Bird on Branch Mini Chocolate Covered Cakes on SoapQueen

This delicious, edible chocolate project is made with my bird.on.branch mold available at Bramble Berry. Originally intended for soap making, the mold material is PERFECT for molding chocolate! I have provided a gluten free vegan recipe for the cake as well as links/resources for vegan chocolate and cream filling if you want to make this project all Vegan. Check it out on the Soap Queen Blog.

I made these cute labels for the cakes - download the free clip art for the labels here: Bird.on.Branch Mini Chocolate Cake labels

French Macarons First attempt!

You have all seen them - those delightful pastel confections in gorgeous colors and flavors that intrigue and tempt, and are notoriously know for being difficult to make! Did I mention they are my favorite cookie? (thank you Debbie at Soapylove) Well, I had to try making them of course! It all started when I got my daily email from Rare Bird Finds featuring "I (heart) Macarons" by Hisako Ogita. I immediately followed the link and bought the book! It is filled with beautiful pictures and easy to follow photographed instructions making the whole endeavor seem possible, so this weekend I dove in!

I pondered over the myriad color/flavor combos and came up with a simple Pistachio macaron with a Framboise buttercreme filling! All of the ingredients were easily found at Trader Joes and luckily I have a scale since I measured the ingredients by weight to be precise!

Readying the ingredients was a snap - but them came the "Macronnage", the step where perfectly stiff egg whites are mixed with the dry ingredients: Ground almonds and powdered sugar (and ground pistachios in this case). This is the make or break step, mix too much or too little and the tops of the macarons could be cracked, they could lack feet (the little ridge at the bottom which it MUST have to be classified a macaron) or could have a dull appearance instead of a shiny hard shell.  The instructions said to do 15 strokes with a rubber spatula to mix the batter to the right consistency - I did exactly 15 strokes and the batter looked perfect.

When I piped the batter however it looked thin whereas in the pictures from the book the batter looked stiffer - perfectly round dots with a little height and dome to the top. I thought I was finished but I moved forward! They dryed for 45 minutes and then I popped them in the oven. The directions said a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes. I did this and the first baking sheet was overbaked (but with feet to my delight!). The second baking sheet I dropped the heat to 300 and baked for 7 minutes and they were underbaked. The third sheet was the charm at 300 degrees for 10 minutes with a rotation half way through baking! The hardest part was getting them off of the parchment paper so next time I will use silicone baking mats for sure!

 

Notes for next time:

1) the directions did not say this but while doign research I found that you should use dried egg whites, that is you separate the whites and let them sit out for 24-72 hours to reduce the moisture while still maintaining the protein bonds. I cheated and microwaved then for 15 seconds. Next time I will do it the right way and hopefully the batter will be a bit more stiff. (wish the book would have mentioned that)

2) use silicone baking mats.

A little Package of Joy!

On Monday I got a little package of Joy from a wonderful customer of mine...

The fabled Neiman Marcus Cookies! 

There is a whole urban legend around the cookie claiming a customer bought the recipe for a $250 price tag. Another recipe is also on the Neiman Marcus site which looks pretty standard save coffee powder, but the Urban Legend version calls for such delights as ground chocolate and finely ground oatmeal and I think it is far better!

The beauty of the recipe is that you can add just about any nut or morsel to it and it will still taste wonderful! Masa's version has pecans, walnuts, butterscotch , white chocolate and semisweet morsels. I had a friend who added cut up Reese's peanut butter cups instead of chocolate morsels - also wonderful!

Next time you are in the mood for some cookies try this recipe (the urban legend one)!

It is always the best cookie at the party!

The super cute card is from Seltzer 

Thanks Masa!

Mini Gingerbread Houses stand on thier own!

My attempt at this awesome project from Not Martha. My boyfriend and I did this last night for a fun Christmas Eve project. Boyfriend was sick so I had most of the fun but he was a trooper and hung in until they were all done! He is so sweet!

I rolled my dough a bit too thick (note for next time) so they are puffy and don't sit on the rim of the cup properly, but they are delicious and they stand! Success!

 Below we have (from bottom left to back)

Witches House, Bluth Family Model Home, random unfinished house, Jaws house (see shark fin on top), Spike's house (from Mario Bros.), Easy Turf house, Stripe's house (the gremlin), My Country Bungalow, Patty Peppermint's house

If you live in San Diego you may have seen San Diego Charger

LaDainian Tomlinson's commercial for the fake grass EZ Turf. At first it was the Astro Turf house but after a couple of glasses of wine this seemed funnier - not as funny sober but I do love the color.