french macarons and a happy halloween!!!

I made MACARONS!!!!
I want to cheer like the biggest cheerleader right now because for the second time in my pastry career, I have (somewhat) perfected the famous macaron!!!! The first time I ever made these was in pastry school eons ago and I blame the perfection and execution on the commercial ovens we used and the guidance of our outstanding instructors. I have tried a few times to make these French confections and have failed....sadly. But this time I was inspired by my friend Julie who posted about wanting to know how to make macarons on facebook and since it was snowing on Saturday I did a little research and found this one. I chose this recipe mainly because I had the ingredients in my pantry but I absolutely adore the macarons found on these two blogs, Tartelette and Cannelle et Vanille. These two ladies are amazing food bloggers and photographers. I love!!!


Let's get back to really what is important here.....macarons!!! I followed this recipe to a tee as far as the cookie ingredients. But when it came to a filling I made orange tinted, vanilla Swiss-meringue buttercream in honor of Halloween. If you're still frightened to try and make these, here is an incredible story on how-to make macarons and a step-by-step tutorial.


French Chocolate Macarons
borrowed from David Lebovitz
makes about 15 


Macaron Batter
1 cup (100 gr) powdered sugar
½ cup powdered almonds (about 2 ounces, 50 gr, sliced almonds, pulverized) ***I used Trader Joe's Almond Flour***
3 tablespoons (25 gr) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder ***My go to cocoa powder is Valrhona cocoa powder for it's dark color and deep chocolatey flavor***
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
5 tablespoons (65 gr) granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350º F (180º C).

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and have a pastry bag with a plain tip (about 1/2-inch, 2 cm) ready.

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 and scrape the batter into the pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps if you’re alone).

Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1-inch (3 cm) circles (about 1 tablespoon each of batter), evenly spaced one-inch (3 cm) apart.

Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons, then bake them for 15-18 minutes. Let cool completely then remove from baking sheet.

Buttercream Filling ***Makes enough for two batches of macarons***

1/3 cup (2 5/8 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large egg whites

Pinch of salt

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened and cut into 1 - tablespoon pieces

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

orange food coloring

***For chocolate buttercream  - add 6 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled*** 

***For peanut butter buttercream - add 2/3 cup peanut butter and increase salt to 1/8 teaspoon***

Combine sugar, egg whites and salt in a bowl of a stand mixer. Place bowl over simmering water. whisking gently but constantly, heat mixture until slightly thickened, foamy and registers 150 degrees on instant-read thermometer, 2 - 3 minutes. 

Place bowl in stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat mixture on medium speed until consistency of shaving cream and slightly cooled, 1 - 2 minutes. Add butter 1 piece at a time, until smooth and creamy. (Frosting may look curdled after half of the butter has been added; it will smooth with additional butter.) Once all of the butter is added, add vanilla, food coloring and/or melted chocolate or other flavorings. Mix until combined. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, and thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds, scraping beater and sides of bowl with rubber spatula.

Pastry I - raspberry macarons - 2006
I mean seriously, check these babies out.....I don't even need to give you a side profile of these because you can just see it's "footing" from above. And yes, I was slightly penalized for the fluorescent pink color.....so don't judge.

recipe testing #2 - animal cracker cookies

It's a rainy Sunday and recipe #2 from my "just say NO" to processed sugar campaign. This saying "no" to the white stuff is going pretty well.....I'm not really missing it because there are so many natural sweetener options out there.


First let me say that these peanut butter cookies I made the other day are pretty darn good. I know, I did say that they weren't mind blowing, but these are tasty. Especially if you drizzle chocolate on them. :) And another tip, keep them refrigerated. Their texture is very similar to shortbread but with a distinct peanutty flavor. I'm in love now. 


So I've been following this blog, 101 Cookbooks, for a while but I have never really made anything from it - until my recent revelation with the "white stuff". This blogger, Heidi Swanson, is one smart and talented cookie. She focuses on whole foods and ingredients - vegetarian recipes that are good for you!!! So all you carnivores, fugetaboutit.....


Heidi's writing and photography make whole foods sound and look even more amazing for you!!! These animal cookie crackers are just that....amazingly good! They'll bring out the healthy kid inside of you!!!


Animal Cracker Cookies
snagged from 101 Cookbooks 


Some notes from the author from the original blog post:
The kind of coconut oil you purchase is key. You want it to actually smell like coconut. You want pure, unrefined coconut oil - it will likely have the words virgin or extra-virgin and (hopefully) organic on the jar. If you see the word "refined" on the jar, find a different brand. I've just finished off a jar of Nutiva, and really enjoyed cooking with it - but there are other great brands out there as well. You can make your own walnut (or almond) meal by pulsing the nuts in a food processor until it is the texture of sand - don't go too far or you'll end up with some kind of nut butter. For added depth feel free to use toasted shredded coconut.


INGREDIENTS



1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup walnut or almond meal ***I used almond meal****
1/2 cup unsweetened finely shredded coconut, very finely minced
1/4 cup extra-virgin coconut oil, softened ***The coconut oil I used really was like "oil". I didn't need to soften it***
1/3 cup fine-grain natural cane sugar ***I used my whole organic cane sugar***
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten


a few tablespoons big-grain turbinado sugar


Whisk flour, walnut/almond meal and shredded coconut together in a small bowl. ***I didn't do this. Instead, after pulsing my almonds in the food processor to make almond meal, I simply dumped the flour and shredded coconut into the bowl and gave it a few pulses to combine*** In a separate medium bowl, beat the coconut oil with the sugar and salt until it's smooth and looks like a brown sugar frosting. ***Mine did not look like brown sugar frosting. The sugar granules didn't start to dissolve until I added the egg*** Beat in the egg until everything is uniform in appearance, Add the flour mixture and stir just until incorporated. Turn the dough out onto the counter-top, knead it once or twice and gather it into a ball. Cut the dough in half, flatten each piece, wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.


When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Place the racks in the middle and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper. On a floured work surface roll the dough out 1/8-inch thick. If the dough cracks, let it sit and warm up for a couple more minutes. Stamp out shapes with floured cookie cutters and place the cookies an inch apart on the baking sheets, sprinkle with a bit of the turbinado sugar, Bake until the cookies are just beginning to color at the edges 7 - 8 minutes. remove from the oven and cool the cookies on racks.


Makes about 2 dozen cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutters.  

These little bundles of animal cracker cookies would make a GREAT party favor for a kid's birthday or baby shower!!! They're made entirely of whole organic goodness and even packaged in a eco-friendly bags.