I'm pleased! :)

My second successful macaron attempt..

The shells finally have feet!

Home-made salted caramel fillings..

Pistachio macaron with salted caramel fillings..

 Crispy top, chewy interior.

Macarons: Take XXX (umpteen times and I lost count)

With the variety of colours and flavours, macarons please one's eyes and satisfy one's taste bud. Having heard the positive reviews on Canele's macarons, I tried the salted caramel and pistachio flavoured ones last week.. Selling at $2.50 a piece, the macarons are outragerously expensive, given its simple composition of ingredients. More chewy than crispy, Canele's macarons were indeed decent, but not worth $2.50. I prefer the ones I bought from London's weekend market although it was sold at 1 pound each.

Today, I kept up to my schedule to make my own pistachio macarons with salted caramel fillings..

48 hours aged egg whites: checked

extra minute in beating the egg whites: checked

exact proportion of ingredients: checked

enough rest on the counter: checked

the result was this:

Shells that are thick and grainy. Peak on each shell will not settle down after piping onto the trays and I have to use a wet hand to push them down.

After an hour of resting and 15 mins in the oven, these baby macarons were born into the world with no feet!

Re-read some blogs and re-watched some videos from the net.. Realised I have been concentrating too much on beating the whites, I overbeat the meringue and undermix the dry ingredient into the beaten whites.

Baking macarons can be annoying cos the same recipe is unreliable and mistake made in each step damages the batter! My current record? 1/XX success..

Made up my mind to make another batch again since the chicken dinner was cancelled. This time round, the whites were aged 2 hours? Cant wait to see the results!

Macarons: Take II

My remaking of macarons was a success. My heart fluttered when I saw the shells rise to its feet in the oven, like they were all standing up to greet me! The shells were crispy and chewy although they were rather sweet and the chew was a little hard.

The filled macarons in the fridge waiting to be eaten.. Some chip-offs at the sides because I piped them too near and they got stucked together while left to rest.

Darlie requested for a new batch as he wanted it less sweet and not too hard. So I tried replicating the whole process with lesser sugar and more almond meal. The macarons turned out to be like my first and second failed attempt..

It was already midnight and I ended up throwing the failed ones away.

The baking of macarons is making my mood swing like a stock on the exchange market and it is at a record low now!

Macarons: Take I

After some research and grocery shopping, I laid my hands on making macarons again. Only this time, the texture looks slightly better. I'm waiting half hour more for the shell to harden and no longer tacky to a light touch before sending them to the oven.

Hopefully, it turns out well this time!



Troubleshooting: Macarons Making

Just finished washing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen from the mess I made.. The macarons were disappointing!

After trying the home-made ones during his cousin's recent housewarming party, I got inspired to give macaron making a second chance. King's sarcastic jokes about my baking skills further provoked me to prove him wrong. Got hold of the praiseworthy macaron recipe and thought I won half the battle...

Despite the simple ingredients in the macaron recipe, a mistake in the making process can damage the end results and is irreversible. Given my last failed attempt several weeks ago, there were indeed certain parts of the process which set me thinking hard. I took extra care to follow the recipe as closely as possible. No missing of steps from the recipe, no overmixing, reduced the amount of sugar by 20% as usual... The texture came out well when I piped the batter onto the parchment-laid trays and the shells rised properly while in the oven. I thought happily that this would be successful. Unfortunately, the macarons shells fell minutes after I removed them from the hot oven and shrinked to flat pieces of pink crisp. I had problem removing them from the parchment paper and had part of the based stucked to it and broken when lifted. The surface of the macarons felt moist and sticky after being left to cool. The rim of the shells browned slightly. The almond taste was strong and good, but the sweetness was overpowering.

Possible reasons for failure:
- not aging the eggwhites
- not using egg white powder
- using a plastic bowl for beating eggwhites instead of copper ones
- cooking the macarons with stronger heat
- macarons were undercooked

I'm gonna conduct more reseach on macarons before I give it a third try when I return from my bkk trip.

Just wish me luck!

Buttercream Chocolate Cupcake with Rasberries

I had been hanging around Tanjong Pagar area last week and then I came across Sun Moon fruit store which sells fresh & pretty berries. I bought a packet of rasberries for $7.50. It is indeed expensive, but I thought I could use it for my cupcakes which I'm gonna make for Darlie over the weekend.

I did a little research on buttercream frosting as I wanted to make the cream from scratch instead of using double cream. The frosting came out rather consistent and the texture was good.

Something sweet for his tiring week in reservist. The only thing is, Darlie didnt seem to like it.. ;(

My dream is calling..

A month ago, Annie texted me to help her with a cake for her bf. I immediately agreed. And then it dawned on me that I havent been doing such a thing for a long time. My last 'bake' was pineapple tarts in CNY which became a subject of criticism then..

I met her twice to discuss the recipes and finally decided on one. I wanted to give the recipe a trial run first so that it wouldnt be a miss on the actual day. I totally understand the feeling of delivering a wrecked cake to bf..

So on thurs, I finally laid my hands on the dusty beater and started whipping a cake. It wasnt exactly a successful one cos' I was appalled by the shade of the frosting to be spreaded over the sponge base. But people who tried it said it tasted well. I was especially surprised when Darlie commented that it was good. He had always remained neutral for the cakes and cookies I made for him..

Today, I met Annie for breakfast at Macs before returning home for the big project. Everything went well up till the frosting again! Fortunally, we managed to piece everything together, although it wasnt perfect.

Sent Annie off and see her anxiously got onto the cab in her sweet little dress with the big box in hand, I couldnt help thinking how lucky her bf is.. ;)

***

Received a little chocolate book from the GB team filled with deadly recipes which I would be trying out soon. I love the way it put pictures right beside each recipe!

Special thanks to the GB team. :)

Looks like my dream is really calling!

Souffle: 2nd failed attempt

My love for souffle started off after King made me one on a Valentine's Day three year's ago..

My very first attempt to make one for him was during his birthday two years ago. Unfortunately, it was a failure.

I finally plucked up my courage to practise making one again.. To revive my one big dream..

Unfortunately, it was another failure...

I wonder what's wrong.. It always end up with the same result: a flaky sweet top with runny fillings. It never fail to rise, but it is always too wet. Sissy says it's the microwave oven's fault. I certainly hope so!

PROJECT Pineapple Tarts

I have been hoping to bake pineapple tarts and today, I managed to squeeze in a little bit of time. I rumaged through my old collection of recipes and chance upon one, which I copied down from a forgotten source. I tried baking pineapple tarts the last lunar new year, except that the paste was ready-made ones from convenient stores. I thought the paste was good, but not homely enough..

So today, I put my hands on, and made my own pineapple jam. I did some changes to the recipe I found:

• 2 grated pineapples (drained)
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 120g caster sugar

First, cook grated pineapples and lemon juice is a large saucepan and some sugar, stirring constantly. Left to simmer and when most liquid is visibly gone but mixture is still damp, add in the rest of the sugar. Cook till mixture is dry and set aside to cool. Well, I wasnt very satisfied with the pineapple jam at first. The first try tasted sour, followed by a sweet after taste. The sugar seems to separate itself from the pineapple pulp. Fortunately, the pineapple jam taste excellent with the pastry:

• 250g plain flour
• 125g butter
• 2tbsp caster sugar
• 1tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 egg yolk
• 2tbsp cold pineapple juice
• 1 egg - for glazing

I'm quite happy with the overall results. Mum & Dad say it's nice. But the pineapple tarts can be further improvised by making the pastry more crumbly. Sis's bf says the pastry is abit hard. King's mum says the colour is too light and looks raw. Should bake a little longer. I'll bake more for this coming "chu er" since dad is expecting guests as usual. From then, I'll try and explore other types of pineapple tarts. I wanna try the round ones!

pâtisserier-to-be

I want to be a pâtisserier in 10 year's time!

I miss BAKING!!

When can I ever find time to bake? Now that my guinea pig is not around, I needa find replacements!

BUT I still miss baking!!!!

Pasta on the menu

Cooked pasta today: Seafood paradise (Some lame name I thought of, for the purpose of this blog. :p)

Tried to make the pork knuckle dish Jason and gang had in Germany for Dad since the pock knuckle had been placed in the fridge for a very long time. King and I were really excited in the beginning because the skin was deep fried to a crisp! But King said we need to roast the knuckle, according to some recipe on the website. In the end, the knuckle was overcooked, too hard to be consumed. King said the pasta was nice. But Dad declined to eat my pasta. ;( He said the whole house smelled funny the moment he stepped home because of the cream sauce I used. But he did try abit and said it didnt taste as bad as it smells.

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Some reflections of the day:

Insufficient zzZZZ: Realised I had been sleeping late these days. Tired yet cant sleep. I probably have to kick this habit soon since I'm starting work soon.

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It's fading: I told King how I feel about our relationship these days. But I wasnt much reassured by his replies. Maybe, to him, I might be thinking too much again. But this feeling had been lingering in me ever since I'm back from Germany. I hesitate to tell him as I thought it might be another sensitive thought of mine. Even if it's true, telling him wont make much good. It will only raise his awareness. These little things would come from the heart. Not forced! If there were changes, they were probably short term. Afterall, I reminded him about it.. Although it isnt something vital, I hope to solve the problem soon.

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Time to clear my room: Had been procrastinating. Used up all my time doing other stuff, I didnt even have enough time for my own. Shall make use of the time tomorrow. Hope I dont procrastinate again. BAD habit!

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Yawns. I'm definitely sleeping soon. Bye.