Mint Macarons

Mint macarons are so delicious and very refreshing.

My absolute favorite way to enjoy them is with a mug of steaming hot chocolate. The cool mint/hot chocolate combination is heavenly — Imagine eating a deconstructed Girl Scout Thin Mint, but homemade, more sophisticated and much better. Serve that at your next dinner party and I guarantee, your guests will be impressed.

The mint filling for these is so simple and quick to make. It's just unsalted butter, powdered sugar and mint extract whipped until light and creamy.

Here's the recipe:

Mint 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
Teal food 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.  Towards the end of mixing, add the food coloring and tint the batter as desired.

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. 

The piped macarons before baking.

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.

This shows how the color fades after baking. Be sure to tint your macaron batter darker than you want it to turn out.

Sort into pairs and fill with Mint Buttercream. Store the macarons covered in refrigerator until you are ready to serve them.

Mint Buttercream
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon peppermint extract

Place all of the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and whip on high speed until the buttercream is smooth and creamy. This takes about 5 minutes.

Filling the macarons.

So cute!

A batch of mint macarons. These are going to the Green Day Alternative Liturgy at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.

Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies

I just found a way to make my favorite peanut butter cookie recipe even better — Dip them in dark chocolate!

These cookies got a big thumbs up from my husband which is why I decided to make them for my recent fundraising bake sale at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.  These are decadent but they are also very easy to make.

Here's the recipe:

Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies
(makes about 40 cookies)
1 1/3 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2/3 cup old-fashioned crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and sea salt.

In a large bowl, whip together the peanut butter and shortening. Add the sugars and beat until light and creamy. Add the egg and mix well. Finally, stir in flour mixture.

Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and space them apart on a parchment lined baking sheet. Flatten the cookies with a fork, pressing down twice in a crosshatch pattern.

Bake the cookies for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.
 

Cookies ready for the oven.

The cookies after baking.

Dipping the Cookies:
10 oz. dark chocolate, divided (I like Callebaut brand Belgian chocolate best)


First off, have your cookies at hand, ready to dip and a counter or sheetpans lined with parchement paper before you prepare the chocolate. You have to have a place to set your cookies after dipping.

Place 8 oz. of the chocolate in a small microwave safe bowl. You need to use a bowl that adequately holds the chocolate but is small enough so that the chocolate isn't too spread out. You need depth for the dipping.

Microwave the chocolate in intervals of 30 seconds, stirring after each until the chocolate is thoroughly melted. Immediately add the remaining 2 oz. of chocolate and stir until it's also thoroughly melted. This is called the seeding method and is a simple way to temper the chocolate.

Dip a cookie about 1/3 into the melted chocolate and give it a gentle shake to remove any excess. Place the cookie on parchment and keep working quickly until all the cookies have been dipped. Leave the cookies on the parchment until the chocolate is completely set.

Be sure to have pans lined with parchment paper ready before you start dipping the cookies. You have to have a place to set them.

Leave the cookies on the parchment lined trays until the chocolate sets. You can speed the process by putting them in the refrigerator.

When the chocolate sets it will look like this.

Chocolate Cookie Cutouts

Today was my first free day in weeks and I know I probably should have spent it catching up on housework but I couldn't resist a day of just for fun baking.

I've been wanting to create a chocolate cutout cookie that I could add to my repertoire and came up with this new recipe by adding 1/3 cup of dark cocoa powder to my favorite sugar cookie recipe, doubling the vanilla and eliminating the almond extract.

The cookies turned out great and kept their shape nicely and I really like the contrast of the dark cookie against the light colored royal icing.

Here's the recipe: 

Chocolate Cookie Cutouts
Makes about 4 dozen 2-inch cookies

1 cup unsalted butter (at room temperature)
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup dark cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt

 In a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until blended, then beat on high speed until creamy. Add egg, vanilla and cocoa powder and beat until well blended. Add flour and salt; beat on low speed until combined, then on medium speed until well blended. Divide dough into two equal portions. Place dough between sheets of plastic wrap. Press evenly into a disk and chill until dough is firm, at least 20 minutes. Working with one portion of dough at a time (keep remaining chilled), peel off plastic wrap and roll on a floured board until 1/4 inch thick. Cut with floured cutters and transfer onto bare baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees (325 for convection) for 7 to 9 minutes or until firm to the touch and slightly darker brown around edges. Cool on wire racks.

Cookie Tags And Ornaments

Transform your decorated cookies into gift tags and tree ornaments just by making a hole in the top of them before baking.

The tags are a sweet addition to wrapped gifts and the ornaments are little works of art that will last year after year if kept in an airtight container.

This is an especially fun cookie project for a large group or the whole family.

Here's how:

Make a batch cookie dough. Click here for my favorite sugar cookie recipe and click here for my favorite gingerbread recipe.

Lay your cut out cookies onto a sheetpan and make a hole in the top of them.

I used the end of my scribe tool to make the holes but you could use a dowel, straw or another tool to make about a quarter-inch size hole in the top of the cookie. It's important that you make the hole larger than you need it to be since it will close up a bit during baking.

For the gift tags, I outlined the baked and cooled cookies with red piping consistency icing and let that dry for about 15 minutes.

Then I flooded the cookie with ivory tinted icing and set the cookies aside to dry completely.

Once the cookie tags are dry, you can write on them with edible markers and thread a piece of twin or ribbon through them. The markers can be found online, in decorating supply shops and art and craft stores like Michael's and JoAnn's.

Candy Corn Macarons

These Candy Corn inspired french macarons are both festive and delicious, making them the perfect sweet treat for Autumn celebrations and my personal favorite, Halloween parties. 

I even think they taste better than real Candy Corn which is pretty much just straight up sugar and corn syrup mixed with artificial colors and flavors. Instead, I decided to cut the sweetness and fill these with vanilla buttercream.

I was able to make the white and yellow macaron shells from a single recipe by splitting the batter just after incorporating the dry ingredients into the meringue but before starting the macaronage or folding process.

Here's how:
Candy Corn 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
Yellow food 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) on medium high speed to glossy firm peaks adding the granulated sugar gradually in four parts. You don't want to whip the egg whites too quickly, this should take a good 5 to 7 minutes.

Incorporate the dry ingredients into the beaten egg whites using a large rubber scraper and mix just until everything is combined then stop and divide the batter in half. Tint one half of the batter with yellow coloring.

The half of the batter that I'm going to tint yellow.

I added quite a bit of gel coloring since macarons always lighten after baking.

Fold each of the mixtures with a 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.

How the batter looks after folding.

Transfer the mixtures into separate 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 Vanilla Buttercream.

The baked macarons, sorted and ready for filling.

Vanilla Buttercream
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup powdered sugar
pinch of sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
Orange food coloring

In a stand mixer combine the butter, sugar, sea salt and vanilla. Whip until smooth and light, this takes about 5 minutes. Tint with orange food coloring.

All done! Store the macarons in a sealed container in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.

Fig Macarons

I love these fig macarons and have no idea why it took me so long to make them. The rich honey flavor of the fig buttercream is so satisfying between the soft and chewy almond shells.

Trust me, these are fig newtons to the nth degree! The filling was also quick and easy to make because I utilized good quality fig preserves.

The fig preserves that I used for the filling.

I tinted the buttercream with a bit of coloring to mimic the gorgeousness of the flesh of a fresh fig and also added a brushstroke of green to the top of the macarons using a paint made by mixing gel coloring with a bit of vodka.

Making paint with a bit of gel coloring mixed with vodka. I used Wilton brand moss green coloring.

I hope you like these as much as I do, here's the recipe:

Fig 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.

The macarons setting before baking.

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 11 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 them into pairs, add a brushstroke of green to the tops if desired and fill with fig buttercream.

I love it when the macaron shells lift right off the parchment but sometimes I have to use a think spatula to help ease them off.

After sorting the macarons into pairs, I added a brushstroke of green to the top of one in each set.

Fig Buttercream
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup fig preserves
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
red coloring, optional
brown coloring, optional

Whip together the butter, fig preserves and salt until the mixture is light and creamy. Tint if desired with a bit of red and brown coloring to mimic the flesh of a fresh fig.

Filling the macarons.

All done! Keep the macarons in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve them.

A Cookie As Good As It Looks

When it comes to taste, fancy decorated cookies unfortunately have a bad reputation.

"I love how your cookies look but I honestly didn't expect them to taste delicious too," is what I hear time and time again when I serve my creations.

There is good reason for the skepticism, because in all honestly,  most decorated cookies don't taste that great. They are often thin, dry, flavorless and over-iced, sometimes with more sickly sweet icing than cookie. And although they look pretty, I absolutely abhor cookies topped with gumpaste and fondant decorations. Ugh. It's like eating straight up sugar with an artificial aftertaste.

Because of the negative preconception of fancy cookies, I always offer samples when I sell my creations and surprise people when they discover that a decorated cookie can taste as good as it looks.

Making a delicious decorated cookie isn't hard, it just takes good recipes and consideration. Here are my best tips for making a delicious tasting decorated cookie:

*Most important is having a good cookie recipe.  My favorite tried and true recipe contains all-butter, not too much sugar and a good dose of vanilla and pure almond extract. Click here for the recipe.

*When I roll out cookie dough, I aim for 1/4 inch in thickness. I want to be sure to end up with a product that's more cookie than royal icing, 3:1 is ideal.

Quarter-inch thick cookies ready to be baked.

*If I want to make a cookie with an intricate layered design, I go the double-decker route by topping a base cookie with another cookie. It's essential to have more cookie than icing!

For these Gardenia cookies, I went the double-decker route and added layer of "cookie petals" to keep the flower design from being all icing and making the cookie too sweet.

*As for the royal icing, powdered sugar is a necessary ingredient so I cut the sweetness with some tablespoons of lemon juice. The addition makes a world of difference and compliments the vanilla almond flavor of the cookie. Click here for my royal icing recipe.

*Remember that less is sometimes more. I've learned from experience that it's very easy to take a cookie into the realm of being overdecorated. Practice restraint with your decorating because simple is often what's most beautiful.

Colorful dot cookies are simple and beautiful!

Here are some of my favorite designs but most importantly, these are also great tasting cookies!

Mini Pistachio Macarons

There are two thoughts on making pistachio macarons.

One is to make the macaron shells with ground pistachios in addition to making a pistachio filling. And the other is to keep the shells classic almond and just add a flavorful pistachio filling. My preference is the latter. 

I feel that the flavor of the almond shells is neutral enough to not muddle the taste of a rich pistachio filling and I prefer sticking with my tried and true recipe for macaron shells because then I have some reassurance they'll turn out. Macaron ingredients are not cheap and I don't want to risk having them wasted.

The secret ingredient of these Mini Pistachio Macarons is the decadent filling, made with toasted and ground pistachios, pure pistachio extract, unsalted butter, powdered sugar and a pinch of sea salt. The result is rich, lightly sweet and very pistachio-y. It's just perfect!

Two necessary ingredients for a great pistachio filling.

Here's the recipe:

Mini Pistachio Macarons
(makes 75 quarter-sized 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
moss green gel coloring

lemon yellow gel coloring

Line five 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.  Towards the end of mixing, add the gel colorings to achieve a deep pistachio green. The color of macarons lighten after baking so be sure to color the meringue more intensely than you want the macarons to turn out.

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 nickel sized rounds, leaving 1-inch of space between each because they spread as they set.

Piped 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 8 to 11 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 Pistachio Filling

Sorted macarons ready for some filling.

Pistachio Filling
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
pinch sea salt
1/2 teaspoon pure pistachio extract
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup pistachio meats
moss gel coloring (optional)

Lay the pistachio meats on a parchment lined baking sheet and toast them in a 350-degree oven for 5 to 7 minutes or until toasted and golden brown.

Pistachio meats ready to be toasted.

Grind the pistachios in a food processor until they are a fine powder. Add the powdered sugar and pulse to combine.

The toasted pistachio meats in the food processor.

Grind the meats to a fine powder.

Add powdered sugar.

The pistachio mixture is ready to be whipped into the butter and enhanced with pistachio extract and sea salt.

Place the pistachio mixture in a mixing bowl with the butter, sea salt and pistachio extract. Whip on high speed until light and creamy. Tint with coloring if desired.

Transfer the mixture to a piping bag for the filling of the macarons.

The finished filling. I tinted it with a bit of moss green gel coloring.

Filled Mini Pistachio Macarons. Keep the macarons chilled until you are ready to serve them.