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Macaron Sunday

Sunday, January 19

Happy New Year people. Have you already broken your new year's resolutions yet? Yes? Ah, see, that is why I do not set new year's resolutions. I never keep them.

What I did decide on though, was to enter the kitchen more. Before getting married to Mr.Dibs, I lived with him for a couple of months, and I was such an exemplary house guest that he decided to put a ring on it. I suspect the marriage proposal was a result of the delicious food I cooked everyday. Unfortunately for Mr.Dibs, my forays into the kitchen was part of my plan to get a marriage proposal from him. I stopped cooking regularly as soon as we came back from the honeymoon. I am not even joking. Mr.Dibs has been trying to get me to turn back into the domestic goddess I was pre wedding ring, but I have been steadfast in refusal to revert. Every so often I would be moved by the need to do some good for the universe, and I would cook him something special.

Which led me to my new toy.

Last year, when my husband asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I was not sure what to ask for. I wanted two things, a Coverstitch machine, and a Kenwood chef. Both of these things are not cheap. So I could only choose one. I weighed the pros and cons. Which of them would get the least resistance from Mr.Dibs? Hmm, Mr.Dibs has never benefited from my sewing. I am that selfish. I'm sure there will come a time when I would make something for him, but that time is not now. Food on the other hand, is something the whole family could enjoy. So I chose the Kenwood. And his exact words were " About time I benefited from one of your hobbies". Now, saying cooking is one of my hobbies is a very long stretch, but what the heck, Mr.Dibs can say anything just as long as I get what I want.

So, last year, This bad boy made its way to my house.



Since having it, I have improved somewhat in the kitchen department. I am not quite up to Nigella Lawson standards yet, but I will get there eventually...I hope.

I have used it mostly for baking. I love baking. I have used it to bake cakes and cupcakes, but what I have loved making the most, are macarons.


I am quite pleased with myself. I first had macarons from Pauls. They are not cheap though, so I reserved consumption for special occasions. Then , when I was pregnant with Noah, Mela came visiting with some chocolate macarons she had made for me. Junior Mr.Dibs still remembers that day fondly. When I think of baking, I thnk of my two gals, Mela and Rachel. Those girls are mean in the kitchen. So when I got the Kenwood, I started looking online for receipes and inspiration. The general consensus was that they were very finicky to make, and you had to be very precise with your measuring. The macarons in this post are my fourth attempt at macarons, and they are my best so far.



Traditional french macarons are made using almond flour, icing sugar, caster sugar, and egg whites. So you make a meringue, and mix with the almond flour and icing sugar, and a colouring of your choice.  You can make macarons using three different meringues. The french, swiss or italian meringue. I used the Italian method. I will go more into the details in another post.





Noah has been very excited about these macarons. He would not even let me do a successful photoshoot.





I had to enlist Mr.Dibs to restrain Noah.

I love making macarons. I find them really easy to make, if you follow the instructions that is, and carefully weigh all your ingredients, and pipe them well, and bla bla bla. What I am trying to say is, they get easy with practice, and once you get the hang of making them, they suddenly seem like the easiest things to do.

So what about you? Have you made macarons before, any interesting flavours you think I should try? I'd like to know. I would also like to make more use of my kenwood chef, so if you have one of these, or a normal food processor or a Kitchen aid, what do you use them for? Care to share any recipes?


21 comments:

  1. Gorgeous Macarons! And, cute picture of Mr. Dibs and Noah!

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  2. Replies
    1. Lol. Thanks Donna. I think anyone can make this. You just have to practice.

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  3. Yum I LOVE making and eating macarons ;) Salted Caramel are always a hit, and fairly easy to make
    http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CC4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsallysbakingaddiction.com%2Fhomemade-salted-caramel-recipe%2F&ei=V1TcUsuJDqmiigfR0IHoBw&usg=AFQjCNElNAzIPa04OhvmV82X-4iM0HLFZQ&sig2=iEsZDLjmSJWnpK1Fly9bJA&bvm=bv.59568121,d.dGI

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    1. Ah. I will try the salted caramel one next week. Thanks for the link Bec. She makes it look so easy.

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  4. Yummy, they look sooo nice! I keep meaning to give them ago, I was thinking of using a marshmallow filling to go in them. For the kenwood chef there use to be a cake recipe ( might be a Victoria sponge) where you put all the ingredients in together wiz it up and put the mix in the oven and voila done. The hardest part was deciding on a filling :)

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    1. Sarah you should give them a go. I will take another look at the kenwood recipe book that came with mine for that sponge cake recipe.

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  5. OMG, these look amazing Dibs! Macarons are my favourite sweet things to eat! If I lived closer I would exchange some baby sitting sessions for your Macarons ;o) Noah is such a beautiful boy!xx

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    1. Lol. Thanks Marie. I am actually planning a trip to leicester next month. I can make you some and bring.

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  6. Your macs put mine to shame. I need to scan Laduree's lemon macaron recipe and send it to you. DIVINE!

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    1. Nah Mela. I am sure when you decide to make them again, mine will look like child's play. Do you have the laduree book?

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  7. Miam Miam ! Your macarons are beautiful, they looks like professionnal made.
    A friend show me how she made them but I haven't try.

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  8. Wow, Dibs! They look amazing! We have Dr Kinnard's Macaroons & More in Norwich so I don't have that much incentive to make my own... But Mela's recipe worked a treat and yours are so beautiful I may have to have another go!

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  9. WHERE DID BABY NOAH GO AND WHO IS THAT YOUNG MAN IN YOUR HOUSE?!?!?! Wow! He looks so grown up!!!!!

    OK, back to the macarons... they're almost too beautiful to eat! Absolutely gorgeous! I'm on my first day without a job (looking, but nothing lined up yet) so I'm sadly forced to go back to doing laundry and cooking, things which I've neglected for the last couple of years since my job is so time-consuming. I cooked the other night, and had to search high and low for all my cooking utensils and things because I couldn't remember where anything was kept!

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  10. I, too, visit the kitchen as infrequently as possible, in fact I have never heard of your machine and don't know what it's used for. However, I would not turn down a macaron, they are beautiful!

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  11. Love it. I got mine at Christmas from my Mother in Law. I use mine to make cakes (years of producing the kids birthday cake with a hand held machine made me realize how overworked I was!! in the kitchen dept that is). Made an amazing torte courtesy of the British Bake off book. Love the macaroons.

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  12. Honey I've been looking at the Kenwood. Is it good? Also your macarons look amazeballs and your boy is beautiful xxx

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  13. your macaroons look so amazing. I need some.. yum yum yum

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  14. These macarons look so good. I love macarons but I haven't been bold enough to try making them (yet)

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