October 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge #33: MACAROONS

As usual, I always have a little problem^ ^. The last two months, I had a lot of things to do, so I just couldn't make any challenge (and I'm so disappointed because I want to make all of them.

Anyway, this month, I plan ahead, just to make sure that I can complete this challenge, I made this macaron on the first week of this month. But everything didn't turn out to be great.

This was my first macaron from this recipe >*< , you can see that it turned out to be a nightmare. I think it because of the heat of my oven, I just couldn't set the temperature to 90°C, so my macaron cooked than dry. So, I just tried again, but before trying, I read the forum, to see how other people were. And I got another tip, the amount of the egg white is another key. So I adjust the amount of it, and use my small oven ( and use the lowest setting that usually use for yeast fermentation), to dry the macaron, and yes I can do it by now. I think this recipe is good for the people who love to make the macaron with the French meringue but don 't want to wait for the surface to dry or live in the humidity place. Because drying it in the oven save a load of time.

My macaron at last.

I made four batches of it (small batches, haha, each of them are 1/4 of the recipe), two coffee and two plain. The coffee macaron made by adding 1 tsp of the instant coffee powder into the almond (if you make the almond powder by yourself, just put it with the almond).

recipe comes from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

THE DARING COOKS OCTOBER 2009 CHALLENGE: MACAROONS

Ingredients
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

This is the recipe that I use (1/4 of the large recipe)

Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 60g
Almond flour: 48g
Granulated sugar: 7g
Egg whites: 35g
For coffee macaron use 1tsp instant coffee powder

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.

2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.

dailydelicious note: I use 150°C for 10 minutes

7. Cool on a rack before filling.

Crème Pâtissière buttercream

200 ml	whole milk
2	egg yolks
1/2	Vanilla bean
50 g	Sugar
10 g	cornstarch, sifted
10 g	Cake flour, sifted
100 g	unsalted butter, at room temperature

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar , seeds from vanilla bean, cake flour and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.

2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture. Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).

4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth. Let the pastry cream cooled completely, stirring occasionally. Stir in the butter in three or four installments.

Spoon the filling into a piping bag fitted with a 5mm nozzle. Pipe the filling into the macorons

Sandwich macarons together.

Refrigerate for at least 1 hour for filling to firm.

October 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge #33: MACAROONS

Strawberry Yogurt Mousse Cake: Tangy sweet that you can't say no!

I always need a break from the oven, well, not that I feel bored, but sometimes, cool dessert is great too (You can see that I make a lot of different dessert, bake, non-bake, ice or fry. I love to do all of them, haha).
So, today, I just stay away from the oven only a little bit, but close to the refrigerator instead ^ ^. This cool dessert is very refreshing, from the yogurt and the strawberry, and as always it's very easy to make.

When press the crumb into the pan (or ring molds), be sure to press it firmly, so when you remove the molds the crumb will stay in place (esp. for the small ring molds).
The frozen strawberry is very good to keep in the freezer, you can make many kinds of dessert from it, and I love to use it. But if you want to make it with the fresh one, just replace the same amount.

I love to serve this little dessert in the afternoon, with a cup of tea, well, you can imagine, the softness of the mousse, with the tangy and sweet taste, what a good day!

Ps. my nephew really love this dessert, even I never think about it before, he had 2 pieces in one afternoon ^ ^, and he said that it tastes like a cup of strawberry flavored yogurt but much much more delicious, haha, well I'm so happy.

Strawberry Yogurt Mousse Cake
Makes 18 cm cake pan ( or 7 - 6cm ring)

100g	Biscuit (put in food processor and process to become fine crumb)
50g	Salted butter (melted)
400g	Frozen strawberry
25ml	Lemon juice
80g	Sugar
8g	Gelatin
240g	Yogurt
230 ml	Whipping cream

I use rolling pin to crush the biscuit instead of using the food processor -well, I hate to wash the food processor, ^ ^.

Mix biscuit and butter together and press into 18 cm cake pan (with removable bottom or 8 - 6cm ring).

Bloom the gelatin. Put the strawberry and lemon juice in a blender and blend until smooth.

Pour the mixture into the pan add the sugar and heat until the sugar melt.

Put the gelatin into the strawberry and stir until smooth; let the mixture cool to room temperature.

When the strawberry cool, pour the yogurt into the strawberry mixture, whisk to combine.

Whisk the cream until soft peaks form; spoon 1/3 of the whipped cream into strawberry mixture and fold the strawberry mixture lightly back into whipped cream .

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.

Refrigerate for 4 hours or until firm.

Strawberry Yogurt Mousse Cake: Tangy sweet that you can't say no!

You ask for it: SIMPLE CREAM SCONES, easy, easy and easy!

First of all I want to tell you that, I try to test the recipe that people send me a request (well, a lot, haha, but I'm happy to get this kind of email), the only problem is I just can't make them fast enough,>*<. There were many time, that I tested the recipe, and it didn't come out well, and I had to eat it! (how can you throw away food) So, for many people who sent the request, please wait for it, because I need to test the recipe before I publish it in my blog.

But the request for today is quite easy, the recipe for the good scone is not hard to find. The way you making it is more important, because the scone is only the flour, butter, baking powder, and some liquid so all you had to do is mix them together, lightly but enough. Lightly because you don't want the gluten in the dough develop too much, but if you mix it too lightly, the scone will be too crumble.
So, when kneading, just folding it until the top of the dough is smoother and remember, this is not a bread ^ ^.

For the way to mix the butter into the flour, you can use either food processor or the cutting method, both of them work fine, the food processor will be great for anyone who had a problem with the hot weather, or hand, but you will have more things to wash than the cutting up method, haha.

As the book said"Resist the urge to eat the scones hot out of the oven, as letting them cool for at least 10 minutes firms them up and improves their texture", so, you see, the warm scone from the oven will be so tempting, and yes more delicious than the cold one from the bakery ^ ^.

SIMPLE CREAM SCONES
MAKES 8

2 cups (10 ounces)	all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons	sugar
1 tablespoon	baking powder
½ teaspoon	salt
5 tablespoons	unsalted butter, cut into ¼-inch pieces and chilled
½ cup (2½ ounces)	currants (optional)
1 cup	heavy cream

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 450° F (230°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Pulse the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a food processor to combine, about 3 pulses. Scatter the butter evenly over the top and continue to pulse until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal with a few slightly larger butter lumps, about 12 more pulses. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and stir in the currants (if using). Stir in the cream with a rubber spatula until the dough begins to form, about 30 seconds.

Note from dailydelicious: I didn’t want to wash the food processor, so I make this with the old cutting method, ^ ^. So, I just sift all the dry ingredients into a large bowl, put the butter in and cut until the mixture resemble the coarse cornmeal with a few slightly larger butter lumps.

3. Turn the dough and any floury bits out onto a floured counter and knead until it forms a rough, slightly sticky ball, 5 to 10 seconds. Following the photos, press the dough into a 9-inch cake pan. Unmold the dough and cut into 8 wedges.

4. Place the wedges on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until the scone tops are lightly golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool for at least 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

You ask for it: SIMPLE CREAM SCONES, easy, easy and easy!