Lavender & Ginger Macarons

My apology if I, once more time post macarons today. A few days a go I baked these cookies 3 days in a row. All together I baked 6 batches of macarons. As mentioned before {here} I failed baking these macarons last winter so these time I really enjoyed making them as they came out looking pretty. And I want so badly to give some of these macarons to Dr. Chang (Artery Specialist) and his staff. So here they are.

My husband 'Steven' loves the chocolate and the coffee flavored macarons very much. He begged me to get rid off these macarons as fast because he can't help himself to have these macarons every night knowing that they there. So tomorrow I must bring them over to Dr. Chang's office, before they are gone. I hope they will like them. Also I know a lady who loves these macarons very much so I am going to drop by at her house to give some to her as well.

Do you see  the soft interior with chocolate ganache filling and the crunchy skin?   I admit although they are delicious it is one of those things that you can only eat 2 at a time {may be 3}and you will not want to eat it again for a few days. Good thing is that it is good to freeze in a freezer for up to about 2 weeks. It tastes better as you freeze them but before eating you must leave them out in a room temperature for about 10 to 15 minutes. Hhhmmm.....it tastes heavenly so good. 

Some people a little intimidated on making these macarons. The truth is they are very easy to make. I failed miserably 7 times before I got a perfect macaron first time I tried.

::Recipe::

Lavender Macarons

Recipe (here) except put 2 tsp crushed lavender flowers on the meringue and a drop or two of violet food coloring.

Ginger Macarons

Recipe (here) except put 1-1/4 tsp ginger powder on the meringue.

 

Chocolate Ganache filling.

 ~ 5 oz. bittersweet baking chocolate chips

~ 1/4 cup milk 

~ 1/4 tbsp. butter

 Steam all ingredients together in a heat proof dish  until chocolate melted. Cool slightly.

Sandwich cookies together.

~~~~oo00oo~~~~

Happy Sunday Everyone! 

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Savvy Southern Style

Chocolate Macaron Turned into Brownies Macaron

Today I felt very confidence in making chocolate macaron for the in-laws for Jewish holiday celebration "Yumkipur." A few days a go I made Pumpkin Spice and Praline Cream macarons and they turned out to be perfect macarons {here}.

But the chocolate macarons I made turned into brownies macarons. The macarons won't form feet as it supposed to be. But it surprisingly taste delicious just like chewy brownies. I can only suspect that I used an old chocolate powder that caused feetless shape of macarons. Lesson learned that never used old, damp ingredients like almond meal, flour, powdered sugar, etc. I did put the almond meal in the oven for about 3 minutes with temperature 240 deg. but I did not warm the chocolate powder to take the moist out.

Meanwhile, I took a few shots of my old 'Praline Cream with Pear Cream Cheese filling.' I have these cute little bowls  that I want to shoot and style the macarons with. So here are some pictures of them.

This is a quick post and I want to share with you what the 'failed feetless chocolate macaron but tastes delicious' looks like.

Really, they aren't so bad looking at all once they sandwiched together except they do not have feet. And tastes just like delicious chocolate brownies especially with chocolate ganache filling inside. I still want to give them to my in-laws. My father in-law is a chocolate lover. He will eat anything 'chocolate!' And I am sure he will like these 'brownies macarons.'

I have made a successful chocolate macaron in the past and in case you want recipe; you can find it here and here.

Thank you so much for stopping by !

Halloween Treats + Cake Stands {DIY}

One of the holiday season that I am not familiar with is 'Halloween.' I grew up celebrating Christmas from my father's side of the family and 'Lebaran' {biggest holiday occasion for Muslims) from my mother's side of the family. But in our country 'Indonesia,' we do not celebrate 'Halloween.'

Only recently do I feel festive welcoming the fall season. I have started to appreciate and enjoy making pumpkin soup, pumpkin cake and apple cider. I love any cake with apple and the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg when baking. There is nothing like the aroma of cinnamon and nutmeg blowing by the wind throughout your home when baking.

So yesterday was 'Sunday' and thought it was a perfect day for baking and did a few DIYs to welcome the fall season.

I did not do a good job trying to create  the Jack O Lantern's faces by piping it on the cup cakes. I thought they are quite cute and funny looking.

I know, I have too many pictures here; but I love them all. Orange is not my color but I like the colors of  vibrant orange mix with midnight blue and I really enjoyed executing this project from baking the macarons, mini cup cakes, DIYed the cake stands, styling and finally took lots of pictures yesterday.Pheww...at the end of the day my feet were killing me from standing from noon until late afternoon.

On my last post I mentioned that I picked up a few things for projects from Good Will from our last trip in Florida. So I picked up these 4 items; 2 plastic goblets and 2 plastic plates for 70 cents each. And I hand carried them all the way from Florida to New York. Yes, I am way too serious about my project.

The step by step

1. The above itmes +  Martha Stewart multi-surface acrylic craft paints color of your choice available at Michaels. 2. Brushes. I am using my artist brush. 3. Small plastic container to put the paint on. 4. Glue gun. {to join the goblets and plates together} 5. Very small artist brush to paint the chevron motifs.

Start painting 2 coats on the outside of your goblets and plates. You can give another coat if you want to be more opaque in color.

  These are what the cake stands should look like after giving two coats of painting. I later on finished painting the chevron motifs on the other cake stand pedestal. For this tutorial; I simply dip my smallest round brush in the paint and start to paint the motifs anywhere free hand on the goblets. Again I go over on top of the first paint to make it more opaque in color. Note; it is not perfect but I like the imperfection and makes it more look like hand painted which it was !

So now the 'recipes'

Pumpkin Spice Mini Cup Cakes

Makes 24 mini cup cakes.

~ 1 cup all-purpose flour

~ 1 teaspoon baking powder

~ 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

~ 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

~ Pinch of salt

~ 2 eggs, lightly beaten

~ 1/2 can of 15 ounce pumpkin

~ 1/2 cup sugar

~ 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Cream Cheese Frosting

~ Wilton Black Decorating Icing from Michaels

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg. Put mini cup cake liner in a large cup cake pan (about 24 cup cakes) set a side. In a medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; set aside. 2. In a large bowl stir together eggs, pumpkin, sugar, and oil. Stir in flour mixture until combined. Scoop batter with spoon in to cup cake pan. Filling in only 3/4 to the top. 3. Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let it cool. 4. Spread with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting; In a small bowl combine 1/2 cup of cream cheese and 1/2 cup softened butter, add 1 tsp vanilla and orange color. Beat with electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Gradually add 1-1/2 cup powdered sugar, beating until smooth. 5. Fill Wilton Balck Decorating Icing into piping bag. Using no. 1 Wilton piping tip start making the design (here Jack O Lantern's face} on top the Frosted cup cakes.

Pumpkin Spice Macaron

Recipe (here) except put orange color on the meringue and 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice

For the filling I am using the same Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Frosting above.

Praline & Cream Macaron

Recipe (here) except put 1/2 tsp praline & cream essence on the meringue and a dash of cinnamon to give a little of color.

For the filling.

1. 1/2 pear; chopped finely

2. 1-1/2 tablespoon of butter

3.  1 tbsp of brown sugar

4. Lemon juice

Heat butter and put in chopped pear and brown sugar. Stirring until pear becoming soft. Let it cool and put a side. Meantime, with electric mixer soften 1/2 cup cream cheese. Put in the cooked pear and mix well. Squeeze a drop (only a drop) of lemon juice to naturalize the too sweet taste of macaron.

Styling props

~Glitter pumpkins from Michaels

~ Paper straw from Michaels

~ Bunting; DIY out of cup cake liners

Good luck Everyone and Thank You for stopping by !