CAKE, COUTURE & CIE

As I already mentioned in a previous post, I hit upon a real treasure trove of recipes when I found the French translation of Martha Stewart's Cookies. I've yet to try a recipe from this book that hasn't turned out perfectly.

When I initially browsed through the book and saw the Earl Grey Tea Cookies, I knew the recipe would be one of the first on my list to try out. Who could pass up a sweet that combines cookies and tea???

These cookies are very simple to make. They are less time intensive than cut-out style cookies and, after rolling and chilling the dough, take no more time to prep for baking than drop cookies. The orange zest complements the bergamot in the Earl Grey really well, and the texture reminds me a bit of shortbread. As a tea lover, I can imagine the variations you could make with other teas, flavored or not, and fruit zests.

Everyone who tried the cookies found their taste unique and was surprised to discover that they contained ground-up tea (so I'm not quite sure what they initially thought the dark specks in the cookies were...). All in all, a very original cookie -- this recipe is a keeper.

In September I decided to join the "Daring Bakers" subset of the Daring Kitchen. Members agree to make a recipe ("challenge") each month and blog about it afterwards on the reveal date, which is always the 27th for the Daring Bakers. The 2009 October Daring Bakers' challenge was brought to us by Ami S. of the Baking Without Fear blog. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming's The Last Course: The Desserts from the Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Living in France, it's hard to avoid macarons (not that you would want to!). Among the most well-known créateurs de macarons are Ladurée and Pierre Hermé, but you can also find them at your local corner bakery or boxed and frozen at the supermarket. On most days, I can even buy some at the café on the ground floor of the building where I work.

I was actually thrilled when I discovered this month's challenge recipe. I'd been wanting to try my hand at making macarons for a long time but just never got around to it. I ended up making two batches. I split the first batch in two and tinted the batter with food coloring paste (orange and brown in an attempt to mimic Fall's colors -- in reality they turned out more peach and beige, yet pretty nonetheless). For the second batch, I skipped the coloring and mixed in finely ground espresso beans. I filled both with a chocolate-espresso ganache.

Anyone who has tried to make macarons knows that they are tricky. And as you can see from the pictures, these macarons didn't quite turn out as they should have. I'm still not quite sure what went wrong. I measured the ingredients precisely and followed the recipe to a T. I let the piped macarons rest before putting them into the oven (check out the picture below of the macarons getting their requisite 30 minutes of R&R). I baked them in two stages, at two different temperatures. Despite all of this, these macarons never developed "feet" and the outer part of the shells are porous when they should have been smooth.

Despite their looks, these macarons still tasted pretty good. Though it's easy to get discouraged when a recipe doesn't turn out as expected, I know that it is just a matter of tweaking, experimenting and, especially, patience before I find a version of the recipe that works. This won't be my last venture into the treacherous terrain of macaron baking.

For a wedding we will attend later this month, one of the friends of the couple getting married requested that each invitee provide a favorite recipe + photo to be compiled into a cookbook. Since I have a very sweet tooth, it is only natural that our contribution will be to the dessert section. I ended up choosing a classic American treat and one of my all time favorites: rolled sugar cookies.

Last week when I was browsing the book section of our local fnac, I stumbled upon the French translation of “Martha Stewart’s Cookies”. I had considered purchasing this book when I was back in the States this summer but decided against it since I was pretty sure our suitcases would already be overweight with all of the other baking, sewing and beauty care loot I had already amassed up to that point of the trip.

Leafing through the book, I noticed that the ingredients for some of the recipes were slightly different than those I am used to. Having been disappointed in the past by recipes from my American cookbooks that simply didn’t turn out when using French products (chocolate chip cookies, brownies, pound cake), I quickly decided that I needed this book badly.

The first recipe I tried from the book was the rolled sugar cookie recipe (click here for the recipe from the Martha Stewart website), and I’m happy to say that it’s a winner. These cookies are great on their own, but if you have the time – and, it must be said, the patience – I highly recommend icing the cookies. I used the recipe for royal icing included in the book and also available online. I hope the happy couple will enjoy making this recipe together!