A DUET OF SPRINGTIME MACARONS

Posted in macarons by sallybr

I hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend! If you’d like to see the cookies I made to celebrate the occasion, stop by my baby blog clicking here. Without further ado, here are some macarons that have Spring written all over them…

The first is a classic combination of lemon and blueberries, and I will give you the full recipe. The second is a bit unusual but worked very well and comes from a real expert macaron baker: Camila, hostess from Pies and Tacos. I used my default macaron recipe for the shells and the filing was straight from this post. I urge you to try it, easy and oh so tasty…

LEMON BLUEBERRY MACARONS
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

For the shells:
200g powdered sugar
115 g almond flour
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
drops of gel food color of your choice

for the filling:
160g powdered sugar
4 tbsp unsalted butter softened
zest of half a lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp lemon emulsion or extract
1/2 -1 tbsp whipping cream as necessary
pinch of salt
blueberry preserves (store-bought is fine)

Line 3 heavy baking sheets with parchment/baking paper or Silpat mats. Layer the powdered sugar and almond flour 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. Check the peak. It should be firm. Transfer the whites to a medium bowl.

Fold in the almond flour 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 separate the mixture in two batches. Add a very small amount of pink to the first bowl, and a small amount of green to the second. Proceed to fold them two different mixtures until they slide slowly down the side of the bowl.

Line the two colors over Saran Wrap type plastic, side by side. Made a sausage with the plastic and insert in a large piping bag fitted with a round tip. 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.

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. 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. Decorate as you desire, or leave the shells plain.

Make the filling: whisk the butter for a couple of minutes, add all other ingredients except the whipping cream. Whisk at low speed first, then increase the speed until smooth. Adjust consistency with cream if needed. Match shells, add a circle of buttercream to the edge, and a dollop of blueberry preserves to the center. Allow to sit in the fridge overnight before serving or freezing for storage.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I’ve shared lemon macarons a few times in the past, this one might very well be my favorite. The combination of of blueberry preserves with the sharp lemon is a winner. To decorate, I used Royal icing in a swirl, plus a light shower of sanding sugar. A little flower-shaped sprinkle closed the deal.

GOLDEN OREO MACARONS

For the shells, use the same exact recipe. Divide it in three portions, dye one yellow, one pink, and the final one blue. Make sure to use very little dye, so that you get a pastel color. Follow this link to visit Camila’s site and make the golden Oreo buttercream. I decorated with small dots of yellow and white Royal icing, piping consistency.

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22Mar2026

A DUET OF ST PATRICK’S BAKES

Posted in Breads, Cake by sallybr

If you follow my baby blog, perhaps you’ve noticed I ran out of time to blog about St. Patrick’s cookies? It turns out I also got in trouble right here in the Bewitching Kitchen. Today I share a bread and a batch of cupcakes made in honor of that special holiday. Included in this post, a little cupcake decorating video, that you can find right after the recipe.

Better late than never, let’s start with the bread…

SHAMROCK SOURDOUGH
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

450g bread flour
25g spelt flour
25g dark rye flour
75g sourdough starter (stiff or 100% hydration)
10g salt
360g water
Thai rice flour (or tapioca flour)
shamrock shape cut from edible paper

Mix all ingredients in the bowl of a KitchenAid type mixer fitted with the dough hook. Knead gently for about 4 minutes (first or second speed maximum).

Transfer dough to a lightly oil bowl and do a bulk fermentation with 4 folds made 45 minutes apart. Before you start the fermentation , remove a very small amount of dough to a small glass container (like those that hold spices), and mark where the level of the dough is with a permanent marker. Keep that at room temperature to monitor fermentation.

After the last folding cycle, keep an eye on the fermentation using the small vial. Ideally you want to let the dough ferment until it is double in size. Depending on the day, temperature of your kitchen, it might take 8 hours or more.

Once bulk fermentation is over, shape the dough as a round ball. Place in the fridge overnight.

Next day, freeze the dough for 30 minutes in the banetton, to make it easier to score later. Invert the dough on a paper liner, add the shamrock shape in the center, and flour the region around it (I used Thai rice flour). To make the paper stick, you can spray the surface VERY LIGHTLY with water. Score the perimeter of the shamrock and the outer area of the dough, and place in a Dutch oven.

Close the pan and bake at 450F for 30 minutes, open and allow the bread to brown for a further 15 minutes.

Cool completely over a rack before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I used my Supersonic blade to score the dough, but a sharp razor blade will do, of course. This composition of sourdough, with mostly white flour, but a touch of spelt and rye might very well be my favorite these days.

Moving on, time for cupcakes!

ST PATRICK CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

makes 10 cupcakes

100g all-purpose flour
20g cocoa powder
140g granulated sugar
1/8 tsp salt
40g unsalted butter
1 large egg
120ml milk
1 + ½ tsp baking powder
buttercream for topping
Mini-golden Oreos painted with gold luster powder + vodka

Heat your oven to 350F and line a muffin tray with cupcake liners.

In a small, bowl, whisk the milk and egg with a fork. Reserve.

Put the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, butter, sugar and salt into the stand mixer
bowl with the paddle attachment. Mix on a medium speed until the butter turns into the consistency of sand.

Pour in half of the milk and egg mixture into the stand mixer bowl with your other
ingredients and mix on a slow speed until it all fully combines and becomes a thick
paste. Pour the remaining milk mixture and mix on low-speed until the batter is smooth.

Fill the lined pan with batter, a little more than halfway full. Bake for 16 minutes, testing with a toothpick. Leave to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove the cupcakes to a rack to cool completely.

BASIC BUTTERCREAM FOR CUPCAKES

226g butter, unsalted, softened
452g powdered sugar
pinch of salt
Vanilla extract, about 1 tsp or more to taste
a couple or more tablespoons of milk (to adjust consistency)

Place the softened butter in the bowl of a KitchenAid type mixer with the paddle attachment, add the pinch of salt, and whip at high speed for about 7 minutes. It needs to be really soft and lighter. Stop the mixer. Eyeball the amount of powdered sugar, add 1/3 and mix at low speed at first, once the sugar is starting to get incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high.

Add the second portion of the sugar, and incorporate the same way. Add the final portion, start at low speed, clean the sides of the bowl well with a spatula, add the vanilla and increase the speed slowly all the way to high. Whip it until very smooth. Add milk to desired consistency. Divide the buttercream in two portions, dye one with light green, one with darker green. Place both portions over a plastic wrap, enclose them as a sausage, drop inside a large piping bag fitted with an open star tip. Decorate the tops of the cupcakes as shown in the video. Add the gold Oreos.

EENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I was pretty happy with the way these cupcakes turned out. It was fun to decorate, and to show the process in more detail, here is a little video for you.

That’s all for now, friends! If you like a little St. Patrick’s trivia, here is a very interesting article for you…

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