Chocolate Lemon Macarons

if you've been a very loyal reader to my blog, i bet you know my struggle with those little babies called macarons. well, after a long hiatus of blogging and a more deepen (professional?) study about pastry, i finally able to tackle those pretty fancy cookies. so today, to show you my progress and tell you, who haven't succeed, to keep fighting for it, i will give you my rendition of chocolate lemon macarons.

this chocolate lemon macaron recipe is my invention during all these years' trials and errors. i find this recipe as the most reliable and efficient for me, and perfect for those who are still in their quest of battling macarons. i will give you the basic macaron recipe as well here, i love this recipe more because i adjust the amount of sugar quite decent here, so that the macarons would not make you clinch your teeth due to the oversweetness.

french apple tart

here i come back again! with one of the cake i've planned to bake this week.. french apple tart or if you want something fancy, you can call it 'tarte aux pommes' though i don't really know how to pronounce it. hahaha. turns out, nothing too special about this tart. just like the usual combination with apple and cinnamon. i still like it but it bores me.

i was pretty enthusiastic layering those apples until it looks flowery. but i'm not really satisfied with the final look, it's not really neat is it? looks messy :( now, looking at the pictures, i think perhaps it was because i don't peel the apple first. which one do you think? or do you think it's pretty and neat? haha.

what i found interesting in the baking process today was the apple variety. i didn't use granny smith like i usually do when making apple dessert. this time i used local produce, it is Malang Apple and Manalagi Apple. both of them are harvested here in Indonesia and they have the tart taste similar to granny smith. they don't look as green as granny smith, a little paler and smaller. my father loves them more than the imports. and... sorry to say, not that i don't want to share more things with you all today, but to be honest i am completely extremely tired. i need some rest and maybe i'm gonna hit my bed soon. so, without making you wait too long, i'll give you the recipe below:

mille feuille

it is starting to feel like christmas has been so close. wherever i go, i hear christmas songs playing and christmas decorations have already hung everywhere. so warming! i have made panettone last week, which is a traditional italian bread usually served during christmas. this time, i want to get a little merrier with mille feuille. i think this pastry will soon be a hit around the city, replacing red velvet cake and macarons.

turns out this pastry is crazily easy to make but insanely delicious. however, i didn't make my own puff pastry from scratch and just used the store bought one. if you were planning to make it from scratch, well it may take you some time to make it before you are able to make this mille feuille. once you had your puff pastry in your hand, mille feuille is made just by stacking those puff pastry and layer it with cream and any fillings that you like. i prefer fruits though.. mine was layered with cream diplomat and peaches and then topped with another thin layer of cream diplomat and finely chopped dried cranberries, mint leaves and last but not least.. generous amount of shaved white chocolate. the topping gives you shades of red and green which will go well with this holiday theme. and the minty flavor you got from munching those leaves are just adorable and refreshing.. i want to eat it againnn, now!

one thing that i'm not really content with is the cream diplomat. cream diplomat is basically pastry cream mixed with some whipped cream so that it becomes lighter. i love the taste of it so much, but i didn't get the super smooth satiny cream texture i wanted. it's all because i added the pastry cream into the whipped cream in undesirable temperature. you should wait until the pastry cream has completely cool before you add it to the whipped cream, otherwise your cream diplomat will curdle and looks ugly and separated. i hope none of you follow my mistakes, okay? ;) and look at those roses, they are real roses! bicolor roses with red and yellow color. they are so beautiful, aren't they?! 

strawberry friands

i'm back on track, on my regular track. i am on my holiday now! i have been enjoying my holiday for a week today. today, i woke up in a very good mood, big smile on my face and i felt so motivated. i have planned my self to cook a chicken laksa today and bake some cakes. maybe because of my ecstatic mood, everything tastes better than usual. the chicken laksa is so crazily delicious, i've eaten it for about, hmm.. 4 times maybe or is it 5, i'm not really counting. haha. unfortunately, i was just too busy eating it until i forgot to take a picture of it and show it to all of you. i'm so sorry, so i think i should stop talking about it before you all get more curious. now, let me introduce you to something lovely, see the heart-shaped strawberries?

another beautiful things i made today is friands. friands is basically almost the same as financier. well, financier are actually a French cake, a light, moist teacake which usually used ground almonds. financier according to wiki literally derived from French traditional rectangular mold, which resembles a bar of gold. while friands, popularized by the Australians and the Kiwis, is a modified financier with additional flavor like chocolate or fruits like berries and also baked in oval shape.

my love for this cake is actually haven't been that long. i just knew this kind of cake like a year ago and have been very keen on trying since these couple months. friands has been everywhere i look, i look at my cookbook - there are friands recipes, i look at other foodblogs - there are also friands, and finally i watch Masterchef - there is a financier. seems like this cake has been haunting me.. that's why i couldn't stop my self from making it today. haha. any of you interested and having a curiosity about this cute little financier? don't hesitate, just make it straight away..

ginger creme brulee

i have a long list of sweets i wanted to make lately. but they basically need more egg whites than egg yolks. regarding to it, i decided to make some desserts with yolks first and the simplest yet satisfying one is creme brulee. but maybe this is going to be my last creme brulee in some short terms, i've been making quite many brulees recently and eating them frequently makes me almost sick. lol. that's why i think maybe i should give my self a break from it for a while.

the creme brulee i made this time is flavored with ginger. the idea came to me due to my preferences of drinking wedang ronde or sekoteng. wedang ronde and sekoteng are two of our traditional desserts in Indonesia. both of them have warm sweet ginger soup, wedang ronde is a warm sweet ginger soup with glutinous rice ball stuffed with peanut paste while sekoteng is a warm sweet ginger soup with roasted peanuts, tapioca pearls, toasted white bread, etc. they taste wonderful, i should post it here someday. well, back to the reason why i made this ginger creme brulee. sekoteng and wedang ronde are commonly served warm, however i sometimes prefer mine cold. haha.

i always like the sensation of eating cold ginger-something. ginger gives a sweet and warming flavor to your body, it is very nice to enjoy ginger warm on rainy days, it can quickly warm you. however, i mostly have it on sunny days so i prefer the cold version. that's why i came up with this ginger creme brulee. i thought maybe infusing a hint of ginger flavor in custard would be nice. and the result... unfortunately i still prefer vanilla creme brulee. hahaha. i still couldn't give my heart to any brulee flavor except vanilla. lucky vanilla, pity me.. but still, this brulee actually has unique flavor and i pretty like it too. how about you?

KBB#21: Creme Brulee

amazing is the challenge of KBB. i kept wondering why each KBB's challenge that comes up every month always match my baking-plan. when they gave me macarons' challenge, i was in a really curious thought of macarons. and also the bangket's challenge, that time i was also planning to make bangket. and now, Creme Brulee. you know that's my favorite dessert of all time and i've made a twist with it before but i haven't got the chance to post the original one on my blog for you. when i was thinking of making it and show it to you, the KBB's challenge came.

this Creme Brulee's recipe comes from the mighty Jamie Oliver, it must be a very nice one. however, this recipe still isn't the original of creme brulee. it still bottomed with strawberry coulis. the original part of this recipe is that it really has the real custard mixture not like the previous one with creme fraiche. if you look at my previous brulee post and compare it to the brulee i made this time, you'll see that i was pretty generous sprinkling the sugar this time. a thick layer of granulated sugar on top. ha ha. at first i thought it would be more beautiful to burn but i think i was wrong. maybe it would be more beautiful when it's burnt using a blowtorch but not using a preheated grill. but, due to the thicker layer of sugar, the burnt sugar become crispier and i love the contrast of it with the custard. see the picture below, marvelous isn't it?!

i tried modifying this recipe by adding matcha powder to the custard mixture too and it was sensational. green tea and cream never fail me. it tastes like green tea latte, i love it. too bad, i just don't have it pictured for you. but in the end, i like the vanilla more than the green tea. i think the smell of vanilla and gooey custard i first tasted before still lingers and stays in my mind clearly and i just couldn't fall for another taste. interested on making some? come come, it's Jamie Oliver's recipe!

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.

lemon madeleines

hello again! i'm sorry for not posting anything lately.. i have some excuses though. hoho.

reason number 1: is because i'm not in the mood for baking in the first week of June, i did go to the kitchen but for cooking, i made hakau with a little modification but it's still not really worth to report. haha. i'll try again later with a better shape.

reason number 2: to be honest, until now - the minutes i write this post - i still unable to make muffins. my muffins never rise. so by the 2nd week of June, i was practicing about making proper muffins. result is still F for fail. i am giving up for now until the end of this month and i'll try again next month.

and now, i'm back! yay! i made madeleine today.. why? because i just found and bought a cheap madeleine mold. i quickly grabbed it when i saw it. hoho. in the madeleine mold's shop i also found many many cute friendly-price props and i'm letting my self to buy them. see the red-heart saucer above? that's new! hehe.

madeleine, according to wikipedia, is a traditional small cake form Commercy and Liverdun, two communes of the Lorraine Region in northeastern France. madeleines are very small sponge cakes, with a distinctive shell-shaped depressions. aside from the traditional moulded pan, commonly found in stores specialising in kitchen equipment and even hardware stores, no special tools are required to make madeleines. a genoise cake batter is used. the flavor is similar to, but somewhat lighter than, sponge cake.  i have been interested with this cake since i first read and saw it in Kitchen Princess comic book. they look cute and thankfully i have recipes of various madeleines in my golden cookbook. so i decided to make one of them, the lemon and lime madeleines..