Pierre Herme's Bitter Chocolate Macaron

It's going to be Friday tomorrow, and what a week had been for me....CHAOS is the (and read:comments not replied yet....sabar ye!) word !....anyway, more stories on that when I updates and cakes on bakes! For now, let's talk Pierre Herme's macarons....Choc Macarons and the much talk about book that now is printed in English...woot! I got my copy last week, and what better opportunity to give this recipe a shot when I have to deliver some orders, too!...so here goes......

The ingredients involve melting dark chocolate into the ground almond icing sugar mix...and I used Valrhona's 64% Manjari cocoa buttons......

I decided to halve the recipe, and used the technique that I learnt from Nathalie's class when preparing the sugar syrup so as to avoid the sugar from crystalising. During mixing too, I did exactly what Nathalie taught us! And baked on baking paper instead of my Silpat or silicon sheet....

I made this macarons after I got home from office, settled the kids dinner, tidied my kitchen but voila, I guess      it was very dry that night, that it took only 40 minutes for the shells to dry! I didn't dust the shells with cocoa powder, but used Valrhona Manjari buttons and President whipping cream for the ganache!

...and the verdict....it was delicious, chocolatey...yet I prefer Nathalie's Chocolate Macarons which have cocoa powder in addition to the melted dark chocolate in the batter...but hey, it's definitely nicer to indulge in your own homemade macarons!

....so, grab hold of the book and make this at home!Hmmm...I can't wait to try some other flavors from the book!

Doing It All- For All Women Out There!

I was getting ready to enter the snoozeland last night...it was close to 12.30am, I have cleared the kitchen, managed to tidy up our family library upstairs, did a test batch of macarons baked on silicon sheet, washed the toilet upstairs, applied my hand cream (a must since I havent got a helper anymore) and some foot cream (sudah tua, that i so need them to smoothen my cracked heels, now!), and I passed by my dining table and saw Sunday Star strewn on the table....decided to flip on the middle page, I have not bothered to read about the nation, hate that sickly feeling to find out about who is going to topple who, whose baby had been dumped, who had been murdered or whic nationed is in war...hate it!

But I saw this http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2011/sep/17/superwoman-motherhood-careers-zoe-williams in Lifestyle StarClove.....a write-up about me! Yes, me! I grabbed the paper and started to read while I doze off...after I bace Bismillah that is...

The article was about a working woman juggling her career and having a perfect family....and how a woman should strike a balance between the two! Well, think I am far from what I aspire to be, yup...I strive to do my work well with pride, while at the same time manage my family time and indulge in a bit of leisure when I bake. Do I wish to become a SAHM, yes and no...yes so that I can be with the kids full time and no, I need my space and I need some money to pay my bills....they a lot, ok!

At one point of time I decided to take breather and not work for about 2 years, but now, I think I will always join the workforce as long I am needed, or possibly quit and bake full time....the question that I ask myself is if I bake fulltime, would I want to play with butter, flour and eggs and oven and be in my apron everyday....I don't know! For now...I'll stick to the way things go, come to work, work hard, go home, make sure all is well with the kids and hubs and bake, a bit! Haha.....read this article and think about it.....see I can't even spare some time to reply your comments...I will I will...I read them on my berry...I will reply and tqs for your comments...please keep on reading ya! :D