Chicken Farm Bakers’ Project #3: Let's go BANANA !

Macaron au mocha avec caramel de banane: Mocha Macaron with Caramel Banana filling

Banana, banana, I love banana. This month Chicken farm bakers’ host selects banana to be the star. Actually I want to follow the host’s recipe too (she gives us the banana cake recipe), but I still have a mocaron mission, Haha. My mission began last month when I ordered the book from Amazon fr. I just wanted to have more books about macaron, but I couldn’t find it in English language. I’m lucky enough that I had a chance to learn French when I was in high school (but that time I thought it’s curse, it’s not easy for me). Anyway when my sister saw the books she said that I must make something from the books because she wants to try them. So, I choose this recipe. But I had to change the recipe a bit, because I still not good at making the macaron. My first macaron from new book was a mass, because I didn’t know that my thermometer was broken. I lost 2 batch of Italian meringue before I noticed the problem and I lost 1 batch of macaron because I was too tried to make (The recipe uses very little water and I couldn’t melt the sugar so I put a spoonful of water into the pan, so the ingredient was out of balance). So I used the macaron recipe from:  ............ and the filling from ...................

The recipe from ................. book is very good; I don’t have to keep the door ajar when baking the macaron now. But the key is the egg white had to separate from the yolk and keep in a box for 1 week in the refrigerator, (or leave the box in room temperature for 2-3 days). So, the egg white will liquidize and the macaron won’t crack easily when bake, and you have to let the macorons dry for 30 minutes before baking. And I have to accept that this is the most reliable macaron recipe for me.

Macaron au mocha avec caramel de banane: Mocha Macaron with Caramel Banana filling

Makes about 30

Mocha Italian Meringue Macaron
For the macaron base
68 g	almond powder
68 g	icing sugar
25 g	egg whites
2 tsp	Kahlúa (or other coffee-flavored liqueur.)
1 tsp	Instant coffee
	Yellow food coloring
	Cocoa powder for sprinkle
For Italian Meringue
68 g	caster sugar
15 g	water
25 g	egg whites
Caramel banana filling
70 g	Banana
¾ tsp	Lemon juice
¾ tsp	Dark rum
95 g	White chocolate
30 g	Caster sugar
1 tbsp	Cream
15 g	Butter cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Mix the macaron base:

Mix Kahlúa and instant coffee together, stir to combine. Sift together almond powder and icing sugar into a bowl, put the color, Kahlúa mixture and egg white into the bowl. Use a pastry scrap to bring everything together. Set aside.

Make the Italian meringue:

In a sauce pan, put the sugar and water and bring to boil over medium low heat.
When the syrup reaches 114°C, start whisking the egg whites.

The syrup is ready when it reaches 120°C; pour it over the egg whites and continue whisking until cold.

Make the macaron:

Mix together the base and Italian meringue.

The mixture should be softer and very glossy, a little stiffer then cake batter.

Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 5mm nozzle. Pipe or spoon mixture into 3 cm rounds onto baking paper-lined (or Silpat) oven trays. When you’ve pipe out all the macarons lift each baking sheet with both hands and then bang it down on the counter (you need to get the air out of the batter). Let the macarons rest for 30 minutes, and sprinkle with the cocoa powder before baking.

Bake for 9 minutes to 15 minutes depend on your oven. Remove from oven and cool on trays. Slide a knife under each macaron to release.

Make caramel banana filling:

Put banana, rum and lemon juice in a bowl of the food processor and process until smooth.

Chop white chocolate into small pieces and put in a medium bowl, set aside.

Put the sugar in a heavy saucepan, place the pan on medium heat and cook undisturbed until the sugar begins to melt and caramelize-you’ll see a few wisps of smoke coming out of the sugar. Reduce the heat to low and stir occasionally so that the sugar melts and caramelizes evenly. While the caramel is still very pale add cream to the caramel at arm’s length, averting your face—the caramel will boil up and may splatter out of the pan. Pour the banana mixture into the caramel stir to combine then add the butter, and stir until smooth.

Pour the hot caramel into the white chocolate bowl, stir to melt the chocolate.

Let the filling cool until thick enough (you can put the filling into the fridge to quicken this step).

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.

Macaron au mocha avec caramel de banane: Mocha Macaron with Caramel Banana filling

Framboise disque: Raspberry Jam Filled Cookie

I like the cuteness of these cookies, the jam inside is like a little jewel. The recipe is from ............ These cookies are in petite four part (Petits fours secs) or the small treats to accompany the tea or coffee.

But I change the main ingredient from strawberry jam to raspberry jam. Which is great for almost everything, in my opinion, and I always have it in the fridge. It’s not so sweet like strawberry, and I like the fragrance of it too.

The cookies are good to have with a hot tea because of the jam.

Note: The photographs of how-to look a bit strange in color, =*=, my own camera was run out of the battery when I made the cookie. So, I had to borrow my brother camera, and you can see the results now.

Framboise disque: Raspberry Jam Filled Cookie

Makes about 20

60g	Unsalted butter
40g	Icing sugar
1	Egg yolks
1½ tsp	Milk
100g	Cake flour
	A dash of salt
	Egg wash (1 yolk + 1 tbsp of water)
	Icing sugar for sprinkle the top of the cookies
¼ cup	Raspberry jam

Beat the butter until soft and lighten in color, then add the icing sugar, beat until light in color.

Add the egg yolk, beat until combine, and then add the milk.

Sift the flour into the butter mixture and mix until combine.

Place the dough on the waxed paper and Roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness.

Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Pre-Heat oven to 180°C

Cut half the dough into 1½ inches disc, and the other half into disc with the 1inch hole. (Re-roll the scrap until you using up all the dough. If the dough soft put it in the refrigerator before cutting again)

Place the dough on lined baking sheet.

Brush the egg wash over the cookie and wait for the egg wash to dry.
When the egg wash dry, bake the cookies for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool the cookies completely on wire rack.

Sprinkle icing sugar over the cookie top.

And place the top of the cookies over the base of the cookie.

Put jam in microwave safe bowl, and heat for 30-40 second, or until the jam boils and liquidizes.

Spoon the jam into the cookies and let the cookies rest until the jam is cool.

Framboise disque: Raspberry Jam Filled Cookie

Whipped Cream Cup Cakes with Caramel Whipping Cream Frosting

I’m never bored with cup cakes. Because they’re easy to bake with, no pan preparation, easy for transportation, they are cute and most of all they’re welcomed by everyone. So, this time, I change the original recipe from layer cake to cup cake. The whipped cream layer cake from .................Actually the photo of the cake is so tempting and but I was so lazy to do anything more than taking the paper cups from the cupboard. This recipe is very easy, and the result is great. The cake is so soft and it goes very well with the soft and not too sweet caramel whipped cream. You can make your caramel darker than mine, but beware of the bitterness (but if that the taste that you like goes for it, this is your cake anyway).

Whipped Cream Cup Cake with Caramel Whipping Cream Frosting

Makes 16 cup cakes

WHIPPED CREAM CAKE BATTER
175 g	all-purpose flour
200 g	Sugar
2 tsp	Baking powder
⅛ tsp	Salt
1 cup	Whipping cream
1 tsp	Vanilla
2	Eggs
CARAMEL WHIPPED CREAM
75 g	sugar
½ tsp	Water
2 cups	Whipping cream
1 tsp	vanilla extract
DECORATION
CARAMEL SAUCE
75 g	sugar
½ tsp	Water
½ cup	Whipping cream
	Almond, lightly toasted

1. Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 180°C, prepare 16 paper cups, set aside.

2. For the cake batter, combine the flour, 100g of the sugar, the baking powder, and salt in a bowl and stir well to mix.

3. Put the cream and vanilla in a large bowl and whisk by hand until thickened and stiff.

Whisk in the eggs, one at a time. Whisk in the remaining 100 cup sugar. Whisk in the flour mixture in 3 separate additions, whisking smooth after each addition.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared cups and smooth the tops. Bake until they are well risen, deep golden, and firm in the center when pressed with a fingertip, 20-25 minutes.

5. Cool the cup cakes on racks.

6. While the cup cakes are baking, prepare the caramel whipped cream. Combine the sugar and water in a heavy saucepan and stir well to mix. Put ¼ cup of the cream in a second small saucepan (or put in the microwave proved measuring cup). Place the first pan on medium heat and cook undisturbed until the sugar begins to melt and caramelize-you’ll see a few wisps of smoke coming out of the sugar. Reduce the heat to low and stir occasionally so that the sugar melts and caramelizes evenly. Remove it from the heat when the caramel is still very pale (the sugar will continue to darken off the heat). Slide the pan with the cream onto the burner. As soon as the cream has some bubbles around the edge (if using microwave put the cup in the microwave and heat for 1 minutes), add it to the caramel at arm’s length, averting your face—the caramel will boil up and may splatter out of the pan. Pour the diluted caramel into a medium bowl and cool it to room temperature.

Stir in the remaining 1¾ cups cream and the vanilla and chill until you are ready to finish the cake (this can be made the day before).

7. Prepare the caramel sauce. Combine the sugar and water in a heavy saucepan and stir well to mix. Put the cream in a second small saucepan (or put in the microwave proved measuring cup). Place the first pan on medium heat and cook undisturbed until the sugar begins to melt and caramelize-you’ll see a few wisps of smoke coming out of the sugar. Reduce the heat to low and stir occasionally so that the sugar melts and caramelizes evenly. Remove it from the heat when the caramel is still very pale (the sugar will continue to darken off the heat). Slide the pan with the cream onto the burner. As soon as the cream has some bubbles around the edge (if using microwave put the cup in the microwave and heat for 1 minutes), add it to the caramel at arm’s length, averting your face-the caramel will boil up and may splatter out of the pan. Pour the diluted caramel into a medium bowl and cool it to room temperature.

To finish the cake, whip the cream mixture by hand or with an electric mixer until it holds a firm peak. Decorate the cake as you like.

Whipped Cream Cup Cakes with Caramel Whipping Cream Frosting