Simple Macaroons

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!

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Cocoa Chiffon cake

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.

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Moon series by Laurent Laveder

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.

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Mind map of a toddler

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 :)

 

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