I love making macarons. Seriously. Now that I am comfortable with the process and have a few successes under my belt, I just really love it. Plus, the end result is so very tasty.
My latest macaron making adventure was inspired by MacTweets, which has issued a Valentine’s Day theme for this round of macarons. When I think of Valentines, I think of pink and red hues, so I decided to run with those colors and see what would happen.
A sweet treat for your Valentine!
For this challenge I ditched the ground almond meal from Trader Joe’s that I have been using, as it contains the almond skins. While the skins don’t affect the overall taste of the macs, it definitely creates a different look. Instead I used blanched raw almonds, ground them myself with a bit of the requisite powdered sugar, and strained out large pieces. However, I didn’t strain it to only include the powder. My macs still had a little texture to them.
Once my macaron batter was prepared, I separated it into two bowls so that I could add all-natural food coloring to one of the bowls. The result was a white macaron batter and a pretty pink macaron batter. However, strangely enough, when the macs baked, all the shells looked very much the same. Beige and pinky beige. After I took them off the sheet pans and mixed them together, I could honestly no longer tell which had food coloring. So, I will be trying that again, with more food coloring, I guess.
This left me with only the filling to color. I had in mind some kind of raspberry puree or jam for the middle layer, but I wasn’t quite sure how to pull it off. Truth be known, I was being too lazy to go online and find a suitable recipe. So, I simple blended together puree from my freezer, some powdered sugar and salt. Lots of salt. Too much salt. The macarons that resulted looked, in my husband’s opinion, like tiny candy hamburgers. You be the judge.
These are real macarons, not gummi hamburgers!
Having ganache in my fridge at all times, I resorted to putting that in some of the macarons, but I will declare here and now that I do not prefer dark chocolate in my plain macarons. It overpowers the delicate almond flavor of the pastry. While I will eat chocolate any other time, I will no longer fill my macs with it. Unless of course they are dark chocolate cocoa macarons or somesuch thing.
This left me with one option. I had a little dollop of cream cheese frosting left over from a batch of cinnamon rolls made about a week or so before I made the macarons. I added a few drops of the raspberry puree to that and came away with a lovely, tangy filling which interplayed nicely with the almond macaron. It was neither too sweet nor too fruity. And, in the spirit of all that is Valentine’s Day, it was a lovely light shade of pink (not at all reminiscent of hamburger meat!)
macaron with raspberry cream cheese filling
Here are several things I pondered in my baking and filling.
- The drier the batter, the more proper the feet. My batter, especially with the food coloring, was a little on the loose side, resulting in my wildly splayed “feet.” I will work toward reducing the wet ingredients in my next batch to address this.
- Undercooked macarons leave a dome shape to be filled with extra filling (if you want it to press out nicely along the edges of the feet). This can result in TOO MUCH FILLING. A small schmear is called for, nothing more.
- I prefer a salty filling, but my first attempt at a salty raspberry filling was overboard. Without the balancing addition of salt, macarons can be just too sweet. I’m shooting for a salted caramel filling for the next go round, but that will also depend on the MacTweets challenge.
- I went back to whipping the egg whites with my stick blender (whip attachment) and this worked just fine. I started with the whisk turned off, and hand-whipped for 30 seconds to break up the whites and start incorporating air. Then I turned the blender on and ended up with a suitably whipped egg white.
Can’t wait for the next installment. For more luscious looking macarons, visit the MacTweets website!
Oh, and as always, remember to visit TasteStopping to see what rejected photos we publish next! Better yet, submit your own photos (rejected or fresh content to the Drive-Thru).
Growing up across the river from Canada, it is not surprising that I developed a lasting affection for the sport of hockey, the handy ability to remain calm when driving through twenty inches of snow, and the endearing habit of throwing in an occasional “eh” at the end of my sentences. I have not lived in my hometown for over fifteen years, and yet, all of these traits remain an integral part of who I am. And, yes, I still consider myself to be part Canadian.
When this month’s Daring Bakers Challenge was announced, my affinity for all things Canadian was tested just a little. A beloved Canadian dessert, the Nanaimo Bar, had been selected. Mind you, I have never made, nor eaten, a Nanaimo Bar, a fact which comes in direct conflict with everything I wrote in my opening. However, as the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver approach , it seemed such a fitting choice for this month’s challenge that I was willing to overlook how un-Canadian it may prove me to be.
The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca. It is pronounced nah-NYE-moh, though my husband and I quickly abandoned that in favor of calling it the “Nanook of the North” bar, or Nanook for short.
Nanaimo Bars, or as we started calling them, Nanook Bars
Reading through the recipe, I didn’t realize how much like a mixture of cake and pie this dessert truly is. The major players of the bottom crust are crushed graham crackers, coconut (which I omitted), chopped almonds, cocoa and butter. The middle layer is basically buttercream, with the addition of some custard powder (or in my case, the equivalent measurement of Trader Joe’s Vanilla Pudding Mix). Over all of that one finds a quite ordinary chocolate ganache layer.
The only actual baking in this challenge came from creating homemade graham crackers, and for this alone I am happy to have participated in this month’s challenge. I did not make mine gluten free, as was encouraged by Lauren, the host. I wasn’t motivated to buy the extra (gluten-free) flours required to make gluten free graham crackers, because it simply doesn’t fit my MO right now, which is to say, no extraneous ingredients crowding my pantry. But the graham crackers I chose to make were fantastic. Easy to assemble, easy to roll out, easy to cut and easy to bake. My kids will tell you, they are also easy to eat! If you can make a sugar cookie, you can make a homemade graham cracker.
Once the graham crackers are baked and cooled, assembling the Nanaimo Bars is a matter of creating the chocolate-coconut-cracker-almond crust and pressing it into a pan, whipping together the buttercream layer and pressing it onto the crust, then topping the whole thing with a cooled melted chocolate ganache mixture.
To me, the end result is pleasant enough. My older daughter tried it and proclaimed, “This ROCKS, mom.” I’ll take that as a compliment. My husband is downstairs at this very moment lamenting the disappearance of the last of the Nanaimo Bars. Safe to say he liked them, too. Considering the ease with which one can make the basic model of Nanaimo Bar, it is something every dessert lover may want to try once. In fact, I might be tempted to make it again, if only to use up the remaining homemade graham crackers that I baked.
However, this is not my perfect dessert. Hubs is convinced that I need to add the requisite coconut to the crust to attain the proper texture. But I do not care for packaged coconut, so this would really only serve to prevent me from fully embracing this dessert. Plus, I make a three-layer chocolate cake with layers of buttercream frosting and a coating of ganache that is, in my mind, much more worthy of the splurge of calories. I think that the first layer (the crust) is too similar in texture and taste to the other layers, without adding any nuance or saltiness or outstanding crunch, and therefore leaves the whole bar cloyingly sweet. I keep a container of vanilla buttercream on hand in my fridge most of the time, and eating a piece of the Nanaimo Bar felt distinctly like I had been dipping into that container, albeit with a chocolate coated spoon.
In the end, I guess I am just not pseudo-Canadian enough to totally fall for the Nanaimo Bar. Perhaps when I open my own bakery/cafe, I should consider serving this, if only to add some international flare to the place!
Homemade Graham Wafers
Ingredients
2 1/4 c (303 g) unbleached flour
1 cup (200 g) (7.1 ounces) Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
1 teaspoon (5 mL) Baking soda
3/4 teaspoon (4 mL ) Kosher Salt
7 tablespoons (100 g) (3 ½ ounces) Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
1/3 cup (80 mL) Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover.
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Whole Milk
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Pure Vanilla Extract
Directions:
1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.
2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.
3. Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.
4. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of sweet rice flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.
5. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
6. Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.
7. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.
8. Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.
9. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.
Nanaimo Bars
Ingredients:
For Nanaimo Bars — Bottom Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)
1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)
For Nanaimo Bars — Middle Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar
For Nanaimo Bars — Top Layer
4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter
Directions:
1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.
3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.
The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.
For weeks now I have been trying to figure out a way to do justice to this month’s Daring Bakers Challenge. I was planning to make a gingerbread house with my two girls during the holiday season. However, were it not for the Daring Bakers Challenge aspect of the project, it would have been abandoned. Why? Not because it is hard, not because it is time-consuming, not because of all the candy I bought that they will now consume. It is not for any of those reasons, and also for all of those reasons.
The house was not hard to make, per se, it’s just that it requires working in stages. So, the 7-13 hour time commitment is no joke, but for me that was spread out over several weeks. Naturally, by the end of it, I am somewhat annoyed with and sick of the gingerbread house sitting on my kitchen table. At the same time, it is the most beautiful and fun creation I have possibly ever made, factoring in the help from my daughters, their neighborhood BFF, my husband and my father. Yes, my parents happened to be visiting when I decided to do the baking portion of the challenge, and I put my father to work creating the template (which I took from The All-American Cookie Book, a fabulous tome by Nancy Baggett). Had not each of these people helped me out at some point along the way–the girls decorating, my husband helping me glue and support different parts of the structure, and my father precisely measuring and cutting out the design–this house would never have been made.
Perhaps my frustration lies in that fact: this was not a Daring Bakers Challenge, but a Daring Baker and her entire family challenge. It could also have something to do with the fact that this time of year is insanely busy for any normal person. Add a cookie business to the general holiday mayhem, and a gingerbread house may just put one over the edge. My father chuckles as he fondly refers to this project as my “death wish.”
Without any further ado, I bring you some photos of this gorgeous gingerbread house that perhaps only a mother (or Willy Wonka) could love.
The template for the front and back of the house, cut out of a file folder.
Two roof panels, and the back of the house, decorated by my daughters and one of their friends. In retrospect, adding candy after gluing the structure together may have been wise.
Here is the complete house, with portico, chimney, marshmallow smoke and snow, and gingerbread man.
"Did you hurt yourself when you fell out of heaven?"
Below is the recipe for the dough, given out by Anna, and adapted from Good Housekeeping. I found it to be extremely dry when I mixed it together, resembling sand. To remedy this, I simply added heavy cream until I thought it was moist enough to hold together. The end product was fine, although even more heavy cream would have been fine, too, and probably would have helped in the rolling stage, which was quite difficult. Also, I used my Hobart 10 quart mixer to do this. I cannot imagine anyone having success assembling this dough either by hand or with a 4 or 5 quart KitchenAid mixer. There is simply too much dough. Perhaps divide the quantities in half to solve this problem. And finally, I used the Royal Icing recipe also found in Nancy Baggett’s book. I like that her recipe calls for the addition of lemon juice rather than vinegar, as a matter of taste (literally). I found it to be easy to work with, and well-sealed it lasted for over a week in the fridge. She also provides a recipe for creating royal icing that looks the color of the gingerbread itself, thus masking any messes that might come up. Perhaps after the holidays I will edit this post to include that, because it is a nice trick to have up one’s sleeve.
(And don’t forget to visit my other labor of love, TasteStopping if you’re looking for more great photos, recipes, blogs and ideas.)
Anna’s Recipe:
Spicy Gingerbread Dough (from Good Housekeeping) http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipefinder/spicy-gingerbread-dough-157…
2 1/2 cups (500g) packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups (360mL) heavy cream or whipping cream
1 1/4 cups (425g) molasses
9 1/2 cups (1663g) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon(s) baking soda
1 tablespoon(s) ground ginger
1. In very large bowl, with wire whisk (or with an electric mixer), beat brown sugar, cream, and molasses until sugar lumps dissolve and mixture is smooth. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and ginger. With spoon, stir flour mixture into cream mixture in 3 additions until dough is too stiff to stir, then knead with hands until flour is incorporated and dough is smooth.
2. Divide dough into 4 equal portions; flatten each into a disk to speed chilling. Wrap each disk well with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until dough is firm enough to roll.
3. Grease and flour large cookie sheets (17-inch by 14-inch/43×36cm)
4. Roll out dough, 1 disk at a time on each cookie sheet to about 3/16-inch thickness. (Placing 3/16-inch dowels or rulers on either side of dough to use as a guide will help roll dough to uniform thickness.)
5. Trim excess dough from cookie sheet; wrap and reserve in refrigerator. Chill rolled dough on cookie sheet in refrigerator or freezer at least 10 minutes or until firm enough to cut easily.
6. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (149C)
7. Use chilled rolled dough, floured poster board patterns, and sharp paring knife to cut all house pieces on cookie sheet, making sure to leave at least 1 1/4 inches between pieces because dough will expand slightly during baking. Wrap and reserve trimmings in refrigerator. Combine and use trimmings as necessary to complete house and other decorative pieces. Cut and bake large pieces and small pieces separately.
8. Chill for 10 minutes before baking if the dough seems really soft after you cut it. This will discourage too much spreading/warping of the shapes you cut.
9. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until pieces are firm to the touch. Do not overbake; pieces will be too crisp to trim to proper size.
10. Remove cookie sheet from oven. While house pieces are still warm, place poster-board patterns on top and use them as guides to trim shapes to match if necessary. Cool pieces completely before attempting to assemble the house.
Seriously, the size of those feet make my macarons look like a basketball team!
For October’s Daring Baker challenge, I tried my hand at macarons for the first and second time ever. The first was a bust. The second was a success. I wrote about it here, because I believe I learned a few things along the way that could help other would-be macaron devotees.
My biggest source of help and support turned out to be Jamie at Life’s a Feast, and her blogpost for macarons. You can find that here. She and Deeba from Passionate About Baking have put together a monthly macaron challenge on a new website called “MacTweets.” I signed up to be part of the challenge, because when my macarons turned out well, they blew my socks off.
Fast forward a few weeks. I am in the middle of my busiest season, not only as a human being, but as a baker! Orders are piling up, ingredients are running out, and here I am late to the party, having not posted about my recent attempt at macs for the MacTweets challenge.
Let me say this. I still love macarons. I tinkered with mine a bit, adding some cinnamon to the recipe, and creating an apple cider glaze filing to go in them. I was hoping for something to cut the sweetness of my initial attempts, and thought I might end up with something akin to apple pie. The recipe I used is on the MacTweets site, with about 1/2-1 teaspoon of ground organic cinnamon thrown in. It was just enough, but probably made the batter a little dry. I still produced feet (my inglorious, unwieldly feet!), but the texture of the macs themselves waned pretty fast; rather than getting better over a few days’ time, they became a little stale.
As for the filling, I liked it. It was adapted from something I saw for apple cider doughnuts recently, and it goes like this. Take 1/2 cup of apple cider and reduce by about half. Then, whisk in enough powdered sugar until it is a drizzly consistency. More than you think you’ll need. (Also, when you glaze one of the macs, let it sit for a bit to let the glaze set up. Otherwise, like me, you’ll find the top macaron sliding all over the place and be forced to prop them up against something while they set. However, the glaze does set, so I think a little drying time would resolve the wayward tops.)
My biggest regret is that I do not have ANY pictures of these macs. There, I said it. I made them under duress, the night before leaving on a one-week holiday for Thanksgiving, with my two young daughters. Yes, I made macs instead of packing. I’m stressing myself out right now just thinking about it! So, I will show you pictures of my previous successful attempt, as the macs in question looked just the same. I mean, what am I doing to grow such ungainly feet? Next time I’m trying my own whole almonds, peeled and ground as fine as I can. I guess I’m just lucky that they have feet, right?
An earlier version of the MacTweets recipe, with cream cheese filling
The days between mid-November and late-December are an admittedly busy time. There are potatoes to mash, turkeys to fry, cookies to bake and presents to buy. (Yes, I worked on that for all of fifteen minutes.) However, I am more than a little shocked by my own failure to write about one of the more joyous and eagerly anticipated events that recently took place in my world: the official launch of TasteStopping.
Since the end of May, 2009, I have been working toward the moment when TasteStopping would take that bold leap into the world of food blogging, lose the “wordpress” in its URL and start making me some hard-earned cash. I am happy to report that on November 19 (or was it 18?), 2009, my dreams came true. I launched the site, ditched the free hosting, and started raking in sums of money not seen around these parts since my days as a child laborer in Detroit.
All joking aside, the story behind TasteStopping is neither complex nor interesting, but I thought I might try to prove otherwise in a short Q & A session with myself, while also answering all of your burning questions about the new site.
Me: How did you come up with the idea of TasteStopping?
Me: I stole it. From myself. After TasteSpotting rejected a beautiful (read: off-center, white-balance-challenged, poorly composed) photo of Lemon Meringue Pie. In my defense, they had previously accepted a yellow cupcake with chocolate ganache frosting that was taken with the same camera. So I figured they loved my stuff. To find out otherwise was, in a word, mind-numbingly devastating.
Me: So your next step was to fire back with TasteStopping?
Me: My next step was to complain loudly and at fevered pitch to my husband, neighbors and the 1.5 people who read this blog.
Me: So what was the light bulb moment? The “aha” factor?
Me: It’s amazing what a Google search for “TasteSpotting pisses me off” can find. Turns out there were lots of frustrated bloggers out there who had been rejected for any number of random reasons (editor’s note: actually, between TasteSpotting and FoodGawker there are only three rejection commentary notes given. They refer to composition, lighting and the degree to which the photograph in question resembles each site’s founder).
Me: What was your marketing plan?
To beg foodies who had blogged (and later, tweeted) about being rejected to send their declined photos to me. Oh! And spamming commenting on blogs that had photos appearing on the big name sites. It seems to be working.
Me: Who sent in the first rejected photo? Besides me.
Me: Two names come to mind: Dorian (from food goes here) and Kate (from warm olives). Since then there have been a lot of great bloggers participating, although I suspect that there are about four hundred thousand that I haven’t reached, yet. Give me time.
Me: What are the biggest changes visitors can expect when they visit the new site.
Me: Certainly the biggest improvement is that now visitors will have a clear idea of how to lose belly fat.
Beyond that, the changes are somewhat behind the scenes. For instance, bloggers are encouraged to establish an account with TasteStopping, which then allows them to create their own posts (just as they would on their own blogs). Those posts wait in a queue for me to approve and post, which typically happens within 48 hours (barring any unforeseen bouts of H1N1). Bloggers who wish to continue to submit the old fashioned way now have a contact form on the Submit page, which offers a streamlined process for sending their photos. Those submissions can take up to a week to post because I am lazy.
Me: Any new features on the site?
Me: Yes, yes there are! First and foremost, visitors will notice the Drive-Thru on the right side of the homepage. It’s a scrolling index of outside posts that any blogger can submit as soon as they publish it on their own site. This way, visitors can come for the rejected photos and also find photos with links to the freshest food content out there. It’s kind of like FoodBuzz, except you don’t have to wade through 354 new messages and 716 friend requests in your inbox to get there. It’s just right there. On the right.
There is also a sorely neglected content area called Judge, Jury, Execution in the right sidebar which is supposed to get people talking. You know like, “Hey, why did this photo of my grandmother’s lebkuchen get rejected from every friggin site?” And then all of us chime in with helpful advice like: “Well, try some backlighting next time,” or “Have you ever heard of a light box?” or “Because nobody likes lebkuchen.” You get the idea. I’m sure once the goodwill and glad tidings of the season have passed, the gloves will come off in Judge, Jury, Execution.
Me: Why do you think the blogging world is drawn to TasteStopping?
Me: As food photography improves across the board, so will the criteria for acceptance at the elite sites become stricter and stricter. It won’t be long before they start ruling out photos based on color alone. You think I’m joking, but just ask Brown what kind of summer he had at TasteSpotting.
TasteSpotting: unflattering coloring, not sharp; Foodgawker: accepted
Tastespotting: unflattering composition/coloring. not sharp
Me: What does the future hold for TasteStopping?
Me: I’m taking TasteStopping on the road! In May I will showcase photos from the site at Camp Blogaway in Southern California. I expect this to snowball into invites from BlogHer Food 2010, FoodBuzz Conference 2010 (please disregard above comments) and next year’s Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting Special, just to name a few. Sponsorship opportunities will be available on a first-come, first snatched up basis.
Me: Closing thoughts?
As you can tell, the whole site is supposed to be a very tongue-in-cheek experience. I deeply appreciate all of the bloggers who continue to submit and put their rejected photos “out there” for others to see and learn from. And I’m always open to feedback of any kind. Except negative. I’m just too delicate for that.
Me: Seriously, people…thanks for visiting and enjoy! 
Mediterranean Halibut (Tilapia)
In the life of every (American) foodie, there comes a time when turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and sandwiches comprised of the same, lose their appeal. In fact, they collectively become personna non grata, as we collectively rebel against anything remotely resembling that holiday meal.
After travelling to Michigan for Thanksgiving (where there were too few vegetables and fruits present), we felt like we needed a good detox. This is the meal I chose to prepare for us last night. I copied it from the May 2009 edition of Greenwich Magazine, and it was printed there courtesy of Ten Twenty Post Restaurant in Darien, Connecticut.
A note about recipes provided by restaurants and their chefs. I am leery of them. Seriously. As the owner of a food-based business, I am skeptical of any food-related business that is willing to give away trade secrets. What I learned in the making of this recipe is that it does take some interpretation on the part of the cook (in this case, me). While not my strong suit (I prefer recipes that are tried and true and reliable), it was fun to push myself a bit to think about how best to achieve the final dish that sounded so good on paper. I have included my notes in the recipe, so that you might benefit from my trial and error. (Also, I halved this recipe, but my notes will apply to the full recipe as well)
Mediterranean Halibut
4 8-ounce halibut filets (We used tilapia. Turned out great, but a heartier fish would have been nice, too.)
3 T chopped fresh herbs (thyme, oregano, parsley) (Used fresh thyme and parsley from garden. No herbs? Not a deal breaker. Saute with just salt and pepper)
1 cup chopped red, yellow and orange peppers (See below that they call for julienned, actually, not chopped)
1/4 c sliced kalamata olives (More of these wouldn’t hurt)
1/4 c capers (More of these wouldn’t hurt, especially if you have a 2-year-old who mooches yours)
3 T olive oil (watch how you use this; more for the fish, less for sauteing the vegetables or they turn soggy)
4 ounces white wine
8 ounces softened butter (I couldn’t bring myself to use the full amount so I halved this)
4 capellini cakes
Press herbs into halibut and pan-sear until lightly browned on both sides; finish baking in a 375-degree oven (as needed). (My fish didn’t brown, but as soon as I saw it was cooked on each surface, I threw it on a plate into the hot oven. This yielded nicely cooked, moist fish.)
Saute julienned peppers, olives, capers, salt and pepper in olive oil. In a separate pan, reduce white wine and slowly mix in butter, season to taste. (Okay, first, use the olive oil sparingly for the sauteing, or you will find yourself with limp, oily veggies. Use a small amount on high heat to stir-fry, more than saute. Second, “reduce white wine” is maddeningly vague. I over-reduced–by more than half–and ended up with a slightly wine-flavored brown butter mixture. It wasn’t as succulent on the dish as I had hoped. Watch the wine.)
Place warmed capellini cake in center of plate, top with halibut and spoon caper-olive-pepper mix over fish. Finish the plate with spoonfuls of butter sauce.
Capellini Cakes
3 c capellini pasta, blanched (How does one measure capellini in a measuring cup? I broke mine into smaller pieces, but I’ll do you the favor of letting you know that I weighed the end result. I would say 8 oz of capellini here should be plenty.)
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 c heavy cream
1/2 c chopped blanched spinach
1/2 t chopped garlic (for the amount of capellini, this seemed light on garlic, so I probably came close to doubling it. Your call, depending upon your love of garlic.)
1 T olive oil (if you end up frying your cakes in batches, reserve half the oil for the second batch)Mix together in a bowl; blanched capellini, beaten eggs, heavy cream, spinach and garlic. (This also begged for the addition of salt, even though I salted the water for the capellini. Maybe just 1/2-1 teaspoon would do.)
Form into cakes (about 1 cup of mixture for each cake) and saute with olive oil in a hot pan four minutes or so each side. (Though this part is very simple, “forming cakes” is a bit of misnomer. I used tongs and grabbed a heap of mixture and formed it into a cake on the hot pan. My husband suggested that if you were looking for symetrical cakes, you could implement the old round cookie cutter/tuna can trick. Put the cutter/can–with both ends cut out–on the hot pan, add the capellini mixture inside. Remove cutter/can when you’re ready to flip and the cake should retain a nearly perfect roundness. I say, who can bother? I’m not catering, I’m feeding the masses here.)
Serves 4
Yes, it’s true. I’m going there. Brussels. Sprouts, that is.
Now, when I first met my husband, lo nearly twelve years ago, I knew that we shared an affinity for food. He could cook. I could cook. And boy could we eat! It made for a nice courtship.
I introduced my husband to homemade chocolate pasta with a delicate sauce made from wild dried mushroom. He introduced me to unagi. A fair trade, methinks. I took him to my favorite Mexican restaurant in all the world (Tequila’s, Philadelphia) and he bought me a four pound lobster in Manhattan (Palm, Too). I caused him to rethink olives. He opened my eyes to brussel sprouts.
Romantic, I know.
Knowing his love for the tiny cabbage, I snagged a small brussel sprout seedling to plant in our first garden at our first (and current) house. We watched all summer long, fascinated, unsure of where the actual sprouts would appear. Of course, they ended up growing up along the stalks of the (eventually) great beast, and not long after, our local Whole Foods started carrying brussel sprouts still attached to the stem. Still, there was innocent joy in our ignorance, watching and waiting.
But then, what to do with the prized bulbs, once freed from their stalks? What follows is his tried, true and ultimately tailorable recipe for brussel sprouts on the grill.
First, clean the sprouts. Trim the cut ends back without interferring with the leaves, and peel any withered leaves off the bulb. Score the bottoms (one cut will suffice, as you can see below).
score no more than halfway through
Then place the sprouts in boiling, salted water for no more than five minutes. NO MORE! (That was my husband.) Drain and toss in a bowl with:
a drizzle of oil (vegetable or olive oil)
1/2–1 teaspoon of each: kosher salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, celery salt
When the sprouts are nice and coated, place on a hot grill (but keep the bowl handy), turning every four minutes for a total of twelve minutes. Remove from the grill back to the seasoning bowl and toss to coat with any remaining seasoning.
firm and flavorful
The brussel sprouts are now done. And so are you.
Unless…you would like to doctor them a bit. In our house this ranges from lemon zest to parmesan cheese to bacon, to all of the above.
See? Tailorable. And you thought that wasn’t a word!
I am reposting this lovely recipe after the good folks at Food52 have selected it as a finalist in the “Brussels Sprouts Recipe” contest. Please, if you haven’t already, visit my recipe on their site and VOTE for my lovely little friends (the Brussels Sprouts, that is!). Thank you.
Ghost booooo-ddies
I love all of the fun and spooky food creations I see around the web these days. I have not done a whole lot, other than the sugar cookies from my previous post, and even those have not all been eaten. However, today was my daughter’s Halloween party at school, and I volunteered to bring the sweet snack. Usually I would head straight for my cupcake liners, but while leafing through a parenting magazine, this idea popped out at me. Rice Krispy Treat Ghosts.
I know, I know…the cereal lacks a whole lot in the way of nutrition, and actually breaks one of my cardinal rules by containing high fructose corn syrup. I don’t buy it often…only for making Rice Krispie Treats, and in the past year that means twice. When I have more time, I will research an alternative, most likely a house brand at Whole Foods. For now, I settled. To offset the awful that is Rice Krispies, I used kitchen witch homemade Vanilla Marshmallows, which contain no high fructose corn syrup or blue dye. There is a world of difference in the taste and texture of Rice Krispie Treats made with homemade, fresh marshmallows. You really need to try them. (Be warned, however, that it is hard to stop eating them.) You can buy kitchen witch Vanilla Marshmallows at my Etsy shop or at RegionalBest.com. I make them fresh for every order.
Rice Krispie Treats, in the form of ghosts
3 T unsalted butter
10 oz marshmallows
6 cups Rice Krispie cereal
a handful of mini and regular size chocolate chips. The only mini-size all natural chips I know of are sold at Whole Foods under the name Enjoy Life, I believe.
Thoroughly spray cookie sheet (preferably with non-stick liner) with cooking spray. I used BJ’s brand spray canola oil. Set aside.
Melt butter and marshmallows together. When completely melted, add cereal and stir well to coat.
Once thoroughly mixed, use a cookie scoop to portion out 1/4 cup sized balls of mixture on a the prepared tray. Should make about 24 “blobs.”
Spray hands with cooking spray to work “blobs” into shapes resembling ghosts. If you are really dedicated you can even make bumps at the sides that look like arms. I’ll let you judge for yourselves if I achieved that look with my goblins. And yes, this is where it gets tricky and requires a modicum of artistic skillz. Keep using spray if things start to get sticky.
As ghosts are cooling, use dots of this “Easy Powdered Sugar Icing” where you want to place eyes and mouth. Press in mini chocolate chips for eyes, and an inverted regular size chocolate chip for the mouth. This is where I let my daughter help. We used toothpicks to dot on the icing, and she had a ball decorating with the chocolate chips.
Voila! Rice Krispy Treats that impress everyone, but which really take no time at all.
Maple sugar macarons with cream cheese buttercream filling
If you know anything about macarons (macaroons?) you know that the title to this post is something of a red herring. Or a pun. Or something in between.
A macaron is a delicacy that comes about from whipping egg whites until firm and folding that into ground almonds and confectioners sugar. Akin to a meringue, I suppose. Sounds simple enough, or so I thought when confronted with this month’s Daring Bakers challenge. (The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S of Baking Without Fear. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.)
Having spent a fair amount of time on the internet scouring blogs and food photography, it is hard not to notice the omnipresence of the macaron and the collective trepidation over making these treats. Apparently it all has to do with the feet. You see, correctly made, macarons bubble up along their bottoms (where they come in contact with the sheet pan) in a darling fashion that is called “having feet.”
However, my first foray into making macarons was woefully inept. You can see in this photo that they never grew feet and never puffed up. I couldn’t have told you why until I did a little digging.
Sad little almond pecan cookies. Tasty, yet ultimately a fail
And here is the product of my second attempt, which was a rousing success. The bubbly parts in the middle are the feet of two macarons which have been sandwiched together.
what beautiful feet you have!
What was the difference? While I can’t pretend to know which one factor might have turned the culinary tides in my favor, I can tell you what I did differently from first attempt to second, and hopefully these tips will help you.
Ingredients
A) The first time I tried macarons, my parents were in town, and I was planning for the Malvern Fall Festival, where I was to have a cookie booth. I can’t imagine my thought process when I tried to make these on a Friday afternoon, as a lark, thinking “how hard can it be?” I ground my own almonds and pecans (a ratio of about 5 to 4, in favor of almonds), because I don’t love the flavor of almonds as much as pecans. Plus, I am drawn to the idea of making any recipe from absolute scratch. That’s just how kitchen witch rolls.
However, when you grind your own nuts, there are lots of pieces that aren’t ground into a powdery-fine texture. These largers bits (a little larger than sand, I’d say) were a puzzle to me. Should I throw them out? How would that affect the final product? Not knowing, I left them in.
Difference: In my second attempt, I purchased ground almonds from Trader Joe’s ($3.99 for a pound, I believe). I did not use any pecans this time. Following the recipe at Life’s a Feast (see link below), I sifted the weighed almond meal with the weighed confectioners sugar. When I couldn’t press anymore almond meal through my sieve (and I worked on it), I weighed the little bits that were left and replaced them with the same weight in new almond meal. I did not bother to sift this, as it was only about a teaspoon.
B) Another ingredient mishap came by way of my eggs. The recipe provided by the Daring Bakers site lists all of the ingredients by both volume and weight except for the egg whites, which are only listed by quantity and size of egg. Now, I can’t say why this is. I understand from my research that the ratio of wet to dry ingredients is crucial, so to leave that part of it to chance doesn’t make sense to me. However, what I also realized after the fact is that I used the egg whites obtained from extra-large eggs, whereas the recipe calls for large eggs. This would absolutely make a difference and alone would ruin the outcome.
Difference: For my second attempt, the recipe I found at Life’s a Feast included the weight of the egg whites as well. I went so far as to weigh mine and scoop out a little egg white with the shell when I had surplus, ending up with 91 grams to the recipe’s suggested 90 grams. I measured them cold, as I ended up breaking a room-temprature egg while trying to separate it. (Quick tip: to quickly bring egg whites up to room temperature, place them in a metal–not glass–bowl and place that bowl in a larger bowl of warm to hot water. Replace water as it cools until eggs reach the temperature you desire. I do this all the time when whipping egg whites because I usually forget to leave them out. It seems to have worked fine this time.)
Technique
A) In my first attempt, I was feeling very smug to have my stick blender, with its extra fancy whip attachment. Why, whipping egg whites is a breeze with this thing. It’s handy and portable and doesn’t require the heavy stand mixer to come out from hiding. Plus, testing the eggs for firmness is as easy as lifting the blender out and seeing what peaks form.
Difference: What I learned about whipping egg whites for macarons is that the speed of the whipping matters. First you should start the whip on a low speed for about 30 seconds, at which point you increase to a high speed. When your eggs reach soft peak stage you add some granulated sugar (in my case, mixed with some maple sugar) and continue to beat until firm peaks form. One suggestion for testing the firmness of the whites was to turn the mixing bowl upside down. If the whites stay put, you’ve got the right firmness. Granted, this is a pain with a KitchenAid stand mixer, but it yields correctly whipped whites. The stick blender may have been easy, but it created air bubbles in the whipped whites that were simply too large (due to lack of slow mixing at the outset).
B) Folding was another area were my technique faltered. Following the Daring Bakers recommendations, I was very gentle when folding my egg whites into my dry mix. I didn’t pay attention to how many strokes it took, but I did make sure to handle with care.
Difference: Turns out that for the first 6 strokes of the folding phase, I needed to be a little rougher with the ingredients. That causes the air bubbles to break down a bit, which helps the macarons down the road. After six strokes I eased up into the gentle fold mentioned above. And I counted. Somewhere between 30 and 60 strokes the mixture should come together. It did for me, and had the appearance of “lava” or a thick ribbon of batter when I let it drop from the spatula.
Baking
A) Here is where my eagerness (or my laziness…or my rushing to get this done) also did me in. I did not take the time to draw circles to guide my piping efforts on my nonstick liners. I just winged it. Granted, I was probably pretty close, but because my batter was too wet, the circles spread and ran into each other while baking. I also only used one baking sheet under my nonstick liner, believing my oven to be even enough in its heating to suffice.
Difference: In my second attempt, I used parchment paper, with traced circles underneath to guide my piping. I found in the end that smaller was probably better, as when I free-formed it and made larger macarons, they just didn’t have the height that the smaller ones did. I also doubled up the trays underneath, which helped tremendously. Plus, the recipe I followed the second time directed me to cook them at a lower temperature (280 degrees F) which I believe aids in allowing them to rise and puff without the feet spreading and getting overcooked.
I also made the executive decision to dry my macarons on the counter for an hour before baking them, rather than using the oven at a low temperature to do this for me. This was fun to witness, as my macarons gained the thick skin that was predicted in the recipe. Then the baking on a double thickness of trays, at a consistent low temperature, turning the trays to compensate for an inconsistent oven helped create beautiful macarons. I undercooked the first successful batch as I was so excited that they actually grew feet. I have learned that a nice golden color for these is preferable to a lighter color…helps later for getting them off the pan.
And when my first tray of successes stuck to the parchment paper, I just popped them back in the oven for 5-10 minutes to dry them out. This did the trick, but when cooked correctly the sticking issue disappeared completely.
a great line up
I hope some of my mistakes can inspire you to try these wonderful treats. I know I will be making them again and soon, as I noticed that they taste even better and improve with texture as the days go by. It was all I could do to stop myself from eating them before I had a chance to take some photographs! Thanks Daring Bakers. This was a great learning experience for me.
In the end, it was this recipe and post from Jamie at Life’s a Feast that saved me. It is essentially the same recipe as the Daring Bakers, but halved, and with some all important pointers along the way. Most importantly, all ingredients are listed by weight. This is so very important in all of baking, but perhaps never more so than when making macarons. After all, these are an item which can be affected by the humidity on the day you are making them (rain, rain, go away!). Always go by weight to make macarons, and you’re on the right track.
Halloween may offer more opportunity to create magical dishes out of everyday recipes than any other holiday. Perusing the web lately, I’ve seen witch finger cookies, devil’s eyeballs and worm covered rotten apple bars. Even over at my other site, I’m hoping to devote the entire day of Halloween to recipes and posts from bloggers around the world.
However, for those of us pressed for time, or simply uninterested in grossing ourselves out with our thematic creations, I suggest to you: sugar cookies.
holiday sugar cookies
Yes, sugar cookies may be a bit pedestrian. They lack the blood and guts of, say, a jelly-filled mummy cupcake, and they aren’t quite as ghoulish as a hairy spider layer cake, but they are tasty and offer an opportunity to ease yourself into the Halloween spirit, if brains in a punch bowl just aren’t your thing!
friendly ghosts
And here is my tip for you. This idea comes from Nancy Baggett in her wonderful book, The All-American Cookie Book. First, begin with a sugar cookie recipe that you would normally roll out and cut into shapes. Assemble the dough, and place it in a ball in the fridge, covered, for about thirty minutes. After it has firmed up a bit, take it out and place in manageable portions between sheets of waxed paper. “Manageable portions” means about 1/2 pound or so. Flatten the dough a bit with your hands if necessary, then start rolling out, using a rolling pin. Keep the wax paper between your pin and dough, and you’ll go a long way toward keeping extra flour out of the mix. If the paper starts to wrinkle, gently peel it away from the dough and replace, smoothing out the wrinkles. Roll until the dough is even and about 1/4-1/2 inch thick (your preference).
Place the rolled out dough (still between waxed paper) on a cookie sheet or flat surface and into the fridge if you are going to cut out cookies within a few days. (Place in a bag and seal if you are concerned about the dough picking up “off” flavors from the contents of your fridge. You can also bag and freeze for use further down the road.)
When the dough is chilled and quite firm (at least 30 minutes, or until it stands stiff like a plank!), have your oven preheated and take one sheet of dough (with paper) out of the fridge. Place on flat surface, with a little flour handy for your cutters. (You may find that you don’t even need the extra flour. My dough usually comes out in the cutter, making it handy to transfer right to the baking tray. Because the dough is so stiff, it simply pops out of the cutter when gently coaxed.) Peel back the top layer of waxed paper. (I leave the bottom layer there for easy clean-up. Just work gently.) Start cutting out shapes from your already-rolled dough, place on baking sheet and repeat until the you have no more usable dough.
Place cookies in oven for recommended cooking time given in recipe, and return to cookie dough scraps. Simple pile/push together and repeat rolling out between wax paper. While that firms up in the fridge, pull out another sheet of already rolled and chilled dough and repeat (or wait until the first batch comes out of the oven.)
Halloween sugar cookies
The key is to keep your dough rolled out, then chilled until firm, before beginning to cut. It will make your experience with cutting cookies much, much easier. So easy, in fact, that you will welcome help from your children because the hard and boring part (the rolling out) is already done, so they can enjoy the fun part (cutting the cookies, eating the scraps).
One final word of caution: last year I tried to roll my mother’s sugar cookie dough out in this fashion. It is a dough that she has been making for years, but she has altered the recipe to work with a cookie shooter. Hence, the dough is quite soft and no amount of time in the fridge helped it firm up adequately. So, we resorted to freezing the dough in rolled-out batches and struggled through, but it wasn’t pretty. Make sure the recipe you use for sugar cookies is one that you would normally roll out and cut.
You can purchase kitchen witch sugar cookie dough and pecan brown sugar cookie dough at RegionalBest.com. Thanks!
