Oct
18
I had a three day weekend and managed to get a lot done. A lot of orange things.
Isn’t this hideous? We’re going to be re-carpeting the upstairs sometime soon (yay!) so I decided that it would be a good time to repaint everything because who cares if I get paint on the carpet? I have decided that this room will be white, sort of like this room, but not so frilly. This room has sloped ceilings, and is really cozy so I think it will be really lovely once it’s all done. I managed to clean out the closet and get the first coat of primer on this weekend. Progress!
Another round of the Pumpkin Spice Macarons – with an epic fail. Macaron explosions and lopsided shells. I know what caused this, so it’s all good.
The weather was awesome, so a lot of yard clean up happened. These are crocosmia seeds. Crocosmias are usually planted via bulbs, and I am curious if I can grow them from seed. We’ll see.
I painted some frames that I want to turn into mirrors for the entry way. I was looking for a red that had a tinge of orange, which is a little hard to find in a spray form. This color is called “Pimento” and is a little too orange. I think I’ll try to spray it with a thin coat of red and see what happens.
Overall the weekend was super productive! I wish every weekend was a three day one.
Oct
13
A co-worker sent me a link to The Cupcake Project’s Pumpkin Pie Spice Macarons with Caramel, Dark Chocolate Ganache, and Smoked Sea Salt last week and I knew immediately I had to try them. They are curing in the fridge right now so I can’t say for sure how they came out, but if my sample taste is any indication, they might be my favorite so far. Awesome. They are awesome, and they are indeed my favorite thus far. That being said, the next time I make these I will adjust the filling ratios and pipe less chocolate ganache. It totally overpowers everything.
I am still having issues of course. Of course! See the difference in these two shells? Aside from being overcooked, the one on the left is wrinkly, which I think is due to a combination of messing up my merengue (I did an italian one instead of french) and having a too low oven temperature. I think I got my method down now, so we’ll see how the batch I make this weekend turns out. I meant to bring these into the office for my coworkers but Jefe and I ate too many of them. Oops!
Sep
30
Last night was the first ever Olympia Food Swap, which was so much fun. I made some macarons that were “fall themed” flavors: Caramel Apple, Earl Grey (not really fall but whatever), Pumpkin Spice and Pecan Maple and packaged them up in little tubes with a cute little label. People really seemed to like them which made me happy. And, let me tell you something – after many, many, many batches of these macarons – I still don’t have them quite figured out. Fussy little buggers.
But check out what I ended up with:
That’s quite a haul. I am so glad I never got around to making jam this summer because I ended up with a million yummy varieties like cantaloupe-mint, tomato, and grapefruit-rhubarb. Awesome. I also scored a cider vinegar mother (yes!) and some AMAZING caramels. There were so many great items made by some fantastic local people. I really can’t wait for the next swap.
Mar
03
Macarons from La Duree. Photo from WSJ
I am in a super-busy phase of late (Doing what? I dont’ know!) so here is just a quick little update. Jeffery get’s the Wall Street Journal and handed me yesterday’s edition as there is an article about macarons. It’s pretty interesting. I had a feeling macarons may be the new cupcakes. It also mentions the book. I don’t know when I am going to get around to making another batch – soon I hope!
Feb
18
Macarons with a not very smooth strawberry buttercream.
Or…How I Make Macarons – and I pretty much don’t know what I am doing. I think the most important thing I learned was to keep trying if they don’t turn out. Each time you attempt these and fail, you learn something. Try a different recipe. Don’t skip steps. Keep trying and you will get it.
This recipe for macarons is based on Fanny aka Foodbeam’s recipe for Macarons à la rose de Pierre Hermé and techniques used in the book I ♥ Macarons by Hisako Ogita. It uses an Italian meringue which, according to Hisako Ogita (and others) makes the macarons hold up better.
Ready? Here we go!
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