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

Match made in heaven

Hello all,
Hope you're doing great!

I want to share with you a baking "experiment" if you will. It's not really novel in any way, but for me it was quite exciting because it was the first time I made this dough.

I baked éclairs!

Éclairs are these delicious little pastry made with choux dough, or pâte à choux, which is a dough that you cook. Yeah, you heard me. You cook the dough, and instead of a raising agent, the steam incorporated into the dough helps it poof up!

I've only ever tried éclairs once when I was in London, and bought a chocolate éclair from Ladurée. It was delicious, but I don't feel like it prepared me for the adventure of baking my own.

I decided to take the vanilla route myself, but then added chocolate ganache on top as a glaze. Yummy and a match made in heaven in my opinion - but apparently not something you'd do classically as a pâtissière, I was informed by a French friend. I have started rebelling lately after my quiet and calm adolescent years, so I'll put it down to that.

I've split up the recipe into two parts. One for the actual pastry dough, and one for the vanilla pastry cream that goes into it. For the chocolate ganache that goes on top click here.

Chocolate and Vanilla Éclairs

Recipe adapted from Joy of Baking.

Choux Pastry

INGREDIENTS

• 65 grams flour
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated white sugar
• 55 grams butter, cut into pieces
• 120 ml water
• 2 eggs

DIRECTIONS

Preheat your oven to 200°C.

Whisk the flour and sugar together. Bring the water and butter to a boil in a saucepan. Remove from heat and the add in the flour+sugar mix. Return to heat and keep mixing until the dough comes away from the sides of the saucepan and forms a ball. Pour the dough into a mixing bowl and beat for about one minutes to let some of the steam rise away. Once the dough has cooled a little (it's still warm to the touch) add the eggs. Beat until the dough becomes a smooth, thick paste. Pour the dough into a piping bag and pipe oblongs, about 2 cm wide, and however long you want them to be. I made small ones of about 8 cm. Bake for 15 minutes, and then reduce the heat to 180°C and bake for another 25 minutes.

Pastry Cream

INGREDIENTS

• 300 ml milk
• One vanilla pod
• 3 egg yolks
• 50 grams granulated white sugar
• 20 grams flour
• 15 grams cornstarch

DIRECTIONS

Scrape out the seeds in the vanilla pod and add that as well as the actual pod to a saucepan containing the milk. Bring the milk just to a boil.

Mix the sugar and egg yolks together. Mix the flour and cornstarch together and then add the egg mixture to it.

Remove the milk from heat (remove the vanilla pod) and add to the egg mixture whisking constantly. Then pour everything back into a saucepan and cook until boiling, whisking all the while. As it comes to a boil, let it continue for about a minute as the cream thickens up. Pour the cream in a clean bowl and cover the surface with plastic film. Let cool to room temperature and then refrigerate.

Assembly

Before filling the oblongs with pastry cream, dip the prettier side of the oblong in chocolate ganache. Let it dry for a couple of minutes and then you can either cut each oblong into two halves and add pastry cream in the middle. I used a piping bag and filled it with the pastry cream and then stuck the tip into the uncut oblong and pressed the pastry cream into it. It's a bit trickier, but it looks neater. I also added some 23 karat edible gold leaves as decoration to make it even fancier. I got my gold from the Etsy shop Layer Cake Shop (here).

Hope you all have a lovely day!

Much love,

Morning memories

Hello to all you lovely people, and good morning (it's morning somewhere in the world).
A new day has started and as many others, mornings are my worst time of the day. For some reason I can never seem to wake up feeling well rested. I am always a little (usually a lot) tired in the mornings. My bed is more comfortable in the early hours of the day, and it's like there is a glue that is sticking me to my bed. I have severe problems actually getting out of bed, even if I'm looking forward to the day ahead. I do suffer from an autoimmune hormonal disease that does make me more tired and sleepy, so while it might be my disease, I also find that my bed might have some sort of a special power over me. Am I the only one? Or is this something others feel too?

One way to make mornings a little nicer is by having something a little bit special for breakfast. I'm not a breakfast person, I'm usually not hungry in the mornings and simply start my day with a fruit, but having something freshly baked in the morning makes breakfast all the more enjoyable.

I recently attempted (and I daresay succeeded) in making Madeleines, which is a french sponge cake often eaten for breakfast. The Madeleines are made in special Madeleine pans giving one side of the Madeleines their unique scalloped shell shape. The other side is paler and smooth with a hump.

The Madeleine has slightly crispy edges but a soft sponge-like centre and usually tastes mildly of lemon and vanilla. They melt like butter in your mouth and disappear within an instant in my household. They were made famous by Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past (In Search of Lost Time).

"The sight of the little madeleine had recalled nothing to my mind before I tasted it."

Madeleines

Recipe adapted from Joy of Baking

INGREDIENTS

• 115 grams butter, melted
• 130 grams flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 100 grams sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest

DIRECTIONS

Melt the butter, but keep it warm.

Beat eggs and sugar until thick and pale. Add the vanilla and lemon zest. Sift and fold in the flour in 3 additions. Add the warm melted butter and stir until just mixed together, do not over mix it. Cover and refrigerate the batter for at least 1-2 hours, preferably over night. 

Preheat oven to 190°C. Grease moulds with melted butter and dust with flour, tapping out the excess. Add about a tablespoon of the batter into each of the shell-shaped moulds. Bake for about 8 to 11 minutes, until edges are golden brown. They are best served the day you make them.

I hope you have a lovely morning with something sweet to bring out your best memories.

Much love,

Bonjour Paris

I've always wanted to see Paris, one of my many dreams is to go one day. I'd sing Bonjour Paris like Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire did in Funny Face, and dance around the streets in happiness.

There is something about Paris that has always intrigued me, and it seems like the most wonderful and beautiful place. It's no better that many of the films I adore are set in Paris. Funny Face, An American in Paris, Amélie, A Midnight in Paris and An Education (one scene, the best scene, is in Paris). If you've seen An Education you know that Carey Mulligan's character Jenny is as enthusiastic about Paris as I am. She, as well as I, want to consume everything that has anything to do with Paris. At one point in the film she says: "And I'm going to Paris, and I'm going to smoke and wear black, and listen to Jacques Brel, and I won't speak. Ever. C'est plus chic comme ça."
Don't smoke though. Smoking kills, one cigarette is enough for potentially harmful genetic changes (more on that in another post). Be smart - don't smoke.

It is unfortunate that the 1960's Paris is the where and when that I would most like to visit. I want to get swept away by avant garde culture and listen to chanson singers and great philosophers in cafés. Regrettably I don't have a time machine or a Tardis. Anyway, "I know I will go one day", but for now this Miss Patina dress makes me feel like a Parisienne in the 60's. C'est tres chic.

Outfit:

Dress - Miss Patina (sold out in navy, but available here and here in other colours)

Beret - ModCloth (sold out, similar by Larmoni here)