Daring Bakers: Bakewell Tart

I almost forgot that today is DB day! Sheesh. This is what happens when you don't do the challenge last minute.

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Tarts with lemon curd, or raspberry jam, or chopped cherries. Recipes found here. And I'm completely sold on this crust ...

Obsessions

More macarons. I know, I know. This time with dehydrated pulverized raspberry powder and lemon curd mousse. Ob-sessed.

They're dried - can't tell, can ya?

Oh, yeah. This dress from The Sartorialist is haunting me, and I can't wait for 500 Days of Summer to come out... will have to go thrift store shopping to alleviate some of the obsession.


Raspberry Macarons
3 stale egg whites
125 g confectioners sugar
70 g almond flour
35 g raspberry powder
40 g granulated sugar
little bit o' pinkish food coloring (the meringue pales the rasperry powder)

Sift together the confectioners sugar, almond flour, and raspberry powder. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until foamy, then start slowly pouring in the granulated sugar. Continue beating until the egg whites are stiff. Fold the food coloring and 1/3 of the egg whites into the dry ingredients. Add the rest of the egg whites. Do not over beat. The consistency should be flowy, but if you lift a spoonful out of the batter, it will break off, not drizzle off.
Pipe the macarons onto your silpat mat or parchment paper. Set the oven to 320 F. Let the macarons sit for 10 min or so. Place in oven and bake for 5 or 6 minutes at 320 F. After that, turn the oven down to 270 F, and prop the oven open with the handle of a wooden spoon. Bake for another 7 - 8 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool for at least 10 minutes before trying to remove from the silpat/parchment. Let completely cool before filling.

Lemon Curd Mousse
3 egg yolks
zest of one lemon
1/4 cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
6 T sugar
4 T cold butter, cubed

2 t powdered gelatin bloomed in 2 T cold water
7 oz whipping cream, whipped to stiff peaks
little bit o' yellow food coloring (again, the cream pales the lemon curd)

Combine the yolks, lemon zest and juice, and sugar in a sauce pan. Cook on medium high for about 8 minutes, whisking constantly, until it is thick. Stir in the butter. Remove from heat and strain to remove any bits of cooked egg. Let cool slightly.
Stir in the gelatin. Let cool until room temp. Fold in the whipped cream and food coloring; use immediately.

I Can Has Cheezburger?

Ha ha! Aren't these amazing?!?! Were you confused for a second? Did you think I'd gone crazy, not only posting about "real" food, but thinking that I'd started eating meat again??? Don't worry, it's all desserts! Yellow cupcake "buns", brownie "patty", frosting for the ketchup, mustard and lettuce, and sugar cookie "french fries". Brilliant!


All the credit goes to Bakerella, of course. Check out her post for all the details (including the awesome template for the tray and fry holder.)

This one goes out to my dad! Happy Father's Day!

Carmalized White Chocolate Macarons

Recently, David Lebovitz posted a recipe for Caramelized White Chocolate. I think people all over the world drooled onto their keyboards as they read his post, and immediately bought the highest quality white chocolate they could find so as to make said sinful looking confection. I sure did, anyways.
No pictures of the caramelizing process itself. It is ugly and not picture worthy. He talks about needing a white chocolate with a high cocoa butter content, and I'm fairly sure my white chocolate doesn't have a content that high. My caramelizing process was not nearly so pretty as his. Down right fail-looking, in fact. The chocolate turned that nice caramel-y color, but it got lumpy and gross looking, like it had seized horribly. I mean, a seriously irretrievable chunky looking mess. But, he also says if it looks a little lumpy (a little!?!), to run it through the blender and it will be fine. Well, lo and behold, if you puree that mess long enough it turns back into lovely smooth melted chocolate.
Add about half the chocolate's weight in warm cream, and you get the irresistible ganache for the middle of these macarons. Oh yeah, I'm still disgustingly obsessed with the macarons. I'll eat them until they make me feel sick. They make me write in flowery adjective-filled sentences. AND!!!, I finally got the hang of the real macaron recipe. They looked right before, but they were wrong on the inside. Now they're the right inside and out! So ridiculously obsessed. No joke, these little cookies are going to be the next big thing. Macarons will be the new cupcake.

Big thanks and hugs to Michelle for playing photographer with me and helping set up and take the pictures. If you squint you might just be able to see her holding up the backdrop in the pictures ;)

Macarons
120 g aged egg whites (about 4 eggs worth)
200 g confectioners sugar
115 g almond flour
2 T cocoa powder
55 g granulated sugar

Sift together the confectioners sugar, almond flour, and cocoa powder. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until foamy, then start slowly pouring in the granulated sugar. Continue beating until the egg whites are stiff. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the dry ingredients. Add the rest of the egg whites. Do not over beat. The consistency should be flowy, but if you lift a spoonful out of the batter, it will break off, not drizzle off.
Pipe the macarons onto your silpat mat or parchment paper. Set the oven to 320 F. Let the macarons sit for 10 min or so. Place in oven and bake for 5 or 6 minutes at 320 F. After that, turn the oven down to 270 F, and prop the oven open with the handle of a wooden spoon. Bake for another 7 - 8 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool for at least 10 minutes before trying to remove from the silpat/parchment. Let completely cool before filling.