Blog
April 2nd, 2024
April 2nd, 2024
Today I baked the chocolate shells for my final batch of macarons. This proved a bit more difficult because I made a triple batch. Baking anything in a triple batch is hard but especially macarons. This is because the meringue takes longer, it's harder to hand mix in the dry ingredients, and it takes longer to bake all of the sheets. The fact that there are so many shells makes it so that the cookie sheets can be packed too full, then instead of a bunch of little cookies, you get a few giant ones. The amount is also a problem when looking over them before baking. Usually there are only 1 or 2 sheets so I can direct my full attention to the shells, but this time there were so many that it was hard to make sure that there weren't any big air bubbles. This proved to be a bigger problem because big air bubbles can cause the shells to crack while baking, making them look less appealing. Overall, a challenge but fun. Tomorrow I plan on making the raspberry curd.
Skills
March 29th, 2024
March 29th, 2024
Today I used the pictures I have taken throughout my baking experiences to make a trailer. It took a bit, but not too long on Canva.
Skills
March 29th, 2024
March 29th, 2024,
Today I made eclairs with my great grandmother. She taught me about the long process of baking eclairs. We had to make the batter/dough, vanilla custard, plus the chocolate frosting for the top. Overall, a great experience with a delicious outcome.
Skills
March 26th, 2024
March 26th, 2024
Today I baked my second batch of macarons. This time I made chocolate macarons. The process is the exact same, except I added 2 tablespoons of unsweetened baking cacao (powder). These turned out even better than my first batch, more moist and a bit more flavorful. I still used chocolate ganache as the filling, but it was very rich. Next time, I will plan to do a chocolate shell with a raspberry curd. This will give them contrasting flavors, sweet and sour! My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
Skills
March 19th, 2024
March 19th, 2024,
Today I made chocolate ganache to use as a filling. It was such an easy recipe and it worked beautifully! I had to let it sit after mixing, so it would hold it's shape enough to pipe it into the cookie shells. This process took a bit to firm up, but was otherwise easy. I just had to heat up heavy whipping cream and pour it over semi-sweet chocolate. The ratio is 1:1.
Skills
March 12th, 2024
March 12th, 2024,
Today I attempted to make the first batch of macarons. The process took a pretty long time because I was impatient. Let me elaborate, I tried to make a meringue (part of making the shell) and I got impatient and under whipped my meringue. This meant that I thought I had ruined it. So I started over again. This next time, I watched a tutorial which was very informative, and helped me see a visual of what they were supposed to look like. The second time worked out great.
Skills
March 10th, 2024
March 10th, 2024,
Today I bought my ingredients. I had to find good recipes and figure out the quantities, but it was easy since I had a pretty good idea of what sites I wanted to look on. I also arranged a day to bake eclairs with my great grandmother. She usually makes them for Easter, which is coming up soon. She is very educated in French and other European baked goods. I plan on making my first batch of macarons on March 12th.