Tag Archives: gift

Mimosa Macarons

* Posted on May 10, 2013 by Allie

4 Replies

If everything goes according to plan, then by the time you are reading this post, I’ll be in sunny Florida, living vicariously through my kids as they take in all the magic of Disney!

In preparation for this family vacation, my kitchen and I worked some serious overtime! I wanted to be sure to bring you this recipe today, because Mother’s Day is one of my favorite holidays (naturally ), and y’all know how much I love to give a home-baked gift.

This one’s gonna be short and sweet, 1) because I have made macarons so many times before on this blog (scroll down and you’ll see), and 2) because I’m trying to pack up a family of four for a week in Florida, people!

The idea is simple: when I think of Mothers Day, I think of mimosas! I’m not sure how it came to be, but in my family, it’s tradition to head out for brunch. I don’t make a habit of imbibing before lunch on any other day of the year, but for some reason on Mothers Day I feel like I have a free pass to get looped on o.j. and champagne….!

These macaron shells are infused with a healthy helping of orange zest, and it perfumes the pastries so beautifully!

And the filling is a lovely champagne pastry cream. I found the recipe on SprinkleBakes.com. It comes together beautifully and the subtle champagne flavor is actually quite perceptible. I did make a few minor tweaks to her formula (I prefer my desserts less sweet), so if you have a real sweet tooth you might want to click on over to Heather’s beautiful page and follow her recipe. She meant for it to be eaten on it’s own, as a verrine, but I felt that since the macaron shells are so sweet, I should try to balance that.

Mimosa Macarons

Author: YinMom YangMom Allie

Prep time: 45 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 1 hour

Serves: about 20 pastries

Ingredients

Filling:
½ cup heavy cream, divided
½ cup sparkling white wine
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 whole egg
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Macaron shells:
100 grams almond flour/meal (approx. 1 cup + 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon)
155 grams confectioners sugar (approx 1 cup)
zest of one orange
3 egg whites
pinch of cream of tartar
55 grams superfine sugar (approx. ¼ cup + 2 teaspoons)
rose pink & lemon yellow gel paste food coloring (optional)

Instructions

Make the Filling: Combine ¼ cup cream with cornstarch, yolks, and egg; set aside. In a small saucepan, combine the remaining cream, sparkling wine, and sugar, and place over medium heat. When just beginning to simmer, add a third of the wine mixture to the egg mixture, whisking vigorously. Add the warmed egg mixture to the pot, and heat over a low flame, until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla. Pour through a fine-mesh strainer, into a heat-safe bowl, cover the surface with plastic wrap, and chill.
Make the Shells: Sift the almond meal and confectioners sugar together, discarding any large bits. Add the orange zest. Whip the whites until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to whip until soft peak stage. Slowly add in the superfine sugar. Tint with gel paste color, if desired. Continue to whip until stiff peaks are achieved. Fold the almond mixture into the whites until the batter drops from the spatula in a long ribbon. Pipe one-inch diameter rounds onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Allow the shells to dry and form a thin membrane/skin for about 20-30 minutes. Drop the oven temperature to 325 degrees F and bake for 12-15 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet.
Assemble the Macarons: Pipe about two teaspoons of filling onto half the shells and sandwich.

I do want to take a moment to give a little macaron tip: if you would like to tint your shells with gel paste food coloring, as I have done (I used Wilton Rose Pink and Wilton Lemon Yellow), you want to be careful about when you add it. Folding the batter to the proper consistency is so critical to the proper end result. If you wait to do it after the almonds have been folded in, you’ll risk over-mixing, and your macarons will come out flat. Add the color to the egg whites when they are at the soft peak stage, bearing in mind that it will fade out a bit when the almonds go in, and again when the shells are baked.

I hope you’ll whip up a batch of these for your Mom this holiday! They are a wonderful way to celebrate that special woman who loves you so very much!

If you are a macaron fiend, or would just like more info on the macaron-making process, check out a few of my other macaron iterations:

Nutty Irishman Macarons
Mexican Chocolate Macarons
Orange Chocolate Macarons
Sesame Macarons with Pomegranate Lime Buttercream
Green Tea and Mandarin Macarons
Red Velvet Macarons
Chai Spiced Macarons
Macaronnage by a First-Timer

Smooshing Some Dough

* Posted on December 18, 2012 by Mere

4 Replies

In an effort to increase that loving feeling that is just so needed in this complicated world, I’ve been spending more time lately doing crafty stuff with the kids, for two reasons:

1. Cold weekends are a huge catalyst for cabin fever, (kids bouncing off walls, making mischief). Crafts contain the mess to one room, and give the kids something to do for at least an hour.

2. Crafty time forces me away from the distractions of the computer, to spend quality time with the kids, really joke around and talk to them, give each other compliments, etc. It’s good old fashioned family time, something that’s too easy to forget to do when you’re busy working hard to get things accomplished all the time.

So, this weekend we decided to make some of the pretty white DIY ornaments that I’ve been seeing around Pinterest lately. These are so much freaking fun to make. One of the main ingredients is corn starch, and I don’t know if you’ve ever made oobleck, but if you have, you know that corn starch is seriously awesome to play with.

While I mixed up the dough, I just gave Brooke a plate of it to dip her hands in, and she loved it! It’s got such a groovy, smooth texture, and it feels cold. She preferred to to call it corn syrup, and said it feels like metal. OK.

Snowy White Dough Ornaments - Yin Mom, Yang Mom

Brooke wanted to wear a crazy scarf around her head. I think it gave her a certain, mushroomy quality!

I found the recipe on a great blog called The Woodside Kitchen

Snowy White Dough Ornaments

Author: YinMom YangMom Mere

Ingredients

½ cup cornstarch
1 cup baking soda
¾ cup water

Instructions

Stir ingredients together over medium-low heat until the dough thickens up. You’ll know it’s ready to remove from the heat when it’s the texture of soft play-doh. Remove from heat and allow it to cool a bit before kneading it out.
You can sculpt it, roll it and cut it with cookie cutters, make thumbprints, handprints footprints. Use the end of a paintbrush to poke a hole for hanging on the tree.
To dry the ornaments, place them on a pizza stone or on a pan covered in parchment paper, then cook in a 175 degree oven until they feel hard. Basically you don’t want to take them out until they feel hard and brittle. If there’s any softness, keep them in there. For thicker ornaments, this could be up to 2 hours. Thinner ornaments harden up in about an hour.

Done!

This dough is SO fun to play with (again, cornstarch is awesome). It’s easy to roll out, is extremely smooth, and stays VERY white. The finished ornaments almost look a little sparkly, like snow. It’s lovely.

We made the cute little mitten ornaments we saw on My Buddies and I, and we also did some fun stuff with cookie cutters. Brooke had a cool idea to layer 3 thin stars together, and it created a cool effect.

I used the last remnants of the dough to make some simple little thumprint ornaments, because I need some smaller, filler ornaments to sprinkle throughout the tree.

This was such an amazingly fun project for us, and I’m pretty excited to make more of these really soon. This could just be a year-round kind of project for us.

The finished product!

Mexican Chocolate Macarons Tutorial, with Links to Special Equipment and Ingredients

* Posted on December 8, 2012 by Allie

11 Replies

Oh, baby! Here we go again!

I know you just love ‘em, in all their sweet, marshmallowy, melt-in-your-mouth glory:

French Macarons!

I initially started experimenting with French Macarons as part of a series I created for YinMom YangMom on 2012 Food Trends for the Home Cook. French Macarons were predicted to be a huge trend this year, and if the search terms leading people to this blog are any indicator, then I’d say that prediction was right on the money!

For today’s macaron adventure, I’ve decided to show you a recipe that makes a perfect homemade gift. ‘Tis the season, right? We all want a little chocolate splurge at this time of year, and the addition of some warm spice makes these just perfect for the holidays!

Macarons are so special because they aren’t the sort of thing that everybody goes around making. Besides being trendy, they also have that little bit of European mystique surrounding them. They are adaptable to so many different flavors, (and colors, so they are also beautiful to look at!) but they can be a little tricky to make, so I’m here to make it super simple and foolproof for you. Why not let’s just make this an in-depth tutorial for all the macaron maniacs out there?

I’m also going to show you my measuring method, which results in the least possible amount of dirty bowls in your sink. With all the weighing, sifting, and mixing, macarons have the potential of leaving your kitchen looking like a hurricane just blew through if you aren’t judicious about your dishes (I swear I didn’t mean to do that!).

And finally, I’m including links to purchase all of the special equipment and ingredients you will need, so you can grow up to be just like me Just click the links and set yourself up for macaron success!

Step One: Measuring

The best way to measure your ingredients is by weight, so, get out your kitchen scale (if you have one), to get the most exact quantities possible. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, you can purchase one at my shop. Or, look at the bottom of this post for a rough conversion of quantities into standard (cups and teaspoons) measure.

The measuring process begins with weighing the egg whites, and then the quantities of all the other ingredients are determined by ratio.

Start by placing your large mixing bowl on the scale and pressing “tare” to zero it out. (You should be using the large bowl from your stand mixer, or the bowl you will be preparing the batter in.) Add in the egg whites, and write down the number. For this post, I’m using three egg whites, which weigh out to 93 grams, and will yield approximately sixteen 1 1/2 – 2″ diameter macarons (or 32 pre-sandwiched shells).

Set the whites aside. Now place your sifting apparatus on the scale, and zero it out. (Here is my favorite sifter.) Multiply that number by 1.1. This tells you how much almond flour to use. 93 grams x 1.1 = 102 grams almond flour.

Zero the scale again, with the sifter and almond flour still sitting on it. Now multiply your egg white number by 1.65. This tells you how much powdered sugar to use. 93 grams x 1.65 = 153 grams powdered sugar.

But since we are making chocolatey shells, we’ll want to scoop 2 tablespoons back out and replace it with a good quality cocoa powder, such as Scharffen Berger.

Sift everything together, and discard those big pieces that don’t go through the sifter. Set aside.

For the superfine sugar, multiply your egg white weight by 0.6. 93 grams egg white x 0.6 = 56 grams superfine sugar. Place a small bowl on the scale, zero it out, and measure.

I like to measure everything out the night before (hence the crappy photos. Sorry!). Older, room temperature egg whites will whip up better.

Now for the fun part!

Step Two: Mixing

Whip the whites until foamy. Gradually add in the superfine sugar and continue to whip until glossy and stiff. (Don’t overbeat or they will get dry.)

Now dump the almond flour/powdered sugar/cocoa mixture into the meringue and fold it in. You will lose a little volume at first, but try not to smoosh too much of the air out of the whipped egg whites.

After around 40 strokes, it should be fully incorporated, kinda stretchy, and “gloopy.” Sort of the consistency of shower gel. Or really runny hair mousse, (if you are a child of the 80′s, such as myself).

Step 3: Piping and Baking

Scoop the batter into a large pastry bag fitted with a large, round tip. (I use a Wilton 2A.)

If it’s trying to escape while you’re filling your piping bag, then you mixed it right!

Line a heavy baking sheet with parchment paper, and pipe the batter into half-dollar sized rounds. The batter should flow and puddle and smooth over.

puddled

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and set your macaron shells out to dry. After about 20 minutes or so, they should have a thin, dry, papery membrane on top. (This time can vary based on humidity levels in the air.) Pop them into the oven and lower the temperature down to 325 degrees. Bake for 15 minutes, and let them cool on the baking sheet.

Step 4: The Filling

While that is going on, chop 4 ounces of good quality chocolate, such as Scharffen Berger, and bring 1/4 cup heavy cream to a simmer.

Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir until combined. Add in 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and a pinch of cayenne pepper, to make it Mexican.

Once the macaron shells are cooled and peeled from the parchment, and the Mexican chocolate filling is completely cool and set up, pipe about a tablespoon of filling onto half the shells and sandwich.

(Optional) Step 5: Make it Pretty!

I lay my little beauties on a bed of festive tissue paper, and nestle them into a pretty box to give to the most specialest people in my life.

These are at their best after they’ve had a chance to “mature,” or when the crumbly-pillowy shells have married with the rich chocolate filling. This takes about a day. After that, they’ll keep in the fridge for three days or so.

Here’s that ratio one more time:

First weigh the egg whites, and write the number down.
Multiply that number by 1.1. This tells you how much almond flour to use.
Multiply egg white weight by 1.65. This is how much confectioners’ sugar to use. Multiply egg white weight by .6. This is how much superfine sugar to use.

Mexican Chocolate Macarons

Author: YinMom YangMom Allie

Recipe type: Pastry

Cuisine: French

Prep time: 1 hour 30 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 1 hour 45 mins

Serves: 4

Spiced Chocolate Ganache Sandwiched Between Pillowy Chocolate Almond Meringue Shells

Ingredients

¼ cup heavy cream
4 ounces semisweet chocolate
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch cayenne pepper
3 egg whites
100 grams almond flour or almond meal (approx.1 cup + 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon)
155 grams (minus 2 tablespoons) powdered sugar or confectioners sugar (approx. 1¾ cup + 2 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
55 grams superfine sugar (approx. ¼ cup + 2 teaspoons)

Instructions

Chop the chocolate.
Place the cream in a small saucepot and bring to a simmer.
Pour the cream over the chopped chocolate. Add the cinnamon and cayenne.
Stir to combine.
Sift the almond flour, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder together.
Whip the egg whites until foamy. Gradually add the superfine sugar, while whipping. Continue to whip until the meringue is stiff and glossy.
Fold the almond flour mixture into the meringue.
Pipe 2-inch diameter rounds of the batter onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and let the piped shells sit out, uncovered, for approx. 30 minutes or until a thin, dry membrane has formed on the surface.
Drop the oven temperature down to 325 degrees and bake for 15 minutes.
Cool on the baking sheet.
Pipe about a tablespoon of cooled ganache onto half of the shells, and sandwich.
Makes about 16 pastries. Can keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

I know French macarons can be tricky, so hopefully this tutorial gives you confidence and brings you lots of success. And smiles to the lucky people you give them to!

Apple Pie Infused Bourbon

* Posted on December 1, 2012 by Allie

11 Replies

Evidently, somehow, it is December now. (?!?!) Just the other day I was teaching my kids how to use the slip ‘n slide in the backyard, so I really don’t understand how this happened. However, I have confirmed it with several sources, that it is, now, in fact, December the first, and that means there are just 24 days until Christmas, and only eight more days until Hanukkah.

We gotta get our butts in gear, friends.

Like many of you, I’m sure, I have a lot of wonderful people in my life who deserve nice gifts at this time of year. It can get a little overwhelming sometimes, choosing and shopping for everyone’s gift, trying to make it personal, and working it into the budget. One thing I really like to do is try to make homemade gifts, because by their very nature, they are more personal, and unique, and as a nice bonus, they are often more affordable.

Spoiler Alert (for the five most important men in my life)!

This year, for the five most important men in my life, I have decided to make Southern Living Magazine’s Apple Pie Infused Bourbon!

I begin by chopping the apples and putting them into a large pitcher with a lid. I also add in the cinnamon sticks and ground nutmeg.

Then, I open the bottles of bourbon and pour them over the apples and spices.

Put the lid on the pitcher and let that sit, at room temperature, for four days.

While the bourbon is infusing, I use Goo-Gone to remove the original labels from the bottles.

This stuff works miracles. You can buy it in my shop.

Just spray it on the label and let it sit for ten minutes or so. The labels just scrape right off, no sticky residue.

Clean the bottles with hot, soapy water, or in the dishwasher.

You can also print and cut out these nifty labels!

After the bourbon has had it’s four-day long nap, place a funnel in the neck of the clean, original bourbon bottle. Place a fine mesh strainer over the funnel, and pour the infused bourbon through, discarding the solids. Add 2 tablespoons of honey or agave nectar to each bottle, and replace the cork topper.

Mist the backs of the labels with spray adhesive and adhere them to the bottles.

These can keep in the fridge for up to two months!

I plan on giving them along with a six-pack of artisinal ginger ale, for a delicious and festive winter cocktail!

Do you like to receive a homemade gift? Do you like to make them and give them? What kinds of homemade gifts will you be making this year? I have some other ideas up my sleeve, you can check them out on my Homemade Gifts Pinterest Board. Be sure to also check out all the fabulous gift ideas in the Homemade Gifts Category of this blog. Let me know what you think!

Apple Pie Infused Bourbon

Author: slightly modified from Southern Living Magazine

Recipe type: Beverage

Cuisine: American

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 96 hours

Total time: 96 hours 15 mins

Serves: 1 bottle

Kentucky bourbon infused with the warm flavors of apple pie

Ingredients

½ golden delicious apple, chopped
2 3-inch cinnamon sticks
¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 375ml bottle of good-quality bourbon
2 tablespoons honey or agave nectar

Instructions

Place first four ingredients into a lidded container.
Pour the bourbon over.
Cover, and let stand at room temperature for four days.
Pour bourbon mixture through a fine mesh strainer, into a pitcher, discarding solids.
Stir in the honey or agave nectar.
Decant back into the clean, original bottles.
Can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two months.

Download Southern Living’s Free Printable Label: Apple Pie Infused Bourbon

My Latest Project/Obsession

* Posted on June 4, 2012 by Allie

3 Replies

Anyone who knows me or who follows this blog will tell you that one of my quirks/traits/flaws is that I tend to bounce around (a bit obsessively) from project to project. As the school year has been drawing to a close, I’ve had my eye out for a cute, thoughtful, homemade gift I could give to all the teachers who have been such a huge part of my family’s life over the last nine or so months.

I ended up combining a couple of ideas I found (pinterest, of course) for these adorable iced cookies.

Many thanks to www.sweetopia.net for the excellent tutorials on icing and decorating sugar cookies, and to www.eighteen25.blogspot.com for the free printable download and the strawberry idea!

I started out by making the cutout cookies. As one of the preschool teachers is gluten- and dairy-intolerant, I wanted to be sure that my cookies were allergen-free. After much experimentation, I settled on a recipe that didn’t make me want to retch:

Lime-Ginger-Coconut Cutout Cookies
a gluten-, dairy-, soy-, and nut-free recipe (!)
click here for a 4×6″ printable recipe card: Lime-Ginger-Coconut Cutout Cookies Recipe Card

1 box Hodgson’s Mill Gluten-Free Cookie Mix
1/3 cup Earth Balance Organic Coconut Spread
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
zest of one lime

Empty the box of cookie mix into a large mixing bowl. Add in the coconut spread and mix on low speed until the mixture resembles damp sand. Add in the egg, vanilla, ginger, and lime zest. Mix until just incorporated.

Turn the dough out onto some cling wrap, flatten into a disc and refrigerate for two hours or overnight.

Roll the dough out to a thickness of 1/4″, dusting the dough, the work surface, and the rolling pin with gluten-free flour mix. (I like King Arthur Flour Gluten-Free Multi-Purpose Flour, I do not recommend Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Baking Flour, as it contains garbanzo bean flour which, in a cookie, will make you want to retch.) Dust a three-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter with gluten-free flour and cut out cookies. Place them on a lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes, minimum.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the cookies for 15 minutes or until just barely beginning to turn golden around the edges. Cool completely and decorate with royal icing.

Makes 16 cookies.

If you are using a different sized or shaped cookie cutter, you may need to adjust the baking time. The cookies will spread a bit in the oven, but hold their shape pretty well. The lime and ginger can be omitted, if desired, but I really feel that some kind of vivid flavor helps to detract from the sometimes off-flavor/texture of an allergen-free baked sweet. Lime, ginger, and coconut make for a really delicious summery flavor; for something else yummy for the cooler months, try orange, cinnamon, and ginger, with Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks replacing the coconut spread (Vegan Buttery Sticks contain small amounts of soy).

After decorating the cookies with royal icing and green sparkling sugar, (click here for a good recipe, and here for decorating tutorials from Marian at Sweetopia, as well as tons of beautiful eye candy and inspiration) I placed the cookies in cello bags (available at Wal-Mart or Michaels), tied them with pretty ribbon, and attached a Visa gift card along with this adorable tag I downloaded from www.eighteen25.blogspot.com.

Click here for the original post with the free printable download. On the back of the tag I printed a list of ingredients. Click here for my 3×3″ printable list: Contents.

What do you like to do for your kids’ teachers at the end of the school year? Do you give homemade gifts to your loved ones? What are some of your favorite projects or hobbies? Do you throw yourself into them, to the detriment of your housekeeping and parenting duties, as I often find myself doing? Drop me a comment at the end of this post, I’d love to hear your thoughts…

I am so grateful to all the staff at my childrens’ preschool. Besides teaching them their shapes, colors, numbers, and ABC’s, they’ve offered them tons of fun, kissed their boo-boo’s, changed their diapers, watched them grow, and LOVED them in a way I could never have anticipated. They are angels on earth! Happy summer to all the wonderful teachers, we will miss you and look forward to seeing you again in the fall…

Darn Doll, Making Me Look Bad.

* Posted on January 4, 2012 by yinmomyangmom

5 Replies

Despite my effort to stop, I can’t help but keep thinking about the starving children in the world.

My little girl asked for a Lalaloopsy doll for Christmas. She also asked for about 100 other things, so it was a little difficult to weed through it all and get her the things that she’d really love the most. We don’t go overly crazy at Christmastime, I try to keep it at around 5 or six presents each, which for some may be a lot, but compared to my Christmas’s growing up, is relatively small. I figure they’re so young, they get overwhelmed with too many things, and then it’s money and clutter for us.

So, I opted not to buy Lalaloopsy this year, because I only heard her mention it once or twice, but other things she was a little more obsessive about. Christmas came and went, and the kids were thrilled with their gifts. Until, I heard her sweet little voice coming from the potty after a morning spend opening and delighting in all the presents, in the saddest, most melancholy tone: “I guess Santa Clause didn’t bring me a Lalaloopsy doll….”. Sigh, whoa is me, I am the saddest little pitiful girl. Poo.

I was a little crushed. The sadness in this poor child’s voice, how could I underestimate her desire for this doll? What is wrong with me?

We helped her kind of get over it, joking that maybe Santa left it on the roof, and if not I’d have to give him a call and find out what happened. It hasn’t really come up again since, so she’s OK, but it keeps lingering in my mind. And the question keeps popping up, “should I just go get the darn thing for her?”.

This doll is actually really cool. I’m kind of driven to buy her one now, because I actually kind of want one. I’m slightly conflicted though. We spent a decent amount of time and money to give our kids a nice Christmas. What kind of message does it send a kid if they receive so many toys (from us, grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends, etc) over a 4 day period, and when they’re slightly disappointed they didn’t get one. more. thing., I just run out and buy it for her. I don’t want her to take gifts for granted. So, I feel like there should be reason to buy the Lalaloopsy other than just pure whim.

Or, am I just being uptight, the child is four, she’s delightful, and who cares?

No really, I’m asking, am I being uptight?

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