Vanilla Polar Bear Macarons

Happy New Year of 2020! (This post was supposed to be for the beginning of January but never got posted! So go back in time 2 months earlier!)

It is such a beautiful day of the year to know that you can have a new beginning and a fresh start. I do have a couple of new year’s resolutions but I am trying to have mini-goals one month at a time. I have failed some of my new years resolutions these past couple of years and intend to make 2020 the best year of accomplishment. I plan to be more active on my social media accounts, blog posts and more. I hope you can follow me on my foodie journey of 2020.

We are starting out the year with simple Vanilla Polar Bear Macarons. I wanted to see if i was able to teach a 10 year old girl how to follow a simple macaron recipe using a digital scale. Normally,I use Swiss Meringue Buttercream for my macaron filling but we just used American Buttercream for this recipe.

We ended up following Les Petits Macarons: Colorful French Confections to Make at Home

We used the French Method recipe of this book. I used this method because it seemed less overwhelming than the Italian Method for a 10 year old! We successfully made these polar macarons with an American buttercream recipe. We got these food writer pens and made cute polar bears!

I feel whatever age anybody can make macarons as long as you follow precise instructions and work carefully.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream Recipe

 

 

"Fortunately, all it takes for us to be of one mind is some buttercream frosting"

     I must confess, I was a learning baker who didn't know there were other types of buttercream. The only buttercream I knew of was American buttercream. When I first started my business, I used this method for my macarons. I can't believe for the first half of my business I made people eat my intensely sweet macarons! It is all a learning process and now I know better not to use this in my macarons.

  The Swiss Meringue Buttercream may seem overwhelming but the end product is worth it! Once you get used to making it, you can do it in your sleep! Not only do I love the taste of this buttercream but I just LOVE the velvety texture. The recipe I use is just from Natasha's Kitchen and it fills about an estimate of  60 paired macarons. You can also use this in cakes, cupcakes and various macaron buttercream fillings. 

Let's Begin!

 

Author: Natasha's KitchenPrint Recipe

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

ingredients:

Ingredients

• 7 large 210 grams or 7 oz egg whites
• 2 cups 400 grams granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups 3 sticks or 340 grams unsalted butter, softened*
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt we use non-iodized fine sea salt

instructions:

Instructions

1. In a medium pot, add at least 1-inch of water and bring to simmer.
2. Thoroughly wash and dry the stainless steel mixing bowl from your stand mixer* (you don't want grease touching meringue). Add 7 egg whites and 2 cups sugar and whisk together. Place mixing bowl over pot of barely simmering water, creating a seal over the pot (bowl should be over the steam, not touching water). Whisk constantly until mixture reaches 160˚F (takes about 3 min). Sugar should be fully dissolved (you should not feel any sugar granules when rubbing mixture between finger tips). Mixture will feel hot to the touch.
3. Wipe water from bottom of mixing bowl and transfer bowl to stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until stiff glossy peaks form (about 15-20 min) and bottom of the bowl feels completely at room temp and not warm (important: warm meringue will melt the butter).
4. Once bowl is at room temp, switch to paddle attachment, reduce to medium speed and add butter 1 Tbsp at a time, adding it just as fast as it is absorbed by meringue. Once all butter is in, scrape down the bowl and continue beating until it reaches a thick whipped consistency (3 min on med-high speed). If it looks lumpy or liquidy at all, keep beating until smooth, thick and whipped.
5. Add 2 tsp vanilla extract and 1/4 tsp salt and mix on med-high until incorporated (about 1 min).

Created using The Recipes Generator

Charcoal Macarons

 

"Creativity is intelligence having fun"

 

Charcoal Macarons 

           I have a lady in town that takes my macarons to the next level! I am always opened for fresh ideas especially when it comes to innovative macaron flavors. I live in a historic coal mining town (a.k.a. Hunger Games District 12.. any Hunger Games fans out there?)  in Central Washington. We just had a new restaurant opened called the Coal Chute Cafe and Pub just down the street from me. She wanted to give them coal mining them macarons! (how creative is that?) I took the challenge and incorporated a Swiss Meringue Chocolate Buttercream. I have posted a simple recipe for swiss meringue buttercream (for this recipe all you have to do is add cocoa powder). The only thing I added to the buttercream was cocoa powder, activated food grade charcoal and added Super Black food color. 

           This was honestly such a fun and unique macaron recipe. According to what I have heard, activated charcoal can whiten teeth, detoxify, alleviate gas, treats poisoning and more. I mean how awesome to have a sweet gluten-free confection with a detoxifying component! It can't get better than that! 

Let's begin! 

Yield: 60 pairedAuthor: CharmainePrint Recipe

Charcoal Macarons

prep time: 35 minscook time: 20 minstotal time: 55 mins

Charcoal Macarons

ingredients:

300 grams Almond Four 

300 grams Powdered Sugar 

110 grams Egg Whites 2x 

300 grams Caster Sugar 

75 grams Water

5 grams desired food color 

5 grams food grade charcoal powder

instructions:

1. Sift and weigh almond flour, charcoal powder and powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl.

2. Add the first 110 grams of egg whites to the sifted almond mixture. You want to mix it until it looks like an almond paste. 

3. In a saucepan, combine sugar and water together. Heat sugar syrup on medium-high until it reaches 118 degrees celsius  (244 degrees F).

4. Once your sugar syrup reaches to about 90-100 degrees celsius, place egg whites in a stand mixer and whip egg whites on medium.

5. When sugar syrup reaches 118 degrees C (egg whites should be foamy) slowly pour in sugar syrup while eggs white are whisking. 

5. Increase speed slowly and add desired food color. Egg whites should have a stiff peak meringue.

6. Combine 1/4 of the meringue mixture into the almond paste mixture.

7. Combine the rest of the meringue into the almond paste mixture until you get a molten lava consistency.*

8. Transfer mixture into a piping bag with a round tip (Wilton 1A).

9. Pipe 1- 1 1/2 inch circles onto a macaron template on parchment or silpat mat.* 

10. Pre-heat your oven 280 degrees F 

11. Once ready, place macarons in the oven for 20 minutes. If macarons don't stick to the mat, they are done. 

12. Cool macarons, fill and pair with buttercream or ganache filling. 

NOTES:

*Macarons are better eaten the day after. Give at least 24 hours of maturing time to get the flavors to blend.
*I prefer silpat mats for a more round shape
*Do not over mix or else macarons will end up flat. They need to have a stable consistency for a more round shape

Created using The Recipes Generator

Basic French Macaron Guide

"There are no limits to what you can accomplish, except the limits you place on your own thinking"

I've been baking french macarons a little over a year now. During the Spring of 2017, I decided to practice perfecting and getting to know these fancy almond cookies. I feel anybody can make french macarons as long as they put time, love and patience. I constantly had cracked, hollow and flat macarons my first couple of tries. I had a mason jar filled of imperfect macarons for my husband to munch on! Below are a couple of tips and tricks I use for baking french macarons.

1. Weigh ALL your ingredients. 

I can't stress enough how important this is. I have a lot of people ask me "Is there an easier way?" . I believe this is the easiest way in the long run. Everything needs to be precise while making these delicate cookies. Weighing scales are super inexpensive; I grabbed my weighing scale on Amazon for $10! Eventually, using weighing scale can be beneficial for using exact measurements every time leaving your recipe to be  flawless. 

2. Get to know your oven

This one was a hard one for me at the beginning of my macaron process. All ovens are different but typically most ovens go hotter than usual. My first year baking macarons, I had to figure out what temperature was right for me. I choose about 275-280 degrees F for my macarons. All ovens are different in terms of heat and circulation. Consider getting a oven thermometer ($6 on Amazon) to know exactly what temperature you oven is at. 

3. Don't Give UP!

Yep! I had times I just thought to myself "Is this worth it?". Once you have accomplished something, it gives you inspiration to try new things! Just like any new hobby or craft it takes time and effort. Don't give up in something just because its "too hard" , face it as a new challenges or goals. 

Let's Begin!

H

Yield: 60 pairedAuthor: CharmainePrint Recipe

French Macarons

prep time: 35 minscook time: 20 minstotal time: 55 mins

A basic french macaron recipe using the Italian French Method

ingredients:

300 grams Almond Four 

300 grams Powdered Sugar 

110 grams Egg Whites 2x 

300 grams Caster Sugar 

75 grams Water

5 grams desired food color 

instructions:

1. Sift and weigh almond flour and powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl 

2. Add the first 110 grams of egg whites to the sifted almond mixture. You want to mix it until it looks like an almond paste. 

3. In a saucepan, combine sugar and water together. Heat sugar syrup on medium-high until it reaches 118 degrees celsius  (244 degrees F)

4. Once your sugar syrup reaches to about 90-100 degrees celsius, place egg whites in a stand mixer and whip egg whites on medium.

5. When sugar syrup reaches 118 degrees C (egg whites should be foamy) slowly pour in sugar syrup while eggs white are whisking. 

5. Increase speed slowly and add desired food color. Egg whites should have a stiff peak meringue.

6. Combine 1/4 of the meringue mixture into the almond paste mixture.

7. Combine the rest of the meringue into the almond paste mixture until you get a molten lava consistency.*

8. Transfer mixture into a piping bag with a round tip (Wilton 1A).

9. Pipe 1- 1 1/2 inch circles onto a macaron template on parchment or silpat mat. 

10. Pre-heat your oven 280 degrees F 

11. Once ready, place macarons in the oven for 20 minutes. If macarons don't stick to the mat, they are done. 

12. Cool macarons, fill and pair with buttercream or ganache filling. 

NOTES:

*Macarons are better eaten the day after. Give at least 24 hours of maturing time to get the flavors to blend.
*I prefer silpat mats for a more round shape
*Do not over mix or else macarons will end up flat. They need to have a stable consistency for a more round shape

Created using The Recipes Generator

Blog Thyme!

"Fill your life with ADVENTURES not things, have stories to tell, not stuff to show" 

Hello lovelies,

      I decided to do a fun food and experience blog to share around the internet. I have been wanting to do this for some time now, but I honestly couldn't find my niche in what I wanted to talk about.. until now!  I am a self-taught baker and all my life I have always loved the art of baking. Every day I am learning about the science of baking (normally because I always make a ton of mistakes) and aspire to become better and better every day. 

  I am a Christian and thank God for saving me at the Cross. I thank God for every opportunity I have and how He uses me thru my skills and talents. I am humbled He has led me this far in my life with such powerful mercy and grace. 

  I hope you will enjoy this blog and what it has to offer. Feel free to comment and give suggestions. I am open to helping people in the best way I can! I am so excited to take you on an amazing journey in 2018! This year so far has been filled with ups, downs and memorable experiences.

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laughter-joy-blessings,

                                 Charmaine