Chasing those blues..

Whipped this batch of macarons for pals and realised they looked like blue treats for Smurfs instead of humans.  Kinda exotic but fun I guess and that put a smile on my face.

When friends saw these gems, they kinda squealed too.  Blue macarons?  Who makes blue macarons?  Well, me I guess.  Just wanted something fun in every bite.

Hazelnut Macarons with Black Truffle & White Chocolate Ganache
Makes about 14-16 filled bite-sized macarons

For Macaron Batter

• 1 egg white (preferably aged for 3 days) brought to room temperature
• 1/2 tsp of cream of tartar powder
• 38g icing sugar
• 36g powdered almonds
• 30g granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of gel-based blue colouring
• 1 tbsp powdered hazelnuts (for topping)

Method:

1. Line baking tray with 2 pieces of parchment paper.
2. Sift powdered sugar with the almond powder to ensure that there are no lumps.
3. In a large mixing bowl, add cream of tartar and beat the egg white until they begin to foam. At this stage, add granulated sugar gradually.  Continue beating until very stiff and firm. When you invert the bowl, the egg white batter has to stay put. That’s the time you know when you should stop.  I decided to play it safe and whisked the egg white batter for about 5 minutes before stiff peaks were formed.  Add colouring.  Continue to beat the egg whites on high for another 1-2 minutes.
4. Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in 3 batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula (ideally).  Stop folding when the mixture is smooth and there are no streaks of egg white.  Test the consistency from time to time by lifting a dollop of macaron paste and dropping it into the mixing bowl. If the macaron paste does not settle smoothly after 30 seconds, continue folding the paste. If the macaron paste smooths out too quickly, you’ve gone too far. [Note: Sometimes I use up to about 40 strokes in order to achieve this consistency.]
5. Scrape the batter into the pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps if you’re alone).
6. Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1-inch circles, evenly spaced one-inch (3 cm) apart.
7. Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons and to remove the air-bubbles in the macarons.
8. Leave the macarons out in the open for at least 30 minutes to an hour. This step is important to allow the top of the macaron shell to dry up so that you get a smooth surface for the macarons.  You will know when to pop the macarons into the oven when you touch the macarons and the batter does not stick to your fingers. Be careful not to leave them out too much for it will give you crunchy macarons and you don’t want that. This step is important and if you skip it, your macarons might flatten .  While waiting, preheat oven to 140 degrees C.
9. Bake for 15 mins and let cool completely before removing from baking sheet.

For Black Truffle & White Chocolate Ganache:

• 70g White chocolate
• 40ml double cream
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 1.5 teaspoon chopped black truffles (I used dried black truffles)

1. Hydrate dried black truffles by placing them in the cream overnight.
2. Heat the cream in a small saucepan until just boiling.
3. Pour the cream over the white chocolate and leave to stand for two minutes. This will give the chocolate time to soften.
4. Stir the ganache until smooth. If the white chocolate has not yet melted then place the bowl in the microwave and heat for 30 seconds. Remove and stir until smooth.
5. Leave the white chocolate ganache to cool until it reaches the desired consistency.
6. Refrigerate ganache till it sets to a pipe-able state and fill/spoon over the cooled macaron shells.

Assembling macarons:

1. Spread the black truffle white chocolate ganache on the macaron shell.
2. Sandwich and you are done!

It’s recommended that you let the flavours sit inside the macaron for 1 day before having them.

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I’ve been busy in the kitchen… Click here to check out my baking adventures in Geneva.

Oh sweetheart!

Valentine’s Day – we stopped celebrating it for a while now but it’s still nice to just indulge in the festivity and what better way than to bake up a batch of pretty-in-pink Macarons for the occasion just for the fun of it.

This has to be one of my favourite and trusted recipes that I often fall back on when I ran out of ideas to create new flavours.  Plus it’s always a hit with my little Style Princess, so I promised to whip her up a batch of these before we leave.  If you are interested to try your hand at making some of these, here’s the recipe for the Rose Macarons filled with White Chocolate Lychee Ganache.

And how are you celebrating this occasion?  As for Moi, I’m leaving the Man at home and doing a short girlie trip to Rome with E and the little Style Princess.  Hehe.  A different kind of celebration but one I’m definitely looking forward to.

Happy Valentine’s Day to you all ♥!

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I’ve been busy in the kitchen… Click here to check out my baking adventures in Geneva.

In exchange for these macarons

We’re going to be meeting the peeps from Singapore to spend an entire week with them snow-boarding up in Courchevel.  Can’t wait!!  In exchange for some otah-otah that Dory is bringing up for me, I decided to make some macarons for the group.  It was a massive affair in the kitchen trying to whip up about 40 macarons – my biggest mission ever!  The kitchen was a mess  and 10 of them failed but well plenty of others to go round. 

I can’t wait to share them with the group!  Well, they are still not perfect yet, I don’t understand why the peaks are still showing though I’ve been giving the batter a lot more.  Why?  In order to hide these ‘imperfections’, I’ve decided to add toppings on to my imperfect macarons.  And you know what?  They look kinda okay.  Hehe.

Presenting my Macarons topped with toasted coconut flakes and filled with home-made pineapple jam leftover from these.  Thought that the little orange crane added a burst of burst of sunshine along with the macarons since I didn’t have any other props left to play with.

And since these Peanut Butter & Jam macarons topped with hazelnuts were pretty good the first time, thought I’ll stick with something safe.

Hope these will survive the road-trip up for the peeps.  Can’t wait to meet them and have some of those otah!

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I’ve been busy in the kitchen… Click here to check out my baking adventures in Geneva.

Dressing up the Pineapple Tart

Okay, yet another ‘mad’-caron post just because I feel like mixing up some egg whites and jazzing up the pineapple tart once again.  Yes, after this pineapple mac-ness post, I wasn’t quite satisfied with the flavour for I felt that it was a little lost with the mascarpone cheese, so I decided to try making a new batch of pineapple jam to be filled with more macarons.

This time round, the pineapple jam which I made was a recipe adapted from my cousin’s home-made pineapple jam recipe.  And instead of overpowering the jam with the buttercream or mascarpone cheese, I kept it simple with some whipped cream and let the pineapple jam work its magic for taste. Well, am pretty pleased with the results so I packed them off as treats for the girlfriends to be enjoyed after lunch.

With just a couple of days left to the Lunar New Year, why don’t you work your magic and bake up a storm with this batch of sweet treats for loved ones and friends.  

Pineapple Macarons

Makes about 10 filled bite-sized macarons

For Macaron Batter

• 1 egg white (preferably aged for 3 days) brought to room temperature
• A pinch of Cream of Tartar
• 38g icing sugar
• 36g powdered almonds
• 30g granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of gel-based yellow colouring

Method:

1. Line baking tray with 2 pieces of parchment paper.
2. Sift powdered sugar with the powdered almonds to ensure that there are no lumps.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg white until they begin to foam. At this stage, add the pinch of cream of tartar and the granulated sugar gradually.  Continue beating until very stiff and firm. When you invert the bowl, the egg white batter has to stay put. That’s the time you know when you should stop.  I decided to play it safe and whisked the egg white batter for about 5 minutes before stiff peaks were formed.  Continue to beat the egg whites on high for another 1-2 minutes.  Add colouring to batter.
4. Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in 3 batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula (ideally).  Stop folding when the mixture is smooth and there are no streaks of egg white.  I used just about 48 strokes to incorporate the dry mixture into the egg whites.  Slowly scrape the batter into the pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps if you’re alone).
5. Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1-inch circles, evenly spaced one-inch (3 cm) apart.
6. Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons and to remove the air-bubbles in the macarons.
7. Leave the macarons out in the open for at least 30 minutes to an hour. This step is important to allow the top of the macaron shell to dry up so that you get a smooth surface for the macarons.  You will know when to pop the macarons into the oven when you touch the macarons and the batter does not stick to your fingers. Be careful not to leave them out too much for it will give you crunchy macarons and you don’t want that. This step is important and if you skip it, your macarons might flatten .  While waiting, preheat oven to 140 degrees C.
8. Bake for 15 mins and let cool completely before removing from baking sheet.

To make the Pineapple Jam

Ingredients:

• 300g of fresh pineapple
• 2 stalks of pandan leaves (screwpine leaves)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• Handful of cloves (I used about 10)
• 1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence
• 2 – 3 tablespoons of sugar (add more or less according to taste)

Method:

1. Place pineapple into food processor to get the puree.  Drain juice.
2. Place pineapple in a saucepan under medium heat and add pandan leaves, lemon juice, cinnamon and cloves.
3. Continue to stir the mix until the pineapple is almost dry.
4. Add sugar according to taste.
5. You will know when the pineapple filling is ready when the mixture is sticky. Add vanilla essence to the jam and continue to stir jam until the vanilla is fully absorbed into the jam.  Allow the cooled pineapple filling to be cooled before removing the cinnamon and cloves.
6. When cooled, store in air-tight container. (Note: Filling can be prepared ahead and frozen until needed.

Assembling macarons:

1. I used fresh whipped cream and piped some of it on the macaron shell.  Thereafter, I rolled the pineapple jam into tiny little balls and placed it on top of the whipped cream.
2. Sandwich and you are done!

It’s recommended that you let the flavours sit inside the macaron for 1 day before having them.  Also recommended that you take the macarons out from the refrigerator 2 hours before eating them.

Okay, lessons learnt:  I’m still under-mixing my macaron batter which is why there are tiny peaks in my shells.  I guess I’ll just have to keep on trying to get the perfect shell then. 

Hope you enjoyed the recipe and get to try it out soon.  After participating in my first MacTweets, I’ll be submitting this recipe for this month’s Razzle Dazzle challenge.  I like to think that these French Macarons with its glammed up pineapple filling would razzle dazzle your taste-buds when you take a bite of them.

And because the Lunar New Year is just round the corner, I like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Prosperous New Year.  May the year of the Dragon sparkle with good fortune, health and happiness for you!  Gong Xi Fa Cai!

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I’ve been busy in the kitchen… Click here to check out my baking adventures in Geneva.

PB & J Macarons

Counting down the days when we head back to Singers… just another 2 more months to go.  Looking back on my brief expat wife stint, well, it has been short but really memorable.  Have learned loads – improved on my culinary skills, tried to learn French but kinda failed, traveled loads and made a bunch of incredible friends.

Among our small circle of friends in Geneva, I feel really blessed to have met this special group of ladies who hail from America.  On learning that we were going to be heading back to Singapore soon, us ladies decided that we should try to organise a little girlie-trip away from the men.  Nothing too dramatic, just an overnight trip to a place where we could chill and relax.  Fine by me and I was really excited about going away, you know to explore more on Europe before we head back and I guess no better way than to do it with this bunch of adventurous ladies.

Trying to coordinate our schedules was a toughie, I’m partly to ‘blame’ for we’re trying to make the most of our remaining time here so our travel schedules have been really packed.  So L from the Swiss Watch Blog suggested that we get together at her place one afternoon to discuss and get the ball rolling.

I was recently gifted with a Macaron Recipe book by Sam from Schwingen in Switzerland and I wanted to make good this gift by making a batch of PB & J (Peanut Butter and Jam) Macarons for the girls when we have our little discussion. So over our cuppa coffees/ teas plus little bites, we skyped A over at Switzerland Hughes (she couldn’t be there physically because she had to stay in to wait for the plumber) and nailed down the date plus venue for our girlie-trip.  Can’t wait for the trip… there’ll be loads of bubbly and a couple of laughs along the way I’m sure.  Stay tuned!

Finally, here’s the recipe for our tea-time snack – Hazelnut Macarons with Peanut Butter & Jam.  Go on try them, makes a fine treat for a wonderful afternoon with friends. 

Hazelnut Macarons with Peanut Butter & Jam

Makes about 10 filled bite-sized macarons

For Macaron Batter

• 1 egg white (preferably aged for 3 days) brought to room temperature
• A pinch of Cream of Tartar
• 38g icing sugar
• 36g powdered almonds
• 30g granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of gel-based yellow colouring
• Handful of powdered hazelnuts for topping

Method:

1. Line baking tray with 2 pieces of parchment paper.
2. Sift powdered sugar with the powdered almonds to ensure that there are no lumps.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg white until they begin to foam. At this stage, add the pinch of cream of tartar and the granulated sugar gradually.  Continue beating until very stiff and firm. When you invert the bowl, the egg white batter has to stay put. That’s the time you know when you should stop.  I decided to play it safe and whisked the egg white batter for about 5 minutes before stiff peaks were formed.  Continue to beat the egg whites on high for another 1-2 minutes.  Add colouring to batter.
4. Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in 3 batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula (ideally).  Stop folding when the mixture is smooth and there are no streaks of egg white.  I used close to 50 strokes to incorporate the dry mixture into the egg whites.  Slowly scrape the batter into the pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps if you’re alone).
5. Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1-inch circles, evenly spaced one-inch (3 cm) apart.  Sprinkle crushed hazelnuts on top of macaron shells.
6. Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons and to remove the air-bubbles in the macarons.
7. Leave the macarons out in the open for at least 30 minutes to an hour. This step is important to allow the top of the macaron shell to dry up so that you get a smooth surface for the macarons.  You will know when to pop the macarons into the oven when you touch the macarons and the batter does not stick to your fingers. Be careful not to leave them out too much for it will give you crunchy macarons and you don’t want that. This step is important and if you skip it, your macarons might flatten .  While waiting, preheat oven to 160 degrees C.
8. Bake for 15 mins and let cool completely before removing from baking sheet.

Assembling macarons:

1. Spread peanut butter and jam on the macaron shell.
2. Sandwich and you are done!

It’s recommended that you let the flavours sit inside the macaron for 1 day before having them.  Also recommended that you take the macarons out from the refrigerator 2 hours before eating them.  Enjoy!

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I’ve been busy in the kitchen… Click here to check out my baking adventures in Geneva.

Pineapple mac-ness

I was itching to start baking more macarons but it turned out to be a rather ‘manja’-ron episode as I’ve affectionately learned from Wie from Journey with Heather whom I’ve discovered while trying to search for a pineapple macaron recipe to make for the upcoming Chinese New Year.

Arh, family and friends back home are busy prepping for one of the most important traditional festivals in the Chinese calendar – the Lunar New Year.  In every Chinese household, ‘mayhem’ ensues before the actual day of the New Year.  We spring clean our homes to rid of the previous year’s bad luck in order to welcome good luck for the New Year.  Then there is massive cooking and buying of traditional Chinese goodies to welcome family and friends into our homes.  There’s a whole lot of feasting and gambling in the 15 days of the celebration.

Back home, our home would be filled with tons of goodies purchased or gifted from friends.  Oh how I would miss the Bak Kwa, the thin and crispy Kueh Bangkit that thoughtful S has been gifting me for the past couple of years, those yummy pineapple tarts that I would order from my colleague’s secret baker and the awesome Rose & Lychee cookies from Home’s Delight.  The list could go on but for fear that I would feel terribly home-sick, I better stop now.

Friends told me that it wasn’t too difficult to attempt making my own pineapple tarts.  So I tried making some pineapple jam the other night and instead of filling them with the traditional buttered cookie base, I decided to fill them with macarons instead giving our Asian cookie a French-flair twist.  Hehe.

The steps are a little more complicated than usual for I had to make the Pineapple Jam first and then infusing it together with the Mascarpone Cheese the next day.

Pineapple & Mascarpone Cheese Macarons

Makes about 10 filled bite-sized macarons

For Macaron Batter

• 1 egg white (preferably aged for 3 days) brought to room temperature
• A pinch of Cream of Tartar
• 38g icing sugar
• 36g powdered almonds
• 30g granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of gel-based yellow colouring

Method:

1. Line baking tray with 2 pieces of parchment paper.
2. Sift powdered sugar with the powdered almonds to ensure that there are no lumps.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg white until they begin to foam. At this stage, add the pinch of cream of tartar and the granulated sugar gradually.  Continue beating until very stiff and firm. When you invert the bowl, the egg white batter has to stay put. That’s the time you know when you should stop.  I decided to play it safe and whisked the egg white batter for about 5 minutes before stiff peaks were formed.  Continue to beat the egg whites on high for another 1-2 minutes.  Add colouring to batter.
4. Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in 3 batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula (ideally).  Stop folding when the mixture is smooth and there are no streaks of egg white.  I used just about 48 strokes to incorporate the dry mixture into the egg whites.  Slowly scrape the batter into the pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps if you’re alone).
5. Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1-inch circles, evenly spaced one-inch (3 cm) apart.
6. Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons and to remove the air-bubbles in the macarons.
7. Leave the macarons out in the open for at least 30 minutes to an hour. This step is important to allow the top of the macaron shell to dry up so that you get a smooth surface for the macarons.  You will know when to pop the macarons into the oven when you touch the macarons and the batter does not stick to your fingers. Be careful not to leave them out too much for it will give you crunchy macarons and you don’t want that. This step is important and if you skip it, your macarons might flatten .  While waiting, preheat oven to 140 degrees C.
8. Bake for 15 mins and let cool completely before removing from baking sheet.

To make the Pineapple Jam [Recipe adapted from Lily Wai Sek Hong's pineapple tart filling]

• 100g of canned pineapple (approximately 4 pineapple rings) [I used canned pineapple for it's already been sweetened]
• 2 – 3 tablespoons of sugar (add more or less according to taste)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 star anise

Method:

1. Place pineapple into food processor to get the puree.  Drain juice.
2. Place pineapple in a saucepan under medium heat and add a stick of cinnamon and star anise.
3. Continue to stir the mix until the pineapple is almost dry.
4. Add sugar according to taste.
5. You will know when the pineapple filling is ready when the mixture is sticky.  Allow the cooled pineapple filling to be cooled before removing the star anise and cinnamon stick.
6. When cooled, store in air-tight container. (Note: Filling can be prepared ahead and frozen until needed.

To make the Pineapple Mascarpone Cheese Filling [Recipe adapted from wie]

• 2 tbsp heavy cream
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp mascarpone cheese
• 2 tbsp pineapple jam

Method:

1. Whisk heavy cream and sugar till soft peaks form.
2. Add mascarpone cheese and pineapple jam. Mix thoroughly. Set aside in the fridge until ready to assemble.

Assembling macarons:

1. Spread pineapple mascarpone cheese on the macaron shell.
2. Sandwich and you are done!

It’s recommended that you let the flavours sit inside the macaron for 1 day before having them.  Also recommended that you take the macarons out from the refrigerator 2 hours before eating them.

Lessons learned:  I think I’m still not mixing the batter enough for they still have little peaks on them and they don’t seem to flatten out.  Well, but I can’t complain since they have feet.  That’s why the nickname of ‘manja’-rons will serve them well for now.  Live and learn I guess, I’ll soldier on to the next batch of macarons then.  My cousin has another pineapple jam recipe that looks good to be filled with more macs.  Think I’ll try that out for as a treat for our little road-trip next weekend.

If you are looking for some home-baked goodies this Lunar New Year, why not give this recipe a try?   Happy Baking!

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I’ve been busy in the kitchen… Click here to check out my baking adventures in Geneva.

It’s a Mac Holiday Season!

Okay, last macaron post for the week (or probably for the year) before we go on our Christmas break up in the mountains.  As you can tell I’ve been on a macron overdrive ever since we got back to Geneva.  I was going to give myself a break from all that macaron making but after my festive macarons went a little awry last week, I was tempted to fix the ‘kinks’ and get it right this time.  It was a case of ‘make-or-break’ situation for I only had 1 aged egg-white sitting in the refrigerator.

I was working on a time crunch (not exactly the right mindset for making these petite little things) and boy was I relieved when I got the candy swirls right this time round!  Phew!  When I popped these into the oven, all I could think about was ‘Rise, oh feet, Rise!’ and they did rise albeit being a little lop-sided.

Nonetheless, like a proud mama, I’m pleased to present my ‘Candy Swirl Macarons with Peppermint Mocha Ganache’!  Yeah, you heard me right… Peppermint Mocha Ganache – a flavour inspired by my all-time favourite Starbucks beverage!

I trawled the internet for inspiration and thought long and hard how I could get the flavours to come together.  Questions like ‘Should I do a mint macaron shell with a coffee ganache? Or the other way round?’.  In the end, I infused espresso powder and the peppermint essence together with the cream before heating it up to incorporate into the dark chocolate ganache.  The taste was unbelievable!  The espresso together with the dark chocolate ganache was like mocha, strong and robust but not overtly sweet for the mint aftertaste kicked in thereafter.  This truly was one of my most unusual creations!

Candy-swirl Macarons with Peppermint Mocha Ganache

Makes about 14 filled bite-sized macarons

For Macaron Batter

• 1 egg white (preferably aged for 3 days) brought to room temperature
• A pinch of Cream of Tartar
• 38g icing sugar
• 36g powdered almonds
• 30g granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of powder-based red colouring

Method:

1. Line baking tray with 2 pieces of parchment paper.
2. Sift powdered sugar with the powdered hazelnuts to ensure that there are no lumps.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg white until they begin to foam. At this stage, add the pinch of cream of tartar and the granulated sugar gradually.  Continue beating until very stiff and firm. When you invert the bowl, the egg white batter has to stay put. That’s the time you know when you should stop.  I decided to play it safe and whisked the egg white batter for about 5 minutes before stiff peaks were formed.  Continue to beat the egg whites on high for another 1-2 minutes.
4. Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in 3 batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula (ideally).  Stop folding when the mixture is smooth and there are no streaks of egg white.  I used about 40 strokes to incorporate the dry mixture into the egg whites.  Add the powdered red colouring sparingly over the batter and slowly scrape the batter into the pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps if you’re alone).
5. Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1-inch circles, evenly spaced one-inch (3 cm) apart.
6. Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons and to remove the air-bubbles in the macarons.
7. Leave the macarons out in the open for at least 30 minutes to an hour. This step is important to allow the top of the macaron shell to dry up so that you get a smooth surface for the macarons.  You will know when to pop the macarons into the oven when you touch the macarons and the batter does not stick to your fingers. Be careful not to leave them out too much for it will give you crunchy macarons and you don’t want that. This step is important and if you skip it, your macarons might flatten .  While waiting, preheat oven to 140 degrees C.
8. Bake for 15 mins and let cool completely before removing from baking sheet.

For Peppermint Mocha Ganache filling

• 50g of dark chocolate (chopped)
• 1/2 teaspoon of Peppermint extract
• 1 teaspoon of Espresso powder (I cut open a Nespresso capsule and used the espresso powder)
• 4-6 tablespoons of cream

Method:

1. Infuse Peppermint extract and espresso powder in cream for 30 mins to 1 hour.
2. Place the chopped white chocolate into a medium size microwave safe mixing bowl. Set aside while you heat the cream mixture.
3. Heat the cream mixture in a small saucepan until just boiling.
4. Pour the cream over the chocolate and leave to stand for two minutes. This will give the chocolate time to soften.
5. Stir the ganache until smooth. If all the dark chocolate has not melted then place the bowl in the microwave and heat for 30 seconds. Remove and stir until smooth.
6. Leave the chocolate ganache to cool until it reaches the desired consistency.

Assembling macarons:

1. Spread peppermint mocha chocolate ganache on the macaron shell.
2. Sandwich and you are done!

It’s recommended that you let the flavours sit inside the macaron for 1 day before having them.

I guess this much about wraps my macaron journey for the year!  Phew.. after countless batches of macarons and close to 20 ‘almost perfect’ ones, I think I’m done making these little ones for a little while… going on a teeny-weeny break before the new macaron adventures begin in 2012.  Hope you found my macaron making adventures a little useful or rather a little entertaining for this noob-baker like me.  I also hoped that it inspired you to try making some of these one day.  It can be rather fulfilling and addictive (as you can tell from my many macaron posts).

Once again, happy holidays to you all!  Have a smashing good time celebrating the festive season.. As for us, we’re off to the mountains sipping our Vin Chaud (mulled wine) and hoping not to fall too much on my bum this time round whilst snowboarding.

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I’ve been busy in the kitchen… Click here to check out my baking adventures in Geneva.