Chocolate scales

I was cutting up chocolate while preparing to make truffles and had to take a photo of the pretty pattern the thinly sliced chocolate made on the knife.

Finally, pretty French macaroons

Yay! It took a few failed attempts, some disappointing recipes, and a lot of selfless sampling, but the French macaroons (from this recipe off of David Lebovitz's blog) came out pretty and looking just right.

Crisp on the outside, with a smooth unblemished top, a good foot, filling that moistened the interior of the cookie- these were everything I had been striving for. I made them extra small, just bite-sized, but noticed that people still took two bites- to savor and perhaps to get a look at that kick-ass cross-section as well.

The macaroon mystery

Same batch of French macaroons, so why do they look so different? There are two differences, and one must hold the key to success.

I piped the dough onto two cookie sheets, and then put one sheet in the oven at a time. The macaroon on the left went into the oven first, and before putting in the oven I rapped the sheet firmly on the counter probably 15 times, in an effort to get out air bubbles that would burst through and ruin the smooth, pretty top.

The one on the right sat on the counter while the first pan was in the oven, and just before putting it in the oven, I lightly tapped the second sheet on the counter.

Based on this, it seems reasonable to suppose that the key is either letting the cookies sit before baking for 10 or so minutes, or lightly tapping instead of firmly rapping the tray. After I experiment with both variables I'll post again with a definitive answer. Although I've learned that French macaroons are so finicky that there may not be a definitive answer.

Little strawberry shortcakes

This was one of the things I made for Kathryn's shower. The basic idea came from this recipe.

But I wanted to use a more interesting pound cake. After a disastrous pound cake attempt out of the "I Am Almost Always Hungry" cookbook, I decided to go way traditional, and tradition led to...Elvis. This recipe claims to have been Elvis' favorite pound cake, though I don't imagine he ever met a pound cake he didn't like.

Feet and height = a better macaroon

So late yesterday afternoon I was feeling tired and hungry and casting about for an activity which didn't involve Masterpiece Theater reruns (go the complete Jane Austen!), I decided the time was right to try my hand at another round of French macaroons, this time guided by David Lebovitz' chocolate macaroon recipe.

He was very Cook's Illustrated-meets-Jeffrey Steingarten about it and prefaced the recipe with the saga of failures and frustrations that preceded the ultimate triumph of baked goods over raw ingredients. Which was not only entertaining but helpful, since it helped put me in that state of mind one really needs to be in (tentative but quietly determined) before folding beaten egg whites into batter.

And though I let the first batch cook too long and lost that core of moisture that reemerges after the filled macaroon gets to sit and think about things for a few hours, they looked rather nice and tasted good too. They got that necessary foot at the bottom, and even though I didn't have the right tip for my pastry bag (the only one wide enough to do the job had frilly points), the top came out relatively smooth and shiny. The photo shows an unassembled half.

So I'm feeling back on track again, and have totally rethought what I'm going to make for Kathryn's bridal shower. Macaroons, goraybe (a Lebanese shortbread cookie), possibly a checkerboard shortbread, truffles that may or may not be flavored with kumquat (I have to try it out first), little carrot cakes that I also need to try out (and will document here), and pound cake squares topped with strawberries and cream.

But not petites fours. My experimentation with that yielded a one-dimensional, rather ugly, sickeningly sweet little square of regret.

Why are these macaroons so flat?

That's a good question. Certainly not because I intended them to be slipped under doors or smuggled in the pages of books. I'm not sure what happened on my first French macaroon attempt, but the end result was disappointing. I should have known better than to use a Martha Stewart recipe, since they tend not to be standouts (though if their main purpose is to be pretty, things generally go okay). But I found this version and decided to try out the strawberry version, since I would love to make pretty spring-colored (I was originally thinking strawberry and pistachio) macaroons for Kathryn's shower.

The more into the recipe I got, the more warning bells went off in my kitchen-brain: too many egg whites, weird proportions, and I was pretty sure it was going to end up too sweet. I love a breakfast cake called visitandines, which relies on similar ingredients to the French macaroon, so I have a basic understanding of the combination of almond meal, egg whites, and sugar. And things were not seeming right.

This story ends in disappointment, so I'll just cut to the end and say they didn't taste that off, but they were the saddest, flattest macaroons I have ever seen. This happened on the same day of the supremely disappointing petites fours, so I decided to wait a week or so, and then jump back in with the David Lebovitz chocolate macaroon recipe. Which went much better. More on that soon.

Baked penne

This particular food event happened about a month ago but I had to wait for Alexis to send me the photo before posting a description of this fine meal Sean and Sue (Sue by doing the dishes afterward) cooked up for us.

When I was a cold and hungry exchange student living on very little money in London I owned one pot and one pan. Those things were enough to do a very basic version of baked penne, and I loved it because is was warm and cheesy and made for great leftovers.

However, I never took it to the next level the way Sean did here. After eating it, I craved it for three days straight. He made it with a sort of spicy chicken sausage, a sundried-tomato-based sauce, and three kinds of cheeses. I'm missing ingredients because this really was about a month ago, but I'll ask and append the remaining vitals.