I Gained More Than What I Gave Away...

What can I say......after two sessions of knowledge sharing on macaron making...think I have gained more knowledge than those that I gave away....I have learnt so much from all the beautiful people who came...

Yesterday's session was fun...but not as chaotic as the previous class, hehe...I served Roast Chicken with Potatoes with Bread for lunch, but we opted for steaming hot rice (tekak Melayu)....with the left over Assam Pedas gravy from the day before...apakah......but too bad, I didn't take any photos, was knackered..and thought that I'd just enjoy the time with the lovely ladies....Nik, Mimie of http://www.delicious-cuppies.com/, Aisyah, Tuty and Shida!

This time all the macarons went well, except that Shida's were a bit flat as her batter was a bit runny...err, it was overmixed! And, what we learnt extra yesterday was to make 2 colours out of a barch of batter...Mimie wanted hers to be in pink and brown! And, yes we did it...you just have to mix the meringue and almond mix as usual and divide them into 2 portions just before the macaronner ie to get the batter just right before piping them......Mimie also shared the tips to bake extra yummy cakes! if you want to know, please email Mimie!

And, while waiting for the Shida's batter to cool, and due to my craving for cakes...I turned to my Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book...and this page on Date Cuppies (without Walnut) which had been dogged eared for months caught my attention....and voila...about 40 mins later, this came out of the oven....and am happy to spare some for Tuty, Aisyah and Shida....sorry Mimie and Nik, you have to come by again for some cakes later!

Martha's Date and Walnut Mini Cuppies

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 salt

1/4 tsp graound cardamom, didnt have any, so I omitted

10 0z soft plump dates such as Medjool (I loved Medjool...ha ha tunggu bulan posa!), I used Mariamy dates that I got from Pasar Tani (and no, they are not from Baling, Kedah...they are from Iran!, haha!!)

1 1/2 cups boiling water

4 tbsp butter (about 60g)

1 cup packed light brown sugar, I used about 3/4 cup...I figured the dates were going to be sweet enough

 1 large egg, lightly beaten

 1 tsp vanilla extract, I used vanili powder, ran out of vanilla extract...err can you beat that!!?? apakah.....

1 1/2 cups walnut...too lazy to roast, so I omitted

 1 cup creme fraiche, didn't have any...I poured fresh cream on mine, hehe... 

Method

1. Preheat oven at 170C. Prepare muffin cups.

2. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and set aside.

3. In a pot simmer for a bout 2 minutes dates in boiling water. Remove from fire add softened butter, let cool and then add brwon sugar and egg, stirring until all ingredients are well mixed. Lastly fold in flour mix.

4. Divide in muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes.

I loved this cake, it is super moist and super easy and fast to prepare...it tasted even better this morning!

...so...until the next macaron session on 24.4.2010...we'll have to settle with other cake and macaron stories ya!....Have a brilliant week peeps!