Festive Choco-Spiced Macaron to celebrate the end of 2010!

2010 came and going to end so soon.

I could hardly make myself believe that 2010 is really going to end in 2 weeks time!! 2010 was a year that I had always looked forward to for our honeymoon in last September. Time passes so fast and everything arrived and finished in a blink.

2010 has been a memorable year for me. We brought home 2 rabbits earlier in the year - Myrtille and Réglisse (Blueberry & Licorice). They had brought us so much and by observing them we learn a lot. They also had opened my heart and eyes in a new window. I was always preferred to ignore or deny, well should I say, wasn't even awared of animal cruelty in everything I use in daily life. I am now a lot more concious about this issue and make my choice when doing my shopping very carefully.

Our honeymoon in Australia also brought me many great precious memories that I will cherish for the rest of my life : Cuddling up an orphan baby wombat, being in complete wilderness with only sound of the ocean, watching stars in southern sky with plenty of wild wallabies eating next to us....

2010 is definitely a year when my life goes into a whole new dimension. Oh well, it's soon time to say good bye to 2010, so let's do that by celebrating it!!

Enough story telling and now straight to the macs. they're inspired by the end of year 'Pain d'Epice' (spiced bread) for Festival of St Nicolas celebrated in north part of France & Europe in 6 Dec everywhere.

The savour of the chocolate : hint of cinnamon & orange zest, top up with candied nutmeg that I brought back from Malaysia. I hope you'll like it.

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I won't repeat the recipe for the shells in this post since the method is always them same. The only difference is that I painted them with help of a pre-cut shape paper when the macarons are baked.

For the Choco Spiced Ganache

Ingredients

1. 50g dark chocolate (chopped up)

2. 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder
3. 2 tablespoon of fresh cream

4. enough candied nutmeg (I use 2 small pcs for each macs)

5. shaved organic orange zest (please use ONLY untreated orange as most fruits skin are sprayed with pesticide)

Method

1. In a small pot, over low heat, add in cinnamon, orange zest & cream, warm up the mixture up lightly

2. When the mixture is warm enough, remove from heat. Add in chocolate and stir constantly until a smooth texture is obtained

3. Let sit in room temperature for 30min - 1 hour to cool down.

4. Fill your macaron shells and top up with candied nutmeg before closing it with another shell

Enjoy your festive macs!

I'd like to take this opportunity to thanks every followers in my blog and all others that spend time to visit my blog. Special thanks to MacTweets for making baking macarons so much fun every month!!!

Have a Merry Xmas and wonderful New Year!! See you all in 2011

Coco-Passion Fruit Macaron

Hello all,

First of all if you have been following my blog, sorry for not posting anything for a while, and thank you all so much for your kind comments and supports.

It has been few weeks since I am back from our honeymoon trip to the DownUnder and Malaysia. I have been procastinating many things since I was back. Firstly I am really tired from the jetleg, secondly, my head was so full with preparing another wedding in Malaysia next year.

So anyhow, I am back. Back to the MACTWEETS Challange. Theme this month - Autumn.

Well it feels almost like winter now = we're forcasting snow in North East of France in coming days!

I hope that you enjoy your autumn and this entry :)



FOR THE MACARON SHELL
1 room temperatured egg white(39-40g)
50g icing sugar
30g ground almond
30g castor sugar
1/4 teaspoon of yellow colouring powder + 1/2 teaspoon of white metallic food colouring powder


Method:
1. Put ground almond, and icing sugar in a food processor or a small blender. Blend them finely.

2. Sift the blended mixture and set aside

3. With an electric beater, Beat the egg white, start from low speed and increase slowly to maximum speed. Beat until frothy (you will see lots of fine bubbles)

4. Now it's the time to add in the castor sugar, add half of the sugar, continue to beat in maximum speed for around 2 minutes, add in the other half, continue until you get very stiff peak.

5. Mix the dry ingredients into the egg whites. This process is called Macaronage. Start folding with a rubber spatula. Mix just roughly combine.

6. Scoop out a spoonful of macaron mixture into a small bowl, add in red colouring, fold till mix. Set aside

7. Continue to mix the white mixture until you obtain a smooth lava flow batter.

8. When you get smooth shiny mixture, stop folding, lift the mixture with spatula, if the mixture falls back slowly in the bowl means you're good to go. You could also check if the lines formed from the lifted mixture, they should slowly disappear in within 30 seconds. At this stage you're good to go. Do not over fold, it will be too liquid and becoming very hard to pipe.
if you're unsure, you could refer to my basic macaron recipe as a guide HERE


9. Pipe the macaron on a baking sheet over baking tray. Hit the bottom of the baking tray with your hand to flatted out the macarons slightly.

10. Let your macarons sit for about 30minutes. This will depend on the humidity in your house and the day. Try touching the macaron softly, after 30mins. it should not stick to your hand.

11. Heat your oven to 150 C on the (heating on the top only). When the oven is ready, put your macaron at the very bottom shelf. Bake for 12 minutes, check them in the mid time of 6 minutes, the feets should already start forming. Turn the baking tray to the opposite direction to allow even baking. When the 6 mins is up, change the heating setting of your oven to Bottom only. Reduce heat to 130 C. This will help cooking the macaron and rise the feet more. Bake for another 6 8 minutes.

You can test if the macaron is cook, touch softly on the shell and when the macaron doesn't slide on the feet, it's cooked. if it's not add another 1 mins each time and check.
Bewared that white colour macarons turn 'brown' easily, if doubt the oven is too hot, reduce the heat and prolong the cooking time by minute.

(This is the method i found the best that works for me after few trial and error. I baked with heating the oven top and bottom and i had crack macarons. Having said that, every oven is slightly different than another, so please adjust accordingly)


13. Let the macaron cool down. Mean while preparing your food colouring. Mix both colours together in a small bowl with a fod painting brush. Drip 1-2 drops of water and mix well. (Beware do not mix it too wet, if not it will humidify your macaron shells and they might break)

14. Paint top of the macaron with the brush. If the mixture is too wet, add more colouring, if too dry, add 1 drop of water each time)

Funny bottom, they're shiny as a result of using silicone sheet (this was the first time I used it)

15. Make sure your macarons are completely cooled before removing them. You could wet your working area and slide the baking sheet on it to speed up the cooling process, but do not let it sit there too long, if not the macarons will become soggy. Other wise you can leave them cool at room temperature and remove them.





For the Coco-Passion Fruit Ganache

Ingredients

1. 60g white chocolate
2. 2 tablespoon of dried shreded coconut
3. 2 passionfruits
4. 1 teaspoon of fresh cream


Methods

1. Empty the passion fruits and put the fruit pulps in a blender. Blend it up until you get a smooth fruit jus.

2. Pass the jus through the sift to remove any seeds and impurities.

3. Chop the white chocolate coarsely.

4. Adding the fresh cream in the pot, along with the passion fruit jus. Warm it up over low heat.

5. When the jus is warm enough, add in the white chocolate, mix until it's melted and a smooth texture is obtained. Remove from heat and finally add in the shreded coconut and mix well.

6. Let cool completely before ganishing your macaron shells

7. After finish piping all the macarons, pop them in an air tight container. Leave them in refrigerator overnight. You could keep the macarons up to 48 hours in the fridge. if not consumed, freeze them up. Because after 48 hours they will lose the texture.

8. Take them out of the fridge 20 mins prior eating.Enjoy!

Macaron with Raspberry with Dried Cherry

This month MacTweet Challange is Childhood Summer. Well during my childhood I have 365 or 366 days a year of summer. Even during the monsoon season,the temperature rarely goes below 20 C.

See, I am from a tropical island called Penang located in north of Malaysia. So I actually have no particular things that I'd do during 'summer' like kids would in 4 seasons countries.

I grew up following dad going to fish, making sand castle on the beach, eating out on the streets, going to night market with mom... simple life.

So I thought of making something that dedicated to where I spend most of my life in - my kaampung (homeland),Malaysia. A few days ago it was Malaysia's 53 Birthday, so I am using the national flower - hibiscus, as my inspiration. Well, the hibicus doesnt look like one but, anyhow that's the best I could do

I leave the macaron shells white to signify purity and innocence of childhood, red as symbol of love for my beloved far away homeland.




FOR THE MACARON SHELL
1 room temperatured egg white(39-40g)
50g icing sugar
30g ground almond
30g castor sugar
1/4 teaspoon red food colouring


Method:
1. Put ground almond, and icing sugar in a food processor or a small blender. Blend them finely.

2. Sift the blended mixture and set aside

3. With an electric beater, Beat the egg white, start from low speed and increase slowly to maximum speed. Beat until frothy (you will see lots of fine bubbles)

4. Now it's the time to add in the castor sugar, add half of the sugar, continue to beat in maximum speed for around 2 minutes, add in the other half, continue until you get very stiff peak.

5. Mix the dry ingredients into the egg whites. This process is called Macaronage. Start folding with a rubber spatula. Mix just roughly combine.

6. Scoop out a spoonful of macaron mixture into a small bowl, add in red colouring, fold till mix. Set aside

7. Continue to mix the white mixture until you obtain a smooth lava flow batter.

8. When you get smooth shiny mixture, stop folding, lift the mixture with spatula, if the mixture falls back slowly in the bowl means you're good to go. You could also check if the lines formed from the lifted mixture, they should slowly disappear in within 30 seconds. At this stage you're good to go. Do not over fold, it will be too liquid and becoming very hard to pipe.
if you're unsure, you could refer to my basic macaron recipe as a guide HERE


9. Pipe the macaron on a baking sheet over baking tray. Hit the bottom of the baking tray with your hand to flatted out the macarons slightly.




10. Using another piping bag with a small nozzle, pour in the red coloured mixture. Carefully draw 5 petals on the shells.

11. Tap the bottom of the baking tray so the red mixture sits into the white one.

12. Let your macarons sit for about 30minutes. This will depend on the humidity in your house and the day. Try touching the macaron softly, after 30mins. it should not stick to your hand.

13. Heat your oven to 150 C on the (heating on the top only). When the oven is ready, put your macaron at the very bottom shelf. Bake for 12 minutes, check them in the mid time of 6 minutes, the feets should already start forming. Turn the baking tray to the opposite direction to allow even baking. When the 6 mins is up, change the heating setting of your oven to Bottom only. Reduce heat to 130 C. This will help cooking the macaron and rise the feet more. Bake for another 6 8 minutes.

You can test if the macaron is cook, touch softly on the shell and when the macaron doesn't slide on the feet, it's cooked. if it's not add another 1 mins each time and check.
Bewared that white colour macarons turn 'brown' easily, if doubt the oven is too hot, reduce the heat and prolong the cooking time by minute.

(This is the method i found the best that works for me after few trial and error. I baked with heating the oven top and bottom and i had crack macarons. Having said that, every oven is slightly different than another, so please adjust accordingly)


14. Let the macaron cool down before removing them. You could wet your working area and slide the baking sheet on it to speed up the cooling process, but do not let it sit there too long, if not the macarons will become soggy. Other wise you can leave them cool at room temperature and remove them.





For the Rasberry Ganache and Dried Cherry Filling

Ingredients

1. 60g white chocolate
2. 20g of fresh / frozen raspberriess (if frozen defroze it before hand)
3. 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
4. about 6 dried cherry, cut into half.

Methods

1. In a small pot over low heat add in raspberries and lemonjuice, smash the raspberries as you stir, making a puree.

2. when you get the puree, place it in blender cup and mix it up with the blender ( to blend up the seeds)

3. Pass the raspberry mixture through a sift, to get smooth pure puree. Then put it back on the small pot and warm it slightly.

4. Add in white chocolate into the raspberry mixture, remove from heat. Stir till well combined and chocolate is completely melted.

5. Let cool in room temperature.

6. Fill up the macaron shell with ganache, top up with half dried cherry, then close with another macaron shell.

7. After finish piping all the macarons, pop them in an air tight container. Leave them in refrigerator overnight. You could keep the macarons up to 48 hours in the fridge. if not consumed, freeze them up. Because after 48 hours they will lose the texture.

8. Take them out of the fridge 20 mins prior eating.Enjoy!

Orange Zest Dark Chocolate Ganache macarons

Hello all, firstly I'd like to apologise for not updating the blog for a while. Somehow time flies even when I'm doing nothing much in particular. However, I had been very busy looking for venue, decorator for my wedding in Malaysia next month. I am just glad that with internet these days, most of the stuffs could be arranged and looked after.

Anyhow I had been baking but just been super lazy to blog. Blame the weather - change of pressure from one day hot one day cold weather isn't helping.

So, here is some Orange Zest Dark Chocolate Ganache macarons that I have baked few weeks back. I am not going to post up the recipe here as it's very classical. The ganache is made by melting 50g dark chocolate in 3 tablespoon of orange juice and the orange zest is added for the extra twist. Hope you will like it

Lady Gaga Telephone Inspired Macaron - Mac Attack 9 : Sing a song

A song, well I just can't get Telephone by Lady Gaga & Beyonce from the first time I listened to it. I love the clip, the use of bold colours, the concept and the storyline, it's different and this just make it so memorable. So I created some macs using the similar bold colours used in the clip. Primary colours - red, yellow and blue.

And don't worry it's not poisonous - proof is that my husband is still alive hehehe..:)

So here we go - the recipe

FOR THE MACARON SHELL
2 room temperatured egg white(80g total)
100g icing sugar
60g ground almond
60g castor sugar
1 tsp red powder food colouring
1 tsp yellow powder food colouring
1 tsp blue powder food colouring

Tools:
1. Big piping bag with a noozle no.8 placed inside.
2. 3 small size freezer bags, fold the bottom up to a side, then staple, making a piping bag. Repeat for all 3 bags.
3. 2 extra mixing bowls
4. 2 extra rubber spatulas


Method:
1. Put ground almond and icing sugar in a food processor or a small blender. Blend them finely.

2. Sift the blended mixture and set aside

3. With an electric beater, Beat the egg white, start from low speed and increase slowly to maximum speed. Beat until frothy (you will see lots of fine bubbles)

4. Now it's the time to add in the castor sugar, add half of the sugar, continue to beat in maximum speed for around 2 minutes, add in the other half, continue until you get very stiff peak.

5. Mix the dry ingredients into the egg whites. Just roughly combine them, because we'll seperate them in 3 parts later.

6. Divide the mixture into 3 parts - this mean you have to scoop out 1/3 of the mixture for each extra mixing bowl you have prepared earlier.

7. Now put in the yellow colouring into one bowl. Start folding

8. When you get smooth shiny mixture, stop folding, lift the mixture with spatula, if the mixture falls back slowly in the bowl means you're good to go. You could also check if the lines formed from the lifted mixture, they should slowly disappear in within 30 seconds. At this stage you're good to go. Do not over fold, it will be too liquid and becoming very hard to pipe.
if you're unsure, you could refer to my basic macaron recipe as a guide HERE

8. Do the same for the other two bowls of mixture with red and blue colourings.

9. Fill each freezer bag with each colour. Snip off the head of the freezer bags.


10. Carefully, place all 3 bags inside the bug piping bag. you might want to readjust accordingly so all 3 bags are about at the same level in the bag to make sure 3 colours flow out at the same time during the piping process. The first few macarons might have inconsistant colours, but it should go better as you pipe.











This month the Mac Tweet challange is to create macaron inspired by a song. I had been on and off doing many other stuff this month so I'm late! Just manage to get some macarons bake on the very last day to submit my entry.


11. Let your macarons sit for about 30minutes. This will depend on the humidity in your house and the day. Try touching the macaron softly, after 30mins. it should not stick to your hand.

12. Heat your oven to 150 C on the (heating on the top only). When the oven is ready, put your macaron at the very bottom shelf. Bake for 12 minutes, check them in the mid time of 6 minutes, the feets should already start forming. Turn the baking tray to the opposite direction to allow even baking. When the 6 mins is up, change the heating setting of your oven to Bottom only. This will help cooking the macaron and rise the feet more. Bake for another 6 minutes. You can test if the macaron is cook, touch softly on the shell and when the macaron doesn't slide on the feet, it's cooked. if it's not add another 1 mins each time and check.

(This is the method i found the best that works for me after few trial and error. I baked with heating the oven top and bottom and i had crack macarons. Having said that, every oven is slightly different than another, so please adjust accordingly

14. Let the macaron cool down before removing them. You could wet your working area and slide the baking sheet on it to speed up the cooling process, but do not let it sit there too long, if not the macarons will become soggy. Other wise you can leave them cool at room temperature and remove them.




Raspberry, Blueberry White Chocolate Ganache with hint of Rose

Ingredients
60g white chocolate (fiinely chopped)
70g fresh or frozen mix of raspberrie and blueberries
(If you use frozen fruits, bring them out prior to let them defroze)
1 tbsp rose water

Methods

1. In a medium pot boil some water.

2. Put white chocolate in the heat proof bowl, the let it sit over the pot with boiling water.

3. Stir until the chocolate is melted

4. With a hand mixer, blend the fruits to get the pulp. Then filter them with a sift with a help of a spoon, to remove any seeds that is left for a smooth texture.

5. Put the fruit pulp into a small pot, gently warm it up over medium heat, stir constantly.

6. When it's warm enough, pour it over the white chocolate. Then stir until the mixture is well combine and all chocolate is melted completely.

7. Leave to room temperature then in the fridge for at lease 2 hours for th ganache to harden up slightly.

8. When it's ready, pipe it on the macaron shells.

9. The mcarons are best eatiing 24 hours later. Bring them out of the fridge 10 minutes prior to fully enjoy the flavour.