Chocolate Macarons

Hello all,
Some weeks ago I made chocolate macarons, after not having baked macarons for over two years. I was worried that I had lost my touch, but alas it was fine!

That proves that this recipe is an easy one, and that really, you have to be really unlucky to fail with it. The macarons may not have been perfect (I think I would've needed another minute of beating the batter), but they were very tasty. That's really all anyone can ask for!

Chocolate macarons

INGREDIENTS

• 100 g almond powder
• 3 egg whites (about 100-110 g)
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 185 g powdered sugar
• 15 g cocoa powder
  

DIRECTIONS

I like to prepare my egg whites by leaving them in room temperature for a day before I start baking. It yields better macarons in my opinion.
 
Preheat the oven to 150°C.
Sift the almond powder and throw away the large pieces.
Mix the almond powder with the powdered sugar and the cocoa and sift again.

In another bowl whisk the room tempered egg whites until it starts to foam. Then gradually add the tablespoons of sugar. Whisk the egg whites until thick and shiny. You should be able to hold the bowl upside down without anything pouring out.

Add the almond-powdered sugar-cocoa mix to the eggs and mix. This is where it can get a bit tricky. Obviously the almond-mix should get completely incorporated within the egg whites, however you usually need to mix it a bit more. I usually pick up a bit of the batter with a spatula and if it falls down in a ribbon like shape it is ready and should not be mixed anymore. Mix it too much and you get flat macarons.

Pour the batter into a piping bag with a round tip and pipe the batter onto baking trays prepared with baking sheets. Now it is important to let the piped to-be macarons rest on the baking trays in room temperature for about an hour. I know you're eager to see how they turn out, but the resting of the macarons is super important, because the surface dries a bit and that makes them not loose their shape when they are baked, and it enables the feet to come out when baked (if the anatomy of a macaron is a mystery to you, I highly recommend googling it, but below a photo follows to explain some things).

After the macarons have rested for about an hour in room temperature, bake them at 150°C for about 14 minutes.

Let the macaron shells cool completely before you fill them with ganache. For my ganache recipe click here.

I also painted my macaron shells with a bit of edible gold, just so that they would look a wee bit more luxurious.

And that, my friends, is really all there is to it!
I hope you enjoy this recipe.

Much love,
Mona

Saffron wreath

Hello all,
In the week leading up to Christmas I get in an incredibly "bakey" mood. All I want to do is bake, eat and sing christmas songs. I thought I'd share some photos and the how-to of a baked wreath that I made, that was a major success at work and in the family. I'm personally very pleased with it, if I may say so myself.

The dough is the traditional Swedish saffron bun dough, that I shared last Christmas on the blog (here). This saffron wreath is made super luxurious though, by adding not only the gold of the world of spices, but also almond paste, orange zest, raisins, pistachios and cranberries. I garnish the whole thing with chopped pistachios and cranberries giving it a look of true christmas jewels bedazzling the wreath.

Without further ado...

Saffron wreath

INGREDIENTS

• 5 dl milk
• 50 grams fresh yeast
• 1,5 dl sugar
• 2 grams saffron
• ~14 dl flour
• 100+50 grams butter
• 200 grams almond paste
• 60 grams pre-shelled raw (unsalted) pistachios
• 60 grams raisins
• 40 grams cranberries
• Zest of 1 orange
• Cinnamon
• 1 egg

DIRECTIONS

Melt 100 grams of the butter in a pan together with the milk. Let it reach 37°C. Solve the yeast in the milk and butter mixture, then add the sugar. Solve the saffron in 1 tablespoon warm water, and the add it to the rest. Add the flour, you might not need all of the flour so add it in additions. When the dough isn't super sticky anymore and releases from the bowl it is saturated for flour. Cover and let prove for 1 hour, until the dough is twice as big.

Whilst waiting for the dough you can grate the almond paste, chop the pistachios, raisins and cranberries, and zest the orange. Save a bit of the pistachios and cranberries for garnish.

Divide the dough into two equal balls. Roll out the ball to a rectangle with a rolling pin to about 1 cm thickness. Spread half of the rest of the butter (25 grams) onto the rectangle and then add half of the almond paste, pistachios, raisins, cranberries and zest of the orange on top of the butter. Press the fillings into the dough a bit. Sprinkle cinnamon on top of the rest of the fillings.

Roll the rectangle up on its long side and bring the two ends together, forming a circle. Press the ends to each other so they stick. Then cut slices in the circle with scissors, you're just cutting about halfway through the roll. Do this at an angle and then turn the cut in the opposite direction. I've added photos (and a gif) of these steps as I'm terrible at describing it.

Do this all along the circle creating a beautiful wreath. Put the wreath on parchment paper and cover and let prove for another hour. Before baking give the wreaths an egg wash and garnish with the left over pistachios and cranberries. Bake at 200°C for 15-20 minutes at the lowest part of your oven.

I really think this is the most decadent you can go while steering clear from chocolate. Pistachios, cranberries and the gold - saffron! Oh this is such a heavenly bit of baking!

I just baked this for the second time this year (so my fourth wreath of the year) and I am still head-over-heels for it!

I hope you all enjoy the recipe and if I don't blog again before Christmas I want to take the opportunity and wish all of you a very Happy Christmas!

Take care and spread joy!
Much love,