Le Macaron Patisserie

Hello!


Foodie Yoodie is back~~ I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. It's a peaceful place to know that our lives are in the hands of someone who would love us enough to die for us. Amazing amazing grace.

After giving dinners up for lent, they are slowly becoming a part of our house again. We had some cranky pants moments in the beginning, but luckily we caught onto our hunger moods. Thank you to those friends who shared their own stories of fasting to encourage us along the way. It was a good time of focusing on the season of lent and a good reminder of who we are living for. It's still a challenge to remember that I can only do so much to steer my life, but it's really the favor and direction of the Lord that determines the course of my life.

So during lent, there have been some successful cooking attempts, but our pastor has challenged us to refrain from "catching up" on all we missed. So I will only share one of my new adventures which I've been practicing quite a bit in particular. I received a gift certificate from four friends in appreciation a few months back and had been holding onto it during multiple trips into Williams and Sonoma. It had to be something that was going to be meaningful and something that'd be put to good use... It had to really count. So what did I get? A scale. :) Thank you~  I will love it for as long as it works!

In professional kitchens, a scale is used to measure ingredients to get a more precise measure of the ingredients vs measuring cups and spoons. So with my new scale, I've tried my hand at the art of Macarons. These little Parisian pastry bites have been pretty challenging, but so far, I'm encouraged with the progress. Take note that they're not the "macarOOns" with coconuts. The Parisian MacarOns only have one O. Try that at the table with your friends for a fun food fact! A great way to remember this is that the Parisian macarons only have one O. The letter O looks like a big open mouth. Macarons are so yummy that you want to eat them all up yourself. Do you want to share with a friend? All good things should be shared with someone so... macarons are not good. ;)

Macarons are little pastries with a light/crispy and chewy shell and a gooey center filling. Now, macarons are not macarons without these little things called pieds or feet. The first time you get these little feet, you will feel your heart racing! It's one of those you-had-to-be-there moments.

When the whole batch has them, you will find yourself in a very happy place. :)

tada~

Then after they've cooled, you put some kind of filling in them. Here are some successful test runs:

Black sesame with white chocolate ganache.

Black sesame really has a different flavor than the regular brown sesame seeds!

Strawberry with real fresh strawberry buttercream filling.

A friend said her favorite was a "Cassis" which is a black currant.

Currant is a little harder to find, but I will find it.
This is blackberry with blackberry curd. Little cream and a little tartness.

Another friend's favorite, Pistachio with raspberry filling.

Almond and chocolate ganache

Lemon poppy seed with lemon buttercream and lemon curd

This is what a macaron social looks like.

Got some practice to feed some hungry people a couple weeks back.
hazelnut/raspberry/lemon poppy seed

and here's the labor of love for my friend's birthday. Lots and lots of macarons for...

...her birthday macaron tree. :)

Welcome to

Le Macaron Pâtisserie !

Bon Appétit!

FY