Weekday Pasta

This is definitely not a baking post, but this is one of my all-time favourite dinners to make, so I figured it was worth sharing anyway.  This spaghetti is a dish that I often cook on busy evenings when spending more than 15 minutes on dinner just isn't an option.  It's a great one to do as I usually always have the core ingredients in my pantry, and I can fill it out with whatever's in my fridge.

Diced tomatoes are a staple in my pantry.  Every so often I buy a whole tray of 16 cans and it's amazing how quickly I use them up in various recipes.  I'm really into using fresh garlic cloves at the moment.  I've always used minced garlic from a jar, thinking it would last longer and be more convenient than cloves.  I recently bought a fine grater, and since then I've loved crushing up a garlic clove or two whenever I need it.  It really does taste more delicate and exciting, I've definitely been converted!  Fresh basil, on the other hand, is not something I usually have readily available.  I hate buying bunches of fresh herbs.  I spend $3 or $4 on the whole bunch, only end up using half, and then it's all shriveled up and gross before I try and use it again.  Gourmet Garden herbs are a lifesaver for me.  I have about six different herbs in my freezer ready to use whenever I need them, and I definitely think they taste just as good as fresh.  I use a good squeeze or two of basil when I cook up this pasta.  I will set up a herb garden for myself eventually (maybe when our house is built) but until then, tubes are fine for me!

Today I cooked this up with mushrooms and rocket, but there are so many combinations you could try!  Some of my favourites include prosciutto and asparagus, ricotta and spinach, garlic prawn and basil leaves, and many more.  I always try and top it with something bright green, as the contrast against the red tomato sauce is just so deliciously enticing.

It tastes great, so easy, and a delicious way to use up leftovers, but best of all, the sauce is cooked and ready to go by the time the spaghetti is done!

Basic Recipe:

Serves two

200g spaghetti (or more if you want leftovers for tomorrow)
2 cloves garlic
2 tins crushed or diced tomato
1 handful basil, finely chopped (or 1 tbs Gourmet Garden Basil Paste)
Olive oil
Shaved or grated parmesan
Whatever fillings you have available (suggestions include mushrooms, garlic prawns, chicken, prosciutto, ricotta, rocket, spinach, or whatever else you feel like!)

Cook spaghetti according to packet instructions.  Finely chop the garlic and heat it up with the oil in a large pan.  If you are adding meat to the sauce, cook it now.  Add the tomato to the pan and heat through.  Stir in the basil and allow the sauce to simmer.  If you are adding any vegetables that need to cook/wilt, add them now.  If you are adding rocket or anything else you want fresh, leave it to the very end.  Once the spaghetti is cooked through, drain in a colander and add to the pan.  Stir the sauce through the pasta and serve.  Top with parmesan and any rocket/spinach/leafy greens you have.

Rainbow Checkerboard Cake

This will just be a short post since I'm typing it up on my iPhone. I had a couple of packet cake mixes that were about to expire. I don't love packet cakes, but every so often I need an emergency dessert and have no ingredients in my pantry. As it happened, I did need a dessert for tonight, and also had these packets waiting to be used, so decided to convert these blah-buttercakes into something very cute and creative.

I got the inspiration from Raspberri Cupcakes.  I won't bother writing out instructions to create the checkerboard effect, she does it much better than me.

For the chocolate ganache, heat up 150g cream in a saucepan. When it is almost boiling (when the cream begins to have a distinct milky smell) pour it over 200g milk chocolate buttons. Stir until chocolate has melted. Allow the ganache to sit until it has thickened to a spreadable consistency. Use a spatula to spread the ganache over the cake. You can leave it as is, but I chose to cover mine with 100s & 1000s as I didn't like the 'bumpiness' of my ganache. Unfortunately I don't have a cake smoother, so I'm at the mercy of my silicone spatula. I'll post photos up properly once I get onto my computer.

This cake was not without its drama either. The chocolate cake had been in the oven for about 10 minutes when I realised I had forgotten to add the eggs. After some frantic Google searches ("what happens if you bake a cake without eggs") I discovered that eggs are a pretty vital ingredient unless you're happy to eat a brick. The cake had already started to rise, and the top of the cake was baked, but I took it out, slopped the partially cooked batter back into my mixer and beat the life out of it until it was liquid again. I was then able to add the eggs (hoping the steaming hot batter wouldn't cook them instantly) then popped the whole thing back in the oven . I guess it worked out...I mean, it was edible, but it had a very different texture to what a cake should be. It was much heavier and more fudge-like than normal, but I actually think that added to the texture of the Checkerboard Cake. It gave a bit more variation between the chocolate and vanilla. Well, I'll keep telling myself that anyway to hide the fact that I made the rookie error of not adding eggs to a cake batter.

As cool as Checkerboard Cakes are, I can't see myself making them every week. All the time involved in slicing, cutting and layering the cakes certainly adds to the "wow" factor when you cut it open, but I'd rather use that time baking something really special and amazing, rather than a cake that looks cool, then gets eaten. Still, it's nice to have some fun every now and then!

Peanut Butter and Honey Macarons

I'm pretty sure peanut butter and honey were made for each other. I regularly find myself eating toast with peanut butter and honey on those nights when I can't be bothered cooking dinner. I could definitely eat it for every meal in a day, so it made perfect sense for me to try my hand at Peanut Butter and Honey Macarons.

This was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment thing. It's my last day of holidays before school goes back, so I thought I may as well make use of my last opportunity to bake before the craziness starts. As such, I didn't have any aged egg whites available, so I had to try out the microwave method of ageing my egg whites.

I left them on the bench top for about two hours, and then I microwaved them for 20 seconds, stopping to stir at 10 seconds. I was so nervous I would cook them, so didn't dare zap for longer than 20 seconds. Right before I used them I zapped them for another 10 seconds. The egg whites turned out okay. The meringue didn't beat up to be as voluminous and stiff as I would have liked, but I added a few pinches of cream of tartar to the meringue as it was being whisked and this seemed to lift the mixture a little. I would still recommend the traditional method of ageing egg whites (leave them in a bowl on the bench top for 2-3 days, covered with a paper towel if you don't like the idea of leaving an open bowl out to collect dust) but if you're pressed for time, the microwave technique is a suitable alternative.

I baked these to serve for supper at the Bible Study Group Brendan is starting up this week. As I only needed a handful of macarons, I decided to halve the recipe. It was a little quicker to prepare, as I didn’t need to sift as much almond meal and icing sugar (this is probably the longest and most labour-intensive step in making macarons) but I think in the future I will just whip up a whole batch and freeze the rest. They freeze so well that it’s totally worth the extra time to bake a whole batch instead of a half.

The honey peanut butter ganache worked out beautifully. I had made a choc-peanut butter ganache in the past with milk chocolate, peanut butter and butter, so my honey filling was a slightly modified version of that recipe. I used white instead of milk chocolate and added 1½ teaspoons of honey. I probably could have added more, but I wanted a really subtle honey taste that complemented the peanut butter, rather than competed with it. It’s really just a matter of taste.

I’m so happy with these macarons. Hopefully people eating them won’t expect them to be lemon. It confuses your head a little when you expect a macaron to be one flavour and turns out to be something totally different.

Here is the recipe for a complete batch. I halved it, but like I said earlier, I think you’re better off cooking the whole lot and freezing half (if you can resist eating them!)

For the macaron shells:

Makes about 50 macarons

300g sifted almond meal*
300g sifted pure icing sugar
110g aged egg whites (egg whites left on the bench for a few days)
110g extra egg whites, at room temperature
300g caster sugar
75g water
Yellow food colouring (optional)

*Almond meal must be sifted through very fine sieve. I use a splatter guard placed over a bowl, and rub the almond meal with my hands until I have sifted enough. Weigh the almond meal after you have sifted it, not before, as you will end up throwing out the grains that are too coarse to fit through the sieve.

Line 4 baking trays with baking paper. Combine sifted almond meal and icing sugar large bowl. Place aged eggwhites in the bowl of your mixer (making sure the bowl is very clean and has the whisk attachment in place). Combine caster sugar and water in a saucepan over low heat. Gently stir until the sugar dissolves (to check if the sugar is ready, rub some between your fingers. If you can feel the granules, it’s not dissolved yet.) Once the sugar has dissolved, increase the heat and bring to the boil and increase the mixer speed to medium. This is the point where you need to add your food colouring (unless you are using powdered colouring – add this to your dry mixture instead). By adding your liquid/gel colouring now, the extra water can evaporate out instead of ruining your batter! When the mixture reaches 90oC, turn the mixer onto low speed so the egg whites become frothy. Allow the sugar-water to boil until mixture reaches 118oC. Carefully pour the sugar into the mixer bowl as the eggwhites are being whisked. Pour down the side of the bowl rather than over the whisk to prevent spun sugar. Increase the speed to high and whisk for about 8 minutes. In the meantime, use a spatula to combine the other eggwhites and the dry mixture. Keep mixing until a paste forms. When the eggwhites are thick and glossy, add them to the almond paste a bit at a time.

Once all the egg white has been combined with the almond paste, fold the mixture with a spatula until it is a wobbly, hommus-like texture (try lifting the spatula out of the batter – if the batter slowly falls off the spatula, it’s the right texture). Attach a 12mm nozzle to a piping bag and pipe circles of the batter. I like to use a template under my baking paper. The best way to pipe is to hold the piping bag perpendicular to the tray, about 2cm above the surface. Pipe until the batter fills the template, then quickly move the nozzle to the top of the circle, then do a little swirly motion to bring the nozzle down to the bottom of the circle. This prevents your macarons from have pointy tops and keeps them nice and smooth. Once all your batter has been piped, turn the oven on to 130oC and leave your trays somewhere to rest. After about 20 minutes, check to see whether a skin has formed on the macarons (gently touch one of the macarons – if you can caress it without the batter going onto your fingers, then they’re ready for the oven). Bake for 16 minutes. I like to bake one tray at a time, because my oven is a bit dodgy, but all ovens are different so you just have to experiment and see what works with your oven. After 16 minutes, remove the trays from the oven. Let them sit for two minutes, then try removing a macaron from the tray using a spatula. If it comes off easily, your macarons are done! If not, put them back in the oven for 2 minutes then try again. Allow macarons to cool completely before piping.

For the honey peanut butter ganache:

240g white chocolate buttons
215g crunchy peanut butter
50g butter, chopped and softened
3-4 teaspoons honey

Put white chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water (ensuring the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl). Stir until the chocolate has melted, then pour over peanut butter. Stir until soft and mixed well. Add butter and mix well with a stick mixer. Add honey, one teaspoon at a time, to taste. Refrigerate until thickened. When you are ready to pipe the filling into the macarons, put the ganache into a piping bag. If it has become too hard, put it in the microwave for 20 seconds or so. Fill the macaron shells and sandwich them together.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge, taking them out half an hour before they’re needed. Alternatively, store them in the freezer for up to 3 or 4 months.

Tim Tam Macarons (kind of)

I'm starting to feel a little bored with the more "traditional" macaron flavours. I've sussed out how to make the standard flavours you see everywhere - vanilla, pistachio, rosewater, lemon, etc, but of the things I LOVE about macarons is that the flavour options are endless!  (Some of Adriano Zumbo's macaron craziness includes vegemite macarons, lemon and olive oil, and even cheeseburger!)  Yesterday I decided I would take a break from the traditional and start experimenting with the most marvelous and exciting flavour combinations I could think of.  In true teacher-style, I started a brainstorm, listing all the wonderful flavours I want to experiment with.  Some of the flavour combinations on my "to try" list include: Malteaser, gingerbread, bacon and maple syrup, champagne, brie and cranberry, peanut butter and honey, raspberry cheesecake and caramelised onion.  I'm not sure how long it will take me to get to all of them (if ever), but I made a start today by trying Tim Tam Macarons.

And that's where things started to go wrong.

I've always had trouble with chocolate macarons.  Right from when I began my macaron obsession I could never figure out why things always went wrong when cocoa was involved.  I was already off to a bad start when I realised I forgotten to compensate for the extra dry ingredients that come from adding cocoa.  Usually I’d combine 300g of almond meal with 300g icing sugar, but chocolate macarons need 60g cocoa, which means you only mix 270g of both almond meal and icing sugar.  Fortunately I realised in time and removed 60g of my almond/icing sugar mix and added in the cocoa, but even still, my batter was lumpy and grainy.  I worked the batter for an extra long time to make it as runny and smooth as I could without over-working it, and things were looking good when I piped it onto the trays.  I think the cocoa must affect the way the dry ingredients absorb and mix in with the wet, because after I’d piped the batter the onto the trays and left them to rest, the macarons needed way less time to form their skin than they usually do.  This is possibly another reason as to why they went wrong.

Anyhoo, things weren’t looking too bad until I put the trays in the oven.  The macarons still rose and had lovely feet, but the tops weren’t smooth at all.  The colour went all blotchy and, although none of them cracked, the tops were wrinkled and ugly.  The shells were also far too soft.  I kept them in the oven for another few minutes, but even so, they just weren’t cooking properly.  I was left with a batch of blotchy, deflated, wrinkly, soft macarons that can do one of two things: they can either crush all your hopes and desires to ever make macarons again, or they can inspire and empower you to try, try, try again until you get it right.

I defaulted to the first option.  I went through the seven stages of grieving over a failed baking attempt, and then managed to gain some perspective and decided that, hey, they still taste good, they’re more than salvageable, and I’m still dying to try out my idea for Tim Tam Buttercream.  So, with high spirits, I went on to making the filling.

And SUCCESS!  The filling was a-ma-zing!  B was eating it by the spoonful.  It was my first attempt at making Swiss Meringue Buttercream, and I can see why so many people are choosing to use it over regular buttercream.  It’s much more silky, smooth, and not as sickly-sweet as traditional buttercream.  I flavoured it by adding finely ground Tim Tams, and also added some roughly chopped Tim Tams for added texture.  This buttercream is the saving grace for my failed macaron shells.  It looks and tastes lovely, and the flavour of the Tim Tams comes through beautifully – not too intense, but it’s undeniably there.

I scrutinised the batch to find the most picture-worthy macarons to photograph, and these were the best I could come up with.  I also photographed the steps I took to make them, so maybe someone can spot where it all went wrong!

Hopefully you will have more luck with them than I did!

To make chocolate macaron shells:

Makes about 50 macarons

270g sifted almond meal*

270g sifted pure icing sugar

60g sifted cocoa powder

110g aged egg whites (egg whites left on the bench for a few days)                    

110g extra egg whites, at room temperature

300g caster sugar

75g water

*Almond meal must be sifted through a very fine sieve.  I use a splatter guard placed over a bowl, and rub the almond meal with my hands until I have sifted enough.  Weigh the almond meal after you have sifted it, not before, as you will end up throwing out the grains that are too coarse to fit through the sieve.

Line 4 baking trays with baking paper.  Combine sifted almond meal, icing sugar and cocoa powder in a large bowl.  Place aged eggwhites in the bowl of your mixer (making sure the bowl is very clean and has the whisk attachment in place).  Combine caster sugar and water in a saucepan over low heat.  Gently stir until the sugar dissolves (to check if the sugar is ready, rub some between your fingers.  If you can feel the granules, it’s not dissolved yet.)  While the sugar is dissolving, turn the mixer on low speed to break up the egg whites.  Once the sugar has dissolved, increase the heat and bring to the boil and increase the mixer speed to medium.  Allow the sugar-water to boil until mixture reaches 118^oC.  Carefully pour the sugar mixture into the mixer bowl as the eggwhites are being whisked.  Pour down the side of the bowl rather than over the whisk to prevent spun sugar.  Increase the speed to high and whisk for about 8 minutes.  In the meantime, use a spatula to combine the other eggwhites and the dry mixture.  Keep mixing until a paste forms.  When the eggwhites are thick and glossy, add them to the almond paste a bit at a time.  

Once all the eggwhite has been combined with the almond paste, fold the mixture with a spatula until it is a wobbly, hommus-like texture (try lifting the spatula out of the batter – if the batter slowly falls off the spatula, it’s the right texture).  Attach a 12mm nozzle to a piping bag and pipe circles of the batter.  I like to use a template under my baking paper.  The best way to pipe is to hold the piping bag perpendicular to the tray, about 2cm above the surface.  Pipe until the batter fills the template, then quickly move the nozzle to the top of the circle, then do a little swirly motion to bring the nozzle down to the bottom of the circle.  This prevents your macarons from have pointy tops and keeps them nice and smooth.  Once all your batter has been piped, turn the oven on to 130^oC and leave your trays somewhere to rest.  After about 20 minutes, check to see whether a skin has formed on the macarons (gently touch one of the macarons – if you can caress it without the batter going onto your fingers, then they’re ready for the oven).  Bake for 16 minutes.  I like to bake one tray at a time, because my oven is a bit dodgy, but all ovens are different so you just have to experiment and see what works with your oven.  After 16 minutes, remove the trays from the oven.  Let them sit for two minutes, then try removing a macaron from the tray using a spatula.  If it comes off easily, your macarons are done!  If not, put them back in the oven for 2 minutes then try again.  Allow macarons to cool completely before piping.

To make Tim Tam Buttercream:

2 egg whites

½ cup caster sugar

150g unsalted butter, cubed and softened

8 Tim Tams finely ground in a food processor

3 Tim Tams, chopped

Place the egg whites and caster sugar in a heat-proof bowl and whisk together.  Place the bowl over a saucepan of boiling water and continue to whisk until the mixture reaches 60^oC.  Place the eggwhites and sugar into a mixer and whisk on high speed for 5 minutes.  Add the butter to the mixture, a few cubes at a time.  Wait for the butter to incorporate into the mixture before adding the next lot.  If the buttercream becomes soft and runny, put it in the fridge for 10 minutes before adding the remainder of the butter.  Once all the butter has incorporated into the icing, fold in the ground and chopped Tim Tam.  Use a piping bag to fill the macaron shells before sandwiching them together.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge, taking them out half an hour before they’re needed.  Alternatively, store them in the freezer for up to 3 or 4 months.

Blue Vanilla Macarons (and the start of my blog)

Welcome to my first ever blog entry.  After reading and getting excited about so many Australian Baking Blogs, I decided it was high time I started my own.  This is where I can share with the world my triumphs and epic fails in the world of baking, especially MACARONS.  Macarons (note: NOT macaroons) are my favourite things in the world to bake.  Apart from being unbelievably delicious and ever so pretty, I always get such a sense of satisfaction after successfully baking a batch of beautifully smooth, shiny, chewy, sweet macarons.  They're incredibly temperamental and stubborn - you do one thing slightly wrong and the whole batch is messed up.  That's why it's so exciting to bake a great batch.  This school holidays I have baked three batches of macarons and I'm slowly figuring out what works and what doesn't.  I've tried a number of recipes and techniques, and I've figured out that for me, the best recipe is a slightly modified version of Adriano Zumbo's macaron recipe.  I'll type it up in my next post, but for now, for your viewing pleasure, I'll leave you with my Blue Vanilla Macarons I baked for Women's Preaching Group this morning.  Usually you'd only make blue shells if they matched the flavour of the filling (blueberry or something), but I LOVE blue sweets.  There's something gorgeously exciting about seeing that bright, artificially coloured blue M&M,  lovely fluffy blue iced cupcake, and cute blue polka-dot macaron shell.  I chose to fill the shells with vanilla ganache because, aside from being so quick and easy, it's by far one of my favourite fillings.  (Blue Vanilla was the name I wanted to give this blog, but it was already taken.  Bummer.)  I'm hoping that as my baking adventures continue that my colour/flavour combinations can become more original and experimental, but for now, here are my crazy-cute Polka-Dot Blue Vanilla Macarons.