Making French Macarons :)

To those couples who are married or dating, Happy Valentine's Day!! :) Those who are single, and waiting for that special person in their lives, I would say, Happy Love Day! :) It's a good time to embrace the special people around us, our families and friends.
I went to The Gourmandise School to learn the secret of baking French Macarons. There are many blogs documneting their experiements and experiences with macaroons but I decided to get a hands-on experience with it. It turned out to be really fun and I enjoyed the session! Myths like aging the eggs for a week, or hitting the pan on table before baking are actually not necesary.

I'm going to take you on a brief  journey of what I learned.:) We made Hazelnut Macarons with Milk chocolate passionfruit ganache, Vanilla Macarons with lemon curd, and pistachio macarons with Italian Raspberry buttercream, or pear buttercream. :) There are actually many versions that can be made if you tweak some of the flavors and ingredients. I'm  looking forward to making more varieties in the future. :)

In addition, we made heart-shaped ones, to go along with the valentine's day theme. It's easy..just pipe them heart-shaped from the piping bag.

Items needed to make the vanilla macarons: 140 grams egg whites (about 4), 80 grams vanilla sugar ( 2/3cup), 240 grams powdered sugar ( 2 cups), 3 grams egg white powder ( 1/2 tsp), 180 grams almond flour ( scant 2 cups), 2 grams salt.
Steps: Place the almond flour, salt, and powdered sugar in a food processor. Important to sift the mixture.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg whites and powder until soft peak stage. Slowly add the vanilla sugar and continue beating until just before stiff peak stage.

Fold the dry ingredients into the egg white mixture in three stages.

This is the stage where coloring is added, if you want to.

Fold about 4 times, before cutting through the batter in the middle, and continue to fold .

Continue to fold until a ribbon forms.

Pipe onto parchment paper

and let it set for 30 to 60 minutes.

Once piped, it'd look glossy.... After letting it sit, this is how it should look: MATT

Preheat oven to 350F. Plce the cookies in the oven and lower the temperature to 300F. Bake for 15 minutes.

Let ie cool...

Remove cookies after 10 minutes of cooling.

On to the fillings...

Lemon Curd: ingredients: 3 eggs, 1/2 cup strained meyer lemon juice ( or use pomelo, blood orange), 1 stick butter, 1/4 cup sugar, 2 tnsp lemon zest.

Directions: Place a stockpot, 1/2 filled with water, on the heat  and bring to a simmer. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and zest. Whisk in the lemon juice. Set the bowl above the pot and reduce the heat to a medium to continue to simmer. Stir the micture over heat until a thick custard is formed, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the butter until smooth. Chill to set.

For the Italian Raspberry buttercream, you can change up the variations by adding different dried fruits. For example, asian pear. The base ingredients are: 5 egg whites, pinch of salt, 1lb butter, cut into pieces, 1 cup sugar, and 1 tsp vanilla.

Place a medium saucepot filled 1/3 of the way with water and bring to a simmer. Place the sugar, salt, and egg whites in the bowl of stand mixer. Holding the bowl over the saucepot, whisk the mixture until it feels warm to the touch. Place the bowl on the stand mixer and beat with the whisk attachment until stiff peaks form. Once the bowl is cool to the touch, add the butter, small pieces at a time. Add in the vanilla. Switch to paddle attachment to smooth out the buttercream. Add in half cup of your choice of dried fruit, or 1/4 to 1/2 cup frozen fruit puree. 

Pictures with the instructors~Clemence and Hadley :)

~Enjoy~

Love, Cherry :)

P/s: more pictures can be found on this site:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=277643&id=731096610&l=100e215b66

 

super soft cookies!

We made super soft cookies with a simple 1-1-1 formula recipe! Thanks Wing for this recipe ~ it's good + simple + fast! ^_____^

Food for thought: French Proverb: There is no pillow so soft as a clear conscience.


Ingredients: ( one of each of these ingredients: 1-1-1)
~1, 8oz container of cool whip
~1, egg
~1, box cake mix ( choose any flavor you like: chocolate, lemon, spice..)
~some icing sugar : to coat cookies

Directions:
1. Grease the baking trays.
2. Crack an egg into a bowl. Using a fork or whip, blend in the cake mix with the egg. After it has been well-mixed, fold in the cool whip mixture thoroughly.
3. Add a spoonful of dough into confectionary sugar/icing sugar to coat. Roll it into a ball before placing it onto the prepared baking sheets.
4. Bake at 350F for 10 minutes.
Note: The cookies spread out wide so be sure to space the uncooked dough far apart from each other!

check out this impromptu video........haha

Tutti-Frutti Cookies

Today, baby Zoei Toh and I baked tutti frutti cookies! YUM! She couldn't stop eating them. lol. *_^

Isn't she cute!!!

( didn't have my Digital camera and had to use my cellphone to take these pics)

Okee, i chose this recipe because of the rave reviews on Little Corner of mine blog. It was Pusiva's recipe. I modified it because I'm not a fan of desiccated coconut and substituted with almond powder instead. In addition, i added vanilla and almond essence and decreased the sugar by half. It turned out just right because the mixed fruits were pretty sweet.

Ingredients:

1 cup plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

8 almonds, chopped very finely

1 cup mixed fruits to give its colorful look ( bought from Loma linda market)

vanilla essence, 1 tsp

almond essence, 1/4 tsp

Directions:

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add almond powder. Set aside.

Beat together butter, vanilla and almond essence and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and beat again.

Stir in flour mixture and mixed fruits.

Mix until dough forms.

Shape into rolls and wrap them in wax paper or cling film.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Slice the dough logs into thin slices with a serrated knife. OR shape them any way you like...like the way we spelled "ZOEI"

Place on ungreased tray.

Bake them at 175° C (350F) for 10 to 12 minutes or until pale golden.Remove and let it cool on wire rack.

Spritz cookies: PB, classic and chocolate

It was my first time attempting to make Spritz cookies.

*peanut butter spritz*

*classic spritz *

*chocolate spritz cookies.*

Moi Favorite?

*drumrolll* .....

Peanut butter is the best!! it's really good. :D

2nd fave?

Classic vanilla: like the light crunch :)

3rd fave or not really a fave...

chocolate one

I liked cocoa least because it tasted a little bitter with too much cocoa powder. Maybe I'll add real chocolate next time to give it a richer flavor.

~.~

With the help of a cookie press, i managed to make beautiful looking cookies. This machine is able to make cookies, snacks & appetizers, desserts & pasteries. **eye ball rolling gleefully**** its 40% off!!**** less than $20! ^_^

Bagged or pressed cookies are made from soft doughs. The dough has to be soft enough to be forced through a pastry bag, but stiff enough to hold its shape.

Peanut butter Spritz cookies:
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 c creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
-Preheat oven at 375F
-Cream shortening and peanut butter together.
-Gradually add egg, beating until smooth
-Add vanilla
-Stir in flour
-Place into Cookie Master Plus. Using desired disk, press shapes onto ungreased cookie sheet. To decorate, add peanut butter chip in the middle. Bake 6-8 mins or until lightly browned around the edges. Makes 3-4 dozen

Classic Spritz
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 T milk
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond flavoring
3 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 t baking powder
handful finely chopped almonds
- Directions: same as above. To decorate, add a chocolate chip in the middle.

Chocolate spritz cookies
Same as above. Add 3/4 c cocoa powder. Add brown sugar instead of white. Decorate by adding rainbow sprinkles.

aunty Windy's cookies

These cookies melts in your mouth! You got to try it.... HMMMM..... YUMmm...
Ingredients:
3/4lb (3 sticks) butter softened ( about 25 seconds in microwave)
3/4 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups sifted flour
Add nuts/ dried fruit
1/2 cup (chopped)
Method:
Cream butter. Add sugar, unbeaten yolks, salt and vanilla. Mix until creamy. Add flour into mixture and mix thoroughly. Form dough into small balls and press down with fork. Bake at 375 F for 14-18 mins. Remover from pans to wire racks. Yield: 2 1/2 dozen.
Enjoy!!! :)

Several pics taken at Tea party.

Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

MY FIRST BLOG!!
Since I enjoy cooking, I thought that it might be good to jot down all the ideas and recipes. For example, Yusheng is a once-a-year dish that I make and I would always forget how I made it before because it is a collection of various individuals, restaurant-eating and recipes that make it delicious. Hence, I hope that posting up the recipes will help me keep track of what I've made that were good! So...........my first post! Since this was the thing that just happened.....
----
Got this "treasured" recipe from an aunty. Her husband loves her home-made cookies so much that he has been eating them for the last 20 years since they got married. Would you believe that he has never bought cookies since then? You might be thinking, "wow, these cookies must be good." Oh yes, they are! (Girls, this is a must-try recipe! You'll never know when you have to bake it for your boyfriend or husband...haha ;p )

Note: For healthier alternative, add organic ingredients, sub. "Can't believe its not Butter" for butter, etc.

Ingredients:
2 sticks butter
1 C (slightly less) brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
3 c flour (1+1+4/5)
1 c chocolate chip ( 1c + a little more)
1 c walnuts
"Healthy" cookies: used "Can't believe its not butter", 1/2 the amount of brown sugar stated in the recipe, organic eggs, organic unsweetened chocolate chips, organic walnuts, 2C wholemeal flour.

Directions:
Mix butter and brown sugar.
Add eggssaltbaking soda
MIX/ Beat using electric mixer
Add vanillaflourchocolate chipwalnuts
Spoon onto baking sheet.
Bake for 1/2 hr or until brown.