Tutorial Chocolate French Macarons ='.'=

It's Monday Morning & this is a pictutorial (picture tutorial) for Chocolate Macarons. NOTE:  If you are using regular cocoa powder & not Bellagio Chocolate then you need to change the 1 tablespoon to 3 tablespoons of cocoa & use only 1/2 a cup of Almond Flour.

Ingredients:

Kitchen Tools: AND also need a stand or hand mixer (make sure all are grease free & clean)

PROCEDURE:

 

Time to PREHEAT THE OVEN to 375 Degrees Fahrenheit

Tap baking sheet to release trapped air bubbles.

LET THIS SIT FOR AT LEAST 15 MINUTES 

in room temp. or Until the tops are dry & have formed a skin.

Reduce the oven temp. to 325 & bake 1 sheet at a time for about 10 to 14 minutes, rotating halfway through. 

The tops of the cookies should resemble an "egg shell" quality. The macarons should be crisp and firm. Let it sit to cool about 2-3 minutes before removing.  

Make sure to increase the temp. to 375 to preheat & repeat the baking process for the rest of the macarons.

Sandwich 2 same size macaron with about 1 tsp. filling: Peanut butter, Nutella, Chocolate Butter Cream, Dobrova, or whatever you are craving.

As always, I just can't leave a plain 'ol Macaron alone... ALOHA KITTY!!! She's tanned & wearing a flower instead of a bow.  ='.'=

This post is dedicated to my dear friend, Ate CeCe, she loves Hello Kitty & one day she will get to taste one of my chocolate HK creations. 

Without Christ I am nothing. 

Foam please ='.'=

Magandang Umaga! I'm a HelloKittyPhiliac which means...

Hello Kitty is an obsession of mine & since I love everything Hello Kitty, this first entry will show just a bit of my quirkiness.

I drink coffee at times for fun and am certainly not addicted to it (not like my SIL (Ate Marianne or Kuya Jeff). Having expressed that, I do not have a milk frother or an espresso machine (oops, but I do have a Keurig). I wanted to at least try to make Milk Foam so I could add a HK coffee art using milk foam as the base. I tried two different methods, for those that live in dorms and do not have a stove, I'll hook yah up with the microwave method. ANYWAYS...

MICROWAVE METHOD:

You will need: Microwave, Microwave safe bowl with enough room for foam creation & expansion (I used glass Pyrex), Electric Mixer or a whisk (I love my KitchenAid), Fresh Milk (I used 2%)

Microwave about 1 cup of milk in the bowl for about 2 to 3 minutes (depending on your microwave) or just before it expands and explodes into a huge mess. Be careful this will be very hot. Then carefully whisk/mix the milk until you have a lot of foam (usually double in size). You can pour some milk using a spoon to hold back the foam to make a cafe au lait OR Check out that HK mug with a lot of foam.

STOVE TOP METHOD:

You will need: Stove, Small sauce pan (I used Teflon coated), Electric Mixer (I have a KitchenAid) or a whisk, Fresh Milk (I used 2%)

Heat about 1 cup of milk in the sauce pan on medium to high setting, once you start seeing some steam but just before the milk boils, gently whisk the milk without splashing or scalding yourself (Teflon coated pans work great- just don't let the metal whisk/mixer scrape the bottom or sides of the pan). Remove the pan from the heat and continue to whisk/beat. Once you've created a fine foam (usually doubled in size) you can add that to your coffee or hot cocoa or "whateva" (sorry just had to put that in- my hubby dislikes that word- whateva).

SADLY---The foam did not serve as a good base for the Hello Kitty Coffee Art because once I added the chocolate powder the foam-bubbles popped and it was aesthetically ugly, so I used the milk instead. But with Hello Kitty in mind, I learned and experimented on how to make Milk Foam without a Frother or Espresso Machine at home.

Thanks for oogling my google blog.    ='.'=