Craftertaste Special: Macarons with Friends

Macarons. No, not macaroons, macarons!

I have been seeing these all over New York recently. I think they've actually been there the whole time and I've just been ignoring them; I assumed that the taste couldn't match the curb appeal. But after I walked into the La Maison du Macaron on 23rd street, I realized that every minute of my life before that moment had been wasted not eating macarons.

Is it the most over-engineered cookie you've ever eaten? Or maybe a cake disguised as a small sandwich? Let's be honest: it looks like a lot like an Oreo that has let itself go.

Macarons may look and taste simply delicious, but it turns out they are fairly challenging to make (read: even I have my limits!). So for this one I had to call in re-enforcements. Enter Emily, Eva, and Jacie. And Martha Stewart. People who actually know what they're doing! Hooray!

Did I mention Martha Stewart? I did. Awesome. 

For this Craftertaste special event, we all decided to try to recreate the macaron a la Martha Stewart's recipe, which can be found here. I'll walk you through what we did, and add in a couple of tips that Emily showed us as we traipsed about in macaron land. And what would this post be without an obligatory Craftertaste cartoon??

After first whisking together the almond flour and sugar, we went ahead making the egg white "meringue" that would give our macarons their chewiness on the inside and a hard shell on the outside. Here, we just used egg whites from the carton left out on the counter for about 30 mins (to get them to room temp), substituting one serving size per egg. No yolk separation necessary! 

Beating together the egg whites, cream of tartar and superfine sugar in a stand mixer yielded "stiff peaks" that look a little something like this.

When we folded in our flour mixture into the egg white mixture, a rich and creamy batter formed that we lopped into a pastry bag. Don't have one of those? A Ziploc with a corner cut off will do the trick. Just dont forget to seal the Ziploc before you start piping!

Emily actually had a silicone macaron baking sheet (who has that??) that we piped the batter onto, with its tiny silicone rings to keep the batter in a nice uniform circle. At the end of the day though, we realized the batter that we added directly onto parchment paper came out slightly better, as these cookies were easier to remove from the sheet after baking.

Don't forget to tap the baking sheets on the counter before baking! Air bubbles son no bueno.

For the cream filling, we followed a buttercream recipe (here) supplemented with one tbsp of vanilla bean paste. I know what you're thinking, and yes, the vanilla bean paste DOES have to be from Madagascar, you heathen! (No, it doesn't). For half of the buttercream, we removed it to a separate bowl after mixing and stirred in two tbsp's of instant coffee for filling variety.

What's that you say? Buttercream soup is splattering about and desecrating your otherwise spotless kitchen? Emily has the answer.

If you read the recipe hyperlinked above, you'll realize that Martha Stewart wants you to bake your macarons by letting them sit at room temperature for 15 minutes, followed by baking them in an oven that has been pre-heated to 375 but immediately turned down (for what!) to 325 prior to putting your cookie-laden baking sheet in the oven. To many, this will seem like baking voodoo. You might as well sacrifice a stick of unsalted butter upon a tiny altar before baking them. But hey, it's hard to argue with results.

I should mention that up until this point Emily has actually done 90% of the work while the rest of us tried to look busy. However, everyone could be found constructing the macaron sandwiches at the end. Look at how much fun we're having!

I have to say, the end result turned out much better than expected. I mean, we even got the little crinkly bits coming off the edges of each cookie ("feet"). Go team!

If you're thinking of making your own macarons, save time and macaron with friends! Especially friends that like to do a lot of the work for you.

Honorable mentions: Tommy, for serving us wonderful beer throughout the process. Geoff, Jillian and Ryan, for playing Settlers of Catan.

Happy Crafting!

Chocolate Granola

Hmm... What to eat for breakfast...

Cereal? Boring.

Yogurt? Blah.

English muffin? Again?? No way.

I've got your solution in the form of crunchy, chocolatey, nutty goodness.

Feed your inner (and outer) hippie with this chocolate granola!

Ingredients:

3 cups rolled oats (quick oats)

1/2 cup of each of the following: pecans, dry roasted peanuts, shelled pistachios, cocoa almonds

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup extra light olive oil

1/4 cup honey

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Time commitment: 1hr 15min... But it's worth it!

Estimated cost: 15$

Yield: a LOT of granola

Preheat the oven to 250F. Chop all of the nuts to a medium-coarse chop and stir together with the rolled oats in a large bowl. Add in the brown sugar, cocoa powder and cinnamon and stir to evenly coat the nuts and oats.

In a separate bowl, mix together the honey and olive oil. They don't really come together well, but this helps to distribute them both on the granola mix at the same time. Add the mixed honey and oil to the nuts and grains and stir to coat.

Dump the coated granola mixture onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and spread the granola around into an even layer. Into the oven it goes!

Bake the granola for 40 minutes at 250F, then bump up the temp to 300F and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Be sure to turn the granola with a spatula every 20 minutes to avoid burning it!

At this point, you're realizing that an hour is a long time. As someone who's willing to take the time to make their own granola, I have a few suggestions as to how to pass the time:

(1) Do a second round of yoga. Lots of child's pose.

(2) Backcomb your dreadlocks.

(3) Repair your torn tie-dye shirts with peace sign patches.

(4) Watch "The Best of Burning Man" on DVD.

Hopefully you enjoyed doing all of those things! I know I did (not). Remove the granola from the oven and scrape it into a large bowl to cool. How good does that smell?

Spoon your favorite yogurt into a bowl and top it off with some chocolate granola. You could even put it on top of some strawberry mousse (wink wink nudge nudge). Or just eat it by the handful; a particularly attractive idea for those without spoons. Store excess cooled granola in a Ziploc bag to preserve its crunchiness.

Going on a hike because your significant other is way more active than you are and enjoys watching you suffer? No worries! Throw some chocolate chips and dried cranberries in that same Ziploc bag and you've got yourself some mighty fine trail mix. 

It won't make the hike easier, but keeping your mouth full will stop you from complaining too much (like I do)!

Happy Crafting!

Alcohol Infusions

WARNING: If you are younger than 21 years of age, stop reading now! Alcohol is gross and uncool. In other words, it's not trending. You won't like it!

If you are older than 21 years of age, have I got a craft for you!

If you've ever been to a speakeasy (or a place masquerading as a speakeasy), you know that infused alcohols are their bread and butter. One of them probably even has bread and butter infused whiskey. 

When you read the menu, it's elderflower liquor this, apple rum that. Then they mix these fancy alcohols with some other lofty ingredients and charge you 15$. 

Thanks bartender man. I'm sure this exorbitant price helps put the wax on that handlebar moustache of yours.

The good news is that once you spend most of your hard-earned money on fancy drinks, you only need a little bit more to replicate the experience at home, Craftertaste-style.

Keep your speaking as easy as your listening with alcohol infusions!

Ingredients

Alcohol of your choosing

Infusion material (fruit, seeds, whole spices, non-toxic flowers, teas, etc.)

Mason jar

Funnel

Coffee filters

Glass bottles with air-tight caps

(See below for recipe ideas)

Does this already seem like a bad idea? I suggest hitting the bottle, and then reading onward. Inhibitions: lowered.

The idea here is simple. Let your ingredients soak in the alcohol to release any water/alcohol-soluble flavorants inside the mason jar. Then pour the entire mixture into a coffee filter lined funnel (to separate out the non-drinkable components) and into a glass bottle for storage.

The key factors controlling how strong the infused flavor presents itself in the alcohol are (1) the amount of infusion ingredient, (2) exposed surface area of the infusion ingredient, and (3) the incubation time. Striking a balance between these factors can be somewhat challenging. But once you find that balance, you'll see it was well worth the trial and error.

Here are a few recipes I came up with after drinking the failed attempts:

Orange and Ginger Vodka

- Peel from 1/2 an orange, in long strips

- 5 slices of ginger root

- 1 cup Absolut vodka

- Stir ingredients in the mason jar and incubate

- Incubation time: 30 min

Fennel and Bay Leaf Whiskey

- 3 tbsp fennel seeds

- 2 bay leaves, crushed up

- 1 cup Maker's Mark whiskey

- Stir ingredients in the mason jar and incubate

- Incubation time: 30 min

Green Tea and Black Sesame Gin

- 1 tbsp loose leaf green tea

- 1 tbsp black sesame seeds

- 1 cup Bombay Sapphire gin

- Stir ingredients in the mason jar and incubate

- Incubation time: 15 min

I would recommend NOT doing shots with your prized creations. The flavors coming out of these alcohol infusions are fairly potent, and therefore would be better served (pun intended) in a mixed drink or cocktail.

You could probably store these infusions for a week or two in the sealed glass bottles in the fridge. I usually just make them fresh before a gathering though, scaling up the recipes above to party sized portions.

Try experimenting with different alcohol and flavor combinations until you get an infused alcohol all your own. Then invite me over so we can get wasted! WOOO!

Happy crafting!

BLT Chicken Burger

Ahh Memorial Day. The first long weekend of the outdoor season. Time to throw on your stunna' shades, crack open a cold one and fire up the grill.  

This presents a problem for people like me who don't have any outdoor space. Sure I could fight for the use of a coal pit at the local park.  But based on where I live, this sort of altercation would likely result in me getting knifed.

I don't want to be a statistic. I just want a nice, post-modern burger. 

That's why I played it safe this Memorial Day and baked my burger in the oven. Short on grill marks, big on chickeny goodness. 

Enjoy an altercation-free holiday with this upscale BLT chicken burger!

Ingredients:

2 sundried tomato chicken sausages (Al Fresco; it's pre-cooked!)

1/2 cup frozen kale

4 strips of bacon, cooked (crispy!)

1 tbsp extra light olive oil

1/2 vidalia onion

2 corn english muffins

Serves 2, or 1 super hungry person

Time commitment: 30mins

Estimated cost: 12$

I know, I know. Chicken sausage? Again?? Just trust me, okay? Have I steered you wrong so far? (Read: rhetorical).

Hopefully you saved some from those chicken parm bites a couple posts ago ;).

Cut the skin away from the chicken sausage with a paring knife and place chunks of the sausage in a food processor. Add in the olive oil and kale. Take the bacon (cooked on the stovetop until crispy) and crumble two of the strips into the food processor. Pulse chop until the ingredients are combined into a ground beef consistency and the olive oil has coated the mixture.

Take the burger substrate and form into two ~1/3lb patties, i.e. allocate half of the mix per patty. Don't these already look good?

Bake for 15 minutes at 350F, to give them a nice golden brown crisp on the surface. Since the chicken is pre-cooked, no need to worry about doneness.

While the patties are in the oven, toast the corn english muffins (Thomas') and cut thin slices of the vidalia onion for topping the burger.

Assemble the burgers on the muffin buns, topping with an extra slice of bacon each, as well as the onion. A little ketchup or mustard never hurts either!

Although I had a hard time putting this down, I realized the blog could benefit from a more dramatic shot of the burger.

Just ignore the fact that it's half gone already.

Want a more bacon-filled experience? (Read: rhetorical). Substitute the olive oil for a tablespoon of bacon fat. Just spoon it right out of the pan you cooked the bacon in and into the food processor. No, not your mouth, the food processor!

Happy Memorial Day!

Tangy Strawberry Mousse

Hi Everyone!

For Ron Burgandy, milk was a bad choice.

For the rest of us, it is an excellent one. Especially milk with lots of fat content.

Why you ask? Because when you whip it long enough, and mix in some fruit, it becomes a light and airy treat quite suitable for a spring afternoon. Huzzah!

Tantalize your tastebuds with this tangy strawberry mousse.

Ingredients

12 strawberries (tops removed)

Zest from one tangelo

4 tbsp light brown sugar

1 pint heavy cream

1 Chobani cherry greek yogurt (6 oz)

Time commitment: 10min

Estimated cost: 10$

This is basically an overglorified way to eat straight up whipped cream. But am I complaining? Absolutely not.

Use a food processor to combine the strawberries, brown sugar and zest into a loose puree. There can still be small chunks of strawberry floating around; this adds a little bit of texture to contrast the whipped cream.

In a blender (or with a hand mixer (or with a food processor (or with a whisk if you are super buff))) add the heavy whipping cream and process until it becomes solid. You have just created fresh whipped cream! Super easy right?

Quickly spoon the whipped cream into a bowl. Mix the Chobani yogurt (to resuspend the fruit on the bottom) and then fold the yogurt into the whipped cream with a spoon. Add in the strawberry mixture and stir until combined.

You'll want to serve this immediately after preparing it for best results, and keep it cold! Athough the yogurt helps to give the mousse some body, over time (i.e. the next day) the whipped in air will begin to slowly leave the cream, resulting in more of a delicious sludge than a delicious mousse.

Anyway, don't fear! You can always store the leftovers in the fridge and re-blend it later to fluff it up again, good as new. 

Or you can throw the leftover mousse in your ice cream maker... Muahahaha! (More on that this summer).

I served mine in this Irish coffee glass. Mainly to limit my portion size to something only mildly upsetting. This is, after all, about 70% whipped cream. Eat responsibly!

Happy crafting!

No-Sew Fleece Blanket

Grandparents. Perhaps the hardest people on the planet to buy gifts for.

What gift can you get for someone who only ever asks for a phone call once in a while?

Well first of all you can call your grandparents, to alleviate that "I'm a terrible person" feeling.

Then you can give them a handmade gift, so that every time they use it they'll think of their favorite grandchild. Aww.

Maximize your love for g-ma with the no-sew fleece blanket.

Materials:

Two pieces of fleece, 7ft long x 5ft wide

Safety pins

A good pair of scissors

Time commitment: A couple episodes of Chopped

Estimated cost: Depends on the fleece; 40-80$

My mom is the one who showed me how to make these. Thanks Mom! Your mother's day card is in the mail.

Acquiring your fleece pieces is the first step here. Make a run to Joann's Fabrics; they have all of their rolls of fleece arranged by color and print. Just take the fleece rolls you like up to the nice fabrics employee and have them cut the lengths of fleece you desire.

Don't take your scissors into the store and try to cut the fleece yourself. This is generally frowned upon.

I ended up getting one "top fleece" with an interesting print on it, and one "bottom fleece" that is a solid color. But hey, if you really want a fire engine print on one side of the blanket and jungle animals on the other, go crazy.

Drive home. Then, lay the two fleeces on top of one another and align the edges as best you can. Pin them together about five inches inward from each corner and the same distance inward along the edges. Now measure off four inch squares at each corner of the fleece and cut them away with scissors.

This next part is going to sound tedious. That's because it is. Cut strips about one inch wide by four inches long (stretching into the core of the blanket) using a your scissors. To aid you in cutting a consistent length, you can draw a straight line from corner to corner in pencil and cut to that line each time.

After you've destroyed your hand cutting all of those strips, you have now arrived at the "fun part". Take the top strip and complimentary bottom strip and tie them together. Repeat ad nauseam. Two overhand knots per set of strips works best. Just be sure to tie them all in the same direction to keep all the strips of the same color facing in the same direction. If your knots start to bunch up along an edge, firmly pull them apart (fleece is fairly stretchy).

Finally, remove the safety pins. You don't want Grandma rolling around on those!

What can I say? Grandma said she wanted color. At least she won't lose it!

The blanket I made for myself is a little bit more subdued. And also a little bit more Canadian.

Until next time!

Broccoli Slaw

From the sum total of my last few food posts, you might think I subsist on a diet consisting purely of sugar and fat.

And sugar.

But believe it or not I do eat stuff that resides lower down on the food pyramid.

Take for example this delicious broccoli slaw!

Ingredients:

1 head of broccoli, raw

1 tbsp light mayo

1 tbsp horseradish mustard

1 tbsp extra light olive oil (tasting oil)

1/3 bag of salad (a mix with cabbage and carrot slices is preferable)

Salt and pepper (to taste)

Time commitment: veggie time!

Cost: about 6$

I always find restaurant and pre-made coleslaw to be bogged down in mayo. Not so with this broccoli slaw! Nice and hearty dark greens with a kick, and just enough mayo to remind you that you're not vegan.

If you are vegan, please don't include the mayo when you make this. I don't want the vegan police to come a-knockin'.

Cut the head of broccoli into florets. Then combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse chop until the broccoli is a manageable size and the ingredients are thoroughly combined.

Voila! You just made a dish with vegetables in it! I'm so proud of you!

(I'm mostly speaking to myself there, but I'm proud of you too).

See Mom? I actually made it. Use it as a garnish, side dish, or entree. So versatile!

If you dislike veggies, tucking the slaw inside of a pita definitely helps. Or you could just not make this recipe. At least I tried?