Simple Macaroons

Friday 10 August 2012

As part of our sweets making day I put up a picture of the fantastic macaroons my friend taught me to make. We made purple/ lilac colored ones half choc peppermint and half choc passionfruit flavoured.

A mini one just for fun
For the shells we need:

140g egg whites (room temperature
180g caster sugar (split into 2 seperate bowls)
160g icing sugar
160g almond meal
Food coloring
Essence (Optional)
  • First we sift almond meal and icing sugar into a bowl and set aside
  • Mix egg whites in a bowl on low speed with an electric mixer until there is no more liquid.
  • Then add in one of the bowls of caster sugar. Gradually increase speed and beat until the mixture forms stiff peaks.
  • Add the second bowl of caster sugar, mix until the sugar has dissolve and the meringue forms stiff peaks.
  • Add coloring to the mixture of dry ingredients, essence can also be added at this stage if you wanted the flavoring in the shells rather then the filling. Lightly mix color through.
  • Tip into the meringue mixture. Starting slowly stir mixture together making sure all ingredients are combined. Then start scratching the surface while accelerating as you stir. You can be a bit rough at this point because you want to knock out some of the air.
  • The mixture will become more liquid and it is ready when it falls off the spatula easily and takes about 20 seconds to ooze back. If the fallen part just sits on top then keep mixing.
  • On a lined baking tray pipe out the shells trying to keep consistent sizes. After piping is finished take both sides of the tray and bang it a couple of times on a hard surface. This is to get rid of some air and to settle the imperfections from piping.
  • Preheat oven to 150 degrees and leave the macaroons to sit in room temperature until they form a skin. Bake in the oven for approximately 12 minutes or until they are solid when touched.
  • Leave them to cool before piping in the filling.
Ganache:

100g Dark Chocolate
90g of thicken cream
20g of Butter
1/3 can of passion fruit pulp or
1 tsp of peppermint essence
  1. Melt chocolate in the microwave and mix in the butter and thichken cream.
  2. Split into two portions. In one portion add in a few drops of peppermint essence and mix.In the other portion sieve in the passionfruit pulp and mix.
  3. Put mixtures into the fridge until ready to use or is set. Should be less liquidy.
To assemble:
  • Match up the shells together
  • You can either use a piping bag or we just used a spoon. Place a bit in the center of one side and place the other half on top and give it a little squeeze. The filling should come just out to the edges.
We got the recipe off YouTube but used a slightly different ganache recipe. It's a French chef making the macaroons and a domestic kitchen. Enjoy!



Cocoa Chiffon cake

Friday 3 August 2012

For over a week I'd been craving pandan cake but when I went to the Asian supermarkets in Auburn, none of them had pandan leaves or essence. Not wanting to drive to cabramatta we decided to at least have chiffon cake.

I found this recipe from the group recipes website but we just made the cake and not the icing. We also adjusted some of the amounts, 7/8 cups is a bit fiddly to measure out. The link to the original recipe is below if you want to checkout the original.

Also we accidentally added bicarbonate soda instead of baking powder, so the cake turned out a little more dense then what's expected of chiffon cake. It was still tasty even if it didn't turn out exactly how we wanted.

Cocoa Chiffon cake
Serves 8

Ingredients
100mls of boiling water
1/4 cup of cocoa
1 cup of sifted "soft as silk" flour ( we used gluten free wheat flour)
1 cup of sugar
1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 cup of salad oil
4 unbeaten egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp of cream of tartar

Method:

  • Mix cocoa and boiling water and stir until smooth.
  • In a mixing bowl sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
  • Make a well and add in order; salad oil, unbeaten egg yolks, the cooled cocoa mixture and 1/2 a tsp of vanilla. Beat with a spoon until smooth.
  • In a large mixing bowl, whip eggs hits lightly. Add the cream of tartar and whip until it forms stiff peaks.
  • Pour cocoa and egg yolk mixture gradually over the whipped egg whites, gently fold together with a rubber spatula until just blended. DO NOT STIR.

  • Pour into an ungreased pan at once. Bake at 160 C/325 F degrees for 50-55 minutes.
  • The cake is ready when a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool for a bit and over turn onto a plate.
Yum yum.

Moon series by Laurent Laveder

Thursday 2 August 2012

Moon Games is a series's of silhouettes featuring people interacting with the moon using props. The series was taken by French landscape astrophotographer and astronomy journalist Laurent Laveder. It's a simple concept but made for amazing photos.

There's heaps more in the series but here are a few of my favorites.

Mind map of a toddler

Wednesday 1 August 2012

Anyone who has kids or regularly looks after children will find this funny and somewhat true. I especially like the muppet appreciation lobe. Oh Elmo how I have come to dislike your voice! Sometimes anyway :)
 

Pork Rolls - Meadowbank

Wednesday 25 July 2012

A little gem we found a few years ago in meadowbank. The little bread shop underneath the apartments serves the best pork rolls you can get. Even compared to the pork rolls you can get in cabramatta I'd save myself the trip and go to to this place.

The pork rolls are $4 each, it's packed full of three kinds of pork, pickled carrot, cucumber, lettuce, fried onion and soy sauce. The rolls a so huge by the time the ladies are finished making them that they wrap the ends up in cling wrap before serving it in the bag.


Shepherds Bay Cake and Bakery on Urbanspoon

Nerf Wars?!! Part 2

Recently in an attempt to organize out Nerf arsenal I realized that it had grown substantially since my first Nerf post.

4 extra units and lots of ammo. My favorite is still the long clear one and the massive circular cartridge. Though the transformer is probably the most coolest.
There are foam bullets EVERYWHERE!

Takoyaki!! Yum

Thursday 19 July 2012

After watching a cute anime episode where two kitty cats fought and chased after a takoyaki, I definitely had a huge craving for one :p.

We prepared all the ingredients for the filling and prepared the batter. If you aren't a fan of octopus you can make vegetarian ones or use different types of meat. We used some cabanossi, zucchini, sweet corn! And one of my favorites is using the laughing cow cheese, either on it's own or with sweet corn.

We used a mistral brand dutch pancake maker, it's a good one to get because there is an electric bottom so you can make it at the table or you can take the iron pan off and use it on the stove. It also has a picture of an octopus on it haha so maybe they should just name it takoyaki maker.
 
So when all the ingredients are ready spray the moulds with oil. Half fill each mould with batter and put in your filling, then fill with more batter til the mould is full. Wait for the batter to crisp up a bit, this next part gets a bit messy. Pour more batter onto the pan so it overflows and start turning and tucking in the overflowed batter into the takoyaki with skewers. Repeat that until they form into nice crispy balls.
They can be served immediately but the filling is super hot. Pour mayonnaise or bulldog sauce on top and Bonita flakes before serving. Enjoy!

All this talk of takoyaki I think we should make it again :)

Takoyaki batter Recipe

2 eggs
200g wheat flour
680ml icy water
1 tsp granulated dashi
2 tsp soya sauce
Pinch of salt

1. Crack eggs into bowl and whisk.
2. Add icy water, dashi, soya sauce, salt and whisk together
3. Add flour, sift in 1/3 at a time and mix
 

Truly Random

Tuesday 17 July 2012

Yesterday something happened that truly reflects the title of my blog. I was home in the afternoon and decided to take out the trash, the bins are only about 5-10 meters from my front gate. I threw out the trash and as I turned back there was an older Chinese lady walking towards me with some pieces of styrofoam to throw out. I smiled as you do and she started talking to me in mandarin ( my mandarin is not great, I usually resort to deciphering what they're asking through context and the few words I do understand).

It was a nice little chit chat but as I started heading into my place she asked to see the interior because the place she lives in with her daughter has the same layout except with only 2 levels instead of 3. I was shocked but I said yes because she seemed like a nice enough lady.

Here's where it begins to get more random. A few steps down the path she exclaims that she should go get her daughter to come over too and she started pulling on my arm insisting that I should come over and have a look at their place first. So with maybe a fleeting thought that I could possibly be in a Charlie the unicorn type situation I quickly locked up and head over to my neighbors.

The lady's daughter (Linny) was just as surprised about the situation and a little embarrassed I think because their place was very messy, my place is messy too I told her. So after making awkward introductions I chatted to Linny for a bit before her mother insisted on showing me their upstairs. The place was practically the same layout but without a hallway to upstairs and she had replaced the carpet with floorboards, it looked nice.

After a couple minutes Linny's mother proceeded to tell me about how she used to have a mole on her cheek in the same spot as mine and that she removed it herself by stabbing it multiple times with a needle and that it hurt for a month but after the scab fell off it never came back. @.@ it sounded pretty painful.

Anyway, we headed over to my place and my friend had been waiting for me outside. I quickly gave her a rundown of the situation which she found hilarious and let us all into the house. I showed them the garden and my plants, which I am quite proud of even though it is a little neglected. She was very interested in my vietnamese celery and shocked me again by asking for one of the babies that had started coming up around the base. So I dug up a baby plant and put it in a pot for her. Meanwhile jancypants is inside trying not to laugh.

So we head back in and I showed them the rest of the place to many comments on use of space, how big our tv is and asking if we had a son when they saw Kens nerf collection ( which has grown since the initial post) haha.

Then as her daughter Linny was trying to shooe her out because she knew that I needed to go grocery shopping for dinner, she proceeded to check out my parsley plant for babies as well.

Haha truly a random event of the evening/ month. I'm glad a got to meet one of my neighbors and that they are friendly if not a little strange haha. Tis my life's randomness :)

 

Sweet sweet dessert day!

Tuesday 10 July 2012

Yesterday a friend came over to show me how to make macaroons and in our excitement we ended up turning it into an awesome cooking day. We made macaroons, a roast pork for dinner, a snow egg and a little creme brûlée.

Here are a few peek previews and I'll link in the posts soon.

Our purple ( which turned out a lilac colour) macaroons.

My pork roast, a method I've trial over many years, its not perfect but pretty good almost every time, no major disasters.

Our snow eggs which we ended up making over three weeks. It was worth it in the end!! Extremely yummy and once we got it right it think it was as good as the one we had at quay.

And lastly our creme brûlée which we made last minute because we had a lot of egg yoke left over. It hasn't yet been eaten so I'll put up another photo of the sugary caramel top when we do.

After all that we'll definitely have to hold off on the sugar for a while :) ...... Maybe ;)

Thanks for the awesomely fun day Jancypants.

 

Parramatta Pheonix

Thursday 5 July 2012

Phoenix in parramatta is open where the Borders used to be, level 5 towards the cinema. The place hasn't gotten much traction yet it's still quiet even at peak times. We've tried it out twice and found that it had improved the second time round.

To make sure we had a base for comparison we got our favourites ;).

What I like to call the footballs. Savory mince wrapped around a sweet mochi like skin and a crispy shell.

Glazed char siew buns, kens favourite.

Prawn in rice noodle sheets

Chicken and sticky rice, wrapped in a banana leaf.

Vege dumplings and prawn dumplings

Chicken feet

Egg tarts

Salt and paper squid

Desserts! Watermelon and jelly and silky tofu. Yum yum :)

The food isn't bad though not as good as the rhodes branch. The only thing we found a little annoying is that the cart servers were really trying to up sell their wares.

Other then that it was a pleasant experience.

 

 

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