Macarons..Italian Meringue!!

Like I made macarons successfully many many months ago...I jumped with joy when my macarons started showing their feet last night...I attempted the Italian Meringue method..woo hoo! I had a postponement for a macaron order, so...I took the opportunity to give this method a go!

....and what can I say...I might convert from the classic French meringue method to this...it was like doing step 1, 2, 3...and so on and so forth...and knowing that the result would be a good one! I had taken the recipe and method from Sue, whose blog I had been following ever since I started attempting making macarons!...you know, the thing that I feared most when doing this last night was the thermometer.....why!??? I don't know!!

I followed Sue's step by step method to the t! So...here goes!

Basic Macaron Recipe : Italian Meringue Method

Ingredients

100g egg whites (I used mine that was aged in the fridge for 3 days, left out at room temperature before I used last night)

125g icing sugar

125g almond meal

125g caster sugar

34g water

food colouring

Method

1. Prepare your almond meal and icing sugar....weigh and sift and keep aside.

2.Prepare your baking trays with baking paper. I used 3 baking trays lined with Silpat.

3.Get ready with your piping bag. Get ready with your mixing bowls and a spatula. Get ready with a heavy bottom pan and a digital thermometer.

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4.Divide the egg whites into 2 equal portions. Put one portion 50g into the almond meal icing sugar mix. Do not mix them together, then, put some food colouring on the egg white. I used Sugarflair's Gooseberry Green gel with a tinge of Lemon Yellow colour powder.....very springy eh!

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5.Put the other portion 50g egg white into a bowl fitted into your stand mixer (I used a stand mixer this time), fitted with whip attachment. Set aside.

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6.Place water and caster sugar in a small heavy-bottom pan (like my bottom...haha!) over medium heat. Bring the mixture to boil. Do not stir as the sugar might crystalise...I just gently shook the pan while the sugar syrup was boiling....

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7.Once bubble starts to appear, start running your mixer with medium speed, whip the egg white until soft peak is formed, and keep the motor running...

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8.When the sugar syrup reaches 118Celcius, remove the saucepan from heat, and let cool slightly until about 115Celcius. Slowly pour this sugar syrup into the mixing bowl (I turned down the motor, whilst doing this so as to avoid any splatter).

9.Keep beting the egg white at medium-high speed until the mixture cools down, when you touch the mixing bowl, it feels like touching your skin. The finished egg white will be stiff and very glossy...it was glossier than the normal French meringue method.

10.Using a spatula, fold one third of the meringue into the almond meal mixture. I mixed simply quite vigorously until the batter is smooth and well blended.

11.Then, I mixed the remaining meringue in two additions, being careful so as not to overfold....rid the air pockets like you do for macaronnage with French Meringue method.

12.Pour into piping bag, and pipe the batter....tap your baking tray to rid of any trapped air.

13.Let the piped batter to dry...I did mine for 20 minutes and later used the oven drying method to dry the shells.

14.Bake at 150Celcius for about 20 minutes.

The verdict....shells were noticeably harder and not as brittle as those from the French meringue, the surface was smoother and shiny...love it love love it!!

The batter yields about 45 macarons...I had a "fast sale" order from someone who was leaving for Riyadh tomorrow, so...I filled up with wahtever filling I had...Lemon Curd, Fresh Raspberry, Salted Caramel, Cream Cheese and French Pastry Cream....

hmmm.....with this, am smiling all the way to woo the weekend, in Ayer Baloi..woot woot!

Molten Chocolate Babycakes...My Attempt To Become A Domestic Goddess!

I have only had this chocolatey dessert once, at Tammarind Springs....hubby and I had dinner with Mr and Mrs Nordin, and Superwomanwannabe and Superman......a few years back! We have not been out for dinner for quite a while, infact ever since we made do without a helper, hubby and I had never been out on Friday nights...our rendezvous night! We now spend time with the kids, or ferrying Khadijah for her tuition classes on Friday nights! 

And...why this Molten Chocolate Babycakes....I have doggymarked this page in Nigella's How To Be A Domestic Goddess book ever since I don't know when!....Ha ha! I opened the book last night looking for something and stumbled on this....I also want to leave this for your taking to do over the weekend...yes...peeps!? I made this at 5 this morning and by the time I got to work, they were nicely tucked in my LocknLock, managed to snap some pics and brought a few for my colleagues in the office! It's that easy okay! 

I love love this silicon moulds given by Sham!

Ingredients

50g soft butter

350g best dark chocolate, I used 50% Valrhona Manjiri and 50% Colatta Dark Choc Chips

150g caster sugar

4 large eggs, I used 4 medium eggs, that's all I had

1 tsp vanilla extract

50g plain flour

pudding moulds, I used 6 ramekins and 3 silicon moulds

Method

1. Preheat oven at 200C, grease moulds with butter and line with baking paper.

2.Melt dark chocolate and let cool.

3.Beat butter and sugar. Add in vanilla, add in eggs one by one.

4.Pour the melted dark chocolate and lastly fold in flour. Divide equally amongst moulds. 

5.To bake I warmed my baking tray first in the oven while the oven was heating. Then, I quickly took out the baking tray and arrange the moulds filled up with the batter.

6. Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes.

This dessert is best served warm with ice cream...so what you can do if you are serving your guests is to prepare the batter in the moulds and keep in the fridge and bake them when your guests are ready for dessert! Voila, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! This was my breakfast this morning :p

Bakes and Cakes

Time for tqs! Bakes and Cakes of last week and yesterweek!

Choc (using Valrhona Chocolate) and Almond Dusted with Valrhona Cocoa PowderMacarons with Choc Ganache, Espresso , Raspberry and Salted Caramel French Pastry Fillings, tqs Rohaida, Ju!

"Tq Tan Sri Dr Munir Majid" who vacated his chair at the LSE Alumni...Double Choc Cake with Choc Ganache and Summer Berries, tq Shaun, Milkadeal boss!

Devil's Food choc Cake, tq Rafidah, Erleena (kek buah you sgt sedap!), Rohaidah, Aunty Jude and Abbie!

Almond Macarons in Baby Pink and Turquoise Blue/Green with French Pastry Cream Fused with Lemon Curd, Fresh Raspberry...tq Nina...sorry if this macarons were a bit flat!

Choc Macarons with Choc Ganache, Pecan Macarons with Maple Swiss Meringue Buttercream, thank you Suhaila!

Triple Choc Macaron, Almond with Lemon Curd and Fresh Raspberry, thank you Abbie!

Choc Macarons with Choc Ganache, Hazelnut with Salted Caramel, Almond with Swiss Meringu Buttercream and Lemon Curd, tqs Suzana, Ida, Mariame, Aunty Jude.

Red Velvet Cuppies...thank you Aunty Jude!

It was a red red Red Velvet Cake weekend..tqs Nita, Ida Royani, Mariame, Munirah, Abbie, and Nina!

If I had missed out any names that's not intentional on my part, I'm only human....and one who's ageing by the second...so memory lapses tend to happen....quite frequently lately, he he...tq so much beautiful people for all this orders :p

3rd Macaron Class!

It was a macaron rollercoaster ride last week...and I tell you I really had the jitters before my macaron class yesterday...what if the mishaps, the cracks, the flat ass happened during the class......anyway i had to gather my courage and just did it! Can't bear to postpone the class and disappoint the girls!

And so, we began at 10....and I insisted that we use this other method rather than the classic French method, due to the unpredictable weather here. This other method is more relisient and trouble proof, yes..in times of doubt, please do not attempt the classic french method.....

Here's presenting, Lily, Intan, Kak Shidah and Immey and some pics of their macs!

Intan's pretty fingers....

They used Silpat, I had found baking trays with excat measuremant as Silpats last week!

Very humble lunch...Mee Goreng Udang and of course the yummeh Kueah Bakar made by Immey!

Lunch break....

Kak Shidah's marbled macarons!

Immey's turquoise coloured macarons...

Lily's mac!

And....hubby bought this from Weng Hwa in Petaling Street! Psst....the pictures didn't do juctice...am still reading the new manual :p

And, yes, alhamdulillah, everything went well, except that Kak Shidah's macarons were tan due to them being left a tad too long in the oven and Intan's Green Tea Macs were wrinkled after they cooled down...could it be due to the green tea powder that we used that came straight from the fridge....Anyhow all the macarons were dancing pretty skirts! So...thanks Lily, Intan, Kak Shidah and Immey...Immey you Kueh Bakar was a hit amongst my kids and hubby, yeah!

Have a brilliant nad productive week, peeps, and tqs for reading!

It Was Wet Wet Wet.....

It's no joke when making macarons in a wet weather....I was chatting to Rima about our macarons yesterday, she also experienced the same...and coincidentally, we were using the almond flour purchased from the same bakeshop...err...oh no! Could it be the weather, or might it be the almond flour....I don't know...and as I said I was not going to fret and sweat the small stuff when making macarons...I dumped 4 out of 5 trays of macarons on Wednesday....they were for an engagement dessert bar, you see! And, I had to bake some more to make 100 macarons to be collected tonight (and I also finished all my stock of almond flour!)...but, thank god...here they are... a few of the 100+ macarons in yellow gold! Hmm...just in the nick of time, might I say...and this morning I woke up at 3 to make some orders for tomorrow, yup, they were ok! In pink and turquoise..pictures later, and as I was rushing to go to work, I dried the shells in the oven, like I told you before and they worked!

Almond Macarons with French Pastry Buttercream and fused with Lemon Curd (I made one you know...yummeh!), but the look of the macarons is not to my best satisfaction...."blame it on the rain, yeh yeh"...let's sing! Tqs Yong for this order, btw Yong is a wedding planner...

White Hyacinth at Floracafe...I tell you tt Razak really got class! I loved this from my days in UK......

So....that's it for the week, I'll reply to your comments later, and post pics of bakes and cakes I don't know when I will do, he, he...I will, I will...have a brilliant weekend...I will, the sun is playing and I have a Macaron Class on Sunday, woot!xox

Pause and Breathe.......

My head is tingtong (heavy), it's wet (rainy season again??!) and my macarons were busted last night (they danced happy feet but cracked) and hence, I'm behind my orders for macarons, work is also catching up in the office, and I have also not replied your comments...grrrrr.....so, I'll pause and do the necessary....in the mean time, just to let you know that I have received a list of requests for macaron classes, and I have also been approched to conduct my classes in cake-house/boutique...am seriously considering the offer as that would solve my logistics and the requests...I will update you as soon as I can!

...and enjoy this pics of my cupcake baby Muhammad who will be 2 in July...ah he "kicked-off" (literally in my tummy then!) the baking in me and got to where I am now....

Pictures taken whilst I was doing work in my kitchen last Saturday...enjoy....owh it's dark and gloomy and the rain is coming again (thinking of macarons.......)...

He's a hat/cap fetish, I tell you....

Tra...xox

Very Merry Weekend with Loved Ones

Last weekend was the weekend that was probably the most carefree and 'baking-free' weekend. I decided to postpone my class on Sunday as I had a khenduri (gathering where we say prayers and rejoice, of course!)  at Sham's and a house warming get together with hubby's cousin in their new abode Shah Alam.....and I think my family is missing me quite badly already, hehe....

So the fiesta started on Saturday night....my couch warmer (and that's because ever since he was single, my couch had been Bad's favourite spot in the house!) Bad's eldest girl Maryam was celebrating her 8th birthday! Bad and Liza threw a dinner party! Well, the food was good, but I had already had my favourite steaming hot rice with omelette and sweet soya sauce with Muhammad before we went! So...I only waited for Maryam to blow her candles and indulged in this Red Velvet Cake....hehe...Liza wanted this cake for her, actually...but it ended being thoroughly enjoyed by the kids....they probably turned red the next day..of no!

Was in the nick of time so I pasted these fondant daisies....

The view from Bad's apartment...

...and Maryam (in the background) was elated...thank god...I actually wanted to do something with macarons, but I didn't have time for that...

We left quite early, everyone was tired....Saturday is a full day for everyone, the kids have their extra classes or co-curriculum and hubby has to ferry them around...and I'm usually in the kitchen....

And Sunday morning, I left for Sham's ceremony to celebrate girls completion with Quran reading (Khatam Quran) at her lovely home! The whole thing was so beautiful, it was as if one of her girls was getting engaged...well I could see that Pat (Sham's hubby) was clearly nervous!

Floral arrangement by zuree of floraetc !

Sham's lovely girls

And then, it was makan (dining) time...food was also by floracafe... I can vouch that how floracafe makes their Nasi Tomato and Soto Ayam, the taste is somewhat like mine...so...go try them!

There were different varieties of cupcakes and mini cakes, but I prepared this Sicilian Orange Cake...of course ...they were refreshing for alfresco lunch....you see...hehe I perasan (feeling full of myself, tee heee...) as usual! 

Seemed that these were very popular!

...and this was what I had...glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk and turmeric and beef curry....mmmm ....my personal favourite...the fairy cakes were from floracafe...I like I like!

...I loved this setting...I can imagine the beauties that Sham would create when the girls got engaged or got married...Sham does interior designing in her spare time!...and i follow her around sometime to take pictures!

After Sham's do, we left for Kak Ayush's new home in Shah Alam...another lovely place...her house is not fully done up, but it was warm and cosy and made you not wanting to leave once you set your feet in there!

These made me felt very 'spring-y'...it was hot and dry and windy yesterday...

Hubby, Muhammad and Kak Ayush...Kak Ayush is an O&G specialist, she delivered Khadijah!

I loved her 'island kitchen and new stove.......

...of course what's better to have in a balmy Sunday afternoon tea, other than....

Rhubard Strawberry Crumble, which I prepared there...it was a hit with everyone!

...and I thoroughly enjoyed this Curry Mee, Kak Ayush made this!

We went home quite late...I had my chores and those egg whites and almond mix that I had to prepare...but nah...I hopped onto bed almost immediately after I got home, and settled my chores at 5 am the next day!

This picture was taken by Hajar at Sham's, cool, ain't it!

So, it's back to the normal daily things again, but let's work for a brilliant week this week ya!xox

Macarons...Don't Sweat The Small Stuff, Just Go Make Them!

I was thinking of what to leave you peeps for the weekend...yeah, something that you can work on...and one that you won't have to "sweat the small stuff"! As in go grab your egg white, hand-mixer, almond flour and whip that macarons!

I have also had some emails asking me to conduct more macaron classes...yup, there is one coming up in May, and probably another..I think! But, in the mean time, might I suggest that you give this lovely gems a go first! And....owh, like I have promised some of you and so as not to waste a lot of egg whites and be miserable if your macarons didn't turn out the way you wanted them to be...let's try with an egg white recipe!

Rose flavoured with Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream (using fresh raspberries), used fresh egg whites and baked on baking paper...

Green tea and Choc Ganache (using Valrhona Manjiri dark chocolate), thank you Hayati for this order!

Ingredients

30g egg whites, preferably I aged them for about 3 or 4 days, sometimes I use those that were aged overnight in the fridge

20g caster sugar

36g ground almond

54g icing sugar

Method

1. Prepare your baking trays with baking or parchment paper, or Silpat if you have invested in them. And a piping bag.

2. Sift almond flour with icing sugar, set aside...I usually prepare this way in advance and store in the freezer, so as to avoid the almond flour from turning rancid. And it also comes handy when you just have that urge to make macarons....I must warn you that you can get hooked on making macarons!!

3. Start beating egg whites at speed 2 on hand mixer until they are bubbly and frothy,then, slowly add in sugar. When all the sugar is gone, turn to medium speed and whip for about 3 minutes.

4. When you have a soft peak thick meringue, turn to high speed and whip the meringue to form stiff peak, dense and glossy meringue....probably for another 4 or 5 minutes.

5. You can add the colour in caster sugar, or nowadays I add the colour together when I add the almond icing sugar mix.

6. You can add the almond icing sugar mix into the meringue in 3 additions, or if you are like me, always on the move and rushing, just pour them altogether.

7. Mix the meringue and almond mix well, to ensure that they are blended. Then, start the macaronner process...ie to get rid of the air trapped in the meringue/batter.

8. Just press the batter against the wall of your bowl until you get a mass that is glossy and flows a ribbon consistency.

9. Pour into a piping bag and pipe the batter, with about an inch gap between them. The batter will spread a bit, not much!

10. Allow to dry until a skin forms...err when you touch the batter it is like touching your skin! Otherwise you can dry using the unconventional method I showed in my earlier post!  See, no need to sweat the small stuff! 

11. Bake at 150C for about 20 minutes...well....if everything goes well, your  happy feet will appear after 5 minutes (about) after you pop them batter into the oven....hmm...think of law of attraction, and you will see your feet, skirt whatever!

In the early days during my first few attempts...which macarons oh so flopped miserably...you don't want to know how many had gone into the dustbin......I just spread some nutella or goober grape as fillings! You can do that, even though they might be a tad too sweet! Nowadays, I have cooked up a buttercream that uses very little sugar, tee hee....so you can eat more macarons...evil me!

Thank you Suzana for this order...Lavender (using dried organic lavenders), Rose (using dried organic tea rose) and Chocolate (using Valrhona cocoa powder and Valrhona Manjiri in the ganache). 

So.....tonight go crack your egg white, store in the fridge and get your almond mix prepared...make macarons for tea, tomorrow! Have a brilliant weekend peeps....I will...and class will resume on 24.4.2011, I have kenduris to attend on Friday :p