Matcha Macarons

I made these matcha macarons for my dad today. He has to attend a holiday potluck party tomorrow and he asked me to make him macarons. He claims that with all these macarons I've made, he's only eaten three. Which is possible as I haven't had that many myself. I keep giving them away! In fact, I only got to snack on two of these matcha macarons. My mom stole one and my dad prevented my brother from taken any. I hope dad's party guests appreciate how much we refrained!

French Meringue Macarons
(Makes about 40-50 macarons)

2 3/4 cups of almond flour
2 3/4 cups of powdered sugar
3 tablespoons of matcha powder
1 cup of egg whites (from 6-7 eggs)
A pinch of salt
3/4 cups of granulated sugar
Festive sprinkles for decoration (optional)

1. Line your baking trays with parchment paper.
2. Separate your egg whites 2-3 days before baking. Cover and store them in the refrigerator. Two hours before you start making your macarons, take the egg whites out of the refrigerator, uncover them, and let them come to room temperature.
3. Sift the almond flour, powdered sugar, and matcha powder together. If you have a food processor, put the ingredients in to create as fine as a texture as possible. This will help create smooth macaron shells.
4. Using the whisk attachment on your mixer, whisk the egg whites with the salt. Pour the granulated sugar in three stages. Dumping it all in can deflate the egg whites, so you want to add a little bit at a time. When the egg whites reach stiff peaks, turn the mixer off.
5. Fold the sifted almond mixture with the egg whites. You want to end up with a smooth batter that creates a ribbon when you lift it up from your spatula.
6. When the batter is ready, fill your piping bag and pipe equal rounds on the parchment paper.
7. Carefully tap your tray against the table or counter to eliminate air bubbles.
8. After piping, add the sprinkles on top. Let the macarons rest in room temperature for 15-30 minutes.
9. Preheat the oven to 300°F/150°C (325°F/160°C for a non-convection oven, although a convection oven is preferred for baking macarons).
10. Bake your first tray of macarons for 14-15 minutes. After the first five minutes, open the oven doors to let out some of the steam.
11. When the macarons are done, let them cool and then gently peel the macarons off the parchment paper.

After all the macarons have cooled, I usually pair them up and store them in a container while I prepare the filling:

Matcha Buttercream
(Makes enough to fill 40-50 macarons)

1/2 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 stick of cream cheese
3 tablespoons of matcha powder
2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon of milk

1. Using a mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth.
2. Add in the matcha powder and powdered sugar. Mix until incorporated.
3. If you find the consistency to be too stiff, add a teaspoon of milk and mix until the buttercream is smooth. Fill your piping bag and pipe out a dollop on the bottom of the macarons. Add the top of the macaron and gently sandwich the buttercream in between.

Yum! I can see these being a repeated favourite with my parents. I'm actually tempted to make another batch already...

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve tomorrow!

Festive Macarons

More macarons Sylvia? Really?

Yes, I know. I'm going crazy over macarons this year. I made some more to bring to a holiday party and I'm loving how I can customize and decorate these delicate cookies.

French Meringue Macarons
Recipe from Macarons
(Makes about 40-50 macarons)

2 3/4 cups of almond flour
2 3/4 cups of powdered sugar
1 cup of egg whites (from 6-7 eggs)
A pinch of salt
3/4 cups of granulated sugar

1. The first step in making successful macarons is to age your egg whites. Separate your egg whites 2-3 days before baking. Cover and store them in the refrigerator. Two hours before you start making your macarons, take the egg whites out of the refrigerator, uncover them, and let them come to room temperature.
2. Sift the almond flour and powdered sugar together. If you have a food processor, put both ingredients in to create as fine as a texture as possible. This helps create smooth macaron shells.
3. Using the whisk attachment on your mixer, whisk the egg whites with the salt. Pour the granulated sugar in three stages. Dumping it all in can deflate the egg whites, so you want to add a little bit at a time. When the egg whites reach stiff peaks, turn the mixer off.
4. Fold the sifted almond flour and sugar with the egg whites. You want to end up with a smooth batter that creates a ribbon when you lift it up from your spatula.
5. When the batter is ready, fill your piping bag and pipe circles on the parchment paper.
6. Carefully tap your tray against the table or counter to eliminate air bubbles.
7. After piping, add the sprinkles on top. Let the macarons rest in room temperature for 15-30 minutes.
8. Preheat the oven to 300°F (325°F for non-convection oven, although convection oven are preferred for macarons).
9. Bake your first tray of macarons for 14 minutes. After the first five minutes, open the oven doors to let out some of the steam.
10. When they're done, let them cool for 5 minutes and then gently peel the macarons off the parchment paper.

If you need some  macaron tutorials or visuals, check out the three videos that Mardi of eat. live. travel. write. made. She shows the three main stages of making macarons: whipping the egg whites, folding the batter, and piping the macarons. Chances are, one of those sections are where most people get stuck!

Vanilla Pastry Cream
Recipe from Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(Makes enough to fill each macaron, with leftovers)

2 cups milk
1 vanilla bean, halved and scraped
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch, sifted
3 1/2 tablespoons butter

1. Flatten the vanilla bean and slice it open with a sharp knife. Peel the bean open and scrape the seeds out with the knife.
2. In a small pot, bring the milk with the vanilla bean with scrapings to a boil, set it aside to cool for 10 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean.
3. Fill a large bowl with cold water (or ice).
4. In a medium sized pan or small pot, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch together. Gradually whisk in the hot milk.
5. Place the pan over high heat and bring it to a boil, whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes. Set the bowl in the ice bath or cold water and stir until the temperature reaches 140°F (60°C) on an instant-read thermometer.
6. Stir in the butter. Cool, cover, and refrigerate.
7. Fill a piping bag with the pastry cream to pipe.

Top tier: I made holly using three red confetti sprinkles. For the holly leaves, I used two tree sprinkles.
Bottom tier: I simply placed red, green, and white confetti sprinkles on the macarons - this one is the easiest as they'll look festive no matter what.

You can go an even simpler route and place one festive icon in the middle of the macaron, here I chose the Christmas tree.

Something even easier, add some coloured sugar sprinkles in a line or waves. I did a few in red, green, and white which creates a nice shimmer and adds a crunchy texture to your macaron.

A tip, do not use jimmies or nonpareils, the colour on these will bleed off and smudge the look or design you're going for. Probably any kind of sprinkle that looks glossy will not work, stick to the matte ones! Happy macaron designing!

Snowmen Macarons

This Christmas, instead of going out and buying sweets, I decided to make them for my colleagues. This was the weekend to make them as some of my coworkers start their holiday next week (including myself)!

I knew I wanted to make macarons again, they're quite the hit in our area, we've even celebrated birthdays with macarons instead of cupcakes lately! Now, to look for festive macaron ideas, I browsed a number of blogs before coming across these from Steph at Raspberri Cupcakes (an amazing blog - go check it out). Ridiculously cute, right?

French Meringue Macarons
Recipe from Macarons
(Makes about 48 snowmen macarons)

2 3/4 cups of almond flour
2 3/4 cups of powdered sugar
1 cup of egg whites (from 6-7 eggs)
A pinch of salt
3/4 cups of granulated sugar.

1. The first step in making successful macarons is to age your egg whites. Yes, we know, this sounds odd, but follow these strict instructions! So separate your egg whites 2-3 days before baking. Store them in the refrigerator - covered. Two hours before you start making your macarons, take the egg whites out of the refrigerator, uncover them, and let them come to room temperature. That's not too difficult! Just keep this in mind during your planning stage.
2. Next, sift the almond flour and powdered sugar. If you have a food processor, put both ingredients in to create as fine as a texture as possible. This helps create smooth macarons.
3. Using the whisk attachment on your mixer, whisk the egg whites with the salt. Pour the granulated sugar in three stages. Dumping it all in can deflate the egg whites, so you want to add a little bit at a time. When the egg whites reach stiff peaks, you're done!
4. Fold the sifted almond flour and sugar with the egg whites. You want to end up with a smooth batter that creates a ribbon when you lift it up from your spatula.
5. When the batter is ready, fill your piping bag and pipe the body of the snowmen on parchment paper. Then go back and add the head of the snowmen. Carefully tap your tray against the table or counter to eliminate air bubbles.
6. Add three silver dragées for buttons as the macarons are resting. Let them rest in room temperature for 15-30 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 300°F (325°F for non-convection oven, the cookbook recommends using a convection oven because of the even distribution of heat).
8. Bake your first tray of macarons for 14 minutes. After the first five minutes, open the oven doors to let out some of the steam.
9. When they're done, let them cool for 5 minutes and then gently peel the macarons off the parchment paper.

Snowmen with silver buttons and feet!

Phew! Adding the decoration on top of the macaron batter was a first, so I'm glad that worked out!

After the macarons were cooled and rested, I used my handy orange edible ink pen to draw on the carrot noses.

Then, using the black edible ink pen for the eyes and mouth.

Look at them! I filled these bad boys with vanilla pastry cream!

Vanilla Pastry Cream
Recipe from Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(Makes enough to fill each macaron, with leftovers)

2 cups milk
1 vanilla bean, halved and scraped
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch, sifted
3 1/2 tablespoons butter

1. Flatten the vanilla bean and slice it open with a sharp knife. Peel the bean open and scrape the seeds out with the knife. 
2. In a small pot, bring the milk with the vanilla bean with scrapings to a boil, set it aside to cool for 10 minutes; remove bean. 
3. Fill a large bowl with cold water (or ice). 
4. In a medium sized pan or small pot, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch together. Gradually whisk in the hot milk. 
5. Place the pan over high heat and bring it to a boil, whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes. Set the bowl in the ice bath or cold water and stir until the temperature reaches 140°F (60°C) on an instant-read thermometer. 
6. Stir in the butter. Cool, cover, and refrigerate.

Here's the second tray!

Gosh, they're really cute.

I only did a round macaron for the back of the snowmen. I think I should have made the full body for the back too.

Next time!

Here are some happy snowmen frolicking in the snow.

These ones don't look as happy.

Nor do these, a big snowstorm would mean getting covered up!

To package up my snowmen macarons, I went to find cute little take-out boxes. There were so many festive boxes to choose from, but I thought these Santa ones were really eye-catching!

Carefully tucking the macarons in with parchment paper. Everyone gets five! Is five enough?

I had extra snowmen macarons, so I placed them in sandwich bags and twist-tied them. It wasn't difficult to find homes for these ones in the office.

Disclaimer: This year, A Baked Creation is partnering up with Robin Hood®, who is celebrating the 30th anniversary of their annual Holiday Recipe Collection. They were kind enough to send us a baking package and it included the silver dragées!

So glad we could put them to good use already! Here's to the first of many baking memories this season!

Gingerbread Cupcake Kit

A friend of ours gave us this Gingerbread Cupcake Kit for the holidays. I thought it would be fun to take it out for a quick treat today.

The kit included gingerbread cake mix, cinnamon frosting mix, sprinkles, and 8 gingerbread people picks. I had to bring the cupcake liners, vegetable oil, egg, water, unsalted butter, milk, and icing sugar to the table.

The cupcakes were easy to make, but I ended up with enough batter for 7 cupcakes instead of the promised 8! I also found it hilarious that the image on the kit shows white-coloured frosting for the cinnamon frosting! Regardless, the gingerbread decorations are really cute.

Look at Ms. Bow here.

This one's my favourite. Earmuffs and a scarf!

Cute little hat for the mister here.

And the lucky guy above is the only one with shoes/socks! Keep those toes toasty!

Happy holidays everyone! If you're looking for cupcake kits, you can probably find them in grocery and department stores during this time of year!

Coconut Macaroon Trees

I was playing around with coconut macaroons again. This time, I gave the 400 grams of unsweetened coconut flakes a little pre-toast before mixing it with the 2 egg whites, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 290 millilitres of condensed milk, and zest of 1 lemon.

I think it worked out. The cookie dough was just right! Sticky enough to hold the coconut shreds together, but not soaking wet that puddles were forming after they were molded.

I even gave the dough a few drops of green food colouring. Then took out my tree cookie cutter for some holiday spirit.

I guess I could have used more green food colouring.

The one on the very right had no food colouring at all. I made that one just to compare. Still it wasn't green enough! I thought that the coconut flakes would help emulate the leaves of evergreen trees. What do you think? They almost look like rice krispie squares in the photo!

Drizzle some chocolate and decorate the trees with sprinkles for some holiday cheer! Yum, I love how these cookies are crispy and nice and chewy.

Happy Holidays

I adore the holiday season! I love seeing places decorated and decked out in lights. Even if we're not shopping, making a trip downtown is always a festive treat.

This year, Eaton Centre added these lovely reindeers. To me, they look like Harry Potter's Patronus charm. Think happy thoughts, the stronger they are, the stronger your Patronus will be!

Here's an up close shot of what the reindeer's are really made of.

Did I tell you how much I like polar bears?

The holiday display windows at the Hudson's Bay Company. Forget caroling, that little figurine has it right.

Yes, there are some annoyances with this time of the year. Mainly the crowds, line-ups, and traffic. You'll meet the odd grumps and Grinch's, but for the most part, everyone is pretty understanding and full of good cheer. Be fair, considerate, and nice.

At home, it means I get to decorate our windows with star lights. I love the warm glow it gives my workstation.

Don't forget the holiday parties! Whether it's the company ones or the ones with close friends and family.

I had a great time at the company parties this year. My company treated us to a great lunch (or should I say feast judging with all the leftovers?) at a cozy Italian restaurant. We started with an assortment of cold cuts and cheeses, paired with the bread basket - so tasty! Then, a simple salad with tomatoes and cheese tossed with balsamic vinaigrette. We shared various pasta dishes - tomato sauce, garlic, and basil; spicy sausage, smoked provolone, garlic, and tomato sauce; and zucchini, roasted cherry tomatoes, red onions, and bocconcini in a light tomato sauce. We still had an assortment of pizza to share. I loved how we passed each dish around the communal table. It really did feel like a family meal. And for dessert, Bacetti! Bacetti is a gelato bite covered by a thin coat of chocolate. Some of the gelato flavours we had were vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, lemon, and roasted nuts. A perfect bite to finish a meal.

Howard's company invited family, so I got to tag along and tour their new building. Howard's actually in the social committee at work (hehe) and helped planned the holiday party. When I arrived, he was still wrapping empty boxes to be used as decoration. I can see that his managers and colleagues are really great people to work with.

Then there are the parties where people let loose. Every year, our friends Kurt and Diana host a holiday party. It's a potluck, this year Howard made pad Thai and I brought peanut butter and chocolate cupcakes. We're putting their wedding cupcake stand to good use!

We also play a game called White Elephant. The theme this year was to bring a guilty pleasure from $5-$10, wrap it, and don't tell anyone what's inside. We draw numbers, I got number 1! We go around in the order we drew. The rules are simple. You can either choose a gift from the middle or steal one that someone has already picked (doesn't pay to go first). A gift can only be stolen twice. The person who gets their gift stolen can choose to pick again or steal someone else's. It's quite amusing to watch since we don't know what the gifts are yet. Until the last gift is picked, we open them. This year, there was a lot of alcohol and chocolate....

I was quite pleased with my box of Ferrero Rocher. I had given away a dessert cookbook and two romance novels. Howard got a Slap Chop because someone's guilty pleasure was watching food infomercials!

We hope you have a fun and memorable holiday!

Decorating Cupcakes for EverythingMom

This took some time, but I think it was all worth it in the end. Through twitter DM and e-mail troubles, Carrie Anne was finally able to get in touch with me. I'm glad she did, because she had a fun idea for me! Carrie Anne Badov is Partner and Editor-in-Chief at EverythingMom, I actually know her from work because she is an avid reader and helps promote books and literacy. Long story short, she wanted to know if I would be interested in doing a Christmas/Holiday cupcake article. I said yes!

I spent the weekend brainstorming some simple, but fun ideas for families to make. I even went out and bought some holiday sprinkles. Trees, stars, snowflakes, and candy canes - all in miniature sugar form - perfect!

I took out some colourful cupcake liners (thank you Mike and Megan) and baked some old-fashioned chocolate cupcakes. Then took out the piping bag, my piping tips, and some candies.

Click here to see the cupcake creations on EverythingMom.com!

Sweet Gifts

Don't you love having a "thing" or hobby? I love it when co-workers and friends tell me about cupcake and baking things they've seen. Honestly, there are trip photos from friends where I get tagged as cupcakes or bakeries on facebook. So, I wanted to share some of the baking-related gifts I received this year! (Click here for last year's edition.) Maybe you'll spot something that you would like to put on your wishlist.

1. From the holidays, I got bubble bath cupcakes (thank you Pamela)! They come in these yummy scents: lemon meringue, apple strudel, orange chiffon, strawberry shortcake, blueberry cheesecake, and toasted coconut!

2. Howard found another set of flannel pajamas from La Senza! This year they had lots of cupcake patterns, we picked the pink and white set (the pattern is called "Sugar Spice" on the website).

3. The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook by Tarek Malouf was on my wish list this year (recommended by Trilby). I want to thank Secret Santa Kurt for ordering a copy for me! I am looking forward to baking from this cookbook, recipe pages have already been tagged and noted. Thing to note, beautiful photography (by Peter Cassidy) and the recipes are very easy to follow. I really like how the recipes yield a dozen cupcakes. The cookbook includes lots of classic American favourites, so I think this would be the perfect nostalgic gift. If you have a copy, don't forget to read these tips from the publisher before baking. One day... we will visit the bakery in London!

4. This drool-worthy Cakes calendar was a birthday present. It boasts a year of scrumptious recipes. What a great way to start each month! Thank you to Kurt and Diana!

5. This book, Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, was also a part of my Secret Santa bundle, so thanks again Kurt! It is written by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, photographs by Tina Rupp. This is such a beautiful cookbook - well done production and design! I really like the clean and simple ways their cakes and cupcakes are decorated. I am really looking forward to their next cookbook! My next trip to New York will have to include a stop at this bakery!
PS: Where do you get the little deer cupcake toppers on page 72??

6. For my birthday, we went to get mini cupcakes from Life is Sweet. I picked out earl grey with orange, butterscotch, lemon drop, white chocolate, double chocolate, and mango and lime. Sigh! While we were there, there was another couple taste-testing for an event (a wedding perhaps?).

7. Cute mini cupcake spatula/spoon! This mini set will be perfect for scraping the mixer's blade and for filling my smaller piping bags with frosting!

8. Cupcake cookie cutters from Howard's Secret Santa! Thank you to Megan for including these for me! =P

9. You see that small vintage pedestal holding the mini cupcakes? Birthday present from my brother, so thank you little brother! I know he doesn't understand ("What's wrong with regular plates?"), so even more gratitude for getting it for me. =)

10. My very sweet birthday card, thank you Howard. =)

On a random side note, after picking up my mini cupcakes on my birthday, we passed The Pie Shack/The Paw Shack. I had read about The Pie Shack in a bakery roundup from blogTO, so we quickly parked and went inside! Howard and I tried a slice of the apple cinnamon pie. Yummy pie crust! Howard also picked up the AAA Angus Beef Pie for later. We both want to let Tim know that we love the setup, decor, and the feel of the bakery, oh and Campbell? Such a well behaved collie!

Well now I'm curious, what kind of sweet gifts did you get over the holidays? Feel free to share links to the item or links to your blog in the comments below!