at this point and add butter 1 tablespoon at a time. Whisk the butter in. Refrigerate up to two weeks. It freezes very well.