White Russian Macarons

I know. Macarons, again. Sorry. These are some White Russian flavored ones I made last weekend. They've got light coffee flavored shells, thanks to a bit of instant coffee, and a white chocolate ganache with a little Kahlua and more instant coffee.

White Russian Ganache

227 g white chocolate
100 g cream
20g butter
2 tablespoons Kahula
1 teaspoon instant coffee
1 teaspoon water

Mix water with instant coffee till dissolved and set aside. Melt chocolate with cream, add butter and liquids. Mix till smooth. Pour onto cookie sheet covered with plastic wrap, fold wrap over making a little package and cool in fridge till set, about 24 hours.

TPT (tant pour tant)

200 grams ground almonds
200 grams confectioner’s sugar

Mix together. Sift. Let sit out overnight to dry out.

Coffee Macarons

Batch A:

400 grams TPT
75 grams fresh egg whites
1 tsp coffee extract

Batch B:

200 grams sugar
50 grams water
1 tsp glucose
75 egg whites

Batch A: Mix all together in a large bowl to form a thick past.

Batch B: Add sugar, water and glucose to pan. Heat without stirring till it reaches 118 C. In the meantime, whip egg whites to stiff peaks. Slowly pour syrup into the egg whites. Fold together, slowly at first to incorporate, then beat violently a couple times until you've reached the proper consistancy.

Pipe and bake at 300 F for about 10-15 minutes. Fill and let age about 2 days in the fridge before eating.

Macaron tips and tricks

1.) The Italian meringue method to make macarons is the way to go. This way, you can flavor the shells in the sugar syrup.

2.) To make uniform macarons, buy a couple of half-tray cookie sheets and make yourself a template with parchment paper and a sharpie. Place a second piece of parchment over the template on the sheet, then when you're done piping, carefully slide the template off. Repeat.

3.) Convection ovens cook everything perfectly. If you don't have one, things are gonna get screwed up.

4.) Chocolate espresso ganache is delicious.

These are coffee macarons with chocolate espresso ganache. I made them in pastry school. This weekend I'm going to try and tackle some white russian macarons, with step-by-step photos, instructions and recipes.

Espresso Ganache

375 g milk chocolate
250 g cream
60g butter
1 tablespoon espresso
1 tablespoon of Invert sugar or glucose or honey

Melt chocolate with cream, add butter and invert sugar. Mix till smooth. Pour onto cookie sheet covered with plastic wrap, fold wrap over making a little package and cool in fridge.

TPT (tant pour tant)

200 grams ground almonds
200 grams confectioner’s sugar

Mix together. Sift. Let sit out overnight to dry out.

Coffee Macarons

Batch A:

400 grams TPT
75 grams fresh egg whites
2 tsp coffee extract

Batch B:

200 grams sugar
50 grams water
1 tsp glucose
75 egg whites

Batch A: Mix all together in a large bowl to form a thick past.

Batch B: Add sugar, water and glucose to pan. Heat without stirring till it reaches 118 C. In the meantime, whip egg whites to stiff peaks. Slowly pour syrup into the egg whites. Fold together, slowly at first to incorporate, then beat violently a couple times until you've reached the proper consistancy.

Pipe and bake at 300 F for about 10-15 minutes. Fill and let age about 2 days in the fridge before eating.

How sick of macarons are you?

My macaron posts from my trip are winding down, promise. This is the second to last. I saw these macarons in a window of a chocolate shop in Brussels, long after I had left Paris and eaten through my stash. Macarons in the middle of chocolate land! I made a bee-line over to the shop, by the time my family made it inside I had already purchased a box of the delightful little sandwiches.


Almond. Caramel. Vanilla. These ones were super chewy, not made very well but still delicious- and the buttercream inside was very slightly sweetened, which made them taste even better.


Pistachio. More almond. More caramel. I miss macarons.

These ones are from Jean-Philippe's Darcis, a chocolate shop and patisserie. Be warned- the site pictures halloween-themed macarons, which I can imagine are nothing short of exquisite. I've got a bad feeling that next week I'll be whipping up some chocolate hazelnut macarons with pumpkin buttercream...

Macarons, Pt. CCCXLV

Sorry to do this to you again. But, see, these are the macarons from Laduree. They were the best macarons, (sorry, Pierre). Fun colors! Simple flavors! Chewy, crunchy, sweet, yum.


Macaron tower!


They also came in this gorgeous little box. I'm now using it to hold earrings on my dresser.


I think the vanilla macaron from Laduree was my favorite. Or pistachio. Or rose.

Ok. I promise, no more macarons, at least for a week.

XOXO Thomas Keller.

Last week I was in Las Vegas. I don't really like it there, for various reasons. There's only one good thing about Vegas, and that's the assortment of lovely restaurants I can't afford to eat in. This does not stop me though, from pressing my nose against the glass at B&B and whimpering at the gorgeous wood paneling and wine glasses.

There is somewhere I can eat, though- Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery in the Venetian. And I ate there every day. Well, I ate a vanilla macaron every day. Perfect, palm-sized, almondy, creamy, sweet, chewy, crackly macarons, wrapped up in quirky beach-ball printed papers.



I almost cried when I ate this sammich. Perfect ham. Perfect cheese. A dab of perfect dijon. All stacked up between the most perfect, warm baguette- it was crunchy and chewy on the outside and the middle just melted. I miss you, ham sammich.



Also: Homemade peppermint patty! Chocolate was good, filling was too powdered sugar and nothing more.

Coming up on OMG!:

-The Gossip Girl Sailor dress I bought in Vegas.
- Belgian chocolates! Belgian pastries!
- Hot Air Ballooning!

Pierre Herme, Pt. 2

More gratuitous, food porn shots of my macarons from Pierre Herme. Gossip Girl premier is on tonight, so more European delights tomorrow.

So bright. So pretty. So filled with creams and ganache.

What is that? Oh, that is the Lavender macaron. It's covered in shimmering pearl luster dust. It was delicious.

I'm taking these on the street in Paris. People are walking by, wondering what's going on. I don't care. How about a close-up?

Mint macaron. French manicure. This one was deemed too herb-y.

Moremoremoremoremacarons.


Look at the coloring on the purple cassis macaron. Gorgeous. Almost black. Yum.


The yellow is passion fruit and I did not like it, but to each their own.


This is the olive oil one. I may have eaten half of it. Bonus tip- this color green is supposed to be in for nail polish this year. You are welcome.

Pierre. Herme.

So, I have been to Pierre Herme. These are the macarons I bought (I also got the collaboration jam! and the opera honey! but more about that later...). They are brightly colored and perfect and I love them. I've eaten through about half of the box now- very jammy, strange flavors- sweet, bitter. I've gotta say that I liked Laduree better- at one point a bartender asked me, "Which Laduree did you go to?" To which I replied, "Both."

Google Mapping Paris

Above are my most sucessful macarons that I made for the 4th of July. So pretty!

Alright, there's only one short week untill I leave for Paris. I've been frantically mapping all the places that have been recommended to me, or that I want to visit. Comments are a mix of my silly observations, copy-pasted David Lebovitz's comments from his Favorite Places in Paris and suggestions made by others. Apparently, bars are located on the east side of Paris, and macarons on the west.

I will be bringing the world's teeniest laptop with me, and will be blogging when possible from Paris, Bruges, Belgium and Amsterdam- so make sure that you check next week for updates!

Macarons!

So, I jumped the gun on Bastille Day, turns out it's not till next week. This is after I spent the last two days toiling away making three different kinds of macarons. I swear, this cookie kick will be over as soon as I get destroyed by Parisian macarons. All of my shells came out pretty well- I think I'm getting better at this.

Ah, the pecan/ praline buttercream macarons. These are my favorite. The buttercream is hands-down, the most delicious frosting I've ever made. It's a mix of Swiss buttercream mixed with ground pecan caramel candy. I had to make the candy twice to get it right.

This is the hazelnut/blackberry buttercream macaron. The Swiss buttercream curdled a bit when I added the blackberry preserves, but despite the appearance, this cookie is PERFECT- the tartness of the preserves, the sweet creaminess of the buttercream, the crunchy, chewy, nuttiness of the shell. Sigh.


Here are the pistachio/dark chocolate ganache macarons. For these I used half ground pistachios and half almonds. The ganache is equal parts heavy cream and Trader Joe's "Pound Plus" Dark Chocolate. I didn't use the 75% Dark Chocolate because I prefer milk chocolate, but thought I'd make a compromise. I then whipped the hell out of the ganache. These are delicious, but too rich for me.

Red, White and Macarons

Special thanks to J.F for the photo and J. M. for her hand.

Here are my 4th of July macarons- traditional almond shells were dyed blue, swiss meringue cream cheese buttercream filling with a dollop of raspberry preserves in the center. I topped them with a bit more buttercream and a fresh raspberry. I'll spare everyone the recipes, but here are some tricks I learned:

It is better to underbeat your shell batter than overbeat it, as you'll knock some air out when you pipe the shells.

Macarons do not need to sit out for an hour to "harden" their shells. This is a lie.

Swiss meringue over Italian meringue, always. It's easier and more stable, especially when you're adding butter and cream cheese.

Bonjour!

OMG, Sammiches is going to France! Duck confit! Macarons from Pierre Herme! Van Cleef and Arpels! French cheeses! French wine! So, I am trying to learn a little bit of French. I'm using Rosetta Stone, and it is totally the best- both because I am actually picking up some vocabulary, and it is fun to "play." Highly recommended.

Two Thousand Nines

Happy New Years! OMG, Sammiches has been on a holiday hiatus due to a family health crisis. But now there is a whole new year of delicious and fun things to discover- new things you can do with eggs, lots of at-home French pastry attempts, and the braising of meats! I have gotten pretty okay at macarons, my batch of salted pecan shells are pictured below.
Will have more shortly!

Macaron Fever

I have not written in awhile, seeing as how it is Christmastime, and I have finally become ill with the plague that eventually threatens all food-blog-people: macarons. The classic French sammich cookie consists of a delicate almond meringue shell and a gooey-creamy frosting filling. Eventually you have to try and make them. And you can't just make them once. First you must perfect the shells, then you become obsessed with different flavor combinations.
So, currently I am baking baking baking various combinations of delicious crunchy chewy French goodness (Though not fig/chocolate/foie gras (!!!), like the above red cookie). I will report back.

Bouchon Bakery, Pt. I

When I finally made it up to the counter at Thomas Keller's Bouchon bakery at the Venetian in Las Vegas, all I could do was clap my hands and try not to squeal in glee. I was limited to things that would make it back on the plane ride home (farewell, red velvet cupcakes and other custardly delights).
I attempted to make it home with my goodies, toting my box home last night. But I broke down on the plane and indulged in a vanilla macaron. I wish I had gotten more, they were light and flakey and chewy and filled with the creamiest, fluffiest buttercream.