FIESTA BAKES FOR CINCO DE MAYO

Posted in Cake, Cookies, Desserts, macarons by sallybr

A small collection of goodies, all inspired by a Mexican fiesta… Cupcakes, Chocolate-Chipotle Cookies, Macarons (filled with Mexican chocolate ganache), and Chocolate-covered Oreos.

FIESTA CUPCAKES

Any vanilla cupcake recipe (or chocolate) will work. Refer to this post for the buttercream, which was divided in two unequal portions: a larger portion dyed pink, and a smaller portion dyed orange. Then, a petal tip like 102 was used to add the icing in layers, as shown below. Any combination of colors will work, this one seemed appropriate for the Cinco de Mayo theme.

CHOCOLATE-CHIPOTLE COOKIES

I am so smitten by these! Not at all complicated to put together, start with your favorite chocolate cookie recipe (mine is definitely this one), paint with Americolor white before baking to get the crackled effect. Then use Royal icing dyed with flesh tone or ivory to pipe a round for the face. Use any colors you want to make the wavy decorations. Once that sets, you can paint the face and hair, add the arms, and you are done. You can see the steps below.

They make for a real fun set, and will please those who prefer a modest amount of icing on their cookies.

Many colors will work, and I also made a batch with sugar cookies instead of chocolate, with a pink and orange skirt.

MEXICAN CHOCOLATE MACARONS

For these macs, I used my default French meringue method (recipe here), divided the batter into three portions, a large pink, a medium size yellow, and a smaller orange. Piped a circle of pink, went with yellow in the center, then orange to form three concentric circles. Baked the shells and decorated with Royal icing. The ganache was made with

4 oz semisweet chocolate
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp cinnamon
a pinch of cayenne pepper

Once the ganache cooled, I whipped it with a handheld mixer for a minute or so. You cannot go too long or the whole thing will turn grainy. You just want to incorporate some air into the ganache.

FIESTA CHOCOLATE COVERED OREOS

These are so much fun to make! I used chocolate transfer sheets cut to fit the inside of the mold, as described in this post. I love this colorful pattern, that would look good also on a white chocolate background.

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!

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9Mar2023

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER MACARONS

Posted in macarons by sallybr

If you follow my cookie blog, maybe you’ve read a recent post in which I played with Chocolate Royal icing? I used fat-free cocoa powder (click here to get some) and they worked extremely well not only in icing but as I show today, to make cocoa-flavored macaron shells.

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER MACARONS
(adapted from this post)

For the shells:
200g Icing/powdered sugar
115 g ground almonds/almond meal
7g fat-free cocoa powder
115 g egg whites at room temperature (approx. 4 eggs)
1/8 tsp of cream of tartar (optional)
100 g granulated sugar
¼ tsp vanilla paste or extract
1 drop brown food gel
1 drop red food gel

Line 3 heavy baking sheets with parchment/baking paper or Silpat mats. Layer the powdered/icing sugar, ground almonds/almond meal, and cocoa powder in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture looks like fine meal, about 12 pulses. Pass through a sieve and transfer to a small bowl or to a sheet of parchment/baking paper. Set aside.

Place the egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Make sure that the bowl and the whisk are impeccably clean. Starting on medium speed, whip the whites with the cream of tartar until they look like light foam. The whites should not appear liquid. The foam will be light and should not have any structure.

Slowly rain in the granulated sugar in five additions, trying to aim the stream between the whisk and the side of the bowl. Turn the speed up to high. Continue to whip the meringue until it is soft and shiny. It should look like marshmallow creme (marshmallow fluff). Add the vanilla. Whip the egg whites until the mixture begins to dull and the lines of the whisk are visible on the surface of the meringue. Add the drops of food color and continue whisking. Check the peak. It should be firm. Transfer the whites to a medium bowl.

Fold in the ground almond/almond meal mixture in two increments. Paint the mixture halfway up the side of the bowl, using the flat side of a spatula. Scrape the mixture down to the center of the bowl. Repeat two or three times, then check to see if the mixture slides slowly down the side of the bowl. Put the mixture in a piping bag fitted with your choice of piping tip (round, ¼ or ½ inch in diameter or 6 – 12 mm). If you don’t have a macaron mat, draw circles on baking/parchment paper about 2inches/5cm in diameter & turn the paper over before placing on the baking sheets. Pipe shells, I like to count numbers in my head and use the same count for each shell so they end up similar in size.

I pipe inside the circles to about 1 ¾ inches/4.5cm but you can go to 1 ½ inches (3.8cm) & the macarons will spread & fill the circle while drying.

Slam each sheet hard four to six times on the counter/worktop. Let the unbaked macarons dry until they look dull but not overly dry. Drying time depends on humidity. In a dry climate, the macarons can dry in 15 to 20 minutes; in a humid climate, it can take 35 to 40 minutes.

While the macarons are drying, heat the oven to 300 F (150 C/130C Fan oven/Gas Mark 2). Bake one sheet at a time on the middle rack. Check in 11 minutes. If the tops slide or move (independently of the ‘feet’ when you gently twist the top), then bake for 2 to 3 more minutes. Check one or two. If they move when gently touched, put them back in the oven for 1 to 2 more minutes until they don’t move when touched. Let the macaroons cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan. The macarons should release without sticking.

Assemble the macarons: find two macarons similar in size and add a good amount of filling to the bottom of one of them. Place the other on top and squeeze gently to take the filling all the way to the edge. Store in the fridge for 24 hours for perfect texture.

PEANUT BUTTER BUTTERCREAM

65g smooth peanut butter (Jiffy is fine)
50g cream cheese, room temperature
30g butter, room temperature
250g powdered sugar
milk or heavy cream to adjust consistency, if needed

Place the peanut butter, cream cheese, and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Cream until light, about 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar and whisk on low-speed. Once the powdered sugar is incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high and whisk until very creamy. Adjust the consistency if needed with powdered sugar or milk. Place in a piping bag fitted with your choice of tip, and use to fill macaron shells.

Optional decoration: drizzle of Chocolate Royal icing or melted chocolate plus sprinkles of your choice.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: In the past, more often than not I would get wavy shells when adding cocoa powder to the macaron batter. I was very pleasantly surprised by how smooth these turned out. And with a nice chocolate flavor. I did add a touch of brown and a touch of red because the amount of cocoa I added was not enough to darken the shells the way I wanted.

I thought it would be fun to couple the Chocolate Royal icing made with fat-free cocoa powder with the macarons made with the same product. I had some leftover from cookie decorating, so I just added a swirl, the a golden sequin type sprinkle, and while the icing was still soft, a dusting with gold.

The peanut butter filling was perfect for my taste. Using cream cheese cuts a little bit the sweetest, and the natural saltiness of the peanut butter takes it into a salted caramel territory I love. I highly recommend this recipe.

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26Dec2022

FOUR FESTIVE MACARONS

Posted in macarons by sallybr

You can choose any filling you like, this post focuses on their shape or decoration.
.

DESIGN #1
TWO-TONE FLOWER

Basic French macaron recipe (click here to retrieve it), one small portion to be dyed red, the rest dyed green). Pipe shells in green, add a few dots of red to form a full or partial flower, then pull with the needle to give the petal shape. Once the shells are baked, I sprinkled gold luster in a random pattern for added bling. Filling was peppermint buttercream (recipe here).

DESIGN #2
LEAF BORDER

Same basic recipe, dyed with Dusty Rose pink. Once the shells are baked and cooled, a very fine black pen is used to draw a simple pattern of leaves, and they are then painted with luster powder (I used gold and bronze). Filling was hazelnut buttercream.

DESIGN #3
SHELLS

I have used the same French meringue basic recipe, but stopped the macaronage before it was fully smooth. I divided the batter in half, left some plain and dyed some pink. Then I marbled slightly the two colors together to pipe the shells. Using a small round piping tip, I piped shells like shown below. Filling was lemon buttercream. If you have a nice sprinkle that can work as a pearl, it could be a nice finishing touch. Mine was not the right size, so I skipped it.

DESIGN #4
AIR-BRUSHING

Basic recipe dyed orange, and air-brushed with luster gold using a stencil. It is such a nice and easy way to decorate macarons very quickly. Filling was pumpkin ganache (recipe available here). I hope you can find inspiration for your next batch of macarons, these could very well help you celebrate the New Year, using any filling you love…

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12Dec2022

PEPPERMINT WREATH MACARONS

Posted in macarons by sallybr

With this post, I share a new take on buttercream which I recently found by accident on a scroll around Youtube University. I could not wait to give it a try. You can watch her video and full explanation of the rationale behind it with a click here. If the subject appeals to you, it will be worth the few minutes of your time, I promise. And it is also a new way to pipe shells, but I cannot take credit for it, I saw some pictures on Pinterest and decided to give it a try.

PEPPERMINT WREATH MACARONS
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

for the macaron shells, use THIS RECIPE
add green gel food dye

for the buttercream mint filling:
170g unsalted butter, softened
104g light corn syrup
60g powdered sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp mint extract (adjust amount to your liking)

Whip the butter with the WHISK attachment in medium speed until fluffy and lighter in color. With the machine running, slowly add the corn syrup. Increase speed to high and whip for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and mint extract, whisk to combine and then add the powdered sugar. Whisk until combined and then switch to the paddle attachment, mixing for 30 seconds or so, to remove air bubbles.

Make the shells. Stop the macaronage before it gets fully smooth, and place half the batter in a piping bag fitted with a closed star tip (I used Wilton #25). Pipe as shown in the composite photo below. The leftover batter can be mixed further to make smoother shells, and then piped as circles of the same dimension of the wreath. If you prefer, you can use two wreath shapes to form a macaron. Add sprinkles as soon as you pipe the shells.

Bake as directed in the original recipe. Pipe the mint buttercream filling, close the shells, and allow to mature in the fridge overnight before serving.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: These macarons turned out a little bigger than I expected, so next time I might use a smaller tip to make them a little more delicate. But the most important thing is that they hold the shape well and there were no explosions during baking. I also made smaller versions piping a sort of swirl with the same tip, pairing with a regular round shell. The buttercream worked very well, and I can tell that I’ll be using it often in the future. It has a wonderful texture and it is definitely less cloying than the traditional American version. Give a try, and you might love it too…

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21Jun2022

PRIDE MACARONS

Posted in macarons by sallybr

With Pride Month in mind, I made a batch of colorful macarons, filled with raspberry jam and lemon-flavored buttercream. The universe conspired so that in that exact week I had a maintenance appointment with my orthodontist. And to my surprise, they were “wigging it”: every staff member, orthodontists included, went to work wearing a colorful wig. They asked the patients to do the same, if they were so inclined… I was more than happy to comply (see the end of this post).

For the macaron shells, follow this recipe (I added 1/4 tsp egg white powder to the granulated sugar, whisked very well, before incorporating into the meringue, because humidity was at 58% the day I made the macarons)

LEMON-BUTTERCREAM MULTICOLOR FILLING

120g butter, softened
320g powdered sugar
zest of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp lemon juice
pinch of salt
heavy cream to adjust consistency

Whisk the butter for 30 seconds or so, then add all other ingredients except the heavy cream. Whisk until the sugar is fully dissolved, then adjust the consistency with heavy cream. Divide the buttercream in 5 or more little bowls, add gel color to each bowl. Place lines of buttercream in different colors over plastic wrap, then roll them together as a little sausage. Cut one end, and place the roll inside a piping bag with a star tip. To assemble the macarons, add a circle of buttercream and a small dollop of seedless raspberry jam in the center.

ENJOY!

to print the buttercream recipe, click here

Comments: These were a lot of fun to make. After the shells were assembled, I used different luster powder colors diluted with vodka to pain a stripe for a simple, but effective decoration. They were delivered to the staff at Hayden and Kholmeier office with proper wig, as required…