Food Time: French Macarons!!!!

Well well well... It's time again for Food Time. This time, it's the lovely yet pain in the ass French Macarons!

A co-worker requested this over the week, so since it was a 3 day weekend, I was like "haaaay letz do this!"

Girls (and dudes)... This pretty cookies are annoying(-ly awesome). My first batch was a big failure, only 12 shells out of 50 that were okay (recipe is from this book). I tried the Italian Meringue method and the batter came out way to watery because I believe I overmix during the Macaronage. Womp Womp. Piping the batter was hell because it kept on leaking thru my piping bag, also making the macaron circles waaay too big :( Then I had a problem with the baking temperature and time. For some reason, with this book's temperature and time, the macarons came out a tad bit burnt, or like it was heading there. Then, I don't know if it's because of the size of my macaron or my over-folding of the batter. Boo.

So for the first batch, it's Vanilla Bean Macaron with Dundee's Lemon Curd from the UK. I've never had Lemon Curd before, so it's pretty interesting to me. Sweet, a little tart with a tang to it. Sounds yummy on a toast and a cup of tea. Hmmm... At least these macs came out with Feet! Woo!

Being a the little perfectionist in me, I was so bummed with the first batch, I decided to make another batch (recipe is from this book). Talk about dedication. Now this batch came out waaaayyy better. I used the French Meringue method. I followed the author's techniques to the tee, but I still felt that the batter was too watery for me. So I'm not sure if I did over-fold during the Macaronage, I don't think I did, but who knows. These cookies are known to be Pretty Bitches aka temperamental.

For this one, I just add Pink Rose food coloring and it's still Vanilla Bean Macarons, this time with Bonne Maman Wild Blueberry Jam from France. Yum. Not too sweet, has a little tang to it as well. I'm glad these came out way better than the first batch. I see the Feet!

At one point, I decided to mix the lemon curd with the blueberry jam!

Even Chimmy wants a piece but he ain't getting one!

Macarons ingredients are pretty basic: Almond Meal, Powdered/Confectioner Sugar, Granulated Sugar and Egg Whites. Then the method for the Meringue could be with heat (Italian) or without heat (French). Everyone has their own version of the recipe... Some add Cream of Tartar... Some add Powdered Egg Whites.

There's the mixing stage aka Macaronage. Followed by piping! Then there's the tapping aka banging (I like to bang!) of the cookie sheet on to the country to eliminate air bubbles. Then the resting aka drying period. Then the Temperature and Baking time. EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. It's frustrating! One will say 375F... or 350F... or 300F... I don't know, people. I was literally pulling my hair.

Seriously, guys, it's totally a Trial and Error type of cookies to make.

I youtube'd macarons, and this cute one came out. She does the French Meringue technique. Doesn't she make it like it's super easy? I kid you not, this is my second and third attempt, and it may look easy. It is pretty easy. It's the macaronage part that's tricky.



Cool thing about macarons is that the color, flavor and fillings are endless.

Fun Fact: I was in the kitchen from 9AM to 5PM. Yes people. I was there for a whole banker shift! (and I did not complain at all. Guess I know where my heart it... Baking!)

I will try to make this again when I have the time. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of macarons, I like them because they just look so cute. They're just too sweet for me, and I believe is because of the amount of powdered sugar in the ingredients. I'm such a bread/cupcake girl. But I'm seriously thinking on taking a class on Macarons soon once I get back from Paris.

Wait... Maybe I should take a Macaron class in Paris... Nah. I signed up for Croissants. Croissants > Macarons anytime.

via parisvsnyc

Helene from Tartellete a little ebook on Macarons. Check it out!

Seriously, that quote "Practice makes Perfect" applies to Macarons!

Have any of you made these bad ones before?

moonbeams,
Rima

What I Did With...

Leftover Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting... 

So last weekend I made an order for my Sister & Hubs of the Soufflé cupcakes (it's getting popular. I have 2 more orders to do!) & the Strawberry cupcakes, and had 2 cups of frostings left. I got the itch (a good one) to bake yesterday after my morning call-back case. 

After 2 weeks of contemplating on to make or not to make, I decided to give it a try on making some macarons. I have two macaron books (1 & 2), but I settled with one of them. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but I did got pretty disappointed when I was done making them. The texture was not as how it was supposed to be because they came out like super crunchy cookies. Even my brother was like, "this is weird!" 

But after some major googling around, I found out that you're not suppose to eat it right away, instead create the macaron and let them sit for 24 hours in the fridge and then indulge. 

I was happy. I was so happy I ate 2 right away. Plus, my co-workers love them. I became happier. Woopah!

And... I still had leftover frosting, so I made a batch of Chocolate Whoopie Pies.

Gosh, I love their cakey texture... You can't just inhale them. You must bite, enjoy, and bite again.

People at work are so lucky. I'm making them fat!

On a non-cooking related story, my cookbook wall rack decided to go bye-bye and collapsed :( Right underneath that rack was my cameras and thank goodness they were okay, no scratches were made. 

Which made me realized, I do have tons of cookbooks. If only I have the time to make every recipe in those books. That would be a dream. I'm going to leave that Martha Stewart's Cooking School book at my boyfriend's apartment. Hopefully that's a hint for him to learn how to cook ;)

Oh! I am super excited because this weekend will be my first photo shoot with my buddy, Ollie! The preggo Sister & Hubs will be there too to help out eating all the baked goods I'll be making. Haha.

So stay tune!

moonbeams & bunny kisses,

Rima