KBB#18: French Macarons

remember the baby i talked about? project with egg whites? this is it.

French Macarons, the trickiest biscuit of all time. it really is a funny thing how this biscuit can turn my mood up and down everyday and how it can make me so curious about this little feet-y thing. i have lots of problems making this cute little tempting biscuit. first, the batter. second, the baking temperature. i'll elaborate some theory here, but really in my post they're just a theory.

theoretically..

first of all, you should pulse the almond meal and powdered sugar until they're all combined and really smooth, this step can give you a smooth surface of macarons. then, you have to beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form but you should not overbeat it unless it'll show a cracky surface. confuse? yes, i am! well, to shorten it, you should beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form but not dry, don't let the shine gone. after that, you have to mix the dry ingredients with the egg whites, this step called 'macaronage'. people often confuse with the consistency of macarons batter, me too at first (or still up til now). you should mix them gently, remember people 'gently', or we could say carefully. for me, it is similar to brownie batter, not too runny and not too stiff. mix them until they resemble a paste with magma consistency. 'magma consistency' is also a weird vocabulary for me, have you ever seen magma? honestly, i have never. yeah, the conclusion is the batter should be light handling but not too runny and a little thick. i guess brownie batter is more like it.

after you piped all the batter, you should let them rest for no matter how long until the glossy surface turns dull and form a skin. you'll know it's dry enough when you can touch the surface without having any of the batter sticks to your finger. humidity really takes part in the drying process, here in Jakarta i have to let them rest for almost 6 hours until the skin forms. other country could dry them only in 15 minutes, magical. after that, the baking part. in order to get the feet, you should obtain the right temperature of your oven and of course the right consistency of your batter and the skin. let's say you've got the right consistency and skin, then if you bake it too hot it will crack and have burnt bottom, not hot enough they won't let their feet out.

i have been trying to make a proper macarons, some succeed some didn't. i think i need luck for making this biscuit. maybe i should wait until the moon is on the right side of the sky so i can produce a perfect macarons, joking really. if i should evaluate my macarons project, why it could have feet and why it couldn't or why it's cracked and why it's wrinkled, i really do not know the reason yet. consistency? skin? oven temperature? they are mysteries in my miseries. haha. i am really tired figuring this macarons! i'll take a break from this, but... i still had the curious side effect of these biscuits, maybe i should try and make them again soon. how do you think?! haha.

banana wraps

back with MasBar, it feels so long already after last month's edition and this month's edition is cooking with bananas. i made banana wraps this time, in my campus banana wraps are easily found being sold by the street vendor. it's really a simple dish.

until last month, mom and me went eating in a cafe. it also sell banana wraps, haha. we didn't buy it though, it will be weird to eat this banana wraps in that cafe. hehe. i am trying to make banana wraps by my self, without any recipe, just using my senses. i always feel proud when i can make a delicious food without any recipe. so does this time even this banana wraps are so easy to make.

banana is an all-season fruits, you can find them anytime. in my country, Indonesia, we can also find many varieties of bananas. different types of bananas can give different taste and texture to the food you make. if we want to fry bananas, we usually use 'pisang rajah' but when we want to mash bananas into cakes we will use another type. aah, i don't really know about this either. i'll tell you when i've known about it. hehe.

button cookies

look at these sweet minions.. they're so lovely, aren't they? well, they aren't supposed to look that way.. they supposed to be a lot sweeter and tempting. but they were okay for me too this way, i need improvement though. i don't know their actual names in indonesian, but they should look like this. beautiful? yes, of course!

i have a stupid belief: i do believe that everything which used royal icing must look very sweet and beautiful. this little cookie use royal icing to topped. but my icing's consistency isn't stiff enough to hold its shape. so they melt down and make a cute circle drop on top of the cookie. why the royal icing is pink? sorry, my fault. i accidentally forgot to divide the royal icing mixture into 4 bowls and color them differently, as i took the red coloring first so pink it is.

this cookies used to be nibbled when i was a child. me and daddy were so close before and we mostly do the grocery shopping. my dad really loves to go to supermarket. hihi. and in some supermarket, we could buy this sweet treats. however, the taste of the bought cookies with this one that i made are not the same. the bought one taste more rustic, mine tastes a little richer (blame the butter).

brownies

another hi..

i made brownies yesterday. i suddenly wanted to indulge my self with chocolate. rich one. this brownie could satisfy me of course.

jakarta's weather isn't so friendly lately. no, not about the heat but the rain and humidity. i hate this as i can't get fairly enough light for taking pictures and also kind of interfering my project with egg whites. traffic's jamming heavier everywhere makes me really hard to go outside and have some fun with my friends. anyhow, let's not talk about the rain here. i was meant to talk about brownies, this beautiful brownie.

i got this recipe from my cookbook, old one. brownie somehow makes my mood a little lighter in this weather, it's really funny how chocolate can sooth you anytime. brownie eaten with a glass of milk are also nice, though. have it in the morning and you'll have a wonderful day, don't you think so? i should do that more often. i have to admit that i'm not feeling so good these past days, something's bothering me. that something is connected with a biscuit, famous one right now. i just have not made it perfect. i'm stressed out here! i really should tame it before August. but i think, it's another business for another post. i'll tell you the details by the end of this month. let's enjoy the brownie first.

apple crumbles with vanilla ice-cream

apples.. 

i'm cooking with apples again and i feel glad. wanna know the reason i made this apple crumbles? it's all because of twitter. my friend, who is studying in australia, post a picture of apple crumbles that she ate there. my cousin who lives there also ever told my mom about a delicious apple strudels there. me curious? definitely.

this recipe was formulated by my self, i'm quite satisfied. all i know about fruit crumbles are fruits-filling topped with shortcrust-like crumbs. when it comes to apples, cinnamon is their spouse. apple and cinnamon are perfect match. i really love them paired. as a conclusion, i used them as the filling. the topping were just butter, sugar, and flour crumbed together. 

if apple and cinnamon are soulmate, ice-cream perhaps is their child. haha. there's always an excuse to serve apple desserts with ice-cream, for example: apple strudel with ice cream, apple pie with ice cream, apple cake with ice cream, fried apple with ice cream, and so on and so forth. so i guess it would be more delish if i also make vanilla ice-cream to be my apple crumbles' companion. i made this ice-cream a day before. yum! all of them taste so comforting..

coconut biscuits

hello again! this morning, i made coconut biscuits. and just so you know, holiday has finally come! tee-hee!

it's been a week actually, but my auntie came and stay for some days here in my house so i limited my time cooking and baking to accompany her. i've made her indonesian pancakes last Friday but i didn't take any pictures of it, they weren't so perfect either. yesterday, she's back to her crib and i can get my time back in the kitchen.

remember about the list i told you before? coconut biscuit is one of them. i'll make vanilla ice-cream tomorrow though i'm not sure whether i am going to post it or not. you know, i really miss being around in the kitchen and cook something, as a result of that i keep adding more and more things into my 'going to make' list. i do want to fulfill all of them, i hope i'll have enough time to do it all this month.

this coconut biscuits called for simple and not much ingredients. it used desiccated coconut and i still have one large jar half-fulled with it. the recipe also called for powdered sugar and i tried making powdered sugar by whizzing granulated sugar, it works! the granulated sugar become so smooth and whiter. another thing i found this morning is i just noticed that when you want to make biscuits or cookies, the quality of butter you used really affecting the taste of your baked-goodies. thankfully this time i bought a quality over quantity butter, so that my biscuits taste real good! rich and satisfying.. :)

soft chocolate centers biscuit

aah, it feels really good to be back on track. i'm really sick of all my exam. just one left on 5th of July then i'll be free. fortunately, almost all of those exams went good. i'm really thankful.

do you know, i have some kind of habit to make a to do list about what to cook, what to do, where to go, who i want to meet in every single month, yeah.. weird. haha. and when it comes to july or december i will have an extremely long list. just so you know, i've written 11 dishes to make in my notebook. i'm so not sure i will make all of them, i love to plan everything but when i have to make them come true, i'll feel so lazy. back to the list, i've checked 2 foods from 11, wanna know what? it's rainbow chiffon cake and this soft chocolate centers biscuit. still long way to go..

some of you might have ever heard about 'center fill biscuit' by Cadburry. at first i thought, this one would be similar to it. it is actually similar, i just couldn't make them look similar. the taste? well, i think we should do some math for the sugar here, mine tastes real sweet. mom is anti-sweet, i'm so sure she wouldn't like these biscuits. brother and sister love them. daddy's not around, his company sent him to Kalimantan again for a while. i like these biscuits, they're lovable..

i got the recipe from Jamie Oliver. he has lot's of luscious recipe, i can't even choose one to be the most tempting. you should come and visit his web, look for some recipes, and try! after all, i have to say my biscuits don't have cute shapes, they look miserable. i want them look like Jamie's, i should practice more.