Graham Crackers and Nanaimo Bars for Daring Bakers Challenge!

After missing the Daring Baker's Challenge in December, I'm back in the new year with White Chocolate Nanaimo Bars!! The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and http://www.nanaimo.ca/.

I wanted to be creative this month and try some amazing combinations of flavors but again, I didn't get enough time to put my ideas into action. Lauren encouraged us to try gluten-free graham crackers, but unfortunately in the end I had to go with what I had at home. I used a mix (half each) of wheat flour and all-purpose flour for my graham crackers. I halved the recipe for the crackers as it was advised in the forum that we just need 1/4 recipe for making the nanaimo bars given for the challenge. The dough indeed was very soft and was kind of loose, so I added probably 1/4 cup more flour to make it into a dough.

The dough was not super bad to work with but I should say it was very soft and delicate. Since I knew I am going to use the crackers for the bars, I didnt bother to cut them out of rolled dough. I just cut the rolled dough and baked as is. My crackers didn't need to be baked for even 20 minutes because I opened the oven around 20 minutes and the edges had actually started to burn! (Lesson: Keep an eye on the crackers!!). So there's no picture of the baked crackers! ;-)

I made the rest of the nanaimo bars according to the recipe given. Eventhough initially it felt like there wasnt enough of the custard middle layer to cover the bottom layer, it gradually gives away and spreads nicely. After reading a comment about how the chocolate top layer wasn't enough to cover the top, I doubled the amount of chocolate (white) but used the amount of butter specified in the recipe. There was more than enough to spread on top. A bit of butterscotch chocolate garnish on top finished off my nanaimo bars!!

VERDICT: Nanaimo bars sure are delicious!! The combination of all three layers work perfectly. My favourite is the bottom layer which is a mixture of all different textures. The soft cracker crumbs along with chewy shredded coconut and crunchy (yes, they stay crunchy!!) almonds are awesome! I could eat them all the time :-). I think I should not have used any more chocolate for the top layer than what was given in the recipe because taken together, the three layers would work the best (perfect sweetness) at the proportions given.

I have made Nanaimo bars before, and both times I found it too sweet for my tastes, though that doesn't mean that I wouldn't eat them!! JM loved the nanaimo bars too, lil LM was happy licking the butterscotch chips! ;-)

Preparation time:

• Graham Wafers: 30 to 45 minutes total active prep, 2 ½ hours to overnight and 45 minutes inactive prep.
• Nanaimo Bars: 30 minutes.

Equipment required:
• Food Processor
• Bowls
• Parchment paper or silpats
• Cookie sheets
• Double boiler or pot and heatproof bowl
• 8 by 8 inch square pan
• Hand mixer or stand mixer (You may use a wooden spoon, but this makes it much easier!)
• Saucepan

Gluten-Free Graham Wafers

Ingredients
1 cup (138 g) (4.9 ounces) Sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour)
3/4 cup (100 g) (3.5 ounces) Tapioca Starch/Flour
1/2 cup (65 g) (2.3 ounces) Sorghum Flour
1 cup (200 g) (7.1 ounces) Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
1 teaspoon (5 mL) Baking soda
3/4 teaspoon (4 mL ) Kosher Salt
7 tablespoons (100 g) (3 ½ ounces) Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
1/3 cup (80 mL) Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover.
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Whole Milk
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Pure Vanilla Extract



Directions:

1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.

2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.

3. Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.

4. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of sweet rice flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.

5. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).

6. Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.

7. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.

8. Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.

9. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.



Nanaimo Bars

Ingredients:

For Nanaimo Bars — Bottom Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)
1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

For Nanaimo Bars — Middle Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar

For Nanaimo Bars — Top Layer
4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter



Directions:

1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.

2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.

3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

-------------------------------
Additional Information:

These bars freeze very well, so don’t be afraid to pop some into the freezer.

The graham wafers may be kept in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Mine lasted about that long.

If making the graham crackers with wheat, replace the gluten-free flours (tapioca starch, sweet rice flour, and sorghum flour) with 2 ½ cups plus 2 tbsp of all-purpose wheat flour, or wheat pastry flour. Watch the wheat-based graham wafers very closely in the oven, as they bake faster than the gluten-free ones, sometimes only 12 minutes.

For the Nanaimo Bars, if making with wheat, replace the gluten-free graham wafer crumbs with equal parts wheat graham wafer crumbs!

Have a great day everyone!!! Hoping to see you soon here on Tasty treats!

Cheese balls - great party appetizers!!

Happy New Year, everyone!! I know its been almost a month since the new year, but better late than never I guess! I have been meaning to share this recipe with you since after Christmas but finally today, I got to make this post on Tasty treats! Yes, things are really hectic over here, I just dont know how to manage my time. Its totally weird that even now, I cant really say that I have adjusted to having to work, spend a chunk of my spare time in commute and still having to be a mom and a wife, all the while wishing to keep my blog going!! I had to skip the Daring Baker's challenge for December becuase I just couldn't figure out a time to do it! All the working food bloggers out there, please give me pointers!! :-)

Anyways, we had a quiet but nice Christmas meal with just the three of us. I had tried roasting Cornish Hens for the first time, along with a few other new recipes, which I am hoping to share with you soon. We had these amazing cheese balls as appetizers. These are very quick to put together, but they would definitely impress your guests in their looks, not to mention its wonderful taste. The texture of the soft, melting cheesy balls add onto the great appeal of these easy appetizers. Make sure to serve them warm, so as to keep the cheese melted.

I found this recipe in the Food Network Magazine at work, in a small ad for Viva Paper towels. The recipe has been shared by Jeannine Williams. I really didnt make any changes to the recipe except for that I didnt have garlic powder (I thought I had it, but it turned out on the day of cooking that I didnt!! - should have checked first!). So ours were probably lacking the flavor, which we absolutely didnt notice, because they were delicious!! The tomato ketchup dip is definitely the perfect accompaniment for these golden-brown fried cuties!

Recipe (Makes approximately 44 balls) :

Ricotta cheese (15oz. container) - 1

Eggs - 2

Shredded Mozarella Cheese - 2 cups

Seasoned bread crumbs - 2 cups, divided

Garlic powder - 1/4 tsp

Vegetable oil - for frying

Tomato sauce - for dipping

Method:

Heat 2 inches of vegetable oil in a large pot or deep fryer until the termometer registers 360F.

Mix together ricotta and eggs.

Add mozzarella cheese, 1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs and garlic powder.

Roll cheese about the size of golf balls, toss in remaining 1/2 cup breadcrumbs.

Carefully place in oil.

Fry a few at a time, about 1 minute 30 seconds.

Drain on paper towels (Viva ofcourse!!) and serve warm.

Tips:

1. We got about 20 big cheese balls (not golf ball sized for sure!!)
2. Serve warm so that the cheese is still melted.
3. Coat the balls well, with bread crumbs. If the cheese portion is exposed, it might melt and stick to the bottom of the pan.
4. I used plain toasted bread crumbs and not seasoned crumbs.

Have a great week ahead!! See you soon with more recipes...

Happy Holidays!!

Wishing all my friends and supporters a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year!! Cherish your times with your family and enjoy each moment of this year! And here's to wishing for another amazing, successful and joyous year -2010!!

We had a good Christmas lunch at home in the midst of an extensive snow blizzard - totally snowed in at home, so did not get to go even to church!! I will start posting the recipes soon....

Happy Holidays!! Enjoy..

Cannolipoleons with Honey-Mascarpone Filling for DB challenge!

Welcome to the revealing of the Daring Bakers challenge for the month of November!

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

I was really excited about this challenge because I've heard about cannolis in the comedy sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, showcasing an Italian family and the relationship between its members!! I knew it had to be something amazing from Raymond's extreme excitement over the cannolis made by his mom!!! I managed to attempt this challenge earlier on than usual since I was alone here in the US since my family is still on a trip to India.

The dough was a breeze to prepare and it came together very well for me with the given recipe. I used Marsala cooking wine to make the dough. I made the dough with the food processor and then proceeded to knead it for a couple of minutes. I was thinking of leaving the dough overnight in the fridge but my curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to fry a couple of pieces of rolled dough just to see how it will turn out (after chilling the dough for an hour in the fridge).


My first trial was an utter failure, well maybe not that big of a failure (it was not that bad, and it was just a bit of trial dough!).... The dough puffed up completely even after docking. The fried pieces kind of felt oily to me. So I knew from the forum discussions that it could be because the oil temperature was not up to the required level.

So the next day I rolled the dough quite thin (I mean very very thin- this is key!!!!) and cut out rectangles and then rolled them even thinner, until it was almost transparent ( thanks to whoever mentioned the strudel thinness in the forum)!! The oil was also heated to a higher temperature. As soon as I dropped the pieces in, I could see them starting to show great texture on the surface with lots of bubbling. The dough pieces didnt have to be in the oil for too long, I guess they had to be flipped over and taken out of the oil in around a minute or so. This, on cooling yielded light-golden colored, beautiful looking cannolipoleons. From my experience, the temperature and the thickness of the pieces are the things to pay attention to.

I decided to do a filling of mascarpone cheese as I had some which I hadnt used for some time. I just whipped the mascarpone cheese with honey and sugar and a bit of milk until soft enough to be piped. The filling was piped only on the edges with a plain round tip so as to give a beautiful stacked finish. The top most piece was decorated with melted chocolate and chopped pistachios and allowed to set. The presentation was finished off with a few raspberries.

VERDICT:

I loved the fried dough pieces on their own when they were fried at the proper temperature. The Marsala wine gives the dough an unexplainable taste which is amazing!! I should say that the taste for mascarpone cheese is an acquired one and I realised once again that I am not a big fan of mascarpone. But the cannolipoleons were amazing and I can see why people rave about them. I am sure with a filling of cream cheese or butter cream or even whipped cream I would go crazy about these.. But to tell you the truth, I polished off the pictured cannolipoleons in one go!!! Since my family was away, I took the pictures with my cell phone, so the pictures might not be of great quality.... Next time I would like to try the cannolis with the cannoli-forms to experience it fully!!!

I sure had fun with this challenge and am satisfied with my attempt. Thank you so much Lisa, for this wonderful challenge...

CANNOLI SHELLS

2 cups (250 grams/8.82 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons(28 grams/1 ounce) sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.06 ounces) unsweetened baking cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (approx. 3 grams/0.11 ounces) salt
3 tablespoons (42 grams/1.5 ounces) vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.18 ounces) white wine vinegar
Approximately 1/2 cup (approx. 59 grams/approx. 4 fluid ounces/approx. 125 ml) sweet Marsala or any white or red wine you have on hand
1 large egg, separated (you will need the egg white but not the yolk)
Vegetable or any neutral oil for frying – about 2 quarts (8 cups/approx. 2 litres)
1/2 cup (approx. 62 grams/2 ounces) toasted, chopped pistachio nuts, mini chocolate chips/grated chocolate and/or candied or plain zests, fruits etc.. for garnish
Confectioners' sugar

Note - If you want a chocolate cannoli dough, substitute a few tablespoons of the flour (about 25%) with a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process) and a little more wine until you have a workable dough (Thanks to Audax).

CANNOLI FILLING
2 lbs (approx. 3.5 cups/approx. 1 kg/32 ounces) ricotta cheese, drained
1 2/3 cups cup (160 grams/6 ounces) confectioner’s sugar, (more or less, depending on how sweet you want it), sifted
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon (4 grams/0.15 ounces) pure vanilla extract or the beans from one vanilla bean
3 tablespoons (approx. 28 grams/approx. 1 ounce) finely chopped good quality chocolate of your choice
2 tablespoons (12 grams/0.42 ounces) of finely chopped, candied orange peel, or the grated zest of one small to medium orange
3 tablespoons (23 grams/0.81 ounce) toasted, finely chopped pistachios

Note - If you want chocolate ricotta filling, add a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder to the above recipe, and thin it out with a few drops of warm water if too thick to pipe.

DIRECTIONS FOR SHELLS:
1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer or food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the oil, vinegar, and enough of the wine to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended, about 2 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge from 2 hours to overnight.

2 Cut the dough into two pieces. Keep the remaining dough covered while you work. Lightly flour a large cutting or pastry board and roll the dough until super thin, about 1/16 to 1/8” thick (An area of about 13 inches by 18 inches should give you that). Cut out 3 to 5-inch circles (3-inch – small/medium; 4-inch – medium/large; 5-inch;- large. Your choice). Roll the cut out circle into an oval, rolling it larger and thinner if it’s shrunk a little.

3 Oil the outside of the cannoli tubes (You only have to do this once, as the oil from the deep fry will keep them well, uhh, oiled..lol). Roll a dough oval from the long side (If square, position like a diamond, and place tube/form on the corner closest to you, then roll) around each tube/form and dab a little egg white on the dough where the edges overlap. (Avoid getting egg white on the tube, or the pastry will stick to it.) Press well to seal. Set aside to let the egg white seal dry a little.

4. In a deep heavy saucepan, pour enough oil to reach a depth of 3 inches, or if using an electric deep-fryer, follow the manufacturer's directions. Heat the oil to 375°F (190 °C) on a deep fry thermometer, or until a small piece of the dough or bread cube placed in the oil sizzles and browns in 1 minute. Have ready a tray or sheet pan lined with paper towels or paper bags.

5. Carefully lower a few of the cannoli tubes into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so that they brown evenly.

8. Lift a cannoli tube with a wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, out of the oil. Using tongs, grasp the cannoli tube at one end. Very carefully remove the cannoli tube with the open sides straight up and down so that the oil flows back into the pan. Place the tube on paper towels or bags to drain. Repeat with the remaining tubes. While they are still hot, grasp the tubes with a potholder and pull the cannoli shells off the tubes with a pair of tongs, or with your hand protected by an oven mitt or towel. Let the shells cool completely on the paper towels. Place shells on cooling rack until ready to fill.

9. Repeat making and frying the shells with the remaining dough. If you are reusing the cannoli tubes, let them cool before wrapping them in the dough.

Pasta Machine method:

1. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Starting at the middle setting, run one of the pieces of dough through the rollers of a pasta machine. Lightly dust the dough with flour as needed to keep it from sticking. Pass the dough through the machine repeatedly, until you reach the highest or second highest setting. The dough should be about 4 inches wide and thin enough to see your hand through

2. Continue rolling out the remaining dough. If you do not have enough cannoli tubes for all of the dough, lay the pieces of dough on sheets of plastic wrap and keep them covered until you are ready to use them.

3, Roll, cut out and fry the cannoli shells as according to the directions above.

For stacked cannoli:

1. Heat 2-inches of oil in a saucepan or deep sauté pan, to 350-375°F (176 - 190 °C).

2. Cut out desired shapes with cutters or a sharp knife. Deep fry until golden brown and blistered on each side, about 1 – 2 minutes. Remove from oil with wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, then place on paper towels or bags until dry and grease free. If they balloon up in the hot oil, dock them lightly prior to frying. Place on cooling rack until ready to stack with filling.

DIRECTIONS FOR FILLING:

1. Line a strainer with cheesecloth. Place the ricotta in the strainer over a bowl, and cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Weight it down with a heavy can, and let the ricotta drain in the refrigerator for several hours to overnight.

2. In a bowl with electric mixer, beat ricotta until smooth and creamy. Beat in confectioner’s sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and blend until smooth. Transfer to another bowl and stir in chocolate, zest and nuts. Chill until firm.(The filling can be made up to 24 hours prior to filling the shells. Just cover and keep refrigerated).

ASSEMBLE THE CANNOLI:
1. When ready to serve..fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain or star tip, or a ziplock bag, with the ricotta cream. If using a ziplock bag, cut about 1/2 inch off one corner. Insert the tip in the cannoli shell and squeeze gently until the shell is half filled. Turn the shell and fill the other side. You can also use a teaspoon to do this, although it’s messier and will take longer.

2. Press or dip cannoli in chopped pistachios, grated chocolate/mini chocolate chips, candied fruit or zest into the cream at each end. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and/or drizzles of melted chocolate if desired.

PUMPKIN FILLING
1/2 cup (123 grams/4.34 ounces) ricotta cheese, drained
1/2 cup (113 grams/4.04 ounces) mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup (122.5 grams/4.32 ounces) canned pumpkin, drained like ricotta
3/4 cup (75 grams/2.65 ounces) confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1/2 to 1 teaspoon (approx. 1.7 grams/approx. 0.06 ounces) pumpkin pie spice (taste)
1/2 teaspoon (approx. 2 grams/approx. 0.08 ounces) pure vanilla extract
6-8 cannoli shells

1. In a bowl with electric mixer, beat ricotta and mascarpone until smooth and creamy. Beat in confectioner’s sugar, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and blend until smooth. Transfer to another bowl, cover and chill until it firms up a bit. (The filling can be made up to 24 hours prior to filling the shells. Just cover and keep refrigerated).

2. Fill the shells as directed above. I dipped the ends of the shells in caramelized sugar and rolled them in toasted, chopped pecans.

TIPS AND NOTES:

- Dough must be stiff and well kneaded

- Rolling the dough to paper thinness, using either a rolling pin or pasta machine, is very important. If the dough is not rolled thin enough, it will not blister, and good cannoli should have a blistered surface.

- Initially, this dough is VERY stubborn, but keep rolling, it eventually gives in. Before cutting the shapes, let the dough rest a bit, covered, as it tends to spring back into a smaller shapes once cut. Then again, you can also roll circles larger after they’re cut, and/or into ovals, which gives you more space for filling.

- Your basic set of round cutters usually doesn’t contain a 5-inch cutter. Try a plastic container top, bowl etc, or just roll each circle to 5 inches. There will always be something in your kitchen that’s round and 5-inches if you want large cannoli.

- Oil should be at least 3 inches deep and hot – 360°F-375°F, or you’ll end up with greasy shells. I prefer 350°F - 360°F because I felt the shells darkened too quickly at 375°F.

- If using the cannoli forms, when you drop the dough on the form into the oil, they tend to sink to the bottom, resulting in one side darkening more. Use a slotted spoon or skimmer to gently lift and roll them while frying.

- DO NOT crowd the pan. Cannoli should be fried 2-4 at a time, depending on the width of your saucepan or deep fryer. Turn them once, and lift them out gently with a slotted spoon/wire skimmer and tongs. Just use a wire strainer or slotted spoon for flat cannoli shapes.

- When the cannoli turns light brown - uniform in color, watch it closely or remove it. If it’s already a deep brown when you remove it, you might end up with a really dark or slightly burnt shell.

- Depending on how much scrap you have left after cutting out all of your cannoli shapes, you can either fry them up and sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar for a crispy treat, or let the scraps rest under plastic wrap and a towel, then re-roll and cut more cannoli shapes.

- Push forms out of cannoli very gently, being careful not to break the shells as they are very delicate. DO NOT let the cannoli cool on the form, or you may never get it off without it breaking. Try to take it off while still hot. Hold it with a cloth in the center, and push the form out with a butter knife or the back of a spoon.

- When adding the confectioner’s sugar to the filling..TASTE. You may like it sweeter than what the recipe calls for, or less sweet, so add in increments.

- Fill cannoli right before serving! If you fill them an hour or so prior, you’ll end up with soggy cannoli shells.

- If you want to prepare the shells ahead of time, store them in an airtight container, then re-crisp in a 350°F (176 °C) oven for a few minutes, before filling.

- Practice makes perfect. My first batch of shells came out less than spectacular, and that’s an understatement. As you go along, you’ll see what will make them more aesthetically pleasing, and adjust accordingly when rolling. My next several batches turned out great. Don’t give up!!

Hope you had fun going through my post of making the cannolipoleons! Check out all my previous Daring bakers challenges here. Do visit me again for more interesting culinary attempts..

Hope that you all had a great thanksgiving!! Enjoy your weekend....

French Macaroons - a re-trial

Hi and welcome back to Tasty treats!! After my epic failure (just in the looks, that is!!) with french macaroons for the Daring Baker challenge, I was determined to make some "good-looking macaroons which can be seen all over the blogosphere - those cute, little, round, puffed-up thingies with cute lil "feet". I should say again that the DB recipe yielded deelicious results, but the looks didnt work out for me, neither did the absence of feet!

I was determined to try Helen's recipe which gave success to a lot of Daring Bakers after their failure with the challenge recipe. I also came across Bonbini! another awesome blog which featured tons of different french macaroons. So I decided to go with her recipe which seemed really simple and straight forward without scaring an amateur like me! Read on to know more about my attempt.

I decided to use "Egg beaters 100% egg whites" for my french macaroon trials. I test whipped some cold egg whites and even those whipped up beautifully. So I left the required amount of egg whites uncovered, at room temperature, overnight. The almond flour was ground at home with blanched almond slivers in a food processor with the specified amount of sugar so that the almonds dont get moist. The flour was sifted so as to make sure that the flour was really fine.

I followed all the recipe instructions. I tinted the batter pink and didnt add any food flavoring.
The italian meringue technique by making the sugar syrup was also not complicated. But I didnt have a candy thermometer so I just went with an approximate time. The actual mistake that I made probably was that I didnt add the slightly cooled syrup slowly, but added them more or less altogether. So it took me a long time to whip the egg whites back to soft peak stage. Even after whipping for a long time I couldnt bring the egg whites to a confident soft peak stage. (I am thinking its either because I didnt use the thermometer, maybe I didnt give enough time for the syrup to cook into a more concentrated form or because I didnt add the syrup slow enough).

But still the whites whipped up to kind of a soft peak stage (was gradually getting to the whipped stage). So I decided not to add the whole meringue, but added half of the meringue to the almond flour "mass". The final texture of the batter was just as described in the DB challenge. When I piped the batter, it didnt spread out (as it had happened to me in the challenge) and I knew probably I am on the right path!!

Well, I guee everything turned out fine and these are what I ended up with. The cute lil feet, the smooth and shiny top and the crisp on the outside - chewy on the inside cookies!! Finally I get what all the rave is about!! This recipe gave me the confidence to tackle more french macaroon recipes! I am really thankful to Thip of Bonbini for sharing her recipe with us.....

VERDICT:

The recipe was really easy to follow. The taste was amazing, the texture and looks matching the description of succesful french macaroons!!! I sandwiched a few of them with chocolate ganache. But honestly, they are amazing on their own. The filling would make them a little more sweet than I would prefer. Next time I would like to make macaroons that are a little bit smaller (diameter), so that they will look like cute little colored puffy balls!!!

Guess what, I also baked the whipped Italian meringue without the almond flour "mass" and made these melt in your mouth meringue rounds/cookies!! They were delicious and literally melted in our mouths!!

I am really happy that I decided to attempt the French Macaroons again! Try these out and I am sure you wouldnt be disappointed. Thank you for visiting Tasty treats!!

Have a great week!