RuthWells
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Posts posted by RuthWells
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I started a baking business last month, and have just received an order for 10 dozen coconut macaroons for Passover. Though I have many macaroon recipes in my library, I don't have a tried and true that I know will stand up for retail, and I don't have much (any, really) time to test recipes.
Does anyone have a good, sturdy macaroon recipe they can share? TIA!
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... Glaze - I rarely do glaze so I could use help here...
ClearJel is cheap, and easily available from many sources (I get mine @http://www.sweetc.com/), it gives you stable and completely transparent glaze, which is why many pastry chefs favor it.
Good Luck!
When is the last time you ordered from Sweet Celebrations? I heard a rumor that they were going out of business a few months ago, and at that time, no one was answering the phones. : (
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Thanks Andie...we'll give it a go. The cake was so moist, without being wet. And yet it had a solid structure. I have people bring food to me all the time to show me how great it is and am normally not impressed, but this cake was really damn well near perfect. I'll see if I can't make it this week sometime and report back.
Oooh, please do report. I am trying to perfect my fourless choc torte for my new baking business, and I'm getting close...... but am not quite there yet. Moist and a solid structure are exactly what I'm trying to achieve.
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Nope, no struggling with the idea. She was very specific on what she wants. Smooth white cake, 2 tiers, no flowers (though I may be able to sell her on that one) with little piped pearls/dots. I think just around the bases of the tiers but it could be more, I'll have to verify that. It's not until sometime in May so I have time to experiment a little. The problem I have is that it's just not what I do so I don't have enough practice at it to feel comfy. If someone insists I make a birthday cake and it's not quite perfect, I can live with that. I always warn people I'm not a cake decorator. But a wedding cake is a whole different arena. They need to be nice. I've attached a pic of one of my cakes below. I've posted it before but it's just to give an idea of the type of decorating I do as opposed to the type she wants. This is the type of decorating I'm comfy with. I have fun with it so I do it often and stay in practice... but it's not a wedding cake. I'll probably end up doing fondant. I'm not opposed to working with it, just eating it.
I would like to know more about that gorgeous cake, please!!
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I have recently started a new baking business (www.ruthssweetpleasures.com, if interested), and am having fits trying to package my macarons well. I purchased cello bags and gold twist ties, but I can't get a really beautiful result -- the macaron filling tends to smear on the inside of the bag on its way into the bag, and the macarons don't tend to stay nicely stacked in the bag.
I'm thinking I should go to a clear box, but am concerned about a) expense and b) airtight-ness. I haven't found a slam-dunk product at any of my usual purveyors -- any recommendations would be most appreciated!
Thanks, Duncan -- I like the idea of a cardboard box with a clear lid.
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I have recently started a new baking business (www.ruthssweetpleasures.com, if interested), and am having fits trying to package my macarons well. I purchased cello bags and gold twist ties, but I can't get a really beautiful result -- the macaron filling tends to smear on the inside of the bag on its way into the bag, and the macarons don't tend to stay nicely stacked in the bag.
I'm thinking I should go to a clear box, but am concerned about a) expense and b) airtight-ness. I haven't found a slam-dunk product at any of my usual purveyors -- any recommendations would be most appreciated!
Here are some ideas, Ruth:
Mad Baker's Macaron Set on Flickr has lots of good ideas. Be sure to view both pages.
Another on Design is Mine blog.
And another at Bliss Wedding Market.
And finally, the Laduree macaron boxes.
These are from a google images search for 'macaron.'
edited to add: It just occurred to me that you could perhaps use a clear acetate collar to wrap around your macarons to keep them in line and nicely stacked. Then slide that whole assembly into your bag. Voila!
Thank you so much for the ideas, John! I will clicky away with great optimism.
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I have recently started a new baking business (www.ruthssweetpleasures.com, if interested), and am having fits trying to package my macarons well. I purchased cello bags and gold twist ties, but I can't get a really beautiful result -- the macaron filling tends to smear on the inside of the bag on its way into the bag, and the macarons don't tend to stay nicely stacked in the bag.
I'm thinking I should go to a clear box, but am concerned about a) expense and b) airtight-ness. I haven't found a slam-dunk product at any of my usual purveyors -- any recommendations would be most appreciated!
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I would fill them the day before, you can brush a little syrup on the flat sides before filling if you like.
I know there are distributors selling them - already assembled - frozen. Even the unfilled shells are shipped frozen. So far, I haven't made them myself yet but I'm considering it as a Passover item....
Great to know, thanks! I think I'll bake the shells ahead and store at cool room temp.
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I'm baking a raft of macarons this weekend for an event next Thursday. Is my best bet to wait to fill them until the day before the event? I imagine the unfilled shells will have a shelf life similar to meringues, right?
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Yes and in fact I'm packaging cookies in them right now, and I've been thinking it would be fun to do a marshmallow cube in there - 3 x 3 x 3 of choc, vanilla and straw...or something like that, to make it look like a rubics cube.
Love that idea.
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So I just bought THESE clear cubes to sell my pastries in (mostly 3" mousses, etc) and they are sexy as hell, allow me to display in the freezer or cooler (and counter although I haven't yet), in other words I love them. Except one thing. How the hell is the customer supposed to get the dessert out of the box?! You can't. We had to open the bottom and carefully pull the dessert out - and you know how fragile mousse is. I'll keep using them for now, but its apparently not my solution.
Would you recommend the clear cubes for, say, macarons?
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After a very disappointing NYE dinner at Le Bar Lyonnaise, Hubby and I dropped by Osteria (without a reservation) for a nightcap at around 10pm. Could not have been more delighted! We were offered comfortable seats at the bar and ended up ordering some half-portions of 2 pasta dishes to take away the disappointment we had experienced earlier.
I ordered the squash gnocchi with brown butter and mostarda, and Oh My Heavens. Ambrosia from the gods. Perfect texture, just a bit of resistance on the tooth before it dissolves on the tongue. Flavor absolutely delicious -- I refused to share with Hubby and practically licked the bowl. Left the restaurant wishing that we had started at Osteria for NYE! And planning to return soon.
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Most of my favourite white bread have a yellowish crumb (particularly baguette for some reason) while all of my homemade white breads are pure white. I have used various type of white flour with similar results. Why is the crumb of all my favourite bread has that yellow tinge? Could this explain why my homebaked bread are not as good as those other breads?
Perhaps your favorite bread uses potato flour? I find that potato flour gives a yellow crumb.
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Ditto on the bad candy mojo, here -- I made a tray of toffee last night and while I'm sure the mixture reached 300*, the toffee isn't setting up well. I chilled it overnight and got a bit of snap from it, but when chewing, it reverts to a chewy candy rather than a crisp toffee. What the hell?!
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Agreed. We were in Paris this September and one of the (many) treats I grabbed to try at PH was the Ispahan macaron. It seems so unlikely, but it really is an intriguing combo -- the last bite is as interesting at the first.
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For DD's birthday, I made a "Hula Penguins in Antarctica" cake using the Perfect Party Cake with vanilla bean buttercream. Inside, there was a filling of buttercream flavoured with rose essence and dotted with lychees - an ode to PH's Ispahan.
Absolutely adorable, and I know Dorie would love the PH tribute!
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Thanks for the tip re: the almond meal -- I'll try whizzing it with the sugar, as well.
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Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the help, especially righ now. I am crazed
Can being short 1 T of cocoa really make that big a difference?? The cake was flatter than a pancake. I did whip the egg yolks and sugar (the amount not used with the whites) the full 5 minutes... even used the kitchen timer.
Cream of tartar. I think mine is ok but who knows. I sorta remember it can be checked by adding a few drops of lemon juice to some and if it bubbles, it's fresh...?? My egg whites whipped up fine if that means anything. As I said, the batter looked great... just no rise in the oven.
I am going to make the cake again first thing in the morning - after checking back here. I simply can't face it again tonight. I'll move onto the other thousand things on my list. I did think of a Plan B... the woman did order Red Velvet Cake at first but I stupidly (!!) suggested this roll as something different. If the roll fails tommorrow, I'll make her the RVC.
When it rains, it pours
How's your oven temp -- have you calibrated recently? If the batter looked good going in, that's where my suspicion lies.
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I'm going to revive this thread. I made these yesterday since you can't buy a decent one in Chicago, at least not without buying them in bulk via special order. I used the calculations from upthread (500g TPT, processed and sifted, 250 g sugar, 187 g egg whites, and I added 30g cocoa to the dry ingredients and filled with a dark ganache made from 7 oz 71% valhrona, 2 1/2 tbs butter, and 7 fl. oz of cream)
The cocoa needed to be a better quality, or perhaps more of it, becuase the color wasn't the beautiful chocolate color, it had a grayish tinge to it. But other than that, and the fact that I think I needed to deflate just a bit more becuase the first few were very fluffy, these were pretty good. About 15 minutes at 325, and I found the batch on parchment was much better than the two batches on silpats, the silpat batches didn't quite stick, but required some care to release, the parchment batch was almost sliding around on the parchment. Texture wise, they were just about perfect: crispy, chewy, delicate.
Next time I'm going to make a template and shoot for 2" macs, these were about 2 3/4 to 3", which is a touch too big. And I'm going to process the dry ingredients longer, there were still some almond chunks, even after sifting... Maybe a finer sifter. But not bad for a 2nd attempt, my first batch was undercooked, irregular, and ugly. And since I made them without a stand mixer, I rememberd the meringue being a PITA. With a stand mixer, it's easy.
Lookin' good! A very standard trick for improving the color of a chocolate mac is to add a few drops of red food color to the batter. Perks the brown right up.
Last week I asked my local market to order Bob's Red Mill almond flour for me, so I'll be mac-ing soon, too, I hope!
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Alice Medrich's bittersweet chocolate gelato from "Bittersweet" is milk and a smidge of cornstarch, no cream, and it's fabulous. Keeps its texture really well, too. I'm not at home but found this through Google -- hope it's accurate.
Chocolate Gelato
(adapted from Bittersweet)
3 cups milk
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1-1/2 tbsp cornstarch
In medium saucepan, bring 2 cups of the milk just to a simmer, which is when you start to see steam rising from the pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk the remaining cup of (cold/room temperature) milk with the sugar, cocoa, and cornstarch. Once the milk in the saucepan has come to a simmer, add in the cocoa mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil and begins to thicken. Cook for one more minute, then remove from heat.
Strain mixture into a large bowl, cover the surface with plastic wrap, and chill until cold. Overnight chilling is best.
Pour into your ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturers directions. Freeze until firm, at least 30 minutes, before serving.
Makes about 1 quart.
Note: You can use any type of milk for this recipe, from skim to whole. I recommed going with low fat (1 or 2%), since it produces a creamy product and one that is lower in fat than one made with whole milk.
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As Thanksgiving approaches, I want to (again) plug Dorie's Cranberry-Lime Galette -- so delicious, beautiful, and easy to put together. But mostly, absolutely delicious!
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I made the pumpkin muffins using only walnuts to mix in, omitting the raisins and the sunflower seeds. They domed beautifully and were very tender and yummy.
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I use the Tartlet pastry recipe from Sweet Miniatures and it freezes fine for a least a few weeks. If you wanted to be double sure about the crispness you could use PH's sweet tart pastry that has ground almonds in it.
I'm only a week away from the event, so may try holding at cool room temp. And I'm using the Sweet Miniatures recipe, too, so thanks for the input!
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Another alternative would be to buy them pre-made from Albert Uster. I've tasted their pre-made shells, and they're pretty good. Not home-made, but if I needed to make something in mass quantity, they are the brand I would consider using instead of scratch.
Theresa
Perhaps you could bake them now, and store airtight at room temperature or cooler, but not refrigerated or frozen.
I would prefer that solution -- I wonder how long they'd keep?!
Coconut Macaroons
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
Thank you both -- off to Mr. Google!