Tag Archives: Macarons

pj’s

02/05/2023 8:13 pm \ 6 Comments \

Oh man!  I have been unable to post here for quite a while and was starting to wonder; could this be the end of Handmade by Carolyn…?  Fortunately my clever husband worked the problem out.  Then I wrote a whole post and posted it, and it just disappeared, poof! into the ether.  So upsetting!  I’m going to try for a second time, so hopefully this time it will not!

Pj’s.  I’ve made a few.

Firstly, for me, I used my namesake pattern, the Closet Core Carolyn PJ’s for my pants and a Burda pattern, 10/2009, 121 for the top.  Sometimes I think I should make the Carolyn top as a pj top too, but I really prefer my pj tops to be buttonless. As well as saving buttonholes for a shirt that I will wear awake, and out of the house.  Well, buttonholes are an effort!

I know I pledged to not buy any new fabric until I’d used up my stash, and I had to buy some flannelette for these, which is a little bad but not really because I really needed new winter jammies.  I managed to use up every last scrap by slapping some patch pockets on the front of the top; which makes me feel very thrifty and virtuous, so it’s all good in the end.  The white flannelette was already in my stash, leftover from a previous jammie-making venture.  Both from Spotlight.

Next up; I made pj pants for Cassie, and mini matching ones for Theo.  So cute that they can match each other!  Cassie’s are the Closet Core Carolyn pattern, and I left the front open at her request, just in case she decides to go though another pregnancy in the next few years.

I added a press stud at the waistline and a drawstring so they can still be closed easily.  The drawstring is attached to a bit of elastic threaded through the back of the waistband.  I cut out and stitched in her Spoonflower label… oh I forgot to mention!  The print on the fabric is her own design in her Spoonflower shop, printed on fleece from their range.  We were using this small length as a cot blanket for when the kiddies slept over, but it’s outgrown that function and needed up cycling.  So now it’s pj’s!

Theo’s matching pants are Burda 9436 modified slightly to be pj bottoms by eliminating pockets and adding elasticated cuffs, and his little red raglan T-shirt is self drafted.  It’s cut from a massive “remnant” that I bought from a Morrison seconds sale, once upon a time.  When I say, remnant, I mean about 6m although I’ve been too depressed to ever actually measure this.  I don’t know what I was thinking, buying it; honestly.  I must have been mad.  It’s my current intention to use up this remnant as soon as possible… I’m making good headway too, results to appear here soon.  I hope!

Next up, for Arthur.  For the pants, I used the same Burda 9436 as for Theo, lengthened because he is much taller; and grey sweat shirting fabric from the stash.  The two little T-shirts (same self drafted pattern again) are made using his Dad, Tim’s old T-shirts.  Yes, I still have some of these left! and actually it’s getting quite hard to cut Arthur sized T-shirts from adult-sized T-shirts, believe it or not; so I’m planning to power through all the T-shirts pretty quickly now.

Lastly, and completely random I know; I made some lemon macarons because I had lemons, and because I kinda wanted to prove to myself I was still capable.  Very very pleased with how they turned out!

pinterestmail
Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: , , , , , , ,

A Public Service Announcement

16/11/2012 11:00 pm \ 20 Comments \

We interrupt our normal blogging schedule to bring you an important public service health announcement…
Please read carefully.  This information could save lives.

Recent clinical trials have shown that daily ingestion of one (1) lime macaron with lime curd filling is beneficial to health and quality of life; providing a plausible intervention in cases of starvation, sadness, scurvy and … er, starvation.
This is a clinically proven treatment, effective and simple to self-apply.  It is palatable to children and adults alike.

Please note; do not take more than the recommended dose as this product may be addictive.  Other possible side effects of overdosing on this product include making yourself sick and loss of appetite.

 

Lime macarons with lime curd filling
100g egg whites, allowed to sit covered at room temperature for 3 days
30g castor sugar
5g powdered egg white (if you can’t get it, Pavlova Magic works)
125g almond meal
200g pure icing sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tblsp finely grated lime rind
Sift the icing sugar, baking powder and almond meal.  It takes a long time to sift the almond meal and you have to push it through with a spoon but it should mostly pass through the sieve eventually.  Discard the small quantity of lumpy bits that do not pass through the sieve.  Combine castor sugar and powdered egg white (or Pavlova Magic) in a separate little bowl.
Whisk the egg whites until firm and stiff enough to keep its shape when you turn the bowl upside down, I prefer to whisk by hand.  Gradually add the castor sugar/powdered egg white mix whisking continuously and vigorously after each addition.

Add the icing sugar/baking powder/almond meal mix in five batches, stirring until mixed each time.  Lastly, stir in the lime rind.
Transfer mixture to a piping bag and pipe rounds onto a baking sheet or baking paper, leaving an inch between each round, and let them sit on the bench for one hour or until they have developed a “skin” and do not feel sticky to the touch.
Bake at 120C for 6 minutes, turn the tray around, bake for another 6 minutes then remove from the oven.  Slide the baking sheet off the tray and onto the bench; partly so you can cook the next batch, but also the cold bench stops the cooking process in its tracks.  When they are completely cold, peel them carefully off the paper.

for the filling: (this recipe has appeared here before)

rind and juice of 5 limes
6 eggs
1 1/2 c sugar
125g butter

 

Lightly whisk the eggs and sugar together in a saucepan, then add the other ingredients.  Whisk continually over a medium heat until the mixture has thickened to a custard-like texture then allow to cool in the pan.  Decant into sterilised jars and refrigerate until set completely.
Spread a little onto a macaron like spreading jam thickly on bread, then stick another macaron on top.

Disclaimer…  this actually isn’t a public health announcement at all, and it’s extremely unlikely to save any lives.

pinterestmail
Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: ,

Lemon macarons

04/11/2012 6:30 am \ 19 Comments \

It was inevitable…. 

The lemon glut continues.  
Coupla lemon cakes a week.  Every chicken dish is lemon chicken.   Lemon juice squirted on the barbecued fish, whether the kids like it or not.  All who visit invariably comment on our lovely lemon tree, and are quickly put on the spot.
Me: “Would you like some lemons??”  (innocently, but with crazy grin) 
Hapless visitor: “Oh, er, yes ple….”
and I’m off, grabbing a bag, stuffing a dozen lemons in it.
“Here you go!” thrusting it into their only politely enthusiastic arms.  Visitor makes a mental note not to come around again until they’ve used up the lemons from the last time….
and now:

Lemon macarons with lemon curd filling
100g egg whites, allowed to sit covered at room temperature for 3 days
30g castor sugar
5g powdered egg white (if you can’t get it, Pavlova Magic works)
125g almond meal
200g pure icing sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tblsp finely grated lemon rind

Sift the icing sugar, baking powder and almond meal.  It takes a long time to sift the almond meal and you have to push it through with a spoon but it should mostly pass through the sieve eventually.  Discard the small quantity of lumpy bits that do not pass through the sieve.  Combine castor sugar and powdered egg white (or Pavlova Magic) in a separate little bowl.
Whisk the egg whites until firm and stiff enough to keep its shape when you turn the bowl upside down, I prefer to whisk by hand.  Gradually add the castor sugar/powdered egg white mix whisking continuously and vigorously after each addition.

Add the icing sugar/baking powder/almond meal mix in five batches, stirring until mixed each time.  Lastly, stir in the lemon rind.
Transfer mixture to a piping bag and pipe rounds onto a baking sheet or baking paper, leaving an inch between each round, and let them sit on the bench for one hour or until they have developed a “skin” and do not feel sticky to the touch.
Bake at 120C for 6 minutes, turn the tray around, bake for another 6 minutes then remove from the oven.  Slide the baking sheet off the tray and onto the bench; partly so you can cook the next batch, but also the cold bench stops the cooking process in its tracks.  When they are completely cold, peel them carefully off the paper.

for the filling: (this recipe has appeared here before)

rind and juice of 4 lemons
6 eggs
1 1/2 c sugar
125g butter

Lightly whisk the eggs and sugar together in a saucepan, then add the other ingredients.  Whisk continually over a medium heat until the mixture has thickened to a custard-like texture then allow to cool in the pan.  Decant into sterilised jars and refrigerate until set completely. 
Spread a little onto a macaron like spreading jam thickly on bread, then stick another macaron on top.

Thoughts: 
This time I weighed the egg whites… it’s occurred to me that this minor detail might actually be integral to the success of the recipe!  I guess I lucked out in this respect before, since 3 egg whites of the type I usually buy turned out to be pretty close to 100g!
In all honesty I didn’t enjoy these quite as much as my previous efforts; the vanilla, coconut and berry fruit flavours.  Maybe the natural sourness of citrus isn’t the most crash-hot pairing with the delicate almond flavour of macarons.  Maybe we are just getting a bit lemon-ed out.
Maybe this is my swan-song in the macaron department.  Once I’ve sorta conquered something tricky in cooking I tend to lose interest.
Woa.  
Did I actually use the word “conquer” with regard to my cooking prowess?  HA!!  Oh I totally crack myself up sometimes.  Imagining generations of French pastry chefs spinning in their graves right now…  
pinterestmail
Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: ,

Macarons…

15/09/2012 5:14 am \ 18 Comments \

I’ve been experimenting with the macaron recipe; trying to perfect it and play with different flavours.  Sorry if all the recipes appear superficially identical, but I assure you there are subtle but important variations.
First up:

Macarons with white chocolate and raspberry ganache

3 egg whites, allowed to sit for an hour
30g castor sugar
5g powdered egg white (if you can’t get it, Pavlova Magic works)
125g almond meal
200g pure icing sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp pure vanilla essence
few drops cochineal

Sift the icing sugar and baking powder and stir through the almond meal.  Combine castor sugar and powdered egg white (or Pavlova Magic) in a separate little bowl.
Whisk the egg whites until firm and stiff enough to keep its shape when you turn the bowl upside down, I prefer to whisk by hand.  Gradually add the castor sugar/powdered egg white mix whisking continuously and vigorously after each addition.
Add the icing sugar/baking powder/almond meal mix in five batches, stirring until mixed each time.  Lastly, stir in the vanilla essence and the cochineal.
Transfer mixture to a piping bag and pipe rounds onto a baking sheet or baking paper, leaving an inch between each round, and let them sit on the bench for two hours or until they have developed a “skin” and do not feel sticky to the touch.Bake at 120C for 6 minutes, turn the tray around, bake for another 6 minutes then remove from the oven.  Slide the baking sheet off the tray and onto the bench; partly so you can cook the next batch, but also the cold bench stops the cooking process in its tracks.  When they are completely cold, peel them carefully off the paper.

For the ganache:  (this ganache recipe found here)
50mL whipping cream
100g white chocolate
45g frozen raspberries, thawed and smooshed lightly with a fork
Bring the cream to a boil, then take off the heat and add the broken up chocolate, let it sit for a minute then stir in thoroughly to melt.  Stir in the raspberry smoosh.  When mixture is lukewarm, spread a little onto a macaron like spreading jam thickly on bread, then stick another macaron on top.

Verdict:

Absolutely delicious!! and these disappeared very quickly courtesy of my family.  But if I am critical (and I am) I think the almond meal was on the lumpy side in this batch… the original recipe stipulates almond flour, not almond meal.  I’ve made a few inquiries and this is not commercially available in Australia but there are ways of making almond meal closer in texture and consistency to almond flour, so I am going to experiment with these next time… 
To make the almond meal more like almond flour; it has to be dryer and/or finer in texture.
So I took a bag of almond flour and baked the contents at a low temperature 100C for a couple of hours, taking the tray out to stir the meal around every once in a while… in an attempt to dehydrate the almond meal.
and made the following
Coconut macarons with coconut white chocolate ganache
3 egg whites, allowed to sit for at least an hour
30g castor sugar
5g powdered egg white (if you can’t get it, Pavlova Magic works)
125g dehydrated almond meal
200g pure icing sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp pure coconut essence

Sift the icing sugar and baking powder and stir through the dehydrated almond meal.  Combine castor sugar and powdered egg white (or Pavlova Magic) in a separate little bowl.
Whisk the egg whites until firm and stiff enough to keep its shape when you turn the bowl upside down, I prefer to whisk by hand.  Gradually add the castor sugar/powdered egg white mix whisking continuously and vigorously after each addition.
Add the icing sugar/baking powder/almond meal mix in five batches, stirring until mixed each time.  Lastly, stir in the coconut essence.
Transfer mixture to a piping bag and pipe rounds onto a baking sheet or baking paper, leaving an inch between each round, and let them sit on the bench for at least another hour or until they have developed a “skin” and do not feel sticky to the touch.  I accidentally forgot mine and left them sitting for over two hours, but apparently that is a good thing  🙂
Bake at 120C for 6 minutes, turn the tray around, bake for another 6 minutes then remove from the oven.  Slide the baking sheet off the tray and onto the bench; partly so you can cook the next batch, but also the cold bench stops the cooking process in its tracks.  When they are completely cold, peel them carefully off the paper.

For the ganache:
180g white chocolate
50mL whipping cream

few drops coconut essence
Bring the cream to a boil, then take off the heat and add the broken up chocolate, let it sit for a minute then stir in thoroughly to melt.  Stir in the coconut essence.  When mixture is lukewarm, spread a little onto a macaron like spreading jam thickly on bread, then stick another macaron on top.
Verdict:
Again, voted extremely yummy by the family and they disappeared very quickly!  But I don’t think the dehydrating actually made any discernible difference to the consistency of the almond meal… and the macarons still had a slightly lumpy texture.  So it was on to the next experiment; sifting the almond meal.
Also, a friend mentioned that French pastry chefs age their egg whites for three days, so I decided to do the same…
Macarons with blueberry white chocolate ganache
3 egg whites, allowed to sit covered at room temperature for 3 days
30g castor sugar
5g powdered egg white (if you can’t get it, Pavlova Magic works)
125g almond meal
200g pure icing sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp pure vanilla essence
few drops of blue food colouring
Sift the icing sugar, baking powder and almond meal.  It takes a long time to sift the almond meal and you have to push it through with a spoon but it should mostly pass through the sieve eventually.  Discard the small quantity of lumpy bits that do not pass through the sieve.  Combine castor sugar and powdered egg white (or Pavlova Magic) in a separate little bowl.
Whisk the egg whites until firm and stiff enough to keep its shape when you turn the bowl upside down, I prefer to whisk by hand.  Gradually add the castor sugar/powdered egg white mix whisking continuously and vigorously after each addition.
Add the icing sugar/baking powder/almond meal mix in five batches, stirring until mixed each time.  Lastly, stir in the vanilla essence and the blue food colouring.
Transfer mixture to a piping bag and pipe rounds onto a baking sheet or baking paper, leaving an inch between each round, and let them sit on the bench for two hours or until they have developed a “skin” and do not feel sticky to the touch.
Bake at 120C for 6 minutes, turn the tray around, bake for another 6 minutes then remove from the oven.  Slide the baking sheet off the tray and onto the bench; partly so you can cook the next batch, but also the cold bench stops the cooking process in its tracks.  When they are completely cold, peel them carefully off the paper.

For the ganache:
150g white chocolate
60mL whipping cream

45g frozen blueberries, thawed and then smooshed with a fork
a few drops blue food colouring
Bring the cream to a boil, then take off the heat and add the broken up chocolate, let it sit for a minute then stir in thoroughly to melt.  Stir through the blueberries and food colouring.  When mixture is lukewarm and has stiffened to spreading consistency, spread a little onto a macaron like spreading jam thickly on bread, then stick another macaron on top.
Verdict:
finally; I am completely satisfied!  This batch is the most like professionally-made macarons I have produced…. so while sifting is a pain and the ageing of the egg whites takes, er, ages; I think this could be the way to go.
pinterestmail
Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: ,

Macarons!

19/08/2012 4:25 am \ 18 Comments \

I’m feeling so clever, right about now  🙂
Please let me affirm, I am NOT a good cook, in fact I am truly disastrous in the kitchen, hehe.
But LOOK!
I found this terrific recipe on homerunballerina (I love her blog, even though I am a horrendously bad cook her recipes are ab fab) and felt emboldened to give it a go.
Now, confession time, my first batch following the linked recipe exactly and to the letter was pretty horrible…  I am thinking though it might have been due to the difference between Australian ingredients and US ingredients, maybe? maybe not?  When we lived in the US I did find that some common ingredients were very very different from ours with the same name.  Some ingredients commonly used here in Australia, for example self-raising flour and golden syrup (and that is just a few of many) are simply not available at all.  A lot of my recipes that worked a charm here at home just did not work in the US.  Particularly baking and cake-y sorts of things.
Anyhoo I made a few minor changes to Audrey’s recipe, both to the macarons, and I made a much thicker ganache too; and my second batch looks and tastes pretty darn goooood if I say so myself! so this might be a good recipe for other Aussies and New Zealanders to try out.
The original recipe specified egg white powder, and I have no idea where or even if one can get such a thing here in sleepy lil’ Perth.  I substituted this stuff called Pavlova Magic, which contains powdered egg white along with other things.  It seemed to do the trick.  It is still a gluten free product, which makes the whole entire recipe gluten free; a definite plus!
My modified version of Audrey’s recipe…

Vanilla macarons with dark chocolate ganache 

3 egg whites, allowed to sit for at least an hour
30g castor sugar
5g powdered egg white (if you can’t get it, Pavlova Magic works)
125g almond meal
200g pure icing sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp pure vanilla essence

Sift the icing sugar and baking powder and stir through the almond meal.  Combine castor sugar and powdered egg white (or Pavlova Magic) in a separate little bowl.
Whisk the egg whites until firm and stiff enough to keep its shape when you turn the bowl upside down, I prefer to whisk by hand.  Gradually add the castor sugar/powdered egg white mix whisking continuously and vigorously after each addition.
Add the icing sugar/baking powder/almond meal mix in five batches, stirring until mixed each time.  Lastly, stir in the vanilla essence.
Transfer mixture to a piping bag and pipe rounds onto a baking sheet or baking paper, leaving an inch between each round, and let them sit on the bench for at least another hour or until they have developed a “skin” and do not feel sticky to the touch.  I accidentally forgot mine and left them sitting for over two hours, but apparently that is a good thing  🙂
Bake at 130C for 5 minutes, turn the tray around, bake for another 5 minutes then remove from the oven.  Slide the baking sheet off the tray and onto the bench; partly so you can cook the next batch, but also the cold bench stops the cooking process in its tracks.  When they are completely cold, peel them carefully off the paper.

For the ganache:
150g dark chocolate
75mL whipping cream
Bring the cream to a boil, then take off the heat and add the broken up chocolate, let it sit for a minute then stir in thoroughly to melt.  When it is lukewarm, spread a little onto a macaron like spreading jam thickly on bread, then stick another macaron on top.

Let the ganache set before you let everybody loose onto them.

pinterestmail
Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: , ,
Switch to mobile version
↓