Madeline

I made Madeline's this week, these little cookies are SO freaking good. I don't think I have ever had a bad madeline. They are usually lemon flavor or half dipped in chocolate. I myself just kept it simple and made a yellow madeline. A lot of people wonder if these are cookies or cakes.
To clear this up let me tell you, madeline are indeed both, cake and cookie. These first were seen in France and the base is made from an almost sponge cake batter. Which makes it a cake. It is then put into shell like tin to give it, its nice shape. The tins hold around eight madeline each depending on the size you want. The size alone is what I think makes it a cookie. Plus you don't frost madeline's.



The first thing you want to do is make sure that you whisk your eggs enough. No matter your recipe you want fluffy eggs. This will give the madeline's their light fluffy texture. Once the eggs are nice and light add the rest of the ingredients. In the end your batter should be a little thick. Just like sponge cake. For those of my cooks out there batters are all different consistency. You want the madeline's to be a cake batter thickness. Not a pancake consistency. What you don't want is a cookie consistency. Also like most baking you need to chill this batter before you start cooking it. My recipe said to chill for six hours. I did it for one hour and it was fine. I think that as long as its cold it should be fine.

So make sure you have sprayed down the tin really well. Then spoon in the batter making sure you don't fill it all the way. Since the batter will expand and will fill in the rest of the tin. These will take only a few minutes to cook so don't walk away from them.



As you can see in the left picture the madeline's are flat. That means they are not ready. As you can see on the right the madeline's have a nice dome on the top. This means they are done. Once they are done you should be able to just flip the tin over and they will fall out. Unless you have half a dozen tins you will need to repeat the spray down, fill, and bake process. This will happen until you run out of batter. I have the large tins and the batter made about thirty. With the small tins I would say it would make double the amount. Make sure you don't double stack them or they will stick together. Then you can add a little powder sugar on top. These little cookie like cakes will be the hit of any gathering.

To macaroon or not to macaroon?

As I sit and wait for my macaroons to set I write this post. As I mentioned last week I tried my hands at macaroons and turned up empty. This week I tried again and they look better. I am using a different recipe and I think it is better. Not perfect but I am feeling good about them. They still are not perfect but they are like 90% better than my first run.

Thick goop consistency 

I start with the meringue which is a funny thing to make, I have learned it is the perfect balance between stiff peaks and just peaks. But a tip I learned was if you can flip the bowl and the peaks not only stay but don't fall on your head you are there. If you over whip a meringue then that's bad too. Unfortunately no one has ever found the perfect way to know, like a time or temperature like other things but just sheer knowledge of your own ability. So I whisked away, as I did this I got all my other ingredients ready.

waiting and setting

I lined up the almond flour and powdered sugar. Tip; sift both these ingredients and if you have the fortitude and a bigger sifter than me once you combine them, sift again. I got the food coloring I wanted and the trays ready and set up. I had the sugar syrup ready and rested for once my meringue set. Once I got the right peak I poured the syrup in and kept whipping away. Once that was done I added the remaining egg whites to the dry ingredients. Last time I just whipped all the egg whites and then added the dry ingredients, and I think this was one of many steps that works better. Once the dry ingredients looked like goop I added a tablespoon of meringue. This is to make it a little less thick. (Most people say it should be the consistency of lava, it reminds me of melted marshmallows without the rice crispy.)

in the oven

I then folded in the meringue all at once. You want to make a figure eight. This will fold in the meringue and not over mix it making it runny. You want it to keep the thick consistency as much as possible, so don't over fold it. Then just scoop it into a piping bag and make one inch rounds. Make sure you don't make them to big, like all cookies they expand as you can see from the picture above some are touching. This is definitely something you don't want. I have a macaroon mat that has the rounds already sized out if you don't have that just put parchment paper on a cookie sheet and do your best. After pulling the macaroons out of the oven its odd but the ones on the mat were a little hollow. (Not sure if its the mat or it needed more time to set?) Then the fun part, bang the tray to get all the air out. By this point you will be where I am now. Waiting; waiting for them to harden, waiting for them to get a film on top, waiting to see if you messed one of the steps up, waiting and waiting some more. At this point I cleaned up, trying to keep busy. I did the dishes and wiped down the counters.

Once they were done cooking I pulled them out and let them sit. Again with the waiting. If you can see in the picture below these little guys have feet. Feet are the little bubbles on the bottom of the cookie. You don't want bubbles in the cookie, hence the banging but bubbles on the bottom are a good thing. While I was waiting I made the filling. I was going to put jam in the middle but then I opened the jar and it looks like it was making out with peanut butter. I forgot that we make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with the same knife. So I put the lid on and peeled a banana. I never would think a banana mixed in powdered sugar and butter could taste good but it did so that turned into my filling.

they have feet

I have been looking up macaroons for two weeks now trying to get a good recipe. I am using Merry Berry's recipe, I'm addicted to the great British bake off. They say these little cookies are one of the hardest to make. As this is my second try and I'm still unsure if they have turned out I would agree. What I did learn is the Italians have a macaroon that is made of coconut it looks nothing like these little French cookies. If you don't believe me google it. Which is interesting to me since these little guys are everywhere. There is a macaroon shop not twenty minutes from my house and I never knew that there was an Italian version. Since I am Italian I try to make things from my heritage but macaroons were never in our house, we ate sfingy (yes that is how it is spelled). So when my uncle married a French woman that is when macaroons came into my life. That is why the French style is the one I am trying to make. So if you are ever in the mood to eat a macaroon and you don't have all day I would say go out and buy one. Though I do have a confession this will be the first one I have ever eaten.

I'm not saying I will never make them again they are definitely less scary now that I have an end product I liked but they will not be the first cookie I jump to. Next week I am not sure what I will make but I think I will try something a little less time intensive (started at 3:30 and ended at 9).

Food their whey

Lemon Curd Tart

This week started nauseating and I write today nauseous still. No, I'm not pregnant. I got a call at the beginning of the week from a restaurant wanting me to bring them a taster of my food. That was a first for me. For those of you who are not part of the food industry let me explain how this works.

Lemon curd

When someone is trying to sell a product they turn into a door to door sales man. They go to your place of buisness with the items they want you to buy. But unlike vacuum salesmen who advertise all the extra attachments, food reps advertise fresh products, less processed goods and they always leave behind a little something to eat.

Vegan options

Like your grandmother who always gives you a candy at the end of every visit, it's a little odd they just happen to have food in their bag but sometimes it's good candy so you don't mind. Like every salesman some are better then others as well as their products. So after I hung up my phone and put on my big girl pants, I got to work.

Tofu pecan cookies (flop)

Vegan puff pastry

There is a lot that goes into making a sample platter it is definitely a risk selling something this way. It makes sense why door to door salesmen have been slowly dying out. It's a lot of risk for little reward. First there is all the planning. I must have gone through a few dozen recipes before I decided on my final picks. I even tried a few that were a flop. I then got all my ingredients together which is money out of my pocket. Especially since this order was for vegan items.


 

chocolate and raspberry tart

 

fig and cherry jam swirls

Do you know how hard it is to make vegan    pastries? I do it means no eggs, no milk, and no   butter. Which is pretty much three of the main  ingredients in all pastries. After you have your recipe and your ingredients its time to bake. Twelve hours later you have your finished   product. Five desserts ready to be tasted, you then pick one or two of the best looking out of each batch and set off to your destination. Then its back to your sales pitch which takes a few minutes and your done. You walk out the door and even though you figure your done and the nausea will go away, it doesn't. You see, now you have to wait to see if you get a second phone call saying that they like your product and they want to order it.

butter cookie cone with hazelnut cream

So now I wait for that phone call. I think this is the only time I can say food has made me nauseous and it's not a bad thing. So I ask you has there ever been a meal you prepared that made you both nauseous and excited at the same time? Maybe a first date or a proposal. Lets think back on those moments and cook an old favorite in the coming week.