Easter Macarons - Chicks, Eggs and Hot Cross Buns

Easter is coming! 

Last year I made chocolate bunny macarons which looked fairly horrific. Rather than trying again this year I decided to make some different Easter-themed macarons.

Scones with Homemade Cultured Butter

I hate cream. Never liked the stuff so I am one of those weird people who much prefer butter on scones.  After eating some amazing cultured butter at The Royal Mail Hotel I thought i'd have a go at making it. When you make butter, you produce buttermilk, so scones followed.

The BEST Cookie Recipe Ever!!! (and a bonus GF muesli biscuit)

Left: GF Muesli Biscuit
Back: Choc Chip & M&M Cookie
Right: Salted Peanut, Pretzel & Chocolate Cookie

Big call, I know but everyone who eats these cookies raves about them.  It is such a versatile recipe that you can add any flavours you fancy. Just as a bonus I've added a GF biscuit recipe at the end (yes, I know the ones on the plate above have now been contaminated with gluten.)

Orange and Pistachio Cake

Orange and Pistachio Cake

The baking ban is over thanks to being on cake duty at work for this month's birthdays. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to bake something spectacular, but it was a blessing in disguise as this cake is wonderful! It is deliciously moist, however remains light unlike other flour-less cakes. 

Pancake Macarons (and more)

Pancake and Maple Syrup Macarons

I love making macarons. They are so versatile and fun to make, not to mention delicious! I bought a couple of silpats so decided to give them a test run.

Tuesday is Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) which is something I don't usually celebrate although it seems the supermarkets this year have found another reason to con us into thinking we do!

When I visited Zumbo last year I ate his pancake and maple syrup macaron and although it wasn't my favourite (too sweet!) I decided to make it anyway as the recipe is in his Zumbaron book.

Hunny Pot Cake

I think i'm improving! This cake only took me a day from start to finish and was 100% stress free.

Inside is a honey and coconut cake which was really nice. I was going to do a basic vanilla cake but at the last minute changed as I thought it would be more appropriate!

Merry Christmas!

How about a macaron tree?

Pistachio, candy cane, gingerbread and plum pudding flavours.

More macs to come thanks to one of my Christmas presents being Zumbarons!

Sarah xx

The Macaron Showdown: Zumbo Packet Mix vs. Recipe

L) Packet mix R) Recipe

It's no secret that I love everything Zumbo! When I first saw the packet mixes in the supermarket I was a little dubious. Could macarons really work coming from a box? Would people even attempt to make them? Macarons have a stigma associated with them that they are difficult and and unachievable to make. Maybe a packet mix is the answer to make them accessible to everyone? Well I was about to find out!

 I decided to conduct my own little experiment. Make two batches of salted caramel macarons; one from the packet, and one from his recipe book.

The handy kit, complete with piping bags

 So I set off on a macaron baking frenzy. I must say it was lovely having all the ingredients all weighed out! No weighing of egg whites required.

So it all started off fairly simply. Beat one mixture till thick and creamy (pictured above), then add in the sifted almond meal and stir until combined.

Issue #1: piping without a tip results in wonky circles!

Next, place your macaron batter into one of the supplied piping bags and pipe onto paper-lined trays. Leave to dry on the bench then place in the oven.... And this is where it all became pear shaped! 

I don't really have many words to add - the pictures say it all!

Issue #2: The shell when still hot, completely stuck to the baking paper, cook it for 2 minutes more and they were overcooked and crunchy.

Issue #3: Most of the shells cracked.

Issue #4: There is a huge air bubble between the top and bottom of the shell

But I persevered anyway and made the salted caramel filling.  The filling was very easy to prepare and oh-so-delicious!

I scrounged around and found the best, uncracked shells and voila! Here is my result.

Definitely not professional quality!

Most of the macarons appeared overcooked. Even after leaving them in the fridge overnight some of the shells were crunchy ie overcooked. The problem is, when I took the shells out earlier they would not come off the tray. Another thing I noticed was that the shells had a caramel flavouring. I wasn't a huge fan as it smelled and tasted really fake. 

Surprisingly the box says that it makes 15 macarons... well I made 11 and ended up eating a whole lot of cracked shells. Considering I did use the circle template supplied to make the correct sized shells, I assume Zumbo's serving size assumes that you will have many failures along the way.

So what about the recipe? Well not surprisingly it worked very well. Shells were perfect, filling was fairly simple to make. The caramel maison was delicious. However, from the picture below you can see that the recipe caramel buttercream is a lot lighter than the packet mix version. This is a result of much more butter. I'm not sure if I made a mistake somewhere along the line but it definitely was not as caramel-y as the packet mix. Next time I will add less butter to the caramel maison in the recipe. 

Finally the cost. The Zumbo packet mix retails for around $7.50 and I got 11 from it. If you didn't have so many cracked shells You could probably get up to 30. On the other hand it cost me around $10 to make the macarons from the recipe, and this recipe makes 50 macarons. It is much more cost effective to bake from scratch, not to mention the better end product!

So in summary, skip the packet and make them from scratch. It's more cost effective, results in a better macaron and requires a similar skill level. It might take you an extra hour or so due to the extra weighing, and piping all the extra shells but it's well worth it, especially because they freeze so well.

Just make sure you:

1. Sift the almond meal and icing sugar. Discard anything that doesn't sift through. If you skip this step your shells with be lumpy, not smooth.

2. Beat the macaron mixture more than you think you should - it should be loose and easily slide off a spoon. You aren't making a sponge!

3. Leave your macarons on the bench for at least 30mins so they form a skin before placing in the oven. Alternatively use a hairdryer on a low setting to dry the tops.

Sarah xx

Salted Butter Popcorn Macarons

Back in September I had the amazing opportunity to go to Sydney for almost a week. One of the highlights was visiting Zumbo's dessert train at The Star. I absolutely loved the salted butter popcorn macaron so it didn't take much convincing to make a batch at home. 

The recipe is in Adriano Zumbo's first book - 'Zumbo' although it is probably in his new macaron book too (which I can't wait to get my hands on!) Take note family, that's a big Christmas present hint!

I'd never tried making Zumbo's macarons before as I have my own tried and true recipe, however I did decide to follow his, which to be honest, was very similar to my own! Same process entirely which made things easy. The ratio of ingredients was slightly different. What I did learn through this recipe, however, was a fabulous 'new' way of making the silkiest buttercream you could imagine. I'm definitely now a convert to this method rather than my usual (simpler) way of beating together icing sugar and butter. Zumbo's method is not gritty in the slightest. You do need to be careful that it does not curdle. I thought mine was ruined until I whisked it a little more and it magically reformed itself!

Anyway these beautiful macarons are for all my lovely dietetic friends whom I have had the pleasure of studying with the the last four years. Tomorrow is going to be such a bittersweet day!

Salted Butter Popcorn Macarons
Adapted from the recipe by Adriano Zumbo

Makes 50

Buttercream
100g caster sugar
38g water
75g lightly beaten egg (about 2 small eggs but you need to weigh)
45g egg yolks (save the yolks from when you separate the whites for the shells!)
200g unsalted butter, softened and cubed.
3g salt flakes

1 bag microwave popcorn butter flavoured
extra melted butter for brushing

100 macaron shells - See here for my recipe I won't write the method for the shells below, just make them a neutral colour ie don't dye them.

Method
Place the sugar and water in a small saucepan and heat on a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat and cook until the mixture reaches 121 degrees.

Meanwhile place the egg and yolks in a stand mixer and whisk to combine.

Once the sugar syrup has reached temperature, remove from heat, turn the speed up on the stand mixer and slowly pour the hot sugar onto the egg mixture. Keep beating for approximately one minute or until the mixture reaches 50 degrees.

With the mixer still running, add the butter, one cube at a time, allowing it to fully incorporate. Keep mixing until it looks uniform and thick.

Fold through the salt - don't beat it in or it may curdle the mixture!

Place in the fridge to firm up a bit.

Cook the microwave popcorn according to instructions. Place half the popcorn in a food processor and process well. Either eat the other half of the packet or make popcorn balls!

With a pastry brush, lightly coat each macaron shell in melted butter then sprinkle with the processed popcorn.

Leave the shells to set for about 5-10 minutes depending on room temperature. By the time you have finished sprinkling the last shell, the first on has probably already set!

Place the buttercream in a piping bag and pipe onto half the shells. Sandwich together with an buttercream-free shell and leave in the fridge overnight to allow the flavour and chewiness to develop.

Bring to room temperature before serving.

As with most macarons, these freeze really well!

Sarah xx

Rainbow Layer Cake

 A few weeks ago I made a rainbow checkerboard cake. Inspired by the pretty colours, I made another rainbow cake for a friend's birthday, however this time it was a layer cake.

More Macarons...

I love baking macarons - they look pretty and the flavour combinations are endless. This weekend I tried a few different flavours in addition to my standards.

I always find it much easier to make a large batch of macs, after all they freeze so well. Given the time that it takes to make them (4 hours start to finish this time!!!), it's definitely worth making a batch.

This time I experimented a little and made four flavours:

Peanut Butter
Milo
Strawberry/Raspberry
Lemon

Challah

So i'm not Jewish, nor do I claim to know a lot about Jewish food culture, the one thing I do know is that so many Jewish celebrations revolve around food which is awesome. Challah is eaten every Friday night for Shabbat. It's a delicious, slightly sweet bread, a little like brioche however it contains no butter. The only downside to challah is that it goes stale fairly quickly, which doesn't matter too much because it makes fabulous french toast!

Milo Biscuits

Yes, I am procrastinating AGAIN! Somehow whenever exam time comes around the house gets clean, my room gets tidy and I bake non-stop. Oh well - at least I'm productive!

Anyway given my recent obsession with Milo i have been searching for new ways to eat Milo, rather than simply with a spoon. Although i found several recipes for muffins, cupcakes, cake and biscuits, i decided I'd just play around with my tried and tested cookie recipe and see what happened.

This is the recipe that I use for choc chip/M&M/white choc & macadamia cookies. However, when adding Milo instead of chunky bits it resulted in a fairly crunchy biscuit. I think this is due to the high sugar content of the Milo. Maybe next time I need to reduce the caster sugar. Nonetheless they are tasty but if you like chewy biscuits then I'm afraid this recipe isn't for you.

Milo Biscuits - makes 28 biscuits


125g butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 3/4 cups SR flour
3/4 cup Milo

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line 3 trays with greaseproof paper.
Cream butter and sugars until thick and creamy. Add extract and egg and beat until well incorporated.
Add flour and Milo and beat until mixture is homogenous.
Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls and place on the trays. Flatten them slightly.
Bake for 12 minutes

Enjoy!

Sarah xx

Apple, Pecan and Gingerbread Cake

As much as I love baking it's not often that I make the cake two days in a row. That was the case with this gorgeous cake from the July edition of Delicious Magazine. Honestly it is one of the nicest cakes I've eaten all year combining some of my favourite ingredients: apples, pecan nuts. ginger and cinnamon. How could it go wrong?

Choc Bit Coconut Slice

This is such a simple recipe and it is delicious! I know there are other variations out there but this is what my Mum used to make when i was a child. I haven't yet met anyone who doesn't love this slice and it is so simple to make that anyone could do it!

The biggest issue with this slice is that it is fairly ugly! Delicious yes, but not too photogenic.

Did I mention how easy this recipe is? Don't believe me? Check this out!

Cheesymite Scrolls

First it was Milo, now cheesymite scrolls. I don't know what it is but recently i've been craving kids' food!  Not sure what it will be next - maybe fairy bread?

Anyway i leave home too early for the bakery to have baked their supply of cheesymite scrolls, so i decided that i'd give baking them a go instead.

It was super simple and the result is pretty tasty!

Here's what i did although any bread recipe (or scone recipe) would work too.

Black Forest Cake

Last weekend was my Pop's 90th. A pretty awesome effort to get to 90 so i thought he deserved a pretty awesome cake. Unfortunately due to other commitments I didn't have to time to create a fondant-covered cake so instead set out to make a black forest cake with black forest cupcakes.

Macarons

These little beauties are one of my favourite things to bake for a few reasons: 

1. They look so pretty!
2. There are endless possibilities regarding flavours
3. They have a reputation for being difficult to make
4. Everyone will love you for making them!

So this afternoon i was bored so i decided to whip up a batch. I probably shouldn't say whip up a batch because it did take most of the afternoon!

I thought i'd put a bit of a step by step recipe up for these because they really aren't that difficult. You just need to be precise and have patience! This is my favourite macaron recipe. It works the best for me however you do need to own digital scales, a candy thermometer, a food processor and a stand mixer. Although you can probably get away with hand beaters, the scales and thermometer really are vital so i wouldn't try this recipe without them. Additionally a piping bag will make life much easier for you!

Pretzels!

Ever since i went to Germany and ate the amazing pretzels, i've been trying to recreate them at home. Unfortunately i've found that they aren't as simple as initially expected. The first time i made pretzels they were a disaster. They looked terrible!!!! This time things went a little smoother although i probably stretched the dough a little to far so some were too thin and therefore crunchy. 


One thing you do need when making pretzels is lye. Lye is a very alkaline substance and it gives the pretzels that awesome dark brown, chewy crust. I bought my lye as lye water from an asian grocer as it is used in asian cuisine to make noodles chewy! 


One thing i still need to perfect is the salt. I don't know what salt they use in Germany but it didn't taste as salty as my salt. I ended up picking off bits of salt as i ate my pretzel!

Amazing Cinnabons

What on earth is a Cinnabon? Well it is an American chain specialising in cinnamon scrolls. One of my friends asked me probably years ago to have a go at making them and not knowing what they were i did some googling. I guess what separates these buns from normal cinnamon scrolls is the cream cheese frosting. These scrolls are absolutely delicious and taste amazing hot out of the oven with the frosting drizzled over. I highly recommend the recipe and assume they would freeze really well.