Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Viennese Cookies!

Cookies are made of butter and love.  ~Norwegian Proverb



Today I made a batch of Viennese cookies, and YES! the 1st ingredient was love! Ha Ha Ha!
I think other then a batch of 'package' cookies where all you have to add is water, these were the quickest cookies I have ever made! What took the longest was the actual baking time of 12 mins per batch!


I love this picture because it shows a lot of my new stand- that I made! I saw the 'How to' on a  craft site and made it in under 5mins! 
The cookies are mostly butter, but the fun part is that they are dipped in chocolate! If you want to make a batch, here is a simple recipe similar to the one I used! 
You could totally get away with making these in under 20mins for last minute guests coming over!
My husband now has fresh cookies to bring to lunch with him tomorrow to share with his friends! :D


... And I have homemade cookies for a girlfriend of mine that's coming over tomorrow! 


FYI these cookies also store really well incase you want to keep them on hand for children or a little indulgent snack!!



Up next: Last blog for the month- Paris Brest!
Sound be FUN!!

Macarons!!

macaron: n. A chewy cookie made with sugar, egg whites, and almond paste


So Macarons- what can I say?! Don't make them!!!! Ha HaHa! To every baker out there who's successfully made more then 1 batch of macarons you are my heros! People including David Lebovitz who make blogs about fail proof macarons, I proved last week that I can still screw it up! ! :)
Macarons are hard to make, and I knew that! I just had no idea the ratio of fails to triumphs I would be about to encounter! 
Luckily, I didn't freak out when my 1st batch flopped, or the 2nd! However, I did jump up and down for about 45 mins when the 3rd batch came out perfect (ask my husband!) Then the following day I made the vanilla bean buttercream for the red berry macarons (pictured above) and no matter how much icing sugar I added to the buttercream it remained liquid! I must've added at least a bag and a half in the end and still nothing! So the score so far is 2 failed batches of macarons, and failed buttercream. I decided to quit for the evening and start fresh the next morning! And that's exactly what I did- to no avail! I would say that day 2 was probably worse then day 1! 
Day 2 I attempted David Lebovitz chocolate macarons with chocolate ganache! Well there was no point evening making the ganache because yes, count them-1,2,3 batches went into the garbage that day! Booo Hooo! So I made this post with the 1 chocolate macaron that came out and my 3rd batch of red berry ones!
I do have to mention that I decided to make these on probably the biggest heat wave of the year, and I know that didn't help! However, in general these cookies are finicky! Am I giving up all together? No! I have one more recipe  I would like to try in the future... I'm gonna take a break on macarons for now- and after that we'll see where we stand! :)

Have you ever made macarons? What recipe did you use?


Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Chocolate Madeleines

A new British survey has revealed that 9 out of 10 people like Chocolate. The tenth lies. - Robert Paul

Today I made Chocolate Madeleines. This twist on the classic cookie is truly amazing!
I've made Madeleines before ( see "It was a MERRY Christmas", January) and  they are a light spongy cookie that is very flavorful and aromatic. The amount of chocolate that was in them wasn't very much, so you were still able to taste the butter, vanilla and a couple of the other 'secret' ingredients I threw in! :)

If you want to make these, here is a similar recipe to the one I used. My batch yielded about double the volume that this one will and I added some extra spices to add more flavor. What I would do differently next time is to add more cocoa! Even though I'm not a huge fan of chocolate, I think they would be tastier with more cocoa powder. If you want to get really creative with them you could add the zest of half an orange.

I've read that Madeleines are best served slightly warm or at the very least they must be served the same day they are made. Which means... no leftovers!


 ... which is fine by me! Ha Ha! I'm sure they won't go to waste at home! 
These cookie/cakes would be a great addition to any tea party or posh get together where there will mostly be finger foods. Or they could be served along side homemade jams at a brunch for a more rustic feel!


Until next time everyone!! Enjoy the beautiful day!

Friday, June 3, 2011

National Donut Day

Donuts. Is there anything they can't do?
~ Matt Groen




How funny that today was National Donut day in the USA and I decided to randomly make donuts last  night!!
Actually I've been itching to bake for weeks, however I've been busy with either friends, work, errands etc. There's a couple of things that I've wanted to make to showcase on the blog, one was Definitely homemade mini donuts. 
Even though summer is really busy and my work schedule for this month is out of control, i've pre-planned what i'll be making and I can give you a heads up now of the coming blogs, I'm not exactly sure of the order but it will be something a little like this:
~ Chocolate Madeleines (if you remember just after christmas when my family bought me that ginormous, extravagant Kitchen Aid mixer, Madeleine cookies were the 1st thing I made with it!) Now I'm going to do a slight variation to the traditional Madeleine and make her CHOCOLATE! The Madeleine is already a confusing cookie, is it cookie? ... is it cake? Maybe a little of both! :) But I have a feeling people will be leaning closer to cake after trying my chocolate Madeleine!
~ Viennese cookies, I found this recipe recently and I thought how simple and what a cute little homemade cookie to have on hand for any last minute visitors who stop in!
~ MACARONS, Now I know Macarons are every bakers worst nightmare... but I can't help it, I LOVE THEM! With all the different flavor and color combinations, they are the cutest accessory to any party! But, I am going to leave you in suspense to what flavors I chose- so if you love Macarons, stay tuned for that blog!
~ Paris Brest, and last but certainly not  least to the month of June will be Paris Brest with expresso cream. Speaking of unexpected visitors in the summer, this jaw dropping pastry is a prefect solution to those nights when you are having guests and don't feel like sweating over an oven to deliver something with a punch. This dessert is a 10/10 for looks, flavor, and calories! :) ... But who's counting anyway!

Well, anyway if you are a follower of the blog thats what you can look forward to in the month!

Getting back to National Donut Day and my full day of baking to bring to you- da da da daaaaaaaa! Mini donuts & donut holes/timbits/munchkins (Not photographed! :(  Unfortunately!) 
Here they ARE:




I had an inspiration once from a photo I saw of all  different pastel colored donuts and I though it looked so beautiful and innocent ( innocent as in, so light & fluffy and calorie FREE! Ha Ha) So when it came to glazing I could have gone the old fashion route with chocolate or maple, but instead I opted for a plain vanilla with pastel colors instead.
Don't let these donuts fool you though! They are called raised donuts, so they require yeast and unlike most homemade donuts are not super dense, they are more like the donuts you would get from a coffee shop such as  Tim Hortons Or Dunkin Donuts. They are fluffy inside and Very Yummy! However, they did take almost exactly an entire day to make! I started making my dough around 11am yesterday morning and between proofing & waiting and rolling out and shaping and  proofing & waiting, Ha Ha! I put my glaze on at 1:48 am this morning! They were dry enough for me to add the nonpareils at around 2:30am! Oufff! That was a big job! I'm happy I did it though because I've always wanted to make my own donuts, but I don't think I'll be making these on a regular basis! If your looking a recipe for homemade donuts you can go HERE. It's a little similar to the one I used and modified!
I plan on giving these away, so- ANY TAKERS! Lol
This is all the ingredients it took to make these yummy donuts!

Hope you had a wonderful National Donut Day, and scarfed down plenty of donuts! See you next time when I blog about Chocolate Madeleines!!!