As this year’s Macaron Day fell on a Tuesday, I didn’t have time to make macarons. I did, however, stop by a French pattiserie in the financial district with a group of colleagues.
At lunch time, we eagerly walked to Petite Thuet - after all, we had been waiting for this day for a year. For some reason, the usual 10-minute walk seemed like an eternity. When we finally got there, we were told they only had a few espresso macarons left (which were being filled as we were talking to our host) and that they didn’t expect any more for the day. We were simply crushed…a year of waiting and now to hear this? We weren’t too impressed with the espresso macarons as they were too ‘fresh’ and lacking the right texture resulting from maturation.
Eventually, we each grabbed a sandwich and agreed that it simply wasn’t our lucky day. As we exited the shop, a van had just parked and staff were bringing in trays and trays of colourful and pretty macarons. After all, it wasn’t such a bad day, timing was just perfect. Of course, we went straight back in and each of us purchased our favourite flavour macarons.
On the weekend, I decided to try out another of Pierre Herme’s recipes, Mogador – milk chocolate ganache with passion fruit. The result was perfect as milk chocolate brings out every aspect of passion fruit: its fragrance and its subtle, tangy sweetness. Pierre Herme summarizes this heavenly combination as “the different flavours blend to create a vibrant harmony and complement one another”.
For the macaron shells, I used my usual recipe while for the chocolate/passion fruit ganache I adapted Herme’s recipe from his famous Macarons book. Below is the halved recipe which was enough for 20 macarons.
Passion fruit & milk chocolate ganache
50g butter
275 milk chocolate (good quality)
5 passion fruits
20g heavy cream
Chop the milk chocolate into small pieces. Boil the strained passionfruit pulp and heavy cream together and pour over chocolate. Stir until incorporated and the ganache forms.
Wait a couple of minutes for the ganache to cool a bit and add the softened butter. Stir to create an emulsion. Let it harden until it is pipeable and fill the macarons. Bon appetit!
Since my last trip to Paris this May, I became even more obsessed with the French cuisine. Maybe because the French culture has had such a huge impact on me, or maybe because that is the only way I can reminisce about a country that I always dreamt to live in, but life just got in the way…
Every time I think about Paris, I see small cafes and bakeries, and all the sophisticated desserts that bring the city alive every second. During our trip, our daily routine included a stop to a boulangerie in the morning and another one at a pâtisserie in the evening. My favourite boulangerie on Champs-Élysées had a variety of pastries, but one that really caught my eye was a pear tart with almond filling (frangipane). Simply mouth-watering…
This Labour Day long weekend, I wanted to bake something more autumnal that reminds me of Paris. I always found Fall quite nostalgic. I wasn’t looking for anything specific, however I came across an amazing pear and almond tart on Smitten Kitchen. This was my first crumbled tart, and luckily it turned out beautiful.
The recipe is a three-step process that takes a few hours but it is fairly simple to make and straightforward. To save some time, I prepared the almond filling and poached pears the night before. The following day, I made the tart and baked everything together. Check out the recipe and step-by-step instructions over at Smitten Kitchen.
Verdict: this tart is super delicious and almost as good as the French version! The only thing missing is…well..Paris!
I love coffee in any shape or form which explains why Tiramisu is my favourite dessert. I always wondered how tiramisu ice cream would taste like or if such recipe even existed? Then, I can across David Leibovitz’ Perfect Scoop that includes unique ice cream recipes including a tiramisu flavour. Best part, it doesn’t have a cooked custard base which means no eggs – only mascarpone cheese goodness and, of course, coffee!
The ice cream base asks for coffee-based liqueur, but I used Baileys since it goes well with tiramisu cake, as well as mascarpone to create a creamy richness. I also made a mocha ripple (made by simmering espresso, cocoa powder, vanilla, sugar and corn syrup), which was layered into the ice cream after it was done churning.
The resulting combination of flavours was so delicious that it almost seemed sinful. I don’t think anything could get closer to the real tiramisu than this ice cream. My husband can attest to this – he said: “Hands off, this is your best one yet!”.
Serve this sophisticated ice cream at a dinner party, and it will stop conversation. You’ll be tempted to tell your friends it is the easiest ice cream you have ever made—no tempering egg yolks, no cooking custard, just a whirr in the blender and, in a hurry, a straight shot into the machine. But don’t. Anything so profoundly delicious deserves its mystery.
Tiramisu Ice Cream – adapted from David Leibovitz’ Perfect Scoop
Ice cream base
2 cups mascarpone
1 cup half and half
2/3 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup coffee-flavored liqueur (I used Baileys)
Puree the mascarpone, half and half, sugar, salt, liqueur, and brandy together in a blender or food processor until smooth and the sugar is dissolved. Chill thorougly in the refrigerator.
Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. As you remove it from the machine, alternate layers of Mocha Ripple with the frozen ice cream in the storage container.
Mocha ripple
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup espresso
6 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Whisk together the sugar, corn syrup, espresso and cocoa powder in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture begins to bubble at the edges.
Continue to whisk until it just comes to a low boil. Cook for 1 minute, whisking frequently. Remove from the heat, stir in the vanilla, and let cool. Chill in the refrigerator before using.
