The macaron

YAY! SUCCESS! You know, I can not tell you HOW HAPPY I AM that my macaron shells have come out exactly how I had wanted - but dared not hope.

The first I had attempted them they came out as a total flop...and pretty much shattered me because every step had looked like I was doing the right thing. I put it down to the fact that I had attempted the Italian method the second time around, rather than the french method as I had the first time. Who knew there were so many ways to make a macaron??

All this macaron talk gets me excited. While I am a bit tired from making them now, I know I'll return to them soon. I intend on getting some food colouring (powder or paste form?) and whole lot more recipes. Please feel free to comment on your own macaron stories, advice, it's always great to share!



Thank you so much Mercotte for all the advice and steps you have provided on your "desperately-seeking-macarons" blog!

Ingredients

• 2 x 50gm of egg whites (about 4 x 600gm eggs)
• 150gm of almond meal
• 150gm of pure icing sugar (confectioner's sugar)
• 35gm caster sugar
• 150gm caster sugar (keep these separate)
• 50gm water
• OPTIONAL: Food colouring (avoid liquid as it really changes the chemistry of the batter, and maybe your down fall!)
• OPTIONAL: spices, cocoa powder etc. if you want to decorate your macarons
• RECOMMENDED: Macaron piping template. You should be able to print it and slip it under your baking paper. I tried to find one, but had no luck. Please share yours if you've managed to find one :)
  

You will need
***But you are not limited to the following.

Please the read the steps before you actually begin so you have an idea of what to do, and what to have on hand.

• Kitchen scales
• rubber spatula
• A sifter that is capable of sifting almond meal
• A dusting sifter (if you want to decorate your macaron shells)
• Electric mixer (hand or standing)
• Baking paper
• Piping bag & 5 cm tip. The tip is more important than the bag. I actually used a zip lock bag with the corner cut off.

Quite resourceful, aren't I? hehe :)

Steps

1. Sift the 150gm of almond meal & 150gm of icing sugar and set aside.
   
2. Using either a hand mixer or standing mixer beat 50gm egg whites until frothy, when it does become frothy add the 35gm of sugar while beating. Do this in 3 lots.
3. At the same time, have a small pot on the stove with the 50gm of water + 150gm of caster sugar until this syrup boils for about 30 seconds. (I did this because I didn't have a candy thermometer)
4. Once it boils pour the syrup slowly into the mixing bowl where you are still beating the egg whites. Speed up the mixer and continue to beat until the mixture is fairly cool. It should be shiny and firm.
5. Add the sifted almond & icing sugar, as well as the other 50gm of egg whites and any food colouring if you want.
6. Gently fold the mixture using a rubber spatula. (this is ideal, but I forgot to bring mine over to my sister's so I was stuck with a metal spoon). Start from the middle and work your way around to the edge. Be careful not to over fold.
   
7. Do this for a few minutes until the batter is sort of like magma. It should be pliable and when you lift your spatula, it should fall down like a ribbon.
8. Time to fill your piping bag! With no tumblers on hand, I used a champagne flute to help me fill the bag... I always forget to bring stuff along with me don't I? haha
9. I have no idea what parchment paper is... so I just used 1 sheet of baking paper. Taking Mercotte's advice, I dabbed a bit of the sticky macaron batter on to the corners of the baking paper to stick to my baking tray.
10. Piping time! Pipe the macarons to a bit larger than a 20c coin. They should be shiny and flat, with no peaks.
    
11. OPTIONAL STEP: You can choose to dust spices, cocoa powder etc. to decorate your shell.s I chose cocoa powder for my 2nd tray. You might notice my sifter isn't quite right for cocoa powder and it kind of just fell out in chunks. Oops! (Just another thing I forgot to take along with me to my sister's)
12. Let them stand for 1 -2 hours.
13. During that time, pre-heat your oven to about 150 degrees celsius. For reference, I had a fan forced oven. Maybe you should also use this time to wash up! hehe.
    
14. When standing time is up, put the tray into the oven and leave them for about 25 minutes. Mercotte only requites 13 minutes for hers. But mine aren't quite ready until after the 25
    
15. minute mark. You've really got to experiment with your oven, each is very different. I'm not sure why, but the ones with cocoa powder on top also took a little bit longer to form.And... voila! Prior to making a macaron, I had no idea what recipes meant by collars, little feet. Well, it's the crusty bit at the bottom of the shell :)
    
    
16. If you don't intend on filling these once they've cool down, put them in an air tight container and freeze them.
17. I filled mine with chocolate ganache. YUM! If I hadn't been under the watchful eye of J, I'd have licked the bowl clean ehhehe.
    

Notes:

• I'm not quite convinced that aging my egg whites makes that much of a difference, if any.
• I do believe the older your eggs are, the harder it is to succeed. Perhaps the trick is to get fresh eggs (right out of the chicken's... ) and age them for a few days.
• Like Mercotte I believe that you need to have quite a bit of time on your hands to make these. Don't rush it!
• I would not under any circumstance leave a bowl of the macaron batter sitting over night. I left half a bowl over night and most of my macarons just cracked the next day when I went to finish baking them. Ah the pains of a home oven.
• Some say you don't need to let your macarons stand for a while before baking. Maybe it's because I haven't mastered it yet but standing mine for 1 -2 hours lets the collars form.

Next post: the filling. Chocolate ganache! Yummm

Bite size savoury muffins

Great for snacking on :) These are super quick to make if you've got everything that you need on hand. No sifting. Just throw it all together!! :)

I know there's a lot of text, and it seems daunting. But it's well worth it. (it was for me anyway)


Maybe preparing some of the ingredients the day before would help spreading your time out a little bit better, especially if you're tight on time.

Makes about 25 medium sized

Ingredients

• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 3/4 cup red onion chutney OR:

• ½ clove chopped garlic
• 1 small brown onion diced
• 1 tbsp raspberry red wine vinegar
• 1 ½ tsp. brown sugar
• 2 tsp. sun dried tomato vinaigrette If you can’t find, or don’t have this –don’t worry. You can finely chop 2-3 sundried tomatoes, or just go without

(I got my sundried tomato vinaigrette from Peter's of Kensington)

• 1 ½ cups diced deli ham
• 1 chopped chilli with seeds (I like a bit of kick, you don't have to add any chili if you prefer not to :)
  
• 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup roughly chopped & washed rocket (let it dry)

• 250gm Danish fetta cheese; either crumble or diced into small pieces
• ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
• ¼ cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1 cup of store bought shredded mozzarella cheese

• 2 cups self rising flour
• Pinch salt
• ¼ cup caster sugar
• 1 cup skim milk
• 2 medium sized eggs

I was lucky that J had made lasagne a few nights prior. It was easy for me to have all those cheese varieties on hand. You could probably skip all the cheese -except the shredded mozerella.

Also, you could skip the herbs and olive oil if you've got some marinated fetta on hand.

STEPS

1: Seasoned olive oil

Combine the following ingredients and mix. Let it sit for ~10 minutes while you prepare everything else

• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 tsp. dried oregano

2: Marinated onions

Mix these ingredients together, let it sit for at least ~10-15 minutes (if you can let this sit over night it would be even better)

Alternatively, if you have red onion chutney on hand, you do not need to prepare the marinated onions

• ½ clove chopped garlic
• 1 small brown onion diced It would be preferable if you used red onions.
• 1 tbsp raspberry red wine vinegar
• 1 ½ tsp. brown sugar
• 2 tsp. sun dried tomato vinaigrette If you can’t find, or don’t have this –don’t worry. You can finely chop 2-3 sundried tomatoes, or just go without

In a medium pan on high heat, add the marinated onions and let them begin cooking for a few minutes –then add the ham, chopped chilli & tbsp. of extra virgin olive oil (See below under Ham)

Stir occasionally so that nothing sticks to the bottom. Cook until softened. Let them cool down.

3: Ham

• 1 ½ cups diced deli ham
• 1 chopped chilli with seeds (I like a bit of kick, you don't have to add any chili if you prefer not to :)
  
• 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

4:While the onions and ham are cooking, prepare the following:

• 1 cup roughly chopped & washed rocket (let it dry)
• 250gm Danish fetta cheese; either crumble or diced into small pieces
• ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
• ¼ cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1 cup of store bought shredded mozzarella cheese

5: Dry ingredients

In a large mixing bowl sift in the flour. Add the salt & sugar

• 2 cups self rising flour
• Pinch salt
• ¼ cup caster sugar
  
  

6: Wet ingredients

In another mixing bowl, add the milk, eggs & seasoned olive oil (from first step). Whisk until well combined

• 1 cup skim milk
• 2 medium sized eggs

When well combined, pour the wet ingredients into the mixing bowl with dry ingredients. Mix together until smooth –do not over mix.

Add the rocket, Danish fetta, parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, marinated onions + ham.

Mix until all ingredients are well combined.

Spoon mixture into well greased muffin tins. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. I had used cup cake cups but I found that due to the cheese, the muffins were INCREDIBLY STUCK to the paper. In hindsight, I advise to use well greased cupcake/muffin trays as opposed to cupcake paper cups =P

Bake for 25 minutes on 165 degrees celsius. (I used a non fan forced oven for this).

Let them cool. And then eat!!! :)

x

cupcake decorations... faux fondant?

Try this when fondant fails...

Happening by accident, I mistook a packet of icing mixture, for pure icing sugar. (I believe the difference is that icing mixture has some portion of cornflour in it?) And following instructions I only vaguely remembered from the back of an icing sugar packet for making icing I ended up with these




So here's the recipe. The measurements are vague since I tend not to do proper measurements when making icing (sorry!) but I'll try my best to guide you through what to do :)


Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup of Icing mixture (Sifted if it is not from a new packet)
  
• 2-3 tsp. of slightly melted room temp. butter
• food colouring (preferably powder or liquid)

Other things you will need:

• small cookie cutters
• fondant cutters
• baking paper (don't worry -no baking required!)
• rolling pin (optional)

What to do:

1. In a small bowl combine the ingredients with only the slightest amount of food colouring (remember food colouring is quite potent)
2. place the bowl in either a larger bowl, or a sink of hot water. Make sure that there is enough hot water to come about half way up the outside of the bowl with the ingredients
3. Leave for a minute to allow the butter to melt
4. Mix the ingredients until well combined. If it is gooey, add more icing mixture. If it won't combine into something, add more butter
   
5. Add more colour if you want
6. Repeat step 4 until you are able to grab the icing in the bowl and mould it like play dough (It shouldn't be sticky, if it is, more icing mixture!!)
7. On a sufficient sheet of baking paper flatten the mixture out with your palm (about 3-5mm), and roll out so it is smooth with a rolling pin. I skipped the rolling pin step because my mother hid it some where.. haha (it's okay to do it in small lots)
8. Like the same way you would with cookies use the cutters to cut out your shape -IF they shapes tend to be really soft and break when you move them, just leave them where they are as the shapes will dry out as time passes.
9. Fridge for 30 minutes before using.

You are done! :)

Here are other ones I made earlier.




x

Easy Peasy Butter Cookies Recipe

I find that these cookies are generally a crowd pleaser, and very easy to make. A beginner should be able to make these without much trouble -or utensils :)

This recipe makes ~16 cookies

Before you begin: Please read through the entire recipe + ingredients + TIPS to make sure you have everything you need, and so that you have some idea of what to do next.

I have also noted that you'll need things such a hand electric mixer, rolling pin, dusting board, cookie cutters. If you are missing any of these things... don't worry! It is preferable to have all these utensils on hand but the cookies will still turn out fine if you don't.

good luck x

P.S. I'm really sorry if these instructions are hard to follow, lengthy. I tried to make them as simple as detailed possible for beginners...but this is the first time I've ever had to write it down for anyone.


Things you need to begin with

• Measuring cups
• rolling pin
• cookie cutters (5 -6cm in diameter)
• sifter
• 2 small bowls
• 1 large mixing bowl
  
• flouring board (A large chopping board, or a clean flat surface is sufficient :)
• baking tray & baking paper
  
• * electric hand mixer
  

For the basic cookie dough

• 1 1/2 cups of plain flour
  
• 2 egg yolks
• half a block of butter ~125 g, Softened not melted
  
• pinch of salt
  
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup of caster sugar
• * optional: choc chips & roughly chopped nuts. I prefer white choc chips for this recipe :)
  

For the icing & decoration
There's no limit as to what you can do to decorate these cookies. They're beautiful whether they are decorated, or not. Since I've done this recipe many times over, I've also included photos of other ways for decorating these cookies.

However, I'll run through the basic icing recipe.

You will need (these are rough, adjust if you need to)

• 1/2 cup of icing sugar *
  
• 1 teaspoon of butter
• 1 -2 tablespoons of milk
• food colouring (I prefer using gel colouring)

*if you don't have icing sugar at home, you can simply make some. Under the icing method I will explain how.


TIPS:

• To make these thick, and soft -sort of like short bread cookies, roll the dough out to 1.2cm
• Remember: cookies dough is not bread dough. There's absolutely NO NEED to start kneading the dough as if it was. If you overwork the dough, it becomes dense, and the cookies become tough.
  
• If the amount of butter is a bit frightening to you -it seems to work if you replace half the amount of butter with olive spread. I use Olive Grove, but I'm sure other brands would work fine. You'll find it in the refrigerator section in the supermarket somewhere near the butter & margarine. Don't mistaken this olive spread for something you'd have with cheese & crackers hehe.

STEPS
(follow this if you have all the stated utensils -read the next set of steps below if you don't)

1. line the baking tray with baking paper
   
2. The 2 small bowls: Start by separating the egg yolks from the egg whites. You don't need the egg whites for this recipe. If you don't know how, or still trying to perfect the separating process you can read this entry to see how.
3. In the large mixing bowl, cream the butter + caster sugar + egg yolks
4. Once you have creamed the butter, egg & sugar, add the vanilla essence and salt
   
5. Begin sifting in the plain flour and continue mixing with the electric mixer until a dough mixture forms. This step shouldn't take long.
   
6. Add in the nuts & choc chips if you have chosen to include them.
7. Pre-heat your oven to 165 degrees celcius
   
8. Lightly dust your flouring board
   
9. Using your hands, grab some dough and form it in to a ball. The ball should be about a tennis ball size -but it really depends on how much room you have on your flouring board to work with.
   If the ball is a bit dry, hold it in your hands for a few seconds. It should warm up the dough, if it doesn't, melt a little bit of butter and add it to the mixing bowl and combine with your hands.
10. roll out the dough to about 1.2cm in thickness and begin cutting out your cookies. At this point, a spatula may be useful when transferring your cookies to the baking tray.
    
11. Bake for 10-15 minutes. I usually use a conventional oven for these cookies and 15 minutes works well for me. 10 minutes is enough for a fan forced oven
    
12. Let them cool before you begin icing them

IF YOU DON'T HAVE A MIXER
Follow steps 1&2, 7-12 as above

For steps 3-6

• Using the large mixing bowl, sift in the plain flour
• Add the caster sugar, egg yolks, butter, vanilla essence, salt (AND the choc chips & nuts if you want them in your cookies)
• With a wooden spoon gently combine the mixture until it sort of looks like a bowl with bits of lots and lots dough in it
  
• Use your hand to combine the dough more, so that will be ready to roll out.
  

You don't need to do this:
(this is for when you are making bread...and you are not :))

• go on to step 7
  

How to know when the cookies are ready

• When you stick a fork or skewer through the cookies, it should come clean
• If you gently lift the cookies up the base should be at most a little darker than golden brown
• The cookies may seem too soft when you take them out...and they might be haha. But these cookies do harden a bit when they rest -so it is really up to you & how hard or soft you like your cookies.
  

For the icing
If you've run out of icing sugar, you can use white sugar, or caster sugar. To make an ample amount of icing sugar, you can simply put 1 cup of sugar into a blender and blitz it until it becomes fine and powdery, just like icing sugar!

1. In a small bowl, combine the icing sugar, milk and softened butter.
2. Microwave for 10-20 seconds. Mix the icing sugar, milk & butter. You should get a gooey consistency. If it's too runny, add more icing sugar and mix.
3. Add a bit of food colouring if you like
4. spread a fair amount of icing on a cookie. You can add sprinkles if you like :)

The basics

Like any self taught baker, as well as others -there are few things you begin to pick up and get used to once you begin baking.

You begin to remember what to do once a recipe instructs you to:
1. cream the sugar & butter
2. fold the mixture etc.

Believe me I am no expert (I think I am still beginner to intermediate) so I think you'll find some of these tips as useful as I have.

• If the recipe ever tells you to SIFT the flour. Do it! It is so important to do this.
  
• If you ever want to separate the egg yolk from the egg white, you can do this:
  

• 1 cup of self raising flour = 1 cup of all purpose plain flour + 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder + 1/8 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup wheat flour = 7/8 cup all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons wheat germ
• to prevent cakes, brownies etc. from sticking to the bottom of your baking pan, grease the inside of the pan and then line it with baking paper -making sure that there is enough paper sticking out from the opposite edges so u can pull the cake out when it's finished baking!
• Making butter soften faster: If you're impatient like I am, you'll be inclined to microwave your butter. I usually almost always turn the butter in liquid... so next time try grating the butter. It will melt a lot faster because it is in small pieces!

Credits go to Martha Stewart of course. My personal hero!
For other tips, go here:
http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/good-things-for-baking

xx

Hello.

This blog, unlike my others in the past does not revolve around me, as much as it does around what I love to do in the kitchen.

After a long time debating over whether I should have (yes- another) blog; I caved in. In my defense and for my own piece of mind, I did think about this for over a month and decided this: anonymity.

If anyone ever asks me if this is my blog, I will say no. Haha. Though I am sure through my various posts, I will drop many hints about who I am.

What really persuaded me to do this is my growing passion for food, the taste, the smell, the art. My ever increasing curiosity and hunger (Hah!) to learn more about food, dining & cooking. It started just under 2 years ago and is starting to pick up speed. It's sometimes worrying because I DO prioritise it over work, over studying, the gym :S at this very moment, I should actually be studying capital markets (*sigh. I feel a little bit of guilt sinking in).

Hope you guys enjoy! :)

xx

happy birthday johnnnnnnnnnnnny