After a couple weeks of basking in my macaron glory, I decided to do another batch of macarons this week to test if I'd actually mastered this fickle treat. Instead of doing a jam/curd/buttercream concoction, however, I opted to do a bit of sugar work. Gotta keep working on those technical bits! Sugar work and caramel rather terrify me. Mostly because I've got a horrible tendency of sticking my fingers into sauces etc to test the temperature and, as we all know, one should never stick their fingers into a red hot lava batch of molten sugar. So every time I play with sugar work, there's a reasonably high probability that a trip to the urgent care clinic for burn treatment is in my immediate future. That being said, embarking on this baking project meant that I must adopt the motto of those ubiquitous 90's skater t-shirts that we all know and love: NO FEAR!
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| Salted caramel macarons! |
I went with a french meringue method again for the macaron shells. Why mess with what you know? I colored them brown, but would have like the color to be just a bit less anemic. That's an acceptable problem to have. When coloring foods brown, it's probably better to be a little too pale than a bit too poo-colored. The salted caramel filling was pretty tasty. But I'm not sure if I got it up to the right temp since there was some slippage of the assembled cookies at room temperature. Next time, will incorporate a bit more flavor in there for pizazz.
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| Basket of Chinese sweet buns - no pineappling |
I also decided to try my hand at another yeasted sweet bread, specifically those delicious Chinese sweet buns that you see in Chinatown bakeries everywhere. These breads are also called pineapple bread, due to looks rather than composition. Cook's Science had a lovely article on making these breads so I gave it a whirl. I opted to forgo the bbq pork filling (sorry Larry), but also didn't make the condensed milk and milk powder filling (sorry me). I was a bit bummed since this recipe produced a topping that was more delicate and not scored into the traditional "pineapple" texture. The buns were also a little dry - not sure if it was overbooked or if I didn't work the dough properly (too much?). Though I bet that that the bbq pork filling would have corrected that issue.....
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Gingerbread stamp cookies.
Isn't the honeycomb pattern simply divine? |
The last project of week 14 was to test out my new cookie stamps from the NordicWare factory store! I'd been eyeing these beautiful bee-themed cookie stampers since they'd come out, but was exhibiting a fair amount of self-restraint by not buying them online. Lucky for me I could buy them locally with no shipping charges! The factory store is also a baker's playground. The staff are always so lovely and I was sent away with sheets of recipes to try out with all of my new bakeware. I was promised that the gingerbread stamper cookie recipe that comes with the "starry nights" set is top notch so I put it through the paces. It's a winner. Such great flavor (though I did add a secret ingredient or two of my own to boost the spice mixture). I made individual balls that were then pressed with the stamp for this batch and there was a bit of cracking around the edges. I wonder if rolling, stamping, and cutting out would work better for a cleaner edge? Guess I'll have to test that out down the road.
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