Birthday Strawberry Shortcakes

We've always had cakes for birthdays, which is entirely fine - except my stomach seems to celebrate birthdays a lot more passionately than the birthday-persons. I prefer to skip the meal and go straight for my slice of cake (plus the left overs - which usually is more than half the cake - which I gracefully eat with my fingers the next morning, it's a little like the walk of shame when I leave the kitchen)
Anyway, after Chocolate cake after lunch, my dad requested a light Strawberry Shortcake for his birthday dessert. "Real butter or fake?" my sister asked. REAL. "Real cream or low fat *gasp". REAL. "Real shortcake? Or the cake-type?" What? Had I been eating faux strawberry shortcakes my entire life? Aren't they layers upon layers of fresh whipped cream, fluffy vanilla sponge cake and strawberries?
Let me educate. Real strawberry shortcakes are actually sweet butter biscuits baked, cut in half, and layered with fresh whipped cream and macerated strawberries - I added blueberries for my dad's big Five-Five, you know, anti-oxidants and all.
These were so simple and I'll definitely do this again for a small dinner party.


From The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

Fruit
2 quarts strawberries, hulled (you can hull the berries with one of those spiky edged piping tips)
6 tablespoons sugar

Shortcakes
2 cups all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons sugar
1tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter
2/3 cup half-and-half
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 large egg white, lightly beaten

Whipped Cream
Whipping cream 1 cup
Sugar 1 tablespoon
Vanilla tiny splash

1. Crush 1/3 of the strawberries with a fork or a potato masher. Slice the rest of the berries. Sprinkle sugar all over the berries and lightly mix the berries until sugar is mixed in. Let it sit at room temperature - watch the berries start to release all it's juices. You can squeeze some lemon juice on top if tartness is what suits your palette...The "maceration" will take around half an hour, but you can let it sit for longer, they won't complain.
2. Preheat the oven to 218C or 425F.
3. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. The cookbook recommends pulsing the ingredients together with a food processor, but I don't have one so I just sifted. I'm thinking the pulsing part has more to do with the next step though...
4. You're supposed to scatter cut-up pieces of butter and then process until the mixture looks like a coarse cornmeal - BUT, because I don't own the machinery, Jess (my sister) suggested that I just use a coarse cheese grater and great the cold butter. It worked beautifully!! Remember, it's butter but can easily be mistaken for grated cheese if you're cooking on an empty stomach. It's not cheese. After grating the butter into the flour, sort of toss the bowl around so that the butter pieces get coated in the flour and leave it alone while you mix together the next part..
   
5. Blend together the half and half with the whole egg and pour into the bowl with the flour/butter.
6. Stir everything together lightly with a rubber spatula until large clumps form.
7. Turn the mixture onto a lightly floured counter and knead lightly.
8. I formed my own circles and placed them onto a baking tray, covered, and refrigerated until dessert time. It's good to get the butter really cold again before you bake them so it bakes into a fluffier biscuit and doesn't just sink into itself.
   
9. You're supposed to brush the tops with the beaten egg white and then sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar but...umm...forgot.
10. Bake the shortcakes until golden brown (12-14 min).
11. While you're waiting for them to cool, whip up the cream. Whip together the cream, sugar and vanilla in a chilled bowl with an electric mixer on low speed until frothy and the sugar has dissolved (1 min.) Increase the speed to high and continue to whip until doubled in volume and soft peaks form.
    
12. Assemble by cutting biscuits in half - generously fill with strawberries, then a healthy dollop of whipped cream, and cap it with the top of the biscuit.
    

Macarons: So many feet, time to buy some shoes!

OUI! I did it!!! I finally succeeded in making a batch of Macarons. Let me start by telling you kids about these little snooty French beauties I've been obsessing over for the past several months - they caused me to go into a deep blog-depression wherein a dire stalemate reared its ugly head. I don't even know how many batches I made, and I really should have taken the time to record my failures so I could report back, but guess what - HA! Failure is not someone I like to call my friend. In fact, I like to sweep failure under the Persian carpet any time possible. If you're curious, this is what under-baked failure looks like. I've censored out the actual decapitation. Taiwanese interpretation of a macaron being sold at a night market. How precious. Ms. Antoinette would weep.

Macarons:

1. No, I haven't been spelling it wrong. Macaroons are the coconut flake cookies that are chewy...Macarons on the other hand, I cannot pronounce, but I do know that they are delicate little French cookies that sandwich a swirl of vanilla butter-cream, chocolate ganache, matcha cream...the possibilities are endless.
2. Ingredients are super simple: egg whites, powdered sugar (preferably without starch), granulated sugar, finely ground almonds.
3. Meringue + Sugar and Almond + mad mixing skills that would scare the Wranglers off SamRonson (aka macaronage) + an intimate relationship with your oven (don't underestimate the power of oven lovin', my friends) = macarons
4. You want feet. Feet. FEEEEEEEEETSS! Feet are the frilly lacy bottoms that you see surrounding the bottom of each Macaron cap. If you've successfully mixed together the batter, at around 4-5 minutes in the oven, you'll begin to see the glossy cap rise up to reveal the feet. Now, to be clear, I've had feet since my very first batch - unfortunately, the caps would end up sinking in the center, or the feet would be brutally decapitated when I tried to lift the cookies off the sheet. No need for a guillotine in my kitchen...An example of perfect feet, made by Junglefrog:
5. Do as much reading as possible before you begin. Syrup and Tang was wonderfully detailed, many people recommend David Lebovitz though I personally didn't find him all that helpful - maybe he was too professional-sounding? I bought a book called I "heart" Macarons written by Hisako Ogita. Complete and utter eye candy. Was it helpful? No. But that might be due to my very minimal macaron Chinese lexicon.
6. Watch videos. One of the crucial parts of macaron making is the "macaronage" part. That involves mixing together the almond flour and powdered sugar mixture together with the meringue. There is a technique, so it helps a great deal if you can watch a professional do it on youtube or something. Some suggestions: FrenchfoodTV, Chefnini78
7. There are two basic methods and the part that varies is in the meringue. The basic recipe is with a regular whipped egg-white meringue. The more stable recipe (with which I ended up succeeding with!!!) uses an Italian meringue. This is made by pouring in boiling sugar syrup into the plain meringue while it is still mixing in the mixer - more on this later.
   
8. Sift, oh my gosh sift like there is no tomorrow. These are very unforgiving desserts.

I guess I should get on with the recipe...there are a million other tips I can be offering at this point but most importantly - become obsessed. But let's be honest...I'd take a Chocolate Chip Cookie over a bedazzled macaron any day.

Basic Proportions for a macarons au sucre cuit (Italian meringue method):

Ingredient		Amount		Example	(with eggwhite=50 gm)
Almond meal		1.35 x eggwhite		1.35 x 50 =	67 gm
Icing sugar		1.35 x eggwhite		1.35 x 50 =	67 gm
Sugar		1.35 x eggwhite		1.35 x 50 =	67 gm
Water		0.33 x eggwhite		0.33 x 50 =	16 gm
Egg white					50 gm

The great thing about this is, you can alter the measurements according to how much egg white you happen to have.

1. Measure out all of the ingredients. ALWAYS use an electronic scale to make the measurements.
2. Use a food processor to grind together the almond meal and powdered sugar. Don't get too crazy with it - if you mix for too long, you'll most likely end up with Almond butter, which isn't all that bad!
3. Sift two to three times and then place the powder mixture into a large bowl.
4. Measure half of the egg white and set aside. The other half should go into another CLEAN mixing bowl. Whenever you make meringue, it is essential to have a plastic or brushed metal bowl that is completely oil-free and water free, otherwise the meringue won't be able to get going.
   
5. You'll need a candy thermometer for this next part. Simmer the water and granulated sugar for a few minutes. Try not to stir the syrup, once or twice is fine.
   
6. As the syrup is making it up to 118C, swivel around to your egg whites in the mixing bowl and begin to beat the life out of it. Some recipes suggest that you start out slow to break up the connecting parts of the egg white, and then move up to high. By the time you have "stiff peaks", your syrup should be at around 118C.
   
7. Turn the speed of the mixer down to low and slowly pour the syrup down the side of the mixing bowl into the meringue. Yay! Scrambled egg whites! That's what I thought I would get...and there just might be some tiny scrambled egg pieces in my final product...Anyway, as soon as all of the syrup is in the meringue, turn the mixer back up to high speed. Mix for a few minutes until the meringue is warm to touch. You should have a glossy mixture now. If you want to add color, now would be the time.
   
8. Pour the other half of the egg white that you had set aside into the dry mixture. Don't worry, I really did just tell you to do that. I'm really not too sure why those were the instructions, but when it comes to macarons, I bow my head and obey.
   
9. Use a plastic spatula to spoon the meringue into the dry mixture.
10. Show me your macaronage magic (watch videos for tips on mixing)
11. It is so important that you don't over mix or under mix. It's tough, but you want to get it so the batter flows like magma.
    
12. If you have a piping bag, fill it up with the batter. If not, cut a small hole in the corner of a plastic ziplock bag and use that as your piping bag! For easy batter-filling, try placing the bag in a tall drinking glass. It will hold up the bag for you while you spoon in the batter. Keeps things clean and simple.
    
13. Pipe 2-3 cm circles. I'm a bit of a perfectionist so I drew circles on the bottom side of the parchment paper so I could get similar sized macarons.
    
14. Time to wait...after you pipe macarons, it is best to let them sit for 20 min - 2 hours. A shell will form during this time, this helps with keeping the macarons crack-free (haha) as well as shiny. You can gently touch the tops of the batter to test the dryness.
    
15. While waiting, pre-heat the oven (regular, not convection) to 160C.
    
16. Place macarons in the oven for 13-14 minutes. Unlike all other cookies, they shouldn't have to brown for you to tell that the are done!! After around 4-5 minutes of bake time, you'll begin to see the feet! This is really the best part. Try hard not to open the oven at all - I found that as soon as I opened the oven door, cool air was pushed into the oven and the feet that had gained a lot of height ended up deflating.
    

What's with the empty macaron shells you ask? I will fill them soon after I finally set my heart on a luscious filling. And the "nipple" (yes, really) on top? Still trying to perfect the smooth finish. Not mixed enough to a magma-like consistancy is my best Dr. House diagnosis.

Thumb Print Cookies

I realize it's already way past Christmas, but I've been celebrating and spending time with family! We took a semi-family (we were missing my beautiful sister Jessica, she will be arriving in a few days!) trip down to central Taiwan. I even took a mochi-making class while I was down there! And of course, during my six hour train ride, I took the opportunity to plan the many posts that will be coming up. These "Thumb Print Cookies" are the first of a series...all explaining exactly what went into that lil Christmas box of love that I sent out to my loved ones a few days before the big day. When deciding what I'd put in these boxes, I had tons of ideas...bf helped me out quite a bit! My list changed several times:
Decorated Sugar Cookies
Jelly Sandwich Cookies
Thumb-Print Cookies
Dipped Shortbread
Rum Balls
Spiced Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Raspberry Oatmeal Squares
Peppermint Brownies

Today, I'll start off with the Thumb-Print Cookies. I made these two days before the box deliveries - they were made first because cookies tend to be more resilient when it comes to baking ahead. Because of the water-logged air in Taiwan, I was still pretty nervous about baking them ahead of time, but again, Press-and-Seal proved to work wonders and kept the cookies tasting fresh! Another thing about these cookies, don't drop the dollop of jelly until the day you serve them as it will be absorbed into the cookie and make them a bit soggy. Trials and tribulations....I've been experiencing this for the past several weeks (remember those egg whites for the macarons...let's just say I'm STILL trying) and it all began with these Thumb Prints. I wanted to coat the cookies in coconut, and for some reason I read that it was better to toast the coconut beforehand to release the aroma of the ingredient - similar to how you would toast almonds or pecans before using them. I perched eagerly by the oven (usual position, I will make a sketch one day if you're lucky), tossing and watching for browning. You just want to get the coconut so it has a bit of a golden color, and MAN it smelled great. You'll know when it's working. Okay, well everything was going smoothly up until then. There I was in the kitchen, cookie dough in one bowl, plate full of toasted coconut in another, feeling oh-so-prepared to create a wonderfully delicate looking cookie (shredded coconut is so much prettier than chopped nuts, no?). A few minutes into the oven, aforementioned toasted coconut was getting the Lindsay Lohan treatment. A few more minutes after that, most of the coconut shreds had pulled a reverse Michael Jackson on me. Yes, I read gossip blogs every morning when I wake-up, I need to stay informed so I can make umm...colorful descriptions and analogies on my cooking blog. In a word: FAILED. This will be the first of many other failures that I will illustrate to you on this fine blog of truth. Ended up toasting some pecans, chopping them up, and rolling the cookie dough in the nuts. Boo. No fun.
177C

1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 large egg -separate whites and yolk (room temperature)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup toasted pecans (chopped finely)
1/2 cup jam

1. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes).
   
2. Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Is this getting repetitive?
   
3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and salt. By now I trust you all have become loyal sifters like myself?
4. Add the flour mixture to the batter and beat just until combined.
   
5. If the batter too soft to roll into balls, refrigerate for about 30 minutes. I hate waiting.
6. Time to prepare your work area! You will now begin the process of spooning, rolling, dipping, rolling, pressing. Just to clarify...in a small bowl, whisk the egg white until frothy. Place the chopped nuts on a plate. Roll the dough into 1 inch (2.54 cm) balls. Taking one ball of dough dip first into the egg white and then roll in the nuts. So much fun!
   
7. Space each cookie 1 inch apart on baking sheet. Using your thumb make a indentation into the center of each cookie and fill with about 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon of jam. If you're baking ahead, skip adding the jam and wait until the day you serve to fill up those lil wells.
8. Bake for about 13-15 minutes, or until cookies are set and the nuts have nicely browned.