Milk chocolate hazelnut ganache macaroons

                

                                                                  

           OMG !!! It is such a thrill & an excitement to come back with
MACAROONS !!!

These little round almond cookies can be so tricky...
I found great advices on this blog (french)
Valérie has tested & retested all kinds of methods & shares the best.
The milk chocolate hazelnut ganache is my own.

Here's what we need for 15/20 macaroons (depends on their size) :

2 DAYS BEFORE TASTING
ALL INGREDIENTS MUST BE AT ROOM TEMPERATURE

75g almond powder
75g icing sugar
2X28g OLD egg whites
(the week before, separate your eggs & keep the whites in the fridge)
75g granulated sugar
18g water

 200g milk chocolate
60g hazelnut praline paste
50g butter
25cl whipping cream 





Here's what we do :

MIX almond powder & icing sugar for a few seconds in a blender, stir, mix again, stir, until finely blended (should look like flour), be careful not to heat the mixture !!


Italian meringue :

Pour 28g egg whites in the bowl of your food processor, DON'T BEAT THEM YET
Heat 18g water & 75g granulated sugar in a small saucepan
When the syrup reaches 212°C, start beating the egg whites at slow speed, gradually increase the speed
As soon as the syrup hits  244°F, pour it slowly into the egg whites (on the edge of the bowl)
At this point, the egg whites MUST NOT be hard.
Now, beat at maximum speed until COLD
Your meringue should be shiny & hard

Macaroons :

Stir the remaining 28g egg whites with almond powder & icing sugar until well combined, you should obtain a soft marzipan.

Stir in a small amount of Italian meringue to soften the marzipan.

Add half of the remaining meringue making circular gestures & lifting the marzipan,
Add the last half. The mixture should be shiny, smooth but NOT TO runny.

The pastry baking tray must be at ROOM TEMPERATURE (NEVER, NEVER HOT!!!)

Cover a pastry baking tray with PARCHMENT PAPER
Pipe your macaroons with a 8mm smooth tip.

Preheat your oven at 356°F. Well, 356°F is perfect for me, but you can find lots of different recipes, it really depends on your oven, the best is to try...Maybe you'll find out that 320°F is better....Macaroons is a hard job, based on trials !!!

Bake for 10/12mn (check every 30seconds)

Ganache :

Coarsely chop milk chocolate in a large bowl.
Heat the whipping cream with praline hazelnut in a saucepan on medium heat until it boils.
Pour on chocolate.
Whisk well until creamy & smooth.
Add butter & whisk well.
Put in the fridge for a list 6 hours.
pipe on one side of your macaroons & cover with another one.

Put your macaroons in a airtight box & in the fridge until next day.


                                                        

                                                 Relax, savour & share !!

Raspberry coulis

 Another raspberry recipe I know !! But I can't help it ! They are one of my favorite !

Raspberry coulis is easy to make and gives a very "chic" ruby colour when pour on cakes or cream cheese, needless to talk about its fabulous taste!

One more thing, it can be frozen !!

Yields : a small jar

Here's what we need :

200g raspberries, 230g raspberry juice, 150g sugar.

Here's what we do :

In a saucepan on medium low heat cook the raspberries with juice & sugar until it thikens.

Sift until really smooth.
                                                                                                                              Relax, savour & share!

Creamy honey dark chocolate ganache

That dark chocolate ganache recipe is really yummy with a marvellous still discret honey taste !!

It is perfect for chocolate tarts or stuffed chocolate candies.

After a few hours in the fridge, it stays creamy, soft and melt in your mouth deliciously.

 WHAT A TEXTURE !!!

Here's what we need :

200g dark chocolate (60% cocoa), 160g whipping cream, 30g high quality honey, 30g butter at room temperature.

1 culinary thermometer.

Here's what we do :

Chop the chocolate coarsely & melt on low medium heat in a "bain-marie".

In a saucepan, bring the whipping cream & honey to a boil.

Slowly pour 1/3 of the hot cream in the melted chocolate & whisk until well combined & glossy.

Do as well with the second 1/3 then the last one.

When the ganache is 40/104°F, mix in the butter.

                                                                                                                                  Relax, savour & share!

strawberry olive oil and basil soup with a twist

First stawberries are back on the market !!

To celebrate their arrival I thought of a recipe that I admit might be quite surprising at first sight !

But strawberries really do get along with olive oil and basil !
To add a little twist I used japanese sake and blackcurrant cream liquor.

You can serve it as a dessert by itself or with a chocolate cake, simply divine !
Why not for breakfast on a french toast ?!

Serves : 4

Here's what we need :

500g good stawberries, 4 tablespoons olive oil, 150g brown sugar, 2 teaspoons sake, 2 tablespoons blackcurrant cream liquor, 10 drops basil essential oil.



Here's what we do :

Wash the strawberries under cold water.

Remove the green and cut them in 4 lenghtwise.

In a saucepan on medium heat, pour olive oil and heat.

Add the strawberries with sugar, stir gently for 5 minutes.

Add sake, blackcuuant cream liquor and basil essential oil, stir.

Heat for 15 minutes.

Put aside until cold and store in fridge.

                                                                                                                                   relax, savour & share!

Cream and honey caramel sauce

YUMMY IS THE WORD !!

I made this delicious caramel sauce to accompany  my easter chocolate dessert.
Honey gives a stunning twist to that otherwise quite classical caramel sauce.

In fact, I so love it that when everyone is out of sight I tilt my head back, open my mouth wide and pour !!

Writing about it makes my mouth water...I'll be right back .....

Yields : a small jar.

Here's what we need :

20cl whipping cream, 20g honey, 90g sugar.

Here's what we do :

In a saucepan over medium heat bring the whiping cream to a boil.

In a second saucepan (over medium heat too) melt honey and add sugar little by little stirring constantly until you obtain a beautiful golden caramel.

Pour the hot cream very carefully and stir.

We're done!
                                                                                                                                   relax, savour & share!

Lime & cardamom curd

Sunny morning !! Sunny cooking !!

Yes, sunshine is bringing with it an irresistible craving for exotic flavors.
I wouldn't complain, would you ?
That lime and cardamom curd is like a trip to sunny islands...
So, buckle up and get ready to take off...

Yields : 1/4 liter

Here's what we need :

4 limes, 120g butter, 3 eggs, 225g brown sugar, 2 teaspoons cardamom powder.

Here's what we do :

Squeeze the limes and grate their zests.

 Heat butter, sugar, limes juice and zests in a saucepan on medium heat.



beat the eggs in a bowl.

Add beaten eggs to the lime mixture and put back on heat, stir nonstop until it thickens.

It's done !
                                                                                                                                   relax, savour & share!

Gianduja

What is this??
It's a dream comes true!

Once upon a time, an italian greedy angel who lived in piemont, THE land of hazelnuts, woke up on a sunny morning surrounded by his beloved nuts, asking himself how to sublimate them. Suddenly he remembered his dream. A dream in which he invented a dessert to celebrate the woman he's loved all his life. she was a milk chocolate addict...

here's what he dreamed of :

250g hazelnuts, 100g high quality milk chocolate, 30g cocoa butter, 250g icing sugar

here's what he did :

First he roasted the hazelnuts in his oven at 302°F for 10 minutes, until they got the nice color of amber
he waited a few minutes and peeled them.

He coarsely chopped the chocolate and put it on a "bain marie" with the cacao butter to melt.

then he finely ground the nuts with icing sugar to make a paste and add the melted chocolate

 GIANDUJA was born !
(actually, I made up this story, I wanted something romantic to illustrate that oustanding recipe)


                                                                                                                                   relax, savour & share!

Salted butter caramel sauce

Salted butter caramel was invented in 1973 by a chocolate maker from Quiberon, a small town in french north west coast were they eat, cook and bake almost everything with salted butter...I must admit I love salted butter too, it brings that little pinch we all are found of. So, don't hesitate, take a trip to the wonderland of salted butter caramel sauce...

yelds : medium size pot

here's what we need :

150g sugar, 60g salted butter, 20cl whipping cream

here's what we do :

pour the sugar in a saucepan with a bit of water on medium low heat, when it begins to brown, stay still and watch carefully, it burns fast (you can't tell I did'nt warn you !!)

out of the eat, add your fantastic salted butter cut in squares, beware of projections (caramel is so hot you really could get hurt, I know what I'm talking about)
now, add the cream and...well...I guess we're done!!
                                                                          
                                                                                                                                  relax, savour & share !