Espresso macarons with dark
chocolate ganache

I’m so happy the French bakery in my neighbourhood is open again.

You know you really like a place when you return home from vacation, and the *very same day*, you hit up that bakery. Only to find that it’s closed.

For another two weeks.

Then you stand there for five whole minutes in disbelief.

After I collected myself and dragged myself home (the sky suddenly seemed a little darker, the wind a little colder), I continued working on macarons since I would have to be self-sufficient with French baked goods for the next two weeks.

I’ve struggled in the past with macarons, but eventually got “feet” with vanilla-flavored ones. I tried over and over with chocolate ones, but just could not make it happen, no matter how much I pleaded and cajoled the tiny puffs as they sat in the oven, taunting me. I still can’t get the chocolate ones to develop feet, the slippery little things. (If anyone has a magic trick I could try, or a spell I could recite, please message me.)

However, I have been able to make it happen with espresso macarons. This is especially nice because I can sandwich dark chocolate in between and you basically get a nice little mocha fix.

So until I get those chocolate ones worked out, these are my go-to recipe.

Espresso macarons with dark chocolate ganache
Makes about 16 filled cookies
I suggest reading my instructions in my previous post: I have detailed bullet points on what seemed to work well for me. Also, make sure to store the macarons in the fridge overnight before eating; the cookies need to ‘fuse’ with the filling to create that heavenly macaron texture.

For the cookies:
Ingredients
2 tablespoons water
5 tablespoons + 2 tablespoons fine granulated sugar
2 teaspoons espresso powder
3 ounces (85 g) almond flour
5.25 ounces (150 g) powdered sugar
3 large egg whites at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. In a large bowl, sift together the almond flour, espresso powder and powdered sugar through a strainer (you won’t want any big pieces of almond in the mixture.)
2. In a small heavy saucepan, combine the 5 tablespoons granulated sugar with the 2 tablespoons water. Swirl — don’t stir — over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Raise the heat just a bit until the sugar mixture comes to a boil. You will want to use a candy thermometer to make sure it comes to 240 degrees F (soft ball stage). At this point, you will need to take it off the heat and quickly start streaming it into the meringue, so it’s important to get the meringue started as the sugar syrup is boiling.
3. Meanwhile, start beating the egg whites in a stand mixer with the wire whisk (level 6 on a KitchenAid). When you have reached soft peaks, add the 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. When the sugar syrup is ready, very, very slowly and steadily trickle it into the meringue mixture as the mixer is running. As soon as all the sugar syrup is added, you will now add the almond flour mixture.
4. Stir in a third of the meringue into the flour mixture with a spatula until it was well combined. Add the rest of the meringue and fold in until all the flour has been combined with the meringue.
5. The macaronnage: Using a spatula or dough scraper, scoop the entire mixture from the bottom of the bowl and turn it upside down. Do this about 15 times, or until the batter “flows like lava,” or drips slowly from the spatula when lifted.
6. Fill a piping bag with a 1-cm tip and pipe the cookies into 1-inch (or 2.5-cm) wide circles on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
7. Rap the baking sheet against the counter a few times, set another baking sheet under it, and let the cookies rest while preheating the oven to 350 degrees F (175 C).
8. Bake the cookies for 15 minutes, turning the baking sheet halfway through the baking time.
9. Transfer the parchment to a cooling rack while you make the filling.

For the ganache:
Ingredients
1/3 cup (80 ml) heavy cream
4 ounces (approx 100 g) dark chocolate
wee pinch of salt

1. Chop the chocolate and set it aside in a bowl.
2. Bring the cream and pinch salt to a simmer over low heat. Pour the cream over the chocolate. Wait 5 minutes.
3. Whisk together the cream and chocolate until well combined. Cool the mixture to room temperature.

Preparing the cookies:
Spoon a bit of the ganache onto a macaron and sandwich with another. Store in an airtight container in the fridge overnight.

Link: Vanilla Macarons (crispywaffle.com)

Salted butter caramel ice cream

The best thing about having a summer birthday?

Barbecue and ice cream.

The best thing about barbecue and ice cream?

Ice cream.

So besides throwing down on barbecue chicken (pinoy-style, of course), my gift to myself was to actually take the time to make one of my favorite ice cream flavors: salted butter caramel. Back when I started making this, I used David Lebovitz’s excellent recipe (you can find the original here). But because I’m – let’s face it – lazy, I started making the caramel in the water/sugar method, the way I do for leche flan (and I have made dozens of leche flans), and dropping the caramel praline. I figure that if it takes less time, I’m more likely to make it. And if I’m more likely to make it, then more caramel ice cream for everybody. And if you’re lucky, you’ll get some on your birthday.

Lazy Kine Caramel Ice Cream
makes 1 quart / 1 liter

Ingredients
1-1/2 cups (300 g) fine granulated sugar
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup (100 g) salted butter
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
5 egg yolks
1 cup (250 ml) heavy cream
2 cups (500 ml) whole milk

1. Place the egg yolks in a medium bowl and set aside.
2. Add the sugar to a medium saucepan and pour the water over it. With the heat on low, swirl the pan around until the sugar has nearly dissolved. Be careful not to let it boil — if it starts getting too hot, remove it from the burner for a few seconds, continuing to swirl.
3. Once the sugar has mostly dissolved, raise the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a boil. Cover it immediately and leave on boil for 2 minutes.
4. Uncover and continue swirling the mixture until it becomes dark amber. (Be careful — you want it to be dark, but it can go from dark to burning in seconds.) Take it off the heat immediately, and stir in the butter and salt. It’ll splatter, but just keep stirring it to keep it from splattering. The butter will eventually incorporate. Gradually whisk in the cream until fully incorporated. Stir in the milk.
5. Whisking constantly, add about a third of the warm caramel mixture to the egg yolks (careful not to curdle the yolks). Place the yolk-caramel mixture back into the saucepan with the rest.
6. Heat the custard over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens a bit and hits 170F (77C). Remove from heat and pour into a clean bowl through a strainer. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
7. Churn in an ice cream maker as directed.

This is even better sprinkled with a wee bit of sea salt.

Tartelette au chocolat

An advantage to living in a neighborhood with lots of French expats is that you have a patisserie suitable for French expats. If you’re ever in my neighborhood, stop by Philippe Galerne. You won’t be disappointed.

A post-anniversary treat!

Seattle siren song

So our friend Carmen is visiting, and the good foodie that she is, she brought us a bounty of Seattle treats. (This always has the effect of amplifying Seattle’s siren song, and making me more homesick than ever. In a good way.) Some of the new things were most impressive: a baker’s dozen of Montreal-style bagels from Eltana Bagels (which we killed in about 30 minutes) and a bag of dark roast from Caffe Umbria. Cape Cleare salmon made me never want to see a slimy piece of cold-smoked salmon ever again. Sigh. I miss you, Seattle, but I’ll see you in a few months.

One annoyance: TSA actually confiscated Skillet Bacon Jam despite Carmen’s pleadings. Hmph. Kyle wondered if bacon jam may just be the perfectly ironic way for an Islamic terrorist to carry dangerous liquids.

Oh, and I hear the Eltana bagels Carmen brought us are the first to make the trip across the Atlantic and touch down in the Netherlands. So we gave them a proper welcome with some local cream cheese.

Bagels from Eltana

Theo chocolates. Ballard’s own!

Eltana + Cape Cleare salmon + a chive cream cheese from around the corner.

Beans from Caffe Umbria. Black gold.

Haricots verts guisado

Filipinos are not exactly known to be crazy about vegetables. The Filipino-American comedian Rex Navarrete joked, “If we could eat the soul of the pig, we would.” (Wait, crispy pata isn’t vegetarian?) So in a way, this month’s Kulinarya Cooking Club vegetable theme seemed like a pretty good challenge.

Sitaw guisado, or stir-fried long beans, is one of my favorite Filipino vegetable dishes. Because proper yard-long beans can be harder to find where I live, I decided to try to make it with a substitute that is more readily available to me: haricots verts. Haricots verts are th small, very thin green beans, essentially a baby version of the normal pencil-width green beans. They’re great because they cook much faster and I find that I don’t need to blanch them; ideal for a three-minute stir fry.

The classic sitaw guisado usually calls for pork, shrimp, tomatoes and onion, as well as sometimes soy or fish sauce. I love this for yard-long beans, but haricots verts have a much more delicate flavor. For these, I scaled back until they were almost naked: just the beans, garlic and a tiny hit of oyster sauce. (Oyster sauce is the truth.) Because it’s so simple, I’ve worked out the steps so they’ll come out just right: the beans need to be quickly fried over high heat, then a bit of water is added to make sure they cook through, then after, the garlic and oyster sauce are added. (I always add the garlic towards the end otherwise you’ll taste nothing but burnt garlic.) If you want to get all fancy, fry some sliced Chinese sausage before frying the beans. If you can’t tear yourself away from the mighty pig, this is a delicious way to incorporate it into this otherwise meatless dish.

Haricots verts guisado
serves 4 as a side dish

Ingredients
150 grams (6 ounces) haricots verts
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Rinse the green beans and drain in a colander.
2. Heat the wok over high heat. Add a small glug of vegetable oil and swirl around immediately.
3. Add the green beans and a big pinch of sea salt and stir for one minute.
4. Add 2-3 tablespoons water. Continue to stir fry until the beans almost entirely absorb the water (there should be a little bit at the bottom of the pan).
5. Add the garlic and give it a quick two or three stirs. Add the oyster sauce and give it another quick stir.
6. Immediately turn the whole thing out into a serving dish and eat with rice.