The Macaron Diaries

My work-life balance has been a little bit out of kilter for the past few weeks so I haven't been posting as often as I would like.  I tried to remedy this last weekend by making macarons and bringing you a charming vignette of how I did a macaron making course in Melbourne last year and overcome my macaron hoodoo.   Instead, the hoodoo struck in a big way.  I spent almost all of last Sunday trying different techniques and, at the end of a long and frustrating day, I had six useable macarons and a kitchen that looked like a train wreck.  I had food colouring on my bench, there were smears of coloured meringue on the floor and in my hair, and I somehow managed to burn my upper arm with a baking tray.  Not to be dissuaded, I spent the next couple of days thinking about where I went wrong, and had another go during the week.  I am pleased to report that I broke the hoodoo and was able to give my work colleagues some perfectly formed pre-Easter macarons.

Buoyed with my mid-week success, I had another go this morning.  The hoodoo decided to return just to make sure I didn't get too confident.  I had a Goldilocks and the Three Bears moment with my batter, and also managed to burn myself again.  However, I've come a long way since last week and I'm holding onto to that.  The secret to macarons seems to be practice, practice, practice and patience, patience, patience.  You also need to own a lot of bowls. 

Basic Macaron Recipe (makes about 35 macaron halves)

You need to start this recipe the day before, and be in a good mood.

125g almond meal
125g pure icing sugar
extra 25g pure icing sugar, sifted
100g egg whites
100g caster sugar
pinch cream of tartar
15ml food colouring

Put the almond meal and icing sugar in a food processor and process until you get a fine powder.  Do not over-process otherwise the almond meal will overheat and release its oils resulting in a runny batter.  Sieve the combined almond meal and icing sugar (known as 'tant pour tant') and leave overnight on a covered tray or baking tin to dry out. 

Separate the eggs the night before too as they need to clarify.  Refrigerate overnight, but take them out two hours beforehand as they need to be at room temperature when you use them.

Whisk the egg whites with the cream of tartar until foamy and add the caster sugar in three batches.  Continue whisking until you reach a firm peak and the caster sugar has dissolved (test by rubbing a small amount between your thumb and forefinger and if you can feel grains, keep whisking).  Add the colour, and whisk until combined.  Colours fade in the oven so you need more than you think, but do not add more than 15ml otherwise the batter will become too runny. 

Add the tant pour tant and the extra icing sugar to the meringue and mix until you get a smooth batter.  This mixing process is known as 'macaronage'.  Despite all the hard work that you've put into your macarons up until this point, it is the macaronage that makes or breaks the macaron. Not enough mixing results in macarons with peaks, and too little mixing creates a flat disk that sticks to the baking paper and crumbles easily.  To get the consistency just right, test by peaking the batter with your thumb and forefinger.  If it stays peaked for more than a minute, keep going.  If it de-peaks within a few seconds, you've gone too far.  It is at this moment that you feel crushed and wonder why you started making macarons in the first place.  This is when I had my Goldilocks moment.  The batter for the lavender batch was too firm, the pink batch was too runny and the green batter was just right.

Too firm

Just right

The end results - too firm, too soft and just right

Mark circles onto some baking paper.  I used an upside-down medicine measure, which is 4.5cm in diameter.  Put the baking paper under a silpat mat or some baking paper, and place on a baking tray.

Using a 12 mm piping tube, pipe away, but don't pipe to the edge of the circles as the batter will spread.  Give the tray a tap to de-peak the macarons.  Leave the macarons to dry on the baking tray as they need to form a skin.  Depending on the weather, this may take 30 minutes or more than an hour.  Test by lightly tapping the macaron with your finger and, if the batter sticks to it, continue the drying process.

Put the macarons in a 160 degree celsius oven for 12 minutes.  Allow the macarons to cool before removing them from the mat.  I used both the silpat mat and baking paper, and the silpat mat gives a better result as the macaron is more evenly cooked, and is easier to remove.  Pair like sizes of macarons together and fill.  I used white chocolate ganache.

Making macarons is a confronting exercise.  You will find yourself questioning your ability to bake anything at all and wondering what led you down this path of frustration and insanity.  You will draw deeply on your reserves of patience and find yourself on the brink of disaster and disappointment at every step of the process. It is a marathon effort, but they are just so cute and dainty, and you just know you are going to make them again....and again.

Sticky Tape Hiding Technique

When I have a bit of time up my sleeve, I like to wrap presents using my sticky tape hiding technique.  Sometimes sticky tape can be a feature of gift wrapping (eg. washi tape), but if you're using beautiful decorative paper and don't want the tape to detract from it, hiding the tape produces a really neat result.

I learned this technique while on holiday in Singapore in 1983.  It was just before Christmas and Mum and I were shopping in Tangs department store.  I had secretly bought her some Badedas bath gel for Christmas (remember when that was popular?), and decided to use the free gift wrapping service.  I then watched in awe as the shop assistant wrapped the gift so neatly and precisely, and without showing the sticky tape.  I'd never seen anything like it!  Meanwhile, my mother was completely beside herself as she thought I'd disappeared and was about to put out a lost person call.  We reunited in the nick of time, and I've used this technique ever since. 

To illustrate the technique, I'm using a patterned tape.

Stick half the sticky tape on the edge of wrong side of the paper.

Fold the sticky tape in half towards the wrong side of the paper so the two non-sticky sides are together, and then stick the sticky side onto the right side of the paper.

Now repeat with the ends, sticking along both edges and the tip.

The patterned tape I used wasn't very sticky so you can just see the tape under the edge of the paper.  Normal sticky tape will produce a more flat result. 

Hiding the sticky tape in this way means it is all about the paper, and you don't get that 'busy-ness' on the underside of the gift.  You also get some nice 'ooohs and aaahs' too.

Gift Wrapping - Awkward Shapes

Tomorrow is a friend's birthday, and I have a selection of awkward shaped gifts to wrap.

I could have taken the easy way out and used a gift bag, but where's the fun in that?  Instead, I thought I'd try something different and create a pouch for the chopping board.

I chose a duck egg blue theme as the red cocotte dish and cheese knife spoke to my inner francophile. 

I cut a piece of paper about twice the width of the chopping board, and ironed it (medium heat, dry setting).  I then folded the sides and the base twice and stuck them down. 

I created the pouch by folding the sides and the base over the chopping board and sticking the base to the sides.

To finish the pouch, I cut a piece of paper equal to the width of the board and stuck it down.

I wrapped the cheese knife the same way and popped it into the pouch.  I closed the top of the pouch by folding it over twice and sticking it down.  I then created a faux string tie using some brown buttons, which I stuck on with craft glue, and twine.

I wrapped the cocotte dish in the same paper and tied both presents together with a blue and brown reversible ribbon. 

Tres jolie!

Panettone Bread and Butter Pudding

Until last Christmas, I had never bought a panettone and, for some reason, I decided to buy three.  I am still not quite sure what came over me.  I had only ever eaten panettone twice before - once in 1982 during an Italian language class, and about 4 years ago at a cafe in Leederville when I didn't feel like toast.  I don't mind the taste of panettone, but I generally prefer my bread to be plain and unfruity.  Panettone originated in Milano, and is eaten throughout the year in Italy, but especially at Christmas.  In Perth, we only see panettone in the shops at Easter and Christmas so perhaps I was suddenly overcome with temporary siege mentality and felt the need to stock up.  I have had no idea what to do with them so, since Christmas, I've had two large panettone boxes taking up room in my pantry and one de-packaged panettone in my freezer, waiting for inspiration to strike. 

My only inspiration to date has been to use it in bread and butter pudding.  You may be thinking why on earth would I be baking a bread and butter pudding in the middle of summer.  Well, apart from needing to reduce the occupant:panettone ratio in my household, I thought my northern hemisphere readers would enjoy a winter's dessert.  And for my southern hemisphere readers, it is possible to eat bread and butter pudding cold.  Yes, cold, and it is actually quite nice. 

Panettone Bread and Butter Pudding

1 x 900g panettone
zest of 1 orange
150g unsalted butter, and a little extra for greasing
2 tsp vanilla paste
600m whipping cream
600ml full cream milk
5 eggs
150g caster sugar

Grease a 1.5 litre baking or casserole dish with unsalted butter.  Cut the panettone into thick slices (mine were about 2cm) and remove the crusts.

Place the butter, orange zest, and one teaspoon of the vanilla paste into a saucepan and heat gently until the butter is melted.

Brush both sides of the panettone with the melted butter and arrange in the casserole dish.

Heat the cream, milk and the remaining vanilla paste until just below boiling point.  Using a mixer, beat the eggs and the caster sugar until thick.  Add the cream/milk to the egg mixture and mix on a very slow speed until combined.  Pour over the bread and leave for at least one hour until the bread has absorbed the custard.

Heat the oven to 150 degrees celsius and bake for 45 minutes.  Ideally, you should put the dish in a bain marie.  I didn't, as the casserole dish I used was too big.  The custard did curdle a little bit, but this did not affect the taste.

This is the kind of pudding you eat on a cold, dark winter's night as it does warm the cockles. The panettone adds an extra dimension of sweetness, and hits those sugar cravings whether eaten hot or cold.  Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Any ideas on what to do with my remaining panettone would be gratefully received!

Me vs Maggie Beer's Burnt Fig, Honeycomb and Caramel Icecream

I went a little bit mad scientist during the week trying to recreate my favourite icecream.  I absolutely love Maggie Beer's Burnt Fig, Honeycomb and Caramel icecream to the extent that I avoid going down the icecream aisle at the supermarket in case I hear it calling my name.  If I do hear the call, the end result is me, in a chair with a 500ml tub in one hand and a spoon in the other, and no turning back.  It's that good.  What I like most about it is the contrast between the bitterness of the caramel and the sweetness of the honeycomb. I search for those swirls of bitter caramel with all the focus of a truffle-hunting pig.

The ingredients in Maggie Beer's icecream include cream, milk, burnt fig syrup, sugar, honeycomb, water, egg yolk, skim milk powder, glucose syrup, natural vegetable gums and natural caramel flavour.  After reading this, I got a bit scared as I've never used vegetable gums, nor did I have any cocoa butter handy, which is listed as one of the ingredients in the honeycomb.  So, before starting, I knew that I wouldn't be able to replicate the icecream, just channel its essence.

You need to allow 2 days to complete this entire recipe.

Burnt Fig Syrup

4 figs, peeled and sliced
1 tbsp raw caster sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup water
juice of 1 lemon, strained
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp sunflower oil

The burnt fig syrup was a challenge.  Fig season isn't in full flight and I could only find four sad little figs at my local fruit and veg shop.  Also, I wasn't sure if burnt meant burnt, or caramelised, so I decided to caramelise within an inch of their lives.

Toss the sliced figs in the raw caster sugar.

Gently heat the oil in a frypan and add the figs.  Fry on a medium heat for about 5 minutes until the figs are caramelised and reach a mush like consistency. 

Meanwhile, put the water, caster sugar, lemon juice, white wine vinegar and vanilla essence in a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar is dissolved.  Add the fig mush and simmer for 5 minutes. 

Allow syrup to cool, strain into a jar and refrigerate until cold.

Honeycomb

2 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp bicarbonate soda

Bring the golden syrup, caster sugar and unsalted butter to the boil, then add the bicarbonate soda. 

Pour mixture into a greased tin.  When cool, put the honeycomb in a food processor and process until you have powder.

Caramel Sauce

Maggie's icecream includes 'natural caramel flavour'.  I'm not sure what this is so I made some caramel sauce instead.

300ml water
225g caster sugar

Put sugar and half the water in a saucepan.  Heat gently until sugar is dissolved, then increase the heat and boil until you reach the desired colour. Don't leave the caramel too long as it can burn.  Add the rest of the water and allow to cool.

Icecream

300ml thickened cream
600ml whipping cream
4 egg yolks
115g caster sugar

Combine the creams, and heat gently in a saucepan until just under boiling point.  Meanwhile whisk the egg yolks and sugar until thick.  Add the honeycomb powder to the cream and stir until dissolved. Add 100ml fig syrup to the egg mixture and continue to whisk.

Put the cream in a bowl over hot water, and add the egg mixture.  Stir over gentle heat for about 10-15 minutes until the custard is thick.  Refrigerate overnight, and then churn the mixture in a ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.  I churned for 25 minutes.

Refrigerate overnight until firm, then add the caramel sauce.  Do this by creating holes in the icecream using the handle of spoon and inserting it in a number of places.  Pour the caramel sauce in. 

Serve icecream with any leftover caramel sauce.

The end result bears absolutely no resemblance to Maggie Beer's icecream, but I am really pleased with the result.  It is sweet and creamy, with fig and honeycomb undertones, and is pretty darn tasty.  Unfortunately, the bitterness I love so much isn't there so I will need to refine the recipe but, if you have two days to spare, I would definitely recommend giving this recipe a try.

Gift wrapping with organza and sinamay

It was a friend's birthday a couple of months ago, and I bought her a papier mache circular box as a gift.  I'm only blogging about it now as I was on a roll with my Christmas-related posts and couldn't fit this one in.
 

As all gift wrappers know, a circular-shaped object is difficult to wrap.  There is too much paper to fold, it always looks bulky and, worse, it crinkles around the edges.  Tissue paper is more forgiving than normal gift wrapping paper, but it still crinkles.  I usually end up wrapping odd-shaped gifts in coloured tissue paper, and wrapping it again in clear cellophane, bouquet-style.  I thought I'd try something different this time.

I started with white tissue paper.

 

I wrapped it again in off-white organza.

As organza does not have any structural integrity, I wrapped it again in my favourite material - sinamay - which I've featured in a few previous posts.  I used a light blue coloured sinamay, which contrasted nicely with the organza and provided the necessary support.

Keeping with the pastel theme, I finished it off with a pale green ribbon.

It's big, but the pastel colours keep the overall look subtle and a little bit dreamy.

Since using organza in this way, I've been looking for ways to use it again.   Organza comes in a range of colours, and can make tissue paper in a complementary colour look very elegant and grown up (eg black tissue paper and grey organza).  It is worth having a look in a fabric store for gift wrapping materials as you can create something quite unique, and fabric can overcome many of the difficulties in wrapping odd-shaped gifts.

Vanilla Slice

Perth is in the middle of a heatwave.  It is 42 degrees outside at the moment, and we're heading towards the most number of consecutive days over 40 degrees.  This has not deterred me from making a vanilla slice to celebrate Australia Day, which is today.

The Australian version of the vanilla slice is essentially custard between two sheets of puff pastry, with the top sheet covered in passionfruit icing.  My experience of the vanilla slice has only been with the store-bought variety, which usually comprises canary yellow custard of a glue-like consistency, dense pastry, and a thick layer of white icing dotted with a few token passionfruit seeds.  It is the solid bright yellow custard that earned the vanilla slice a certain nickname used by my compatriots in Victoria.  I think if I had known about this nickname when I was growing up, vanilla slices would have been more cool.  Instead, they were the afternoon tea choice of people who had difficulty chewing.

I know I'm not painting a particularly good picture here, but a homemade vanilla slice is a different experience altogether.  A light creme patissiere between two sheets of flaky puff pastry and topped with a thin layer of passionfruit icing makes you believe again.

I sort of made this recipe up as I was going along, so it is a bit more rustic looking than I expected.  I've used custard powder to give a hint of yellow but if this brings back unpleasant childhood memories, substitute with cornflour.  


Vanilla Slice recipe

2 sheets ready rolled frozen puff pastry sheets

Custard

1 cup whipping cream
1 1/2 cups full cream milk
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup plain flour
1/3 cup custard powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg, lightly beaten

Icing

125g pure icing sugar, sifted
1/4 can passionfruit pulp in syrup (or use 1 passionfruit)


Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Grease and line a 23x23cm baking tin. 

Put the pastry sheets on an oven tray lined with baking paper and prick with a fork.  Put them in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the pastry is a golden colour.  When ready, take out of the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Put the cream, milk and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil.  Add the other ingredients and stir constantly over a medium heat until custard thickens and comes to the boil.  Take it off the heat and continue to stir for a bit longer until you are sure the custard is smooth. Well, you can never be sure so I always strain custard.  Cover the surface of the custard with cling film to prevent a skin from forming, and put the bowl into the fridge until cool. 

When ready to assemble, make the icing first by sifting the icing sugar into a bowl and adding the passionfruit.  You get pulp and all so if you merely want passionfruit flavour, then strain.  I kind of got a bit distracted (I blame the weather) and used an entire tin of passionfruit pulp so had to use about 400g of icing sugar to get the right consistency.

Wrestle one of the puff pastry sheets into the tin, trimming and/or squashing if you need to.  I abandoned the baking tin as the puff pastry sheets, which I had cut to size, shrunk during the cooking process and were too small for the tin.  Therefore, if you decide to make this recipe, trim the pastry sheets after they have cooked. In hindsight, I should have placed another tin over the top of the pastry sheets during the cooking process as the look I have ended up with is more country kitchen than high tea.

Continue assembling by placing the custard on top of the pastry bottom, spreading evenly.  Top with the second layer of pastry, and then spread the icing over the top.  Cut into slices using a serrated knife.

Despite the trials and tribulations in making this vanilla slice, I can definitely vouch for the flavour.  The custard is light and vanilla-y, the pastry melts, and the passionfruit icing adds a sweet-sour note.  Be careful when you eat it though as the custard will spurt out the sides, which is the only similarity between a store- bought vanilla slice and the homemade variety.

My Grandmother's Singer Sewing Machine

It's a new year, and I need to come clean about something.  I have a love-hate relationship with sewing.  You may be asking yourself why on earth did I call my blog paperbakeSEW if my feelings towards sewing are so extreme.  Well, when I'm in the sewing zone and everything is coming together as planned, I really love it.  However, there are times when the sewing machine keeps jamming, straight lines become askew, or time spent unpicking exceeds time spent sewing. At these moments, I feel like scrunching my work up in a ball and throwing it in a corner.  I know I am not alone in this. 

I'll admit, I can be a little impatient, and I do get a little fixated on finishing something at all costs, but sometimes the impatience stems from frustration with not knowing what I'm doing.  You see, I was rather a late-starter.  I didn't do sewing at school and I wasn't raised in a sewing friendly environment.  My Mum was a knitter, and sewing was something she had to do.  I also had an irrational fear of getting my finger pierced by a sewing needle, which I have only overcome in recent years.  You will understand why when I show you the machine I learned to sew on.   And when I say, learned to sew, I mean sewing two bits of scrap fabric together.... possibly twice.

This is my Grandmother's sewing machine:

This is the scary needle, which seemed huge to me as a child: 

My Grandmother bought this machine in 1930 when she got married as she thought that all married women should have a sewing machine.  It was really expensive at the time, and given my grandparents had waited five years to get married because of the Depression and had virtually no money when they finally did, it was a rather extravagant purchase.  It sat unused for most of the time, as my Grandmother preferred to crochet.

My mother was given the machine when she got married.  For most of the time, it also sat unused and, when it did come out to make the occasional school uniform or pair of shorts, it was a big deal.  Mum would "do battle", while I sat on the sidelines watching her work up speed on the treadle and move fabric under the scary needle. The machine would make a hell of a noise when Mum was in top gear, and I think the speed and the noise contributed to my fear of getting my fingers caught.

I only overcame my fear after I did some machine quilting classes.  I went to a craft show where there was a quilt exhibition and thought, I want to learn how to make those.  So, with the help of a very patient teacher and a few deep breaths, I managed to sew two pieces of fabric together... in a straight line...which eventually turned into a sampler quilt.  After that, I had no fear, but I do have a habit of choosing projects above my skill level, and I get stuck (which my Pfaff senses - it's like a photocopier that way) and this leads to frustration and a pile of unfinished projects.

I have always loved my Grandmother's sewing machine as a piece of furniture.  It has so many decorative elements - the wood carving on the drawers and sides, the painted decoration on the machine, the wrought iron, and the engraved metal plates - all of which serve no purpose other than to make the machine a nice piece of furniture.

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It now takes pride of place in my family room, where I continue the family tradition of non-sewing use.  Instead, it serves as a table for my phone, flowers and various knick knacks.  And when I'm having a frustrating sewing day, I can look at it and take comfort from knowing I come from a line of non-sewers, and that I no longer have an irrational fear of fast-moving sewing needles.