Raspberry Balsamic Macarons

Ah French macarons, bane of home cooks and professionals alike.

I have seen many a subpar macaron for sale, even at the big boy's places.

The thing about macarons is that they require....

CONFIDENCE.

You have to believe in them!  You have to believe in those little feet, in that cakey center!  (the ruffly bit at the bottom is called the foot).

You have to believe that they will rise.

RISE!  Like the glorious sun in the morning.

Mine are a little flat.  This is because, afraid of overbeating them, I underbeat them.

Confidence.

But!  Have you ever tried balsamic on sweet?  How about right next to fresh?

Reduce it down, down with a little bit of honey until it is thick as melted chocolate.

Strew it over the tops of your beautiful babies and their little flat feet.

Crunch it up and wow!  Sweet and fresh and sour and crunch and smoosh and a delicate buttercream together.

Glorious.

Next time:  bigger feet.

Next time:  twice as many.

You may have noticed that there is a new button on my blog.  That little fella there in the corner lets you know that I (I!) am now a content contributer for The Daily Meal.  Hooray!  That's a real thing!  I conjured up these little cookies in response to a weekly recipe challenge they issued, giving you one ingredient to play with.  This week it was raspberries, sponsored by Driscoll's berries.  Driscoll's berries!  Go buy some berries!  Follow them @driscollsberry #raspberrydessert.  Eat them fresh or, better yet, stick them in a buttercream.

(Hey I forgot to include the raaaaaaspberry puree joke!  I was singing it all day, just like Prince.  Ha!  I AM JUST LIKE PRINCE)

Raspberry Balsamic Macarons
Makes 24

Age your egg whites!  Did you know you're supposed to do that when making macarons?  Two or three days before baking, put your egg whites (about 3) in a glass dish in the refrigerator.  The night before baking, take them out and leave them on the counter overnight.  They won't go bad, I swear.  This makes a huge difference in getting successful macarons.

For the cookies:
180 grams almond meal (I prefer grams for macarons, since imprecise measurements can be the difference between life and death here)
240 grams powdered sugar
140 grams egg whites, aged
A large pinch powdered egg whites (so much for precision!)
A medium pinch sea salt

In a large bowl combine almond meal, powdered sugar, and sea salt.  Combine the egg whites with the egg white powder in the bowl of a stand mixer and whip until stiff peaks form.

Add the meringue to the almond meal mixture and beat by hand until a shiny, ribbony mass forms.  Don't be afraid!  Get it right!  A good way to test it is to make a small peak in the batter.  Does it stand stiff?  Beat it more.  Does it immediately disappear?  You've gone too far!  Does it slowly sink back into and meld with the batter?  That's it.

Pipe small rounds onto sheet pans lined with a silpat and let them air dry for 45 minutes to an hour.  The tops should be dry when touched with your finger.  If you live in a wet place, turn on the ceiling fan (Oregon, I'm looking at you).  When the drying time is almost up, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

When drying time is up and oven is preheated, turn oven down to 300 degrees and bake cookies for about 15 minutes, rotating sheet pans halfway through for even cooking.  Try not to have a heart attack as you open the oven and look for feet.

Let them cool.

For the buttercream:
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1/4 cup water
4 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 sticks butter, cubed and softened
Pinch of salt
1 cup Driscoll's raspberries

First, mash up the raspberries with a fork, making a chunky puree.

Now start beating the egg whites.  You want to get them to where they are just forming soft peaks.  In the meantime, combine the white sugar and the water in a saucepan and bring to a simmer.  Let it heat until it reaches 235 degrees fahrenheit.  Immediately remove from heat and pour in a slow stream into eggwhites while still mixing.

Now add in the butter cubes, one at a time and mixing well after each addition.  Add the vanilla and the pinch of salt.  The mixture may look curdled, but just keep beating it.  It will come together and turn fluffy and lovely just like you want.

Once you find the texture of buttercream you like, turn off mixer and stir in about 1/3 cup of raspberry puree by hand (more or less to taste, but don't add too much it will make the mixture separate again).

Pipe buttercream onto cookie halves, sandwich together with other cookie halves.

For the balsamic reduction:
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 tablespoon honey

Simmer your vinegar and honey together in a small saucepan until about 1/4 cup of it is left.  The texture should be syrupy.  Can be made several hours or even days before cookies and stored in the refrigerator, but bring to room temperature before using as it will harden when cold.  

Black Pepper Rose Macarons

If I was a lady of questionable morals, I would want my name to be Black Pepper Rose.

I made these for a friend's baby shower, and they were supposed to be pink.

But oh no!  I've long since spent all my red food coloring on red velvet (and all my blue food coloring on blue suede...), and all I had left were icky yellow and green!

Neither of those makes a good cookie/fabric, in my opinion.

Ordinarily I am in the bright macarons camp, as opposed to those who prefer pastels.  What was I to do?

TURN THEM PINK WITH SHEER FORCE OF WILL.

Not bad, huh?  I added nothing, and they came out kinda pinkish anyway.

Cool.

Rose is a nice flavor.  Go ahead, try it.  It's not just for perfumes anymore.  If you're shy about flower flavors, rose is a good place to start because it's pretty familiar.

Throw in a delicate sprinkling of black pepper for crackle and kick, and you got it, baby.

Black pepper rose.

Her morals may be suspect, but if you need help in a jam, you go to her.

Black Pepper Rose Macarons (recipe adapted from Cannelle et Vanille)

180 grams almond flour
240 grams powdered sugar
140 grams organic egg whites, aged
3 grams egg white powder
2 grams fine sea salt
80 grams sugar
freshly ground black pepper

Make sure that the egg whites have been separated from the egg yolks the night before. This bit of aging really makes a difference in the macaroons.

In a large bowl, sift together the almond flour, powdered sugar and sea salt. Set aside.

Whip the egg whites with the egg white powder until very fluffy, almost fully whipped. Start adding the sugar slowly while whipping. Whip to stiff peaks but not too much or the meringue will dry out. We want semi soft "ripples" still in the meringue. Add as much food coloring to the meringue as you like.

Add the meringue to the almond flour mixture and fold with a spatula until a shiny mass forms. We want to achieve a batter that makes ribbons. You might have to test it to see if it's done. Pipe a small amount on your sheetpan. If it keeps a little bit of a top when piped, then you have to mix it a bit further, if it spreads really fast, you have gone too far and your macaroons will turn out flat.  I undermixed mine, so they have little points.  Shut urrrrp I don't care.  (I care)

When you have the right consistency, place the mass in a pastry bag and pipe small rounds onto sheetpans lined with parchment or silpat. While the tops are still wet, sprinkle the ground black pepper on top. Let them dry at room temperature for at least 45 minutes to an hour, or until the tops are dry to a gentle touch.

Have the oven preheated to 350 degrees. Place one sheetpan in the oven at a time and reduce the temperature to 300 degrees. Bake for 10 minutes and rotate sheetpan and bake for another 10 minutes. Test to see if they are done by picking one up and seing if it still sticks to the paper or not.

Rose Buttercream

This isn't a real buttercream, it's a confectioner's frosting.  I tried to make a buttercream, but I broke it and there wasn't time to try it again.  But this is yummy too!

3 1/4 c powdered sugar
1 c butter at room temperature
1/2 t vanilla extract
3 T rose syrup

With an electric mixer, beat together sugar and butter. Mix on low until well blended, and then on medium for another two minutes. Add vanilla and champagne, beating on medium for another minute.

Basil Lime Macarons

 
Mmm, contentment.

I had friends over for dinner tonight.  We had French onion tartlets, tossed summer fruit salad, fresh bakery bread, and one golden, sliced heirloom tomato.

For dessert?  Maple bacon cupcakes

I made a birthday cake for a friend's new baby.

There are homemade popsicles made from fresh, crushed berries in the freezer.

Homemade yogurt in the fridge.

Stuffed portobella mushrooms waiting to be heated up.

Spinach and cheese pasta.

Raspberry cookie dough ice cream.

A big bowl of crab apples, all ready to be made into jam.  For now it is serving as a centerpiece.

I love that feeling, like I've arrived.  As a chef.  I am successfully feeding my family!

I got that feeling when my husband came home to a fresh batch of macarons and didn't bat an eye.

How was your day, honey?  Oh, fine.  Just made a batch of one of the more difficult pastry desserts for no reason except that I felt like it.

Successful macarons make me feel like I am a grown-up.

Soon I will be drinking tea with my pinky sticking out and wearing pearls.  Real ones.

Just you watch and see.

Basil Lime Macarons (recipe adapted from Canelle et Vanille she is a macaron expert.  Heed her words...heed them!)

180 grams almond flour
240 grams powdered sugar
140 grams organic egg whites, aged
3 grams egg white powder
2 grams fine sea salt
80 grams sugar
6 - 8 leaves fresh basil
a few drops of all natural green food coloring

Make sure that the egg whites have been separated from the egg yolks the night before. This bit of aging really makes a difference in the macarons.

In a large bowl, sift together the almond flour, powdered sugar and sea salt. Snip the basil leaves into ribbons and stir them in.  Set aside.

Whip the egg whites with the egg white powder until very fluffy, almost fully whipped. Start adding the vanilla sugar slowly while whipping. Whip to stiff peaks but not too much or the meringue will dry out. We want semi soft "ripples" still in the meringue. Add as much food coloring to the meringue as you like.

Add the meringue to the almond flour mixture and fold with a spatula until a shiny mass forms. We want to achieve a batter that makes ribbons. You might have to test it to see if it's done. Pipe a small amount on your sheetpan. If it keeps a little bit of a top when piped, then you have to mix it a bit further, if it spreads really fast, you have gone too far and your macaroons will turn out flat.

When you have the right consistency, place the mass in a pastry bag with and pipe small rounds onto sheetpans lined with parchment or silpat. Let them dry at room temperature for at least 45 minutes to an hour, or until they are dry and do not stick when lightly touched with a finger.

Have the oven preheated to 350 degrees. Place one sheetpan in the oven at a time and reduce the temperature to 300 degrees. Bake for 10 minutes and rotate sheetpan and bake for another 10 minutes. Test to see if they are done by picking one up and seing if it still sticks to the paper.

Lime Buttercream

1 cups sugar
4large egg whites
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice

Combine the sugar, egg whites and salt in a heatproof bowl and set over a pot of simmering water. Heat, whisking frequently, until the mixture reaches 160 degrees and the sugar has dissolved.

Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until stiff, shiny peaks form and the mixture has cooled to room temperature, about 8 minutes.

Reduce the speed to medium and add the butter, 2 tbsp. at a time, adding more once each addition is incorporated. If the frosting looks curdled, continue to beat on medium-high speed until thick and smooth again.  Mine looked super curdled, but keep beating and it will come back together.

Stir in the lime juice and tequila and mix until fully incorporated. If mixture curdles again, continue beating at medium-high speed until reaches thicker consistency.  Keep at it!


Pipe onto flat shells of macarons, and top with another cookie.  Enjoy!

Hazelnut Chocolate Macarons

I have so many things to tell you tonight.

Like about how sometimes I overthink things.  Like when it's time to start something new or really take action I freeze up, like how I'd like to sell my cupcakes, but

I know that if I put up an ad on Craigslist I'm going to get overwhelmed with orders and not be able to keep up, or I won't get any at all and some rude teenager will see my flier (that I haven't made, but I'm considering a flier) and

laugh in my face because I'll happen to be standing on the sidewalk when he sees it and laughs, and then I will make my cupcakes and one of them will have a hair or an eggshell and I will get badmouthed and no on will eat Icy Violet's Cupcakes again, and maybe

sued or fined because I don't have my foodhandler's permit (yet!  yet!), and I'll have to start selling them in the parking lot of the grocery store from the trunk of my car like

the tamale lady at the Smith's shouting 'lady want cupcake!?' and then ducking in case you're a cop (this woman is onto something*).

Bam.  Welcome to my brain on the cusp of a new endeavor.

I was also going to tell you how I am finally jumping back on the macaron bandwagon after two years of failed batches, which in turn followed two or three marvelous successes with them when I first started out. 

Beginners luck, I guess.

But chuh choo!  I am back on the macaron train!

What?  No one's eating macarons anymore?

It's all about the whoopie pie now?

Wait, the whoopie pie was so 2010?

Nuts to you, food trends!  I'm 'onna stick with cupcakes.  Let me know if you live in the Eugene area of Oregon and want some.  There will be neato flavors, promise.  It will all be on the flier.

Oh but don't tell the feds, kay?  I'm in trouble enough as it is.

*and if anyone ever yells at you to buy the tamales out of the trunk of their car, DO IT.  DO IT DO IT DON'T THINK JUST DO IT.

Hazelnut Chocolate Macarons

So macarons are famously testy.  The ingredients are incredibly simple, but there are a lot of factors you need to look out for.  The one that has been tripping me up lately is the humidity.  Here in Oregon it's a little bit like living underwater.  Wait for a day when the tide goes out, is what I'm saying.  Don't make them on a rainy day if you live in a humid place.

I get my basic recipe from the brilliant Aran at Canelle et Vanille.  I find this recipe is endlessly adaptable.  Just add 2 - 3 teaspoons of the powdered dry flavoring of your choice to the sugar/almond mixture, or if you're using a liquid flavoring add 1 tablespoon or so to the egg whites when they are nearly whipped up.  For hazelnut or other nut flavors, switch out the almond flour for the nut flour of your choice.  It's brilliant.  That's what I did here for a lovely hazelnut flavor, with a chocolate ganache for a filling (okay I used Nutella...but the fancy pantses out there would enjoy a rich ganache).

Other advice...adhere strictly to the drying schedule.  It is really important that the tops of your unbaked cookies be dry enough to not stick to your fingers when lightly touched.  Mine actually have little tips here rather than smooth domes because I overdried them.  But I'd rather overdry than underdry, since underdrying can lead to all sorts of problems.

Are you wigging out over this recipe yet?

Bam.  You overthought it.  Just make them, you can do it.