Happy, Peace & Love {MACARONS}

I am very sorry that I have these macarons up once more time. I think I am a little obsessed with these macarons - as you can see. 

This afternoon I went to Jo Ann Fabrics to get a few things for my craft. On the way home and as I was driving; the idea of putting three words {happy, peace and love} on the macarons came in to my mind suddenly. I hit the accelerator and rushed home. I am one of those people when want to do something exciting I just can't wait to execute it. Now the adrenaline rush is pumping and I must get those macarons out, set up the table, props and start shooting right away. 

I had different topic I wanted to post but I thought I would finish the macarons first. And I think this is the last post of the macarons to last for a long time. 

When arrived home; I immediately got in to action. Drew that letters, cut them, placed the brown paper on the table; got the macarons out. Placed the letters on each macarons and sifted confectioner sugar on the top of macarons. Remember the 'wax flower' I was talking about on my last post? {here and here} I placed and scattered them here and there, got my camera; 

voila......!

Here are the pictures!

I really love the circle patterns on the brown paper. 

When lifted up the macarons these are what's left and I love it. I think it creates a lovely shape and textures. The small pink  flowers and blue lettering  creates a whimsical feeling to the overall images. The blue lettering made out of a brochure that I grabbed from my husband's letters pile. I hope he won't be looking for it because it is now  shredded to pieces.

My apologize if I post the same subject three times in a row. I love macarons so much; baking them even makes me happier and when photographed them gave me such  joy and happiness just like a kid in a toy store.

Recipe; here and here.

~~~~oo00oo~~~~

Thank you so much for looking!

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Savvy Southern Style

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! 

Link to;
Savvy Southern Style

Back in Baking MACARONS {Lemon Macarons}

I can not tell you how happy I was when saw these pretty little things came out from the oven looking like macaron I used to bake.

I baked many macarons before {here, here and here} and always came out pretty. Last winter  I tried baking these pretty cookies and I think I wasted almost 20 eggs and a lot of almond meal; all cookies came out  ugly without feet and flat just like balloon looses air. Yes, after almost 20 eggs I gave up and  told myself that I should stop trying to bake these macarons and just wait until spring time. I think it had something to do with the temperature of our home at the time. I knew that during winter we like to turn up the heat very high, as a result the cookies was never came out perfectly as it should. As we all know macarons made out of egg whites and egg whites can be deflated when the room temperature is not right.

Without changing the method; this time and as you can see below - it came out very nice. We did not turn on the heat as the weather was  sunny and cool yesterday; therefore my macarons looks so pretty.

Today I made ginger and coffee macarons. I have been wanting to give some of my macarons to Dr. Chang and his staff. Dr. Chang is Korean so I think it is best to make a ginger and green tea flavor for him. Dr. Chang and his staff are always very nice and kind to me. I thought one day I will drop by at his office with box of these pretty little cookies for them.

Do you remember the daffodils I brought to New York from Vermont? {last seen here} Now they are perfectly bloomed. I deliberately made lemon flavor macarons because the color is yellow as I wanted to photograph them with the daffodils plus this is the first time I baked macarons since the disaster last winter so I just grabbed what ever flavoring I had and put yellow food coloring and lemon food flavoring. 

I am so over joyed right now and I think you will see many more posts with  macarons in the future.

Do you see the little ceramic flower boy on the right? I picked him up at a local antique store in Vermont. The owner of the store gave me a few things for free because I bought quite a few from him. And this little ceramic flower boy is one of them. His price was USD 2.00 and now he is mine!I think he is adorable!

::Recipe::

Lemon Macarons

Recipe (here) except put 1/2 tsp lemon food flavoring on the meringue and a drop or two of yellow food coloring.

For the filling.

You can pretty much put anything on the filling like chocolate ganache, here I put Fig and Hazelnut Jam and in the future I am going to make Lemon Curd (bought in a store) mixed with cream cheese. It is entirely up to you. I have read on Martha Stewart magazine that the filling does not have to be the same as the flavoring of the shells. It said; it will create an interesting taste when combined two different flavoring together.

~~~~oo00oo~~~~

Thank you for looking!

Link;

Savvy Southern Style

Christmas Macarons in a Gold Leaf Rim Wine Goblets {DIY}

I have not been making macaron in a while so I was facing troubles in making these macarons. After 5 times trying and wasted 10 eggs and failed I finally was able to make these Christmas pretty little macarons. I could not believe that I used to make these macarons with my eyes closed {well not really} but just like 1, 2, 3 and voila....out of the oven my pretty macarons. Not this time ! I guess baking macaron is not like baking chocolate cookies. You have to keep on practicing, once you stopped making it; it will be like start to learn on 'how to bake macarons' all over again. Well, at least that's what was happening to me.

I have been shopping at Goodwill in Delray, Florida for these pretty little wine goblets. I particularly looked for the ones that has a nice looking stem; kind a vintage and rare. They were only 1 or 2 similar one on the rack. But I did not care if they were all different because I like them when they are all not the same. I hand carried these wine goblets in the airplane to our home in New York. And I thought I could make some thing pretty out of these pretty dainty wine goblets.

Well guess what ! I gold leaf them ! And thought it would be pretty to put Christmas macarons red and green in them. An inspiration for Christmas food decor.

These are how they look like after gold leaving them. They were just regular plain wine goblet before. {I forget to take pictures to see the before and after}

The step by step.

What you need ;

~ An area or table cover with newspaper or table cloth to protect the furniture.

~ Gold leaf adhesive size "Monaliza" brand.

~ A pack of gold leaf "Art Minds" available at any art store.

~ Brush 1 inch size

~ Small brush to apply the gold leaf adhesive size

~ Tweezer 

~ A glass dish, wine goblet, or anything you want to gold leaf on. {here I have a glass dish that I want to put dot patterns on the top part of the bowl.}

First clean and dry the outer surface of your {let's say} glass bowl. Shake the adhesive size bottle before using it. Then dip the tip of the small brush in to the adhesive size, with the glass dish in your left hand start painting a motif. The adhesive size will look white like thin  milk but it dries very quickly (about 5 to 10 minutes) and because the surface of the glass is clear you will not see the applied size motifs but when the milky adhesive start to disappear and became clear and sticky then put the gold leaf on the painted area. {see below picture} tap it with your finger so that the gold leaf will cover all area that you painted on with adhesive size before. The gold leaf will stick to the adhesive size motifs. When you cover the whole area of adhesive with gold leaf then take your big brush and brush the whole surface in circular motion. The part that does not have adhesive size will comes off like a gold dust. Be sure to brush all motifs so that you will get a nice gold leaf motifs. That's all there is to it !

I have applied adhesive size of dot motifs on this dish below {but you can not see it because it has dried and clear looking}

I applied the gold leaf on the painted area and tap it with a finger. I can only suggest that you work per section until you finished with the whole edge rim of the dish. It is easier that way.

Then brush it off in a circular motion. Do you see the small particle of gold leaf falls off? Those are the part that does not stick on the adhesive. The part that stick to the adhesive size will create a pattern just like you did with the painted adhesive size.

I am finished gold leaving this dish.

I love how these wine goblets and the dish looks like now !

So what is your Christmas decor DIY this year ?

Thank you for stopping by !

Hurricane Sandy + Macarons + Ginger Tea

Hurricane Sandy is on it's way. I did buy some canned food, water, and other things in anticipating hurricane Sandy in case we will loose power. It said that it will hit our area Long Island, New York by Monday night. So today Monday morning is starting to rain and strong wind gust outside.

I am in the mood for a cup of Ginger Tea home made by me {here} and I still have macarons that I made a while a go {here}. I sat and relaxed while listening to my favorite artist Chris Botti and read some magazines.

This is a quick post, a moment in the act post ! I hope people of Long Island  like some of Steven's family whom are living on the Long Island shore will be safe.

Thank you for reading !

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 !