Kevin, Jen, and I got together recently for another round of macaron recipe testing. Kevin has now dubbed us “Team Macaron – South Minneapolis.” Prior to our big baking day, I had received an email from an online dessert magazine. Low and behold, it included a YouTube clip of two French pastry chefs making macarons.

Watching in earnest, we were struck by two distinct techniques, neither of which we had seen nor heard. The first was how long the whites were whipped:  they were way past “stiff peaks.”  The other was the manner in which the batter was mixed. It was not delicate, but rather with the use of a rubber bench scraper.  According to the YouTube clip, one can go to town, mixing and folding the batter, though only until it drops off the scraper like lava.  “Dropping like lava” is the most common analogy for how the batter should look.

We made four ½ sheet pans of the vanilla flavored ones, piping them out on silpats. They were allowed to “cure” for about ½ hour or until they formed a skin across the top. One pan went into a 300º F oven. Other batch was double panned, but the oven remained at 300º F.  That was a big mistake.

A double pan should have been cooked at 375º F. They had a beautiful top and foot but were hollow inside.  The batch cooked on the single jelly roll pan at 300º F turned out great:  crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, and not hollow.  Could success finally be at our fingertips?

The chocolate ones we whipped up that day were not quite as successful. Jen believed it was because we actually under-folded the batter, meaning the batter was not as lava-like as we would have preferred. Hindsight is, of course, 20/20.

If the success was at our fingertips, it was only a fluke.  On Monday, I made another batch of the vanilla. I didn’t fare well at all. I tried baking some at two different temperatures and came out with totally different results. The ones baked in the 300º F were hollow; the ones baked at 375º F had no bottoms whatsoever. I believe it is the folding technique that I have not perfected.  The photographs are the ones from Sunday that actually worked.

We’re continue to strive for the perfect shell and using the recipe from Helen of Tartelette seems to be most reliable:

What you’ll need for the shells:
90 g egg whites (roughly 3 egg whites)
25 g to 50 g granulated sugar (2 tbsp to 1/4 cup)
200 g powdered sugar (1.5 cups + 2 tbsp)
110 g slivered, blanched, or sliced almonds (3/4 cup)

What to do:
Prep the eggs:
48 hrs in advance, separate the whites from the yolks and place the whites in a super clean bowl. Leave at room temp, uncovered or loosely covered with a towel at least 24 hrs. Refrigerate after that, if desired. You can use eggs that have been “aging” for up to 5 days.

Prepare the macarons:
Place the powdered sugar and almonds in a food processor and give them a good pulse until the nuts are finely ground. Sift a couple of time to remove bits and pieces. Regrind if necessary. You can also use a coffee grinder for the nuts.

Once your nuts and powdered sugar are mixed together, rub them in between your fingertips to break the bigger pieces.

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites to a foam, (think bubble bath foam) gradually add the sugar until you obtain a glossy meringue (think shaving cream). Do not overbeat your meringue or it will be too dry.

Add the nuts and powdered sugar to the meringue, give it a quick fold to break some of the air and then fold the mass carefully until you obtain a batter that falls back on itself after counting to 10. Give quick strokes at first to break the mass and slow down. The whole process should not take more than 50 strokes. Test a small amount on a plate.  If the tops flattens on its own, you are good to go. If there is a small beak, give the batter a couple of turns.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip (Ateco #807 or #809) with the batter and pipe small rounds (1.5 inches in diameter) onto parchment paper or silicone mats lined baking sheets. Let the macarons sit out for 30 minutes to an hour to harden their shells a bit.

If using convection, preheat the oven to 280° F. If using regular electric or gas, preheat the oven to 300° F. When ready, bake for 18 to 20 minutes, depending on their size. Let cool.

What’s better than vanilla bean ice cream with pecan pie? I have to admit it’s the Whiskey Butter Sauce that I recently made using PastureLand unsalted butter. This sauce is very much like a cream anglaise and would probably make a great ice cream in and of itself. However, in less that 20 minutes you’ll have a decadent sauce to serve along side your pie or bread pudding, come Thanksgiving next week.

Click here to go to the recipe on the PastureLand website.

For dessert at our class I served his famous fig flan. This dessert came about on a cold snowy day when he and Charlie were home at their farm. Craving something sweet on a cold they they foraged in their pantry and could only come up with some dried figs and fig jam. These two delicious ingredients were the inspiration for this creamy, dense dessert.

I made this dessert two ways, once following his recipe but the second time, mixing the cream cheese and eggs and condensed milk in a stand mixer instead of using a blender for those ingredients.

After whizzing the half and half mixture in the blender, I folded in the cream cheese mixture and proceeded according to the recipe. Using the blender for all the ingredients gives the flan a lighter, fluffier texture. Mixing some of the ingredients and blending the other gives the batter a more dense texture. Either way both are delicious.

from American Masala by Suvir Saran with Raquel Pelzel

4 dried figs (about 3 ounces), finely chopped
4 large eggs
1 ½ cups half-and-half
8 ounces cream cheese
¼ cup dark rum
2 tablespoons fig jam
1 (14-ounces) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup sugar
¼ cup water
1-inch piece cinnamon stick

Set an oven rack to the lowest position and preheat your oven to 350°F.

Place figs, half-and-half, and rum in a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil. Turn off heat, cover the pan, and steep the figs for 10 minutes.

Place the condensed milk, eggs, cream cheese, and fig jam in a blender and blend until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the half-and-half, figs and rum and blend until they are completely incorporated.

Bring sugar, water and cinnamon stick to a simmer in a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan and remove the pan from the heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and the syrup is clear. Return the saucepan to the heat and bring the liquid to a boil, swirling the pan every now and then, until the syrup caramelizes to a deep brown, 4-5 more minutes.

Immediately pour the caramel into a 2 ½ quart metal charlotte mold or a 9×5 inch loaf pan. Carefully remove the cinnamon stick with a spoon or tongs. Tip the mold or pan to coat the bottom and sides with the caramel. Let it cool for a few minutes and then pour the custard mixture into it.

Line an 8-inch square baking pan (or a larger rectangular baking pan, if using a loaf pan) with a doubled kitchen towel. Put the mold in the baking pan on top of the towel and then place the pan into the oven. Use a cup to add hot water to the baking pan, adding enough water to reach the middle of the mold or loaf pan, adding enough water to reach the middle of the mold or loaf pan.

Bake the flan until the custard is set but still jiggles when shaken and a skewer stuck into the flan about 1 inch from the pan edges comes out clean, about 1 hour and 25 minutes.

Carefully lift the mold out of the pan. Turn off the oven and let the water in the baking disk cool a little before removing it. Refrigerate the flan until it is completely chilled.

To serve, set the mold over direct heat until the bottom gets hot, about 1 minute. (This is to melt the bottom layer of caramel so that the flan will slip out of the mold.) Run a knife around the edge of the flan to loosen it from the mold. Place a serving platter over the mold and then invert the mold onto the platter. Lift off the mold. Cut the flan into wedges or slices and serve.

1 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups heavy cream
1 large whole egg
4 large egg yolks
½ cup maple syrup
Pinch of kosher salt
1 to 1 ½ tablespoons sugar

If using a vanilla bean, cut it in half lengthwise, scrape out the seeds, and add it, as well as the pod halves, to the cream in a medium saucepan. Bring the cream to a boil and then remove it from the heat.

COMBINE the whole egg, the yolks, and the sample syrup in a medium mixing bowl. Slowly whisk about ½ cup of the hot cream into the eggs and wait a minute for the eggs to temple. Then whisk in the remaining cream and salt. Strain the custard through a fine-mesh strainer to remove the vanilla bean and any bits of stray egg that may remain. If using vanilla extract, add it to the strained custard.

HEAT the oven to 300ºF. Divide the custard evenly among 4 ramekins. Put the filled ramekins into a baking pan or roasting pan and pour enough hot water into the pan to come about halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake the custards in the center of the oven until the custards are just set with a slight jiggle in the center, 50 to 55 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and remove the ramekins from the water bath. Cool a room temperature for about 30 minutes before refrigerating for at least 4 hours.

Just before serving, sprinkle the custards with enough sugar for a complete, even coating, about 1 teaspoon each, then caramelize the sugar with a blowtorch or under the broiler.

This is the recipe that I demonstrated at the Minnesota State Fair. I used PastureLand’s organic unsalted butter for a clean, smooth, buttery taste. It’s butter that tastes like the fresh pastures in which the cows grazed.

135 g or ½ cup, plus 1 ½ tablespoons, unsalted butter, softened
60 g or ½ cup, confectioner’s sugar
½ cl or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
170 g or 1 cup plus 3 ½ tablespoons, all-purpose flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
50 g or ¼ cup, crystal sugar

Place butter on counter-top and sift sugar over it. Cream butter with the sugar by repeatedly smearing it across the counter-top with the heel of your hand and gathering back together with a bench knife. When smooth, mix in the vanilla with your fingertips. Work quickly so that butter does not melt.

Sift flour over butter mixture. Mix in flour, either by cutting it in with the dough scraper or by stirring and tossing with your fingertips, until a loose, crumbly dough is achieved. Gather the dough together and finish mixing by smearing it across the counter-top, a little at a time, with the heel of your hand. Gather the dough together again, and repeat until smooth.

Form a cylinder between a sheet of parchment paper to 1-inch in diameter. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm or freeze for up to three months.

Prior to baking, preheat oven to 375ºF. While oven is preheating, brush cylinder of dough with beaten egg. Place the crystal sugar on a sheet of parchment paper and roll each cylinder in sugar, coating evenly. Cut each cylinder into slices 3/8-inch thick. Transfer to parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake until bottoms of cookies have browned and edges have begun to brown, 14 – 16 minutes. Cool completely and store for up to one week in an airtight counter.

Yield: 12 pies.