Macarons, Part Two

Aren't French Macarons the cutest thing? I randomly decided to bake a batch late at night to see how they would come out.

I've read quite a few blogs where people have tried baking macarons for the first time and they came out perfect. No such luck for me! I suppose that depends on your definition of perfect... but for me it's been tricky. Once it was too humid and I didn't get the "pied." Another time I didn't fold the batter enough and it was too stiff, resulting in bumpy cookies. 

This time, to combat the humidity, I put on a small fan in their direction after I piped them onto the cookie sheet. I also ran the almond meal through the food processor to make it finer. It worked pretty well and I got the cute little feet on the cookie and the skin came out smooth! I also didn't over-brown them like I have in the past... but they seemed to be undercooked! They were a little too mushy inside. How on earth do you cook them through without browning too much?

But of course, I have never had a real macaron to compare it to... I guess I will have to take a trip to Paris!

My mom sent me this cookbook as a gift and it has a ton of great ideas for macaron flavors! It has everything from fancy Lavender and Rose Water recipes to Peanut Butter and Jelly flavor. I chose Vanilla just to keep it simple, although I cheated and used leftover cream cheese frosting for filling :-D 

I also used a neon purple food coloring for them which came out looking like a yummy bubblegum pink.

Local Spots - Eva's Cupcakery

I've been trying to go to Eva's Cupcakery since it opened last year but every time I showed up it would be closed! Finally today I made it in and got some cupcakes. I didn't get photos of the shop because it's so quiet in there that it felt awkward, but it is a beautiful shop with pink walls and an upscale atmosphere. They even had a little flat screen with music and a slide show playing of pretty cupcakes. 

I chose the Red Velvet and Joe picked The Hummingbird, which had coconut, banana, walnuts and cream cheese frosting.  There were even more choices, like lemon drop and a super adorable cupcake with pink and blue swirly frosting. I was seriously amazed at how cute all the cupcakes were!

Blueberry Chutney

When I was younger I remember my grandmother always making chutney and setting it on the table for every meal. I never really knew what it was and I think I probably didn't like it at that time. About a year ago I decided I wanted to figure out what it was for, what to eat it with and how to make it. I found out it is an Indian condiment that can be made from fruits, berries, onions or even cilantro (which is delicious!!) I made an apricot chutney which tasted amazing... but I haven't made any since!
Fast forward to today, when the massive amount of blueberries we bought at the beginning of the week started to go mushy and I knew it was time to use them up. I made (another) batch of blueberry muffins and cooked up some blueberry chutney.

I took the recipe from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and changed it around a bit to fit what I actually had in my pantry. I'm positive that there are more authentic recipes out there, but this should be a pretty good introduction to chutneys if you have never had any before. It's like a jam with a spicy kick.

Ingredients:

2 Cups fresh blueberries

1/2 Cup dried cherries

1/2 Cup lime juice

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp cloves

2 Tbsp brown sugar

Combine everything in a saucepan and turn onto high until it comes to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes.

It will end up looking very juicy like this:

The great thing about chutney is that it's easy to make and just a little bit spicy. Joe and I had it on crackers with goat cheese for lunch and then for dinner we had it with a coconut shrimp curry. You can use it on anything from yogurt to ice cream, crepes, cold meats and as a sauce for samosas too.

Blueberry Pie

Blueberries are on sale! As you can see we purchased a TON. My husband was so excited he actually wanted to buy 5 pounds of them. I made a dozen blueberry muffins yesterday and they are already gone. This morning we had blueberry crepes and this afternoon I decided it was time for a pie.

I used this recipe from The Joy of Cooking. It turned out very well the last time I made a pie for the Forth of July, so I decided to stick with it.

We still have a whole box of blueberries left! On top of that, in a few weeks there is a Blueberry Festival going on. There is a baking contest and blueberry picking... maybe I should practice a recipe for the contest??

Strawberry Upside Down Cake

I love to bake, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I always follow the rules. Baking is supposed to be precise, but sometimes I just don't have time for that. Some days I wake up on a Saturday morning and decide that I must bake something. Anything! It must be sweet and gooey and it must be something that I can throw my leftovers into. I've always got some leftover chocolate chips or whatever just sitting in my pantry. After I made the blueberry-strawberry pie for the 4th of July I still had leftover berries to use so I put together a blue berry buckle using leftover ricotta cheese and yogurt I had in the fridge. It was awesome.

This morning I had the same urge to bake something quick. I had leftover strawberries that were going to go bad any day. I also had this half used bag of mini marshmallows that have been in there for at least two months. (they weren't even stale or hard at all... weird)

But anyway, this is what I came up with...

I know I'm calling it Strawberry Upside Down Cake but I never actually turned it upside down. Does that make the cake a lie?

It's so easy I don't even want to call it a recipe. Here is what you need:

Half a box of yellow cake mix, prepared according to the instructions. Use the whole box if you have a huge casserole dish or want to double the recipe.

About two cups of sliced strawberries or any berry you choose.

1/4 Cup sugar

1 and 1/2 Cups of miniature marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix the sugar with the berries and let them rest in a bowl while you prepare the cake batter.

Pour the berries on the bottom of the casserole dish and layer the marshmallows on top.

Pour the batter on top and bake for 45 minutes or until a knife comes out clean when you poke it.

Anything like this will have to be watched in the oven to make sure it doesn't bake too long. I thought this would only take about 30 minutes but it ended up taking much longer, probably because of the strawberry juice. The marshmallows popped up on top of the cake and turned golden brown (Yum!) and the juice bubbled up nicely around the edge. We served it with a little ice cream.

Nothing like using up leftovers!

Happy Fourth

Happy Fourth of July! It's raining today but I'm looking forward to grilling a nice big salmon fillet later on at our friends house. I baked a blueberry and strawberry pie because the colors seemed patriotic. Drink some beer and have fun grilling!

Apple Crumble

There is nothing like apple crumble during summer! Or is it more of a fall dessert? I don't know, who cares? I could eat apple crumble all year long. With ice cream or homemade whipped cream it's delicious.

I had some granny smith apples I wanted to use up, since my husband doesn't like raw granny smiths, but I also didn't have any rolled oats to make apple crisp with. We only have the Irish steel cut oats which aren't really suitable for baking. I adapted this recipe for some oat-less apple crumble.

Apple Crumble

Apples
4 Granny Smith Apples, cored and sliced
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Cloves
1 tsp Cinnamon
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
2 Tbsp Sugar

Topping
1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/3 Cup White Sugar
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
1/3 Cup Butter, softened
1/2 Cup Flour

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

Drizzle lemon juice over the sliced apples in a mixing bowl. Combine nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle onto the apple slices. Mix and pour apple mixture into a glass casserole dish.

Mix the white sugar, brown sugar, and flour in a small mixing bowl. Cut in the butter and vanilla extract. Sprinkle onto apple mixture. 

Bake for 40 minutes.

One thing I would like to do is figure out how to take nice food photos. It seems like it's such a pain in the butt to cook something successfully that adding in the pain of trying to photograph it nicely just seems impossible. And lighting? Good luck. Even if Alaska has 19 hours of daylight this time of year my kitchen still only has one small window! I'll settle for iPhone photos for now.

Lemon Curd Layer Cake

We had a bunch of Lemon Curd left over from when I made it a while ago so I decided to make a cake with it. I cheated and used a box white cake mix, slicing each of the two layers in half and spreading the lemon curd between each layer. I dusted the top with powdered sugar and had a slice with a cup of espresso.

I seriously need to buy a cute cake plate!

Notes on Macarons

I've baked macarons twice and I know they are tricky. There are a couple things I noticed that I did not do correctly, or things that I could only learn from experience. One of which was that my oven is too hot! I either need to bake them for less time or I have to prop the oven door open with something while baking. Another thing I learned is that humidity really does make a difference! I believe I didn't end up with "le pied" because the piped meringue batter wouldn't harden after leaving them to sit for a while. It must have been a little more humid for the batter to fail to develop a shell.
The next thing I noticed was that my batter is too thick. I'm afraid of losing the air in the meringue so I avoid over mixing, but this causes the piped batter to be kind of lumpy and very round with peaks. I supposed in my next batch I will run the almond flour through the food processor to make it finer. I will have to also be brave and hit the batter to take out some of the air.
Things on my shopping list for next time:
1. Bakers scale
2. Gel food coloring
3. Chocolate for ganache filling (or candy melts?)
4. New piping tip.
5. Twisty ties for piping bag.

Apple Pie Tips

I really wanted to celebrate Pi Day this year by baking a pie, but I ended up having to wait until Saturday morning. The last time I made an apple pie was for thanksgiving and it didn't turn out just the way I wanted. The problem is that the apples become so juicy that the pie is a puddle of apple juice! None of the recipes I've seen ever gave any good tips on how prevent this. I figured out a couple tips that will keep apple pies from becoming too soggy.

1. Pre-bake the bottom crust for 8 minutes at 350 degrees.

2. Instead of mixing the sugar with the cinnamon and other ingredients, add the sugar to the apples first and let them sit while you prepare the crust. When all the juice seeps out of the apples drain a little of it away. After that, add the cinnamon and other spices. Don't drain out all the juice though, you don't want it to be dry! Just enough to keep it from becoming a puddle of apple juice when you slice the finished pie.

3. Always add a couple tablespoons of corn starch to the apple mixture to help make the juice more saucy.

That's all I've got! Maybe one day I will try to tackle making my own crust again from scratch. I gave up on pie crusts a while ago because I didn't have a food processor to make the dough the right consistency. A few weeks ago, however, I was gifted a blender/food processor combo machine from a friend who never got any use out of it. Maybe then I can add some little tips for crust making.

Banana Bread

Last night was the first night I slept in my new place. It's a little scary hearing all the weird noises in the night. Soon Joe will be here so I won't have to be alone for too much longer.
It seems like I never have furniture. I always try really hard to find something nice and unique, but then a short while later it's all gone. I have a bunch of stuff in storage that I love, but I have to drive all the way to California to get it. Before that there were always reasons why I ended up with all my stuff missing. It was either a break up or I had to leave the country or something. I hope this time we can keep our things!
I found some great stuff at the thrift stores today, mostly glassware and a nice coffee table (although it could use a sand and stain.) I found a whole set of glasses with "O" etched into them! Perfect. This was the same thrift store where I found our perfect wedding cake topper... I think that particular thrift shop and I have a spiritual connection.
I've been camping on the floor of our bedroom, sleeping on the couch cushions and using it as a painting studio. I'll do a post on an easy painting DIY sometime soon!
In between shopping and painting I baked a banana bread with some overripe bananas I had left over. It didn't turn out as good as my moms did when I was younger, but it was a nice snack. I'll have to steal my moms recipe.

New Year

Last night Joe and I celebrated New Years at a Devotchka concert. It was an amazing show and we were right up front. I've still got their music playing in my head. 

This is the end of our holiday visit with each other... it's really sad to have him leave again, but it's been so much fun. There was a ton of baking, cooking, going out for food, and playing with the dogs. We started playing a really old school game that I remembered from when I was a kid, called Myst. Doing simple things like that is so much fun!

Even though neither of us are religious I still insisted on doing "Christmassy" things since this would be our first holiday together as a married couple. We made sugar cookies and iced them together. We built a ginger bread house, even after little Muffin decided to eat part of the roof off (bad doggy!) We went downtown and saw a gingerbread town at the fancy Anchorage hotel, Captain Cooks. I really wanted to make some fun family traditions. I think the gingerbread house and the roasted pears I made early Christmas morning are going to be keepers. 

My only Resolution this year is to have a home with Joe. And to get a pet kitty. Everything else can wait.

Just my Day

I'm feeling pretty happy these days! We've had a ton of time off work, my boss is on leave, my husband and I started receiving our extra pay AND he is coming to visit in 10 days!

I'm so excited to see him! He spends time with my mom a lot, which is sweet. They both took our doggy Knuckles to the vet today. My poor pups had Lyme disease! I'm glad there was a reason he was feeling so icky lately and he can take medicine to feel better. He's an old boy!

I can't have an animal where I live in the barracks, so I bought myself a plant to take care of...

I really can't wait until I can get a kitty! I miss having an animal to cuddle with. Harold the succulent will have to do for now. For a plant, it's pretty cute.

In preparation for Joe coming to visit, I did a practice recipe for Blueberry Buckle. He told me he really loves it and it's actually not complicated to make. Really It's just like a coffee cake.

I used a heart shaped 6" pan for it. I think I'll use this pan for our wedding cake. We are going to have a cupcake tower with a small cake on top and I think this would be perfect.

Home made whipped cream is the best!