Winter Wonderland: our home after the 2010 snow storm
PEACE

 
QUITE

REST

SOLITUDE

RETREAT

MEDITATION

SOLACE

MUSING

Macarons & Manhattan

Macarons & Manhattan

Gerbet Macaron

Place: PARIS

Crispy outside, chewy inside, simply scrumptious, small package,  big flavor... What is it?

MACARONS (in French)!  Macaroons (in English)

 Yes, you guessed it.

 You can find these all over Paris, if not all over France. These miniature jewels are a joy to have with your espresso or tea on a warm, or cold, or for that matter, any afternoon.  I think one of the great things about a Macaron is the size of  it: SMALL. You can have 1 or 3 and still feel that you haven't overindulged yourself.

 Place: NEW YORK

 Now, think about walking in the streets of the cosmopolitan New York City: chic, sophisticated and proud New York. It's 3 pm in  the afternoon and you crave an espresso. What to have with it?  Let me see......

(Well, let's not even mention the fact that you can hardly find a decent shot of espresso in the city. Pathetic!)

But, what about that thing to have with your....ehm...coffee?

 Macaron? I don't think so. More like a 6-inch cookie monster or a dinner size cupcake, or a quarter (for heaven's sake) of a 9-inch cake. Why does everything have to be so big?  I wish I could find  a small, freshly baked chocolate chip cookie or biscotti. And when I  ask for such, people usually look at me like I have four heads.

I believe that great things come in small packages.

Quality,  quality, quality 

and not

quantity, quantity, quantity.  

I guess I'll have to keep dreaming for now.  Let's go back to Macarons!

Enjoy these pictures of macarons baked by some of my students.  These almond flavored little bites are filled with innumerable options: jams, preserves, buttercream, ganache...your  imagination is the limit.

A cake for a 16th birthday party

One of my very good friends asked me a couple of days ago if I could help him by making a cake for his niece's sweet 16th. I agreed and, after an exchange of details, questions and answers this is what came out. Enjoy!

Easy and foolproof tempering method

 TOOLS that you need:
    1 qt. sauce pan
    1 small metal spatula
    1 large rubber spatula
    1  medium size stainless steel bowl (completely dried) that fits the top of the sauce pan
    1 thermometer (preferably digital)
      dishtowels
    Cool kitchen (not above 75 F)


 INGREDIENTS:

32 oz (912 grams) of chopped dark chocolate (55% to 75% cocoa liquor)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Fill up the sauce pan half way up with water.
2. Bring it to boil.
3. Fill up the stainless steel bowl with the chopped chocolate.
4. As soon as the water boils, turn the flame off and place the bowl with the chocolate over the pot.
5. Leave it undisturbed for 15 minutes.
6. Immediately take the bowl out of the pot and bring it to the work station and place it over a dishtowel.
7. With the rubber spatula (dried) start stirring gently the chocolate so to combine the melted chocolate from the sides with the unmelted chocolate in the center.
8. If you take the temperature with your thermometer it will read around 105 F to 110 F.
9. Keep stirring the chocolate until almost all the unmelted chocolate is melting away and at the same time serving as a seed for your melted chocolate.
10. After 2 minutes of stirring, the chocolate should read 90 F. you should still have one or two pieces of unmelted chocolate floating.
11. YOU ARE TEMPERED
12. Test a small amount of the chocolate with you small metal spatula and let it set. It should start  setting and getting opaque in color in about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Providing your kitchen is cool and not hotter than 75 F.
13. Use your chocolate before it gets to hard.