The Art of Macarons

Before March 8 of this year I had never tasted a macaron.  I actually had to research the difference between the French macaron and the very different American macaroon.   Back at Christmas I made macaroons for the first time but found that they were too heavy and coconutty for my taste. Maybe that is one reason why I find myself drawn to French macarons.  They are by far the superior cookie.  Made from almond flour, egg whites, and sugar it has a crispy meringue shell and chewy center.   In between the two halves of meringue is usually a filling of some sort of fruit jam, chocolate ganache, or buttercream.  

Meringue + raspberry jam?   Meringue + chocolate?  Meringue + buttercream?  How lovely is that?

Plus when you see them...the colors!!! 

 

Having only made the raspberry ones, I can't wait to make them all at once and arrange them in some lovely arrangement.  Raspberry, Orange, Lemon, Key Lime, Blueberry, Lavender...that nearly covers my ROY G. BIV order.  I've been trying to research different recipes and techniques  and from what I have read I'm really impressed with how my last batch turned out based on what the horror stories I have read about macaron first timers.  Some have devoted their entire careers to perfecting the macaron.  Entire batches are thrown out if it is too humid and the cookies do not set right.  

The mecca of macarons is Paris of course and a certain store named Lauderée.  

It was originally founded in 1862 by Louis Ernest Lauderée on the Rue Royal where it still exists today.  His grandon Pierre Desfontaine is credited with inventing the modern macaron in 1931.  Over 15,000 macarons are sold here each day with visitors waiting up to 30 minutes in line.   

I've never seen a macaron sold anywhere in my life.  

So maybe one day I'll get to experience a true French macaron but for now it looks like I'm going to have to keep experimenting on my own.

My Rasberry Chocolate Macarons

Lauderée Rasberry Macarons

Minus the rose petal, fancy label, and whole raspberry center they don't look tooooo far off!!!

Marshmallow Fondant

What really is the point of having a lovely cake if it tastes horrible?

Last summer I took a fondant course but have only made one cake with fondant since then.   Most fondant makes people gag.  Really, it's bad-especially the pre-made versions.  Having experienced bad fondant before when I took my class I made my own marshmallow fondant and took pity on everyone else with their cute but horrible tasting cakes.  Sure, you can have buttercream underneath the fondant so cake eaters can just peal the fondant off and still have the frosting but what a waste of time.  There are a few other DIY fondant recipes I've been wanting to try out (especially the buttercream fondant) but haven't gotten around to yet.  

Making fondant seems like somewhat of a daunting task but having done it several times now it gets easier and easier.  It's very sticky, but once you get over the mess of that it's not so intimidating.

 

  

I used a recipe found on Cake Central.  The steps are helpful but slightly misleading.  Don't use all of sugar!  It takes more like 1 and 1/2 lbs.  Just add it until it's thick enough basically.  

So for this cake for no occasion I wanted it to be white on white and had this cake for inspiration that I saw a few days ago.  I used some left over chocolate ganache from the cupcakes I made on Thursday for the filling along with vanilla buttercream.  I'm planning on taking it to work tomorrow so that we can have some sort of reward for making it through the first day of EOG testing.    Marshmallow, buttercream, chocolate ganache????   Usually once I get done with a cake project I'm kinda over it but I really can't wait to try this combination.   I have to wait to show it off before I can cut it though!!!

Frozen Key Lime Pie

I'm so in love with lemon meringue pie that I often quickly dismiss its closely related key lime cousin.  A few weeks ago I stopped by my mom's house and she broke out a store bought key lime pie that was actually decent.  So this weekend for mother's day I broke out one of my Barefoot Contessas and got to baking her Frozen Key Lime Pie.  Having actually seen the episode where she makes this pie and seeing how tasty it looks I don't know why I waited so long.  Plus, I really love making whipped cream.

Frozen Key Lime Pie

~Barefoot Contessa Family Style

Ingredients

For the crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 10 crackers)

1/4 cup sugar

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

6 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

2 tablespoons grated lime zest (or zest from about 3 limes)

3/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (from about 6 limes)

For the decoration:

1 cup (1/2 pint) cold heavy cream

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Thin lime wedges

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

For the crust, combine the graham crackers, sugar, and melted butter in a bowl.  Press into a 9-inch pie pan, making sure the sides and the bottom are an even thickness.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Allow to cool completely.  

For the filling, beat the egg yolks and sugar on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment for 5 minutes, until thick.  With the mixer on medium, add the lime zest, lime juice, and sweetened condensed milk.  Pour into baked pie shell and freeze.  

For the decoration, beat the heavy cream with an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until soft peaks form.  Add the sugar and vanilla until firm.  Spoon or pipe decoratively onto the pie and decorate with limes.  Freeze several hours or overnight.  

A few helpful tips (I've figured these out from making 334 lemon meringue pies):

1.  Make the pie crust!  Sure buying the pre-made crust seems easier but a handmade crust is so much prettier and tastier.

2.  When you make that crust, if you have a food processor-use it!

3.  If you don't have extra large eggs on hand, use 7 large egg yolks.  Usually I buy extra large but the store happened to be out the last time I went.  Adding one more large egg yolk evens it out.  

4.  Don't skimp on the zest!  It makes it more tart so don't leave it out.  In fact, I added a little more.  If you  haven't invested in a rasper (or zester), Williams-Sonoma makes one that you won't be able to live without.

***And I'm in love with these cards with the vintage photos on the front.  This one looks like it was taken right out of my grandmother's photo album with a few more kids thrown in.  I'm not one for sappy Mother's Day cards and knew my mom would appreciate this one.  "On the rocks, no salt."

Taylor Bakes

Also, I'm so slack that I have failed to introduce the very cute logo my dear friend and graphic designer Amy Henty created months ago.  

Future project:  try to actually create a cake as adorable as this one.

You can see more of her lovely work here: www.theamylynn.com

Slacking

I have a new cinnamon bun recipe that is beyond impressive.  It made me live out my lifelong dream of working at Cinnabon.  Well, maybe not my highest career aspirations  but I used to try to memorize their dough rolling steps through the glass of the Hanes Mall Cinnabon at age 7.  I'm really set on doing a lot of baking this weekend (really, this time) and won't stay outside planting flowers as much and discovering new streets to run on (the downhill ones).  

I've even let a few friends/co-workers birthdays slip up on me without baking something.  They were a little sad I think...

Here is a little cinnamon roll magic preview...

Spring Cupcakes

 
I used a variety of inspirations for these cupcakes.  The baby bird, or peeps as everyone called them, cupcakes have been on my "to bake" list for quite a while after seeing them on Martha Stewart's site.  I used Magnolia Bakery's birthday cake and buttercream recipes.  The toasted coconut was very yummy and baby birds were easy to create.  I saw the ridiculously cute Easter Basket cupcakes on Bakerella's site and threw some eggs into the mix.  

 

Lemon Bars

I've always been a huge lemon bar (or square, whichever term you prefer) fan.  They remind me of when I was little and used to go to this one bakery in town with my mom.  I've been wanting to try out the Barefoot Contessa recipe for them for some time but had never gotten around to it.  Finally on Sunday, I realized I just happened to have all of the ingredients on hand and got to baking.  It's a really basic recipe, which is one of my major loves of Ina Garten.  So basic, so tasty.  

I shared them with my neighbors that night and took the rest to school the next day.  After lunch with the other teachers I still had several left and my students were begging me for them.  So at the end of the day I divided them all up so everyone could have a taste.  To quote my student Jennie: "This is what I would call gooooood baking!"

Lemon Bars

~The Barefoot Contessa cookbook

For the Crust:

1/2 lb unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 cups flour

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

For the Filling:

6 extra large eggs, room temperature

3 cups granulated sugar

2 grated lemon zest (from 4 lemons)

1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 cup flour

confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

For the crust, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  Combine the flour and salt and, with the mixer on low, add to the butter until just mixed.  Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and gather into a ball.  Flatten the dough with floured hands and press it into a 9 by 13 by 2 inch baking sheet, building up a 1/2 inch edge on all sides.  Chill.

*Self tip-Line the pan with aluminum foil!  It makes it so much easier to remove them from the pan.  

Bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, until very lightly browned.  Let cool on a wire rack.  Leave the oven on.  

For the filling, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour.  Pour over the crust and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the filling is set.  Let cool to room temperature.  

Cut into triangles and dust with confectioners' sugar.