Lavender Lemon Macarons

Lavender lemon macarons are pretty, fresh tasting and a reminder that summer is right around the corner.

To make them, you just need to add a little violet coloring to your macaron batter and make a basic cream cheese filling flavored with lemon juice, zest and extract and a tablespoon of crushed culinary lavender. 

I like to give macarons as gifts and the easiest way to package them is to use cupcake papers and self-adhesive cellophane bags. 

Macarons ready to give.

Here's the recipe:

Lavender Lemon Macarons
180g ground almonds, sifted
270g powdered sugar, sifted
150g egg whites, aged 2 to 4 days in the fridge and then brought to room temperature
100g granulated sugar
Violet coloring

Line four heavy baking sheets with good quality parchment paper and set aside. Also, set aside two pastry bags for the piping of the macarons.

Sift together your ground almonds with the powdered sugar and set aside.

Whisk the egg whites (at room temperature) to glossy firm peaks adding the granulated sugar gradually in four parts.

Violet colored egg whites ready for the dry ingredients.

Incorporate the dry ingredients into the beaten egg whites using a large rubber scraper.  Mix well. 
Fold the mixture with the rubber scraper by pulling down the sides and flipping the mixture over. Do this until you have a smooth mixture that falls like a “ribbon” off the scraper.

Transfer the mixture into the two piping bags. Use rubber bands to close the piping bags. Clip the tip of the bags, one at a time, and pipe small quarter sized rounds, leaving 1-inch of space between each because they spread as they set.

Violet colored macarons resting before baking.

Leave to set for about 30 minutes or until the top has formed a crust and is not sticky to the touch.
While they are setting, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. A convection oven is preferable. 

Bake one sheet at a time in the center of the oven for about 12 minutes or until the cookie is firm, matte and doesn't wobble when touched.
Leave on the baking tray until cool then lift them all off the parchment carefully. You may need to use a thin knife to help lift them off.

Macarons after baking. Be sure to let them cool before removing them from the parchment.

Sort into pairs and fill with Lavender Lemon Filling.


Lavender Lemon Filling
1 package cream cheese (8 oz), room temperature
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
Zest of one lemon
Juice of one lemon
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
1 tablespoon culinary lavender, crushed
1/3 cup powdered sugar
One small drop yellow coloring

Whip cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and whip again. You might need to firm up the filling in the fridge for a bit before piping between the macarons.

Guinness Chocolate Cake

 I needed a last minute dessert to bring to a dinner party tonight so I turned to my favorite fail-proof Guinness Chocolate Cake. The cake comes together lickety-split — You mix it by hand in one bowl!

Today I substituted plain non-fat yogurt for the sour cream in the original recipe because I didn't feel like running to the store and it worked. The cake still came out moist and delicious.

The original recipe is from Nigella Lawson's cookbook "Feast." Try it and you won't be disappointed.

Guinness Chocolate Cake
1 cup Guinness
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup sour cream ( or substitute plain yogurt)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter and line a 9-inch springform pan.

Pour the Guinness into a large saucepan, add the butter in slices and heat until the butter is melted. Turn off the heat and whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and pour into the beer mixture and finally whisk in the flour and baking soda.

Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Leave to cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.

Once cool, frost with Cream Cheese Topping.

Cream Cheese Topping
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream

Whip the cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar and whip again. Add the cream and whip again until it's light and spreadable. Frost just the top of the cake so that it resembles a frothy top of Guinness.

Spicy Ginger Macarons

Ginger Chews are one of my favorite sweet treats and I've been pondering about how to incorporate them into a French macaron for quite a while.

Today I finally gave it a shot so here's my latest creation — Spicy Ginger Macarons.

I tried simply mincing the chews so that I could add them to a buttercream for the macaron filling but the chews were way too hard to chop.  So instead, I added 1/4 cup of water to a sauce pan, dropped in 10 chews and heated it up.

The chews melted easily into a thick caramel colored ginger syrup which I enhanced with ground ginger to flavor my cream cheese filling.

I love the way the filling turned out. It's creamy, not too sweet and spicy.

The Ginger Chews that were my inspiration.

My intense ginger syrup made with 10 ginger chews, water and ground ginger.

Spicy Ginger Macarons
180g ground almonds, sifted
270g powdered sugar, sifted
150g egg whites, aged 2 to 4 days in the fridge and then brought to room temperature
100g granulated sugar

Line four heavy baking sheets with good quality parchment paper and set aside. Also, set aside two pastry bags for the piping of the macarons.

Sift together your ground almonds with the powdered sugar and set aside.

Whisk the egg whites (at room temperature) to glossy firm peaks adding the granulated sugar gradually in four parts.

Incorporate the dry ingredients into the beaten egg whites using a large rubber scraper.  Mix well. 
Fold the mixture with the rubber scraper by pulling down the sides and flipping the mixture over. Do this until you have a smooth mixture that falls like a “ribbon” off the scraper.

Transfer the mixture into the two piping bags. Use rubber bands to close the piping bags. Clip the tip of the bags, one at a time, and pipe small quarter sized rounds, leaving 1-inch of space between each because they spread as they set.

Leave to set for about 30 minutes or until the top has formed a crust and is not sticky to the touch.
While they are setting, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. A convection oven is preferable. 

Bake one sheet at a time in the center of the oven for about 12 minutes or until the cookie is firm, matte and doesn't wobble when touched.
Leave on the baking tray until cool then lift them all off the parchment carefully. You may need to use a thin knife to help lift them off.

Sort into pairs and fill with Spicy Ginger Filling.

Be sure to let your macarons cool completely before lifting them off the parchment.

Spicy Ginger Filling
10 Ginger People brand ginger chews (I buy mine at Trader Joe's)
5 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 package cream cheese (8 oz), room temperature
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoons vanilla
pinch of sea salt

Unwrap 10 ginger chews and put them in a small saucepan with the water and ground ginger. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until melted, keep heating until the mixture thickens up a bit and resembles caramel sauce. Put the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer and whip on high until the mixture cools down. Add the powdered sugar and whip again. Add the cream cheese and butter and whip until light and fluffy. Finally add the vanilla and sea salt and whip again. You might need to chill the filling so it firms up a bit before piping it between the macarons.

Piping the filling.

A Delicious Day

A plate of crispy chicken with baked beans, mushroom ravioli with Swiss Chard and roasted tomatoes.

It was a delicious day at the Wednesday Community Meal at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. We served 204 guests plates of crispy oven roasted chicken and warm peach crisp for dessert.

For side dishes we had roasted tomatoes, green salads, baked beans, rice, mushroom ravioli with Swiss chard and soup. Not every guest got the same accompaniments to the chicken but there were no complaints. Everything was well received. It is a privilege to serve such nice people.

The chicken was especially popular. Before coating it with a breading of panko, flour, cornmeal, seasonings and herbs, we dipped it into a seasoned mixture of milk, lemon juice and oil.  Baking it in a 375 degree oven got it extra crispy and boy did it smell great.

Delicious!

Vegan Birthday Cake

Vegan chocolate cake with Swedish pearl sugar for decoration.

Everyone deserves a cake on their birthday — even vegans.

I've been planning on making a chocolate cake for my vegan friend Sarah's birthday for a while. After a few weeks of research, I found the perfect recipe. A rich chocolate cake with no hard to find and expensive special vegan ingredients.

A bonus is that it's quick and easy to make. You bake it in a glass baking dish, pour on a chocolate glaze and it's ready to serve.

I found the recipe on the internet with the title: "The BEST chocolate cake ever...that happens to be VEGAN. I kid you not!"

The recipe had lots of positive comments and recommendations.  I'm so glad I gave it a try. The only major change I've made to the original recipe is that I've doubled it because the original recipe made only a single layer 8x8 cake. That's not enough for a birthday celebration!


Vegan Chocolate Cake
Cake Ingredients
2 1/2 cups flour
2 cup sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cup warm water
2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp distilled white or apple cider vinegar

Chocolate Glaze
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine
4 tbsp soy milk
4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
4 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 glass baking dish.  In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add the water, vanilla, oil, and vinegar, and mix well. Pour into the baking dish and bake for about 30 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean. Cool on a rack completely (2 hours).

The cake just out of the oven.

For the glaze, in a saucepan, bring sugar, margarine, milk, and cocoa to a boil. Stir frequently; then reduce heat to a simmer for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir for another 5 minutes.

Add vanilla, stir, and immediately pour over cake. The glaze dries quickly so spread it immediately and add any sprinkles now. Let the cake cool for at least an hour before serving.                          

The cake after glazing.

French Bread

I have a wonderful recipe for French bread that I've been making for more than 20 years.

I don't even remember how or from whom I got the recipe. At some point, I did have the smarts to print it onto a sheet of paper.

There are also side notes for multiplying the recipe by five since I like to make it for the Wednesday Community Meal. For that, I usually make 10 batches of the recipe times five and still always run out because it's a great recipe and everyone loves homemade bread.

My bread recipe.

 French Bread
(makes 4 loaves)
2 packages yeast
2/3 cup tepid water
1/2 teaspoon sugar
7 cups bread flour (additional may be needed)
2 tablespoons rye or whole wheat flour
4 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups cold water
(cornmeal for sprinkling on sheet pan or parchment paper)

Combine yeast, sugar and tepid water. Let set for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes the yeast foams and proves that it's alive.

Combine the remaining ingredients then add yeast mixture. Knead.

Let rise 40 to 60 minutes in a clean, dry bowl. Then deflate and punch into a 14-inch rectangle and fold into thirds.

Return dough to bowl and let rise 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Make loaves and let rise another  1 1/2 hours.

Place loaves on baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal or lined with parchment paper, slash and place in a preheated 450 degree oven tossed with 1/4 cup of water. Bake 20 minutes and then bake an additional 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Slashing the loaves just before baking.

Warm bread!

Easy Mini Pies

We are attending a graduation party for our good friend Bo today and he loves pie so I'm bringing mini pies to the party.

I made an assortment of apple and berry pies in cupcake papers and they are so easy to put together. So much easier than hand pies. I made a few of those today as well as a test and despite being delicious, they are messy to make. The juice wants to run all over the place!

I'm sticking to the cupcake version. All you need to do is drop a round of dough into the cupcake liner, add a spoonful of filling and top with crumb topping.
 

Apple and berry pie filling.

Drop a round of dough into the cupcake liner and fill with pie filling.

Add crumb topping and it's ready for the oven.

Hand pies are messier and more time consuming to make. And they require more dough.

Finished mini berry pies.