Ayyyye Churro Macarona!

Can you believe that when I met him TD had never had a churro? You think you know someone and BAM a little fact like that slips out.

On the one hand, I’ll admit it was pretty ethnocentric of me to believe that the churro was as ubiquitous in other parts of the country as it is in Southern California. On the other hand, we’re talking about a man who lists the Choco Taco as a favorite dessert. Explains a lot doesn’t it?

Whether or not churros are a part of your cultural landscape, you can’t deny the allure of cinnamon and sugar together. Add in a cinnamon infused cream cheese filling and you’ve got yourself an easy win.

Churro Macarons

cinnamon shells with cinnamon cream cheese filling and a dusting of cinnamon sugar on top

for the shells, makes 18-20 shells for 9-10 finished cookies

Ingredients

60 grams almond meal
100 grams confectioner’s sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
50 grams egg whites
20 grams granulated sugar

Note: I did not use food coloring in these guys because the little flecks on cinnamon were too pretty to cover up.

Directions

Preheat oven to 315 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment. I like to draw the circles with Sharpie on a couple of pieces of parchment as a stencil. In order to use them multiple times I lay another piece of parchment over the top.
Weigh and measure out all of your ingredients. When I’m making multiple batches I actually weigh out the almond flour, sugar and any other dry ingredients into separate zip-lock baggies and label them.
In a food processor fitted with a blade, pulse together almond meal, cinnamon and confectioner’s sugar. Give it a few pulses then sift into a medium bowl. Set aside.
In a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or an electric hand mixer), add the egg whites. Beat on medium low until frothy.
Increase the speed and slowly add the granulated sugar and pinch of salt.
Beat eggs until they form soft peaks.
Working in three batches, add first portion of almond meal mixture to the egg-whites. Gently fold until just combined. Repeat with the additional two portions of meal folding to combine while using as few folds as possible.
To test if the batter is ready to pipe, scoop about 1/4 tsp onto a flat surface. The batter should act like lava and spread enough to lose its peak but not its shape. I usually do this test several times starting at the point where everything is just combined. If you under-mix the batter you can always give it a few more folds. However, you are out of luck if you over mix. So, err on the side of multiple tests.
When the batter is ready, pour it into your piping bag. To be honest, I don’t bother with a tip, I just snip the bag about an inch or so from the tip.
Pipe your shells onto the parchment-lined baking sheets.
Allow to sit for 10-60 minutes or until the shells appear dry. I have found this process is heavily dependent on the weather. The more moisture in the air, the longer they need to sit.
Working with one sheet at a time, bake for about 20 minutes. To test, gently grab one corner of the parchment and attempt to peel it from the shell. A clean peel means the shells are done. If they are sticky, back in the oven for another 5 minutes and test again.
Let the shells cool but once cool, carefully remove from the parchment. I have found that you don’t want to let the cooled shells sit on the parchment.

for the filling

Ingredients

4 ounces cream cheese (I like to use a lower fat version to keep the filling from being too heavy)
1 C confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon (more to taste)
1/2 tsp vanilla
Optional: 4 TBS or so of cinnamon sugar for dusting (4TBS granulated sugar + 1 /2 tsp cinnamon)

Directions

Beat the cream cheese with an electric hand-mixer until smooth.
Add- in remaining ingredients and beat until combined.
Once the sandwich cookies are filled, dip the finished cookie in a shallow dish of cinnamon and sugar. The surface tension should be enough to keep some of the fine granules stuck to the cookie.

Peanut butter and WHAT? macarons

Things are about to get weird. In a good way.

My friend and food writer Ann Mah has an enthusiasm for weeknight dinners. In this spirit she has a long running Tuesday feature where she invites people talk about what they find themselves consuming for the evening meal during the Monday through Thursday run. With the exception of me, you’ve heard of many of the people whose private lives Ann’s series gives us a brief glimpse: Patricia Wells and David Lebovitz are two. It wasn’t until late spring of this year when Ann shared a week of her own dinners.

Sunday: homemade chili with pickled onions…you had me at pickled onion. Monday: chicken tetrazzini…oooh cheesy. Tuesday: peanut butter and sriracha toast with sautéed broccoli rabe. Wait what?

Peanut butter and sriracha? A revelation I tell you.

We all know sriracha right? Its rise in popularity over the last couple of years has made this Thai chili sauce often called by the feathered moniker on the bottle nearly a cliche. I mean really, when Applebee’s has a dish inspired by sriracha you know its flown the coupe. Or maybe it’s just become over-hipstered. L.A. even has a Sriracha Festival. But you, it’s L.A.

But a cliche is a cliche for a reason. And hipster or no, it’s easy to admit that sriracha is a tasty, if not punishing, sauce.

And peanut butter and sriracha together? It makes perfect sense. Think pad thai or cold noodles heartily dressed with creamy, spicy peanut sauce and sprinkled with chopped green onions.

Naturally, my brain purloined Ann’s idea and went in the sweet direction. Spice-spiked peanut butter cookies sounded like a good idea. Turns out lots of other people had the idea before me. Then, as I prepared to spend some time with French macarons the notion presented itself: sriracha and peanut butter sandwich cookies.

I added sriracha to both the shells and the filling. The biggest surprise was how much I needed to add to allow the slight kick to come through; peanut butter is a tough flavor to complement. My recommendation is to just use the amounts in the recipe below as a starting point and see how far you can take it.

I couldn’t figure out how to incorporate it here but intuitively it seems like lime would be right at home in this recipe. Maybe some zest in the shells or a little hidden dab of lime curd in the middle.

Have fun!

Sriracha and Peanut Butter Macarons

for the shells

Ingredients

60 g almond meal
100 g confectioner’s sugar
20 g granulated sugar
50 g egg whites
5 drops sriracha sauce
4 drops red gel food coloring

Directions

Preheat oven to 315 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment. I like to draw the circles with Sharpie on a couple of pieces of parchment as a stencil. In order to use them multiple times I lay another piece of parchment over the top.
Weigh and measure out all of your ingredients. When I’m making multiple batches I actually weigh out the almond flour, sugar and any other dry ingredients into separate zip-lock baggies and label them.
In a food processor fitted with a blade, pulse together almond meal, lemon zest and confectioner’s sugar. Give it a few pulses then sift into a medium bowl. Set aside.
In a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or an electric hand mixer), add the egg whites. Beat on medium low until frothy.
Increase the speed and slowly add the granulated sugar and pinch of salt.
Add-in your gel coloring if desired.
Beat eggs until they form soft peaks.
Working in three batches, add first portion of almond meal mixture to the egg-whites. Gently fold until just combined. Repeat with the additional two portions of meal folding to combine while using as few folds as possible.
Gently fold-in sriracha sauce.
To test if the batter is ready to pipe, scoop about 1/4 tsp onto a flat surface. The batter should act like lava and spread enough to lose its peak but not its shape. I usually do this test several times starting at the point where everything is just combined. If you under-mix the batter you can always give it a few more folds. However, you are out of luck if you over mix. So, err on the side of multiple tests.
When the batter is ready, pour it into your piping bag. To be honest, I don’t bother with a tip, I just snip the bag about an inch or so from the tip.
Pipe your shells onto the parchment-lined baking sheets.
Allow to sit for 10-60 minutes or until the shells appear dry. I have found this process is heavily dependent on the weather. The more moisture in the air, the longer they need to sit.
Working with one sheet at a time, bake for about 20 minutes. To test, gently grab one corner of the parchment and attempt to peel it from the shell. A clean peel means the shells are done. If they are sticky, back in the oven for another 5 minutes and test again.
Let the shells cool but once cool, carefully remove from the parchment. I have found that you don’t want to let the cooled shells sit on the parchment.

for the filling (recipe from Canelle et Vanille)

Ingredients

125 grams creamy peanut butter
70 grams powdered sugar
25 grams softened butter
25 grams heavy cream
5 grams vanilla extract
3 grams fine sea salt
start with 5 grams (1/2 tsp) sriracha and add to-taste

Directions

Cream all ingredients together.
Fill shells.

Pink Lemonade Macarons

Like most small towns across America, the little villages that make up the South Bay area of Los Angeles each have their own brand of summer festival. Come to think of it, the little hamlets of Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach don’t just limit their celebrations to the summer. There’s the Old Hometown Fair in October. Then there are the Manhattan Beach Fireworks in December (so clever considering Fourth of July fireworks in this neck of the woods are usually made impossible to watch thanks to the early summer marine layer). Oh, and of course, St Patrick’s Day in Hermosa. We go to it all every year just like we walk the strand every fourth of July and venture onto the cold December sand for the Yuletide 5K. It’s tradition.

But, back to the summer fun. For many years, Labor Day Weekend has been about Fiesta Hermosa. It’s what you would expect from a Southern California fun extravaganza: cover bands, rides for the kids, lots of food and booth upon booth of “who buys this stuff?”

Navigating the throngs to check out the latest in bedazzled acid washed denim accessories is thirsty work. So, we’ve learned to arm ourselves with a little pink lemonade to keep up our hydration. I don’t know the company but they sell only lemonade and their stands are strategically placed throughout the experience. Four dollars for a coffee doesn’t seem so bad when you willingly shell out six bucks for a lemonade.

In honor of the capstone of summer parties in the South Bay, this week’s macaron pairs a lemon infused shell with raspberry buttercream.

In addition to using dried and ground teas to flavor macarons shells, I’ve also had surprising success with drying and then powdering citrus zest. The lemon comes through nicely without being acidic.

Pink Lemonade Macarons

for the shells

Ingredients

60 g almond flour
100 g confectioner’s sugar
zest from one large or two small lemons, allowed to dry overnight on a paper towel
20 g granulated sugar
3 drops pink food coloring gel

Directions

Preheat oven to 315 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment. I like to draw the circles with Sharpie on a couple of pieces of parchment as a stencil. In order to use them multiple times I lay another piece of parchment over the top.
Weigh and measure out all of your ingredients. When I’m making multiple batches I actually weigh out the almond flour, sugar and any other dry ingredients into separate zip-lock baggies and label them.
In a food processor fitted with a blade, pulse together almond meal, lemon zest and confectioner’s sugar. Give it a few pulses then sift into a medium bowl. Set aside.
In a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or an electric hand mixer), add the egg whites. Beat on medium low until frothy.
Increase the speed and slowly add the granulated sugar and pinch of salt.
Add-in your gel coloring if desired.
Beat eggs until they form soft peaks.
Working in three batches, add first portion of almond meal mixture to the egg-whites. Gently fold until just combined. Repeat with the additional two portions of meal folding to combine while using as few folds as possible.
To test if the batter is ready to pipe, scoop about 1/4 tsp onto a flat surface. The batter should act like lava and spread enough to lose its peak but not its shape. I usually do this test several times starting at the point where everything is just combined. If you under-mix the batter you can always give it a few more folds. However, you are out of luck if you over mix. So, err on the side of multiple tests.
When the batter is ready, pour it into your piping bag. To be honest, I don’t bother with a tip, I just snip the bag about an inch or so from the tip (eh…maybe a little less).
Pipe your shells onto the parchment-lined baking sheets.
Allow to sit for 10-60 minutes or until the shells appear dry. I have found this process is heavily dependent on the weather. The more moisture in the air, the longer they need to sit.
Working with one sheet at a time, bake for about 20 minutes. To test, gently grab one corner of the parchment and attempt to peel it from the shell. A clean peel means the shells are done. If they are sticky, back in the oven for another 5 minutes and test again.
Let the shells cool but once cool, carefully remove from the parchment. I have found that you don’t want to let the cooled shells sit on the parchment.

for the filling

Ingredients

1/4 batch of this buttercream recipe
1/2 C raspberry jam at room temp

Directions

Using the whisk attachment of a standing mixer or an electric hand-mixer, beat together the plain buttercream and raspberry preserves.
If desired, chill for 15 minutes before filling macarons.

Pour l’amour de septembre

This year September is about French macarons. I’ll have a new macaron variation for you each week.

Let’s kick the unofficial start of fall off with an earl grey macaron filled with orange marmalade Italian buttercream.

Infusing tea into macaron shells is a clever way of adding additional sense experience to the macaron eating experience. Uhm. What I mean is that, as most people know, smell is an important element of the eating experience. Earl grey has a wonderful floral and citrus nose to it. So, even before you take your first bite, the seduction begins with the scent of oranges. It works the same with other tea varietals…chai…green…lapsang soughing (okay fine, I just wanted to type that last one).

Buttercream, Italian or otherwise is also a great bet for filling macarons. On its own, the filling is rich but stable (no need to worry about it squeezing out the sides). It’s also a great neutral beginning to a host of added flavors. In this recipe I’ve whipped in some orange marmalade.

Another fabulous thing about Italian buttercream is that sealed tightly in a ziplock freezer bag (don’t forget to label), it freezes extremely well. This allows you to cut-off a frozen hunk, thaw it, add-in your choice of flavorings and then fill a dozen or so at a time.

A final note on aesthetics. I’ve seen earl grey macarons in multiple macarooneries (if this isn’t already a word I’m claiming it). However, they are often colored grey or even lavender. I’m not really pro-grey food and I think the lavender is misleading. So, in this recipe I added just a couple of drops of orange food gel coloring. After all, earl grey tea gets its characteristic citrus scent from bergamot oranges (though, if I’m being honest, bergamots are actually yellow, not orange). I also like how the light hue allows the speckles from the ground tea to show through.

Next week, a nod to Fiesta Hermosa (and no, I’m not making an edible driftwood clock or bedazzled acid-wash demin purse).

Earl Grey French Macarons with Italian Buttercream

For the shells

I have found the best way to get consist results with macarons is to use weight measurements.

Make 20-24 shells

Ingredients

60 grams almond meal
100 grams confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp earl grey tea, finely ground (I use a coffee grinder)
20 grams granulated sugar
50 grams egg whites
pinch of salt
2 or so drops orange food gel if desired
Piping bag (a ziplock can be used in a pinch)

Directions

Preheat oven to 315 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment. I like to draw the circles with Sharpie on a couple of pieces of parchment as a stencil. In order to use them multiple times I lay another piece of parchment over the top.
Weigh and measure out all of your ingredients. When I’m making multiple batches I actually weigh out the almond flour, sugar and any other dry ingredients into separate zip-lock baggies and label them.
In a food processor fitted with a blade, pulse together almond meal, tea and confectioner’s sugar. Give it a few pulses then sift into a medium bowl. Set aside.
In a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or an electric hand mixer), add the egg whites. Beat on medium low until frothy.
Increase the speed and slowly add the granulated sugar and pinch of salt.
Add-in your gel coloring if desired.
Beat eggs until they form soft peaks.
Working in three batches, add first portion of almond meal mixture to the egg-whites. Gently fold until just combined. Repeat with the additional two portions of meal folding to combine while using as few folds as possible.
To test if the batter is ready to pipe, scoop about 1/4 tsp onto a flat surface. The batter should act like lava and spread enough to lose its peak but not its shape. I usually do this test several times starting at the point where everything is just combined. If you under-mix the batter you can always give it a few more folds. However, you are out of luck if you over mix. So, err on the side of multiple tests.
When the batter is ready, pour it into your piping bag. To be honest, I don’t bother with a tip, I just snip the bag about an inch or so from the tip (eh…maybe a little less).
Pipe your shells onto the parchment-lined baking sheets.
Allow to sit for 10-60 minutes or until the shells appear dry. I have found this process is heavily dependent on the weather. The more moisture in the air, the longer they need to sit.
Working with one sheet at a time, bake for about 20 minutes. To test, gently grab one corner of the parchment and attempt to peel it from the shell. A clean peel means the shells are done. If they are sticky, back in the oven for another 5 minutes and test again.
Let the shells cool but once cool, carefully remove from the parchment. I have found that you don’t want to let the cooled shells sit on the parchment.

For the Italian Buttercream

The Italian buttercream is this week’s baking class derivative. The instructor taught us how to test the syrup without using a candy thermometer and I want ed to practice. The recipe included here uses a thermometer because I have no idea how to accurately describe the “drop syrup dab in water and see if it forms a soft ball without totally scorching your finger tips method.”

And another thing. You could half this recipe and still have enough to fill several dozen macarons.

Start with this recipe for Italian Buttercream from Gourmet Magazine (sniffle). For a single batch of macarons you’ll only need a quarter of the buttercream (at most). To the portioned buttercream add about 1/2 cup of orange marmalade. Whip frosting to incorporate. Frost macarons as desired. Store remaining frosting in a sealed container in fridge (eh…maybe a week) or freezer (up to a couple of months).