It is not a macaron at all..!!

That's it, enough ! After I put myself, totally in the "macarons all the way", I proclaim myself "give up". I already made six batches, and all of them ended up FAILED. Not all of them, some of macarons from my 5th batch had shown their feet. But I couldn't remove the shells from the parchment paper. So, I threw all the macarons. Big mistake..!!

I'm not the right person to make macarons, and it goes the other way around. From the moment I saw the picture of macarons, I was willing to make one by myself. But, fail after fail and I lost my desire, so..bye..bye macarons.


For you who never see macarons or don't know what macarons is, please click here. Don't blame me if you fall in love with macarons :D. They are pretty, indeed.

For the last time, my cookies (I can't mention it as macarons :D), I took pictures of them. It wasn't macarons at all but I made these with the same recipe with macarons. So long pretty...
wish I can see you in my own kitchen. :)

Macarons

Ingredients :
10 gr white egg (1 egg)
13 gr granulated sugar
88 gr powdered sugar
48 gr almond powder

How to : (adapted from http://www.mytartelette.com)

- Using mixer, whip the egg whites to a foam, (think bubble bath foam) gradually add the sugar until you obtain a glossy meringue (think shaving cream). Do not overbeat your meringue or it will be too dry.
- Place the powdered sugar and almonds and powdered color in a food processor and give them a good pulse until the nuts are finely ground.
- Add them to the meringue, give it a quick fold to break some of the air and then fold the mass carefully until you obtain a batter that falls back on itself after counting to 10. Give quick strokes at first to break the mass and slow down. Test a small amount on a plate: if the tops flattens on its own you are good to go. If there is a small beak, give the batter a couple of turns.
- Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip with the batter and pipe small rounds (1.5 inches in diameter) onto parchment paper or silicone mats lined baking sheets.
- Let the macarons sit out for 30 minutes to an hour to harden their shells a bit. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 280F.
- When ready, bake for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on their size.
- Let cool. Once baked and if you are not using them right away, store them in an airtight container out of the fridge for a couple of days or in the freezer.

For the filling I use Nutella (I don't want to risk myself for another failed batter). But it tastes good.

Give yourself a break

I've been trying to make macarons for 2 weeks and always ended up with failure. All of them, until my last- my 4th attempt, my macarons batter was still over-mixed. I already watch "Macarons Tutorial" in YouTube, but it doesn't seem I successfully mixed or fold the batter.

But I do see the bright light, after my last batch, in my 4th attempt of making macarons, there were feet on my macarons, but still I over-mixed the batter. It gives me hope, that one day I can make my own macarons, the pretty French cookies. :D
Let's forget about macarons for a while. I need to relax and give myself a break. Taking some picture of fresh fruits for my food photo experiment really pleased me more. I bought some berries, which looks very fresh and nice to photograph. Some berries, yes...they are strawberry, blackberry and raspberry.

Please enjoy my photos of fresh berries, before I push my luck and give myself another try to make macarons for the 5th time. And I do really need a good luck. Wish me luck, everyone...!!!

Brownies oh Brownies

Who hates chocolate ? The answer is my husband. He said he's not a sweet tooth and he just love anything fried, such as pastel, bakwan goreng, risol, tahu goreng and many more. In the other hand, I love sweetness and absolutely I love chocolate brownies.

I've never made chocolate brownies before, but since I couldn't wipe off the image of chocolate melt brownies I saw on the internet, I put myself courageously to make one. After searching, googling and do a little research (if you don't mind), I found the famous chocolate brownies recipe. It's Nigel Slater Chocolate Brownies and of course with melted chocolate inside.

The inside part of this brownies is a bit runny, and yummy :D Everyone who loves chocolate and sweetness, will love this cake. So, here's the recipe. I just copy- paste from Sticky Steps.

Ingredients :

300g brown caster sugar
250g softened butter
250g of the best chocolate you can get (darker is better and aim for ~70% cocoa solids)
3 large eggs plus the yolk of another egg
100g plain flour (Nigel uses 60g)
60g of good cocoa powder
1tspn baking powder

How to :

1) Preheat the oven to 180C
2) Line a large baking tin (23cm) with baking paper
3) Cream the sugar and butter with a mixer until white and fluffy

4) Melt 200g of the chocolate and chop the remaining 50g into small pieces or “gravel” put this aside.
5) Lightly beat the egg mixture and introduce to the creamed sugar/butter slowly with the beater running slowly until combined.
6) Pour in the molten chocolate and fold with a spoon. Add in the chopped chocolate bits.
7) Sift in the dry ingredients and fold in with spoon gently as to not knock any air out.

Come on everyone, don't you want to make one ?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bahasa Indonesia

Bahan :

300 gr gula kastor

250 gr mentega tawar

250 gr dark cooking chocolate

3 butir telur + 1 kuning telur

60 gr terigu

60 gr coklat bubuk

1 sdt baking powder

Cara :

1. Panaskan oven dengan suhu 180 C

2. Alasi loyang 23 cm dengan kertas minyak

3. Kocok dengan mixer, mentega dan gula kastor sampai putih dan halus

4. Lelehkan 200 gr dark cooking coklat dengan cara ditim, sisihkan 50 gr untuk dipotong-potong kecil.

5. Kocok telur dengan garpu, lalu masukan ke adonan mentega secara perlahan sambil terus di-mixer sampai rata

6. Masukan coklat yang sudah dilelehkan ke dalam adonan dan aduk dengan spatula. Tambahkan lagi dengan sisa cokalt yang sudah dipotong-potong.

7. Campurkan terigu, coklat bubuk dan baking powder ke dalam adonan.

8. Setelah rata, masukan ke dalam loyang dan siap dipanggang.

have a nice try, and enjoy.....

Chocolate covered Oreo

A very simple recipe, especially when you're not in the mood to bake a cake but you want to eat something sweet but simple and easy to make. I had a really good story to go along with this little recipe. A cup of left-over dark cooking chocolate, that I left behind for a day after my food photography project "When Strawberry met Chocolate". I didn't know what should I do with the chocolate. Then an idea popped out just like that "why don't you make chocolate covered biscuits".

So, here is the recipe of Chocolate covered Oreo Cookies

Ingredients :
- Oreo Cookies
- Dark cooking chocolate

How to :
1. In a stainless steel bowl set over a saucepan of boiling water, put in the dark cooking chocolate. Stir until melted, remove from heat.
2. Using two forks, dip Oreos (a couple at a time, depending on the size of your bowl) in the melted chocolate and coat both sides. Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment or wax paper. (Decorate top of cookie with sprinkles or crushed candy canes, if you like)
3. Let set in refrigerate for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Easy, isn't it ? And your kids will love it if you make these cookies to joy them.
Have fun and enjoy....