Have you ever found yourself not paying attention to a food trend or other popular cooking craze because something about it just reminded you of something else that you’d just as soon pretend didn’t exist? That’s how it was with me and every single macaroon post I’ve seen in the last six months.

When I just hear the word macaroon, I can feel my tongue trying to oust tough, chewy bits of shredded coconut from my teeth as an intense sugar high begins coursing through my veins. I’ve never liked macaroons. I’ve never liked shredded coconut. Maybe I’ve never liked shredded coconut because of macaroons. That seems possible because I recently began adding unsweetened coconut flakes to my oatmeal. Go figure.

Here’s the thing. All the macaroon posts I’ve seen lately show pictures of pretty pastel colored hamburger-like sandwich cookies. I’ve routinely rejected reading these posts because I automatically think: over-the-top-sugary-coconut-ick. I also find the color of these mini confections to be off-putting in the same way that pink, green and yellow marshmallow Easter treats shaped like bunnies, eggs and chicks inspire a gag reflex.

But once NPR got on board with the macaroon, I felt a higher responsibility to all my fans (hi, Mom and Dad), to pause for a wee sec and acknowledge that these little pink and yellow hamburgers cookies are a different variety of macaroon all together. Because they are. Really.

First, I was surprised to learn macaroons are an almond meringue cookie hailing from France (although they most likely traveled to France by way of Italian monks). Almonds! Meringue!

Second, I did not know that cooking macaroons inspired deep trepidation in many a baker. As I quickly learned while reading David Lebovitz’s online macaroon thesis, the baking of macaroons is not a walk in the park.

Third, as with all things French, there are as many opinions about the proper way to make macaroons as there are comments on a Pioneer Woman blog post.

Hmm. What could a girl do but test her kitchen mettle and commit to making a batch of macaroons? I mean, I owe it to the French, really, to admit my naivety and honor a dessert tradition that has been embraced by Starbucks and every other fancy food baker in the country. After reviewing many a macaroon recipe, I chose to follow the one Mr. Lebovitz shared for French Chocolate Macaroons because of its relative simplicity (and because his macaroons weren’t pink). Still, I had to trek down to Michaels to buy a piping bag and tip and then pop next door to Vitamin Cottage where happily I found almond meal. The next morning, I woke early and got to work.

As indicated above, points of contention abound when it comes to how one makes macaroons, starting with whether or not you should keep your egg whites at room temperature or in the refrigerator, for one, two, or three days prior to the big day. I left my eggs out on the counter for almost 24 hours. I took a departure from all recipe instructions by using a hand-held rotary beater for beating my eggs into stiff peaks. This instrument has become my favorite tool for working with eggs. Using the beater is fast and strangely satisfying.

Other technique arguments involve how long you should mix the meringue with the almond meal and whether or not (and for how long) you should leave the piped macaroon batter out to dry before baking. The point of all this fuss is that you want to produce the right conditions for the development of the little rim that appears at the base of the macaroon as its baking. This rim, otherwise known as “the feet,” makes or breaks your macaroon. The other concern is that you don’t want your macaroons to crackle on top. They must be smooth. Appearance is everything, right?

I thank the stars above that with little effort and no fuss, I made a batch of macaroons that came out nearly perfectly. Actually, the 30 small rounds that I piped onto a double-layer baking sheet came out perfectly. The 14 or so rounds that I piped onto my thin pizza pan however, came out with no feet and cracked tops. I attribute this in part to the pan, but more to the fact that after I piped the rounds, I piped more batter on top of the original round because I had run out of space and figured I could just make them bigger. Wrong.

I made Mr. Lebovitz’s chocolate ganache filling (and added pure vanilla extract), sandwiched the macaroon cookies together and then waited the suggested one day before sampling (OK – I ate a few of the cracked cookies once they had cooled – they were crispy and sweet). Nothing like a burst of chocolate almond sugary goodness (that doesn’t stick in your teeth). I impressed myself and then wondered, would I make these again? Once I found these beautiful photos of other macaroons made without food coloring, I got kind of wistful just thinking about re-creating them. Only time will tell.

Always wanted to make macaroons but never found the gumption? Go for it! Then, tell me about it here.

Enjoy!

Carol

Thanks to Ricoeurian for the pastel colored macaroon photo.

I made a chocolate cream pie today.  There was no particular reason, except that I had a lot on my mind and I’ve always found that when my mind is too full the best way to organize and calm those thoughts is to occupy my hands.  What better way to occupy those hands than to make something delicious?

I perused through recipes searching for the one I wanted to make (which turned out to be this one, although I used bittersweet chocolate instead of semi-sweet) and my thoughts turned from home and work matters to the easy and comfortable topic of food.

As I measured out the ingredients I would need for my chocolate cream pie, I thought about some of the things I’ve read on some of my favorite food blogs recently.  I’ve noticed that there has been a lot of emphasis on going back to the basics, using quality ingredients and enjoying the simple things.  SmittenKitchen made a great observation about the beauty of simplicity done well when she said, “great chefs make you wonder why you’ve wasting so much time with gimmicky sea salts and foie anything when you could be eating a perfect bowl of spaghetti.”

As I chopped my Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate into fine little shards and watched as my cream and cornstarch mixture began to bubble cheerily over the burner, I thought about how this applies to so much more than spaghetti.  Why complicate things so much when wonderful simple food is so possible?  What is the point of food and eating anyway?

Well, for me, food and eating intersect in two very important ways:

1) Eat right. Since the old adage about “you are what you eat” makes me think I should be eating a rich, beautiful, intelligent, successful person, I prefer to think about giving my body what it needs to get through the day.  This includes not only a good balance of different foods, but making sure that what I eat is actually food.  So many foods, whether prepackaged, frozen or fast foods, are loaded down with chemicals and “food substitutes”.  Um…gross.  I’ll stick with real food, thanks.

2) Tastes good.  A lot of people I know who have the “food as fuel” mentality forego the taste element and think of eating only as a way to maintain certain levels of vitamins and nutrients in the body.  I, on the other hand, think that being healthy and eating can be a pleasure.  Food is beautiful and eating is enjoyable. Luckily there are other people who share this same idea!
Back with the pie, as I measured in some Rodelle vanilla extract with my chocolate and butter and folded that mixture in with my thickened cream, cornstarch and egg yolks, I watched the off-white and brown colors swirl and combine and I wondered: where does this chocolate cream pie fit into my mindset about food?

My conclusion? Part of eating right is being able to eat dessert every once in awhile.  I believe in using quality ingredients, like my Ghirardelli chocolate and my Rodelle pure vanilla extract.  This not only qualifies it as “real food” but it also makes it taste fantastic. Even something as simple as chocolate cream pie, when made with good ingredients, becomes special and beautiful.

Later, as I sat down to savor a piece, I still hadn’t figured out all the answers to everything work and home that had led me to baking in the first place.  But hey, I had pie! Right now, that’s enough.

How does good food help calm your mind?

~Laura

We’re coming up on a holiday rich with history and tradition.  While paper hearts strung together and Hallmark cards adorned with chubby angels that strongly resemble pigs wearing wings may not say “romance” to you, February has long been celebrated as an amorous time of passion and love.  Although nobody can say for sure how Valentine’s Day really began (or even which St. Valentine is being honored on February 14th), there is no doubt that it is very much celebrated in today’s society.  In fact, did anyone else notice the Valentine’s paraphernalia start to make an appearance only a few short weeks after Christmas?

While there are a lot of things that are associated with love and Valentine’s Day (roses, jewelry, those gross message hearts that taste like chalk, anything pink or red…) chocolate is probably the most well known.  Frankly, that is perfectly fine with me.  I adore chocolate.  Whether it’s milk, dark or white chocolate (even though I know that white chocolate is not technically chocolate), paired with peanut butter, caramel, or served plain, I will devour it all.  Is there anything as beautiful or luscious as the way a bite of good quality chocolate can simply melt in your mouth?  I think not.  This has left me convinced that chocolate is the perfect food.

And it is not just me. Did you know that we’re wired to be chocoholics?  Seriously, I’m not making this up!  Our very biochemistry encourages us to eat more chocolate. When we consume chocolate, a whole mess of endorphins are released, thus earning the long-standing reputation of chocolate as an aphrodisiac.  Even though the modern medical community doesn’t always support this status, ancient Aztecs and Mayans understood the connection and revered chocolate as the food of the gods.  Personally, I choose to agree with the ancients.

Something I did not know, though, is that vanilla is also thought to be an aphrodisiac!  The Totonca, an indigenous people from Mexico, have an old legend about a goddess named Xanat, who happens to be the youngest daughter of the Mexican fertility goddess.  Xanat falls in love with a mortal man.  Desperate to be with him but prohibited by her immortalness, she transforms herself into the vanilla orchid, happy at last that she can bring everlasting beauty and joy to her human love and his people.  I think that might be the most romantic story ever.  However, the romantic nature of vanilla was extended beyond tragic tales and into the bedroom by people like Dr. John King, who in the 1800s advised the American Dispensary that vanilla should be used to “stimulate the sexual propensities” and swore by taking a swig of pure vanilla extract before bedtime.  Neurologist Alan Hirsch also found a connection between the scent of vanilla and special blood flow within mature men. Wow!

So with Valentine’s Day approaching, I have the perfect excuse to make lots of aphrodisiac treats (and if I happen to accidentally make too many and they linger around my apartment for a few weeks, who can blame me?)  This recipe for Chocolate and Vanilla Swirl Tartlets is like a two for one, with both vanilla and chocolate flavors. Then these Molten White Chocolate Cupcakes use both regular and white chocolate, along with vanilla extract.  If you really want to enhance the richness and complexity of chocolate, add some pure vanilla extract. You can believe I’ll be incorporating it into my baking!

Along with these two recipes, I was also dying to try out these “Life By Chocolate” mini cupcakes that Pioneer Woman posted.  I have little heart shaped molds that I knew would turn them from “cute” into “adorable.”  Too mushy?  I don’t think so…this is Valentine’s Day!  If this isn’t the time to pull out all those little sappy accessories and molds, when is?  I say bring on the mush! I decided that I had to make a test batch and they were just as delicious as promised, although the silicone molds didn’t pop out the baked cupcakes very easily.  I ended up baking the rest in a regular mini cupcake tin, but all of them tasted delicious!

The recipe was beautifully simple.

My favorite part was watching the colors swirl and blend as I mixed in the chocolate.

While the silicone molds didn’t work out, these little heart-shaped measuring spoons and whisks were too adorable to pass up and, thankfully, more functional!

What’s your favorite Valentine’s treat?
Thanks to Leo_Reynolds for the picture of the cherubim!
~Laura

This week I discovered a new appreciation for an old food tradition. I set out looking for a cooking or kitchen technique that focused on simplicity – you know, something inspired and amazing that might simplify your life in one easy step – and then Katie (of Rogue Rice fame) recommended fondue. I balked at the idea for many reasons.

1. I don’t have a fondue set.
2. Fondue sets have lots of parts and pieces.
3. It requires a gathering of people – who wants to eat fondue alone?
4. It seems anything but simple.

Nevertheless, within minutes I found myself doing a search for ‘fondue’ on Craigslist and in the time it takes to say “Emmental cheese”, I had located a brand new, still in the box, fondue kit for ten dollars. In less than one hour, I became the proud owner of a fondue set.

Now that reason number one no longer held any weight, I informed Katie she was required to partake in a great fondue experiment the following night. We wrangled a couple more friends, she murmured something about chocolate liqueur and tiramisu, and suddenly we had enough people to make a proper fondue party. Reason number three: dashed.

But, what to prepare? It seemed blasphemous to not pay homage to fondue’s Swiss lineage, so cheese had to be included. I was intent on finding a vanilla recipe and Katie was intent on chocolate. In short order, we nailed down the perfect fondue trifecta. Thankfully, the Internet is awash with sites dedicated to fondue recipes like this one or this one or this one.

The day of the big event I braved extreme cold, falling snow (during rush hour, of course), and five stores to acquire my list of ingredients: pears, apples, corn starch, gruyere and emmental cheese (to save a few $$ I bought a bag of pre-shredded fondue cheese that most fondue experts agree you should avoid), chocolate chips, dry white wine, bread, lady fingers, oranges, mascarpone, whipping cream and sterno (hint: not readily available at grocery stores. I got mine at Kmart). This was definitely no simple affair (see reason 4 above).

That is, until the preparations began. With friends on hand – I didn’t have to slice a single piece of fruit or bread (thanks Lera) – the fondue making was a snap. I just stood at my stove, rubbed garlic into a pan, added wine and cheese and stirred. Katie and Danny figured out the sterno lighting. Then, we gorged the dip with rustic whole wheat bread and red wine and debated fondue etiquette.

Next, the vanilla fondue. I modified Ilana Simon’s vanilla recipe – a ridiculously simple combination of water, sugar, cornstarch, butter, salt and vanilla – to include Rodelle Bourbon vanilla bean instead of extract. I paired the vanilla dip with honey crisp apples and Bosc, Bartlett and Anjou pears because my Flavor Bible recommended I do so. Have you ever tasted something so surprisingly good that you thought that if you died in that moment, your life would’ve been incomplete because you didn’t get to taste it again; nay, you didn’t get to rub your ENTIRE body in the concoction and lick yourself silly for the rest of eternity? That’s pretty much what I experienced every time I dipped a fruity morsel into the vanilla fondue. The vanilla bean was a knock out substitution that almost made me cry for joy.

We finished the night by creating our own chocolate fondue recipe adapted from a chocolate tiramisu recipe by Giada De Laurentiis. We melted chocolate chips, added mascarpone and cream, a handful of sugar and flavored the blend with a splashes of Starbucks Coffee Liqueur. We devoured the concoction with lady fingers, clementines, the remaining apple and pear bites and more red wine.

Remember reason number 2 about parts and pieces?? Dead simple. We used two pots, three wooden spoons, one measuring cup, four plates, four wine glasses, four skewers, sterno and a match. Preparations and clean-up were a snap. While the ingredients were slightly costly, the pleasure in preparing and enjoying food with friends more than balanced out the hit to my wallet. And the vanilla fondue? Oh my. That’s a keeper.

So here’s your mission for this month — Fondue. Go on. Do it. Get over the cliched 70s image.  Is that fondue set you got for your wedding still sitting unused in its original box in the closet? Dust it off, get it out, love it and then tell me all about it.

In search of simple pleasures,

Carol

As most of you readers have probably gathered, I love the traditional flavors that permeate the holiday season: vanilla, chocolate, apple, cinnamon, pumpkin…. Yum!  The form that these flavors are presented to the eater, though, is up for negotiation!  I love recipes that twist standard (read: boring) recipes into something new and exciting.  Just last week, I experimented with two different recipes of this type.  One of these recipes was a delicious success; the other was an epic failure.  Epic failures are more fun informative, so let’s start with that one first!

While perusing food blogs, I ran into a recipe for red velvet cake balls; actually, I ran into the recipe twice.  I figured that finding the same recipe twice in a matter of minutes was a sign from the kitchen deities that I should make these amazing looking little treats.  Since I was going to be traveling to my parents’ place to meet the whole family for Thanksgiving, I had a great excuse to give these a try!  So now I had a recipe and a purpose and it was time to implement!

The first part of it went as planned.  Once I had mixed the crumbled red velvet cake and the cream cheese frosting together, it was time to ball them and dip them in the chocolate.  This part did not go as planned, unfortunately. The next step was to melt the chocolate and I decided that doing this in the microwave was the easy way to go.  A pitted Tupperware and several burnt chocolate bars later, I learned the valuable lesson that the chocolate may actually be melted, but it will still retain its shape until you stir it.  Oops. Strike One.

A quick run to the grocery store to grab some more chocolate and I was back in business!  Now that I was able to melt the chocolate without burning a hole in the container, the next step was to drop small round balls (created by using my handy mini ice cream scoop!) into the chocolate, roll them around and then lay them onto waxed paper.  I ran into another problem here.  Candy chocolate is great, until any moisture gets in it.  Once moisture DOES get in, the consistency of the melted chocolate changes and becomes crumbly and nearly impossible to work with.  Remember, we just mixed an entire can of cream cheese frosting into the cake balls…moisture is guaranteed at this point.  Strike Two.

After recruiting my reluctant always-willing husband, we came up with a new plan: he would spoon some melted chocolate onto the wax paper, I would drop a rounded scoopful of the cake mixture onto it, then he would drizzle more chocolate on top, until the dollop was completely covered.  Genius, yes?  Well, except for the fact that doing it this way uses up the melted chocolate much quicker and we had to run again to the store.  Strike Three.

After we bought every single one of the semi-sweet baking chocolate bars and packages off the shelf, we went to work.  We spooned, scooped and smothered those little chocolate balls for the next hour and a half, dirtying nearly every dish in the kitchen, even this little fish-shaped appetizer bowl.

In the end though, they were done.  They were not the artful little Valentine’s-worthy showplace pieces that were so beautifully shown on the website.  In fact, they were more like amorphous blobs.  However, they tasted phenomenal!! Seriously, you have to try them — just get someone else to make them, maybe??

Given that they were not the most attractive looking, I was a little hesitant to bring those as my Thanksgiving contribution.  I settled for sending the red velvet cake balls into work with my husband, where I received way more praise than deserved.  While the compliments were nice, I still needed to create something to bring to Thanksgiving with me.  That’s when I discovered this recipe on another blog.

Apple cake.  Even the name is mouthwatering!  The recipe, written by someone known only as “Great Aunt Ethel,” was simple and direct (far from the maddening battle with red velvet cake balls), with no melting chocolate required! Excellent!

I thought to myself, “How could anything created by Great Aunt Ethel not be perfect?” and decided to give it a shot.  I followed the open recipe, using Granny Smith apples and also adding cinnamon, just a hint of nutmeg and the tiniest suggestion of cloves.  It was as easy as it sounded and the end product was beautiful, with all the flavors of apple pie but the texture of the moistest cake you’ve ever had. Even though the cake got slightly smushed in transport, my family loved it and gobbled it down quickly.  The praise for this one goes to 17 and baking and, of course, Great Aunt Ethel, but this recipe is definitely going into my files to use whenever an old classic needs a facelift. I’ll also ask the Rodelle Kitchen to give it a try…maybe they can think of one more simple step or ingredient to add that will make this already superb and homey recipe simply stellar!  Or, maybe you know what (if anything!) it is missing!  Try it out and let me know what you think!

Have you had any disasters or unbelievable successes re-imagining classic dishes?

Happy Baking!

Laura