Nut Free French Macaron =^.^=

No need to use almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, white chocolate, oils, or coconuts in this recipe. It is also very inexpensive to make.

I used my basic macaron recipe but substituted Kellogg's Rice Krispies Cereal.

Not hollow & these were stored in room temperature for a few days & filled with Trader Joe's Speculoos Cookie Butter. 

Ingredients:

SIFT these 2 dry ingredients together

1 cup confectioner's (powdered) sugar

3/4 cup finely ground Rice Krispies Cereal

MIX In a CLEAN, grease free large bowl; to make meringue

1 pinch of salt

2 large egg whites (I used organic)

1/4 cup confectioner's (powdered) sugar

To make finely ground Rice Krispies cereal, I used 

a food processor to grind the cereal and measured enough to equal 3/4 cups.

 Sift 1 cup powdered sugar with the cereal.

Separate the egg whites from the yolks (I saved the yolks to make flan or ice cream). 

 

& add a pinch of salt and 1/4 cup of powdered sugar in a mixing bowl. 

Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, make a meringue. & mix till it is stiff & has glossy peaks.

To the meringue add the sifted cereal/powdered sugar mixture & fold until the batter slowly ribbons off the spatula. (This will be much thicker than regular almond macarons, maybe I need to tweak my recipe and decrease the amount of cereal in a future post).

 

 

Using a piping bag with a plain round tip, spoon the batter into the bag.

 

 

Pipe the batter onto a Silpat (Silicon liner) lined cookie sheet.

 

Rap/bang the cookie sheet onto the table to let the batter settle and allow air bubbles to escape to the surface of the piped batter. These cookies are thicker than regular French Macarons so the tops seem to dry faster than the almond batter. I use my dry finger and pat the tops down.

Let the cookies sit on the counter to form a crust about 30 minutes. Then preheat the oven to 310 degrees Fahrenheit, & bake one cookie sheet at a time for about 15-18 minutes depending on your oven. You can check for doneness when you touch the tops of the cookie and it does not wiggle. Let it cool before removing from the Silpat. Fill with buttercream, Nutella, Speculoos Cookie Butter, chocolate ganache, jellies/jams or anything delicious you can put your mind to. Once filled and sandwiched, it is best eaten 24 hours later, after maturing in your refrigerator. N-joy! 

                                   God Bless! 

French Macarons Using Pasteurized Egg Whites Or From A Carton =•.•=

Yes you can use egg whites from a carton, also known as pasteurized egg whites. You no longer have to separate the yolks from the whites. You no longer have to make flan or try to figure out what to do with those egg yolks. Check it out yo!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup almond flour

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup OR 60 grams of pasteurized egg whites @ room temperature (I have used Kirkland's, EggLands Best, & Trader Joe's Brand- they have not failed me yet)

2 pinches of salt

1 pinch cream of tartar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2-3 drops of gel food coloring- optional

Directions:

Important: make sure the measuring cup, mixing bowl & whisk are all oil free, clean, & dry. If not, you can compromise the meringue stage of the egg whites & the whites will NOT whip.

Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, add the egg whites, cream of tartar & salt & beat the egg whites until foamy; add the granulated sugar and continue beating until egg whites are glossy, fluffy, and hold stiff peaks. 

In a separate bowl, sift together the powdered sugar & almond flour. Next steps are crucial: 

In this step you may add your gel food coloring. Fold the almond mixture into the egg whites, about 30 folds- making sure no traces of egg whites are seen but do not over fold. Spoon a small amount onto the pan making a mound of batter. If the disk of batter holds a peak instead of flattening immediately, gently fold the batter 1 to 2 more times and retest. When batter is mixed enough to flatten immediately into an even disk but does not spread too much, it is ready. DO NOT OVER MIX.

Spoon the batter into a pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip (Wilton's #10). Pipe the batter onto the baking sheet with the tip angled 90 degrees from the silpat. Make sure to leave spaces between each mound of batter. Once you have piped all your macarons. Preheat oven to 310 degrees F. 

Let the trays stand out at room temperature until they form a hard skin and is no longer tacky about 30 minutes to an hour. 

Bake for about 12 minutes to 15 minutes until set, the tops should be matte like egg shells. You can test the doneness by touching the tops and seeing if you can wiggle it. If it does wiggle it is underdone and continue to bake for about 2 more minutes. Note: the bigger the disks the longer it takes to bake. Let the macarons sit on the tray and cool completely before removing.

Remember do not get frustrated. You may watch videos on YouTube so you can be familiar with the above steps or see my other posts about Macarons. 

Suggested fillings: Nutella, Ganache, Cream Cheese, Peanut Butter, Speculoos Cookie Butter, Strawberry Preserves, Melted Chocolate, Melted White Chocolate, Pastry Cream, Fruit, whatever your heart desires.

When filled, you can store them in an air tight container and place in the fridge to allow the filling to meld with the macaron shells (maturing stage for about 24 hours). Before eating, let them stand out at room temperature for the perfect macaron-mouth feel texture for about 5 minutes or so. The macarons should be crunchy, flaky, and chewy at the same time. 

See all my baking madness on Instagram, #MaedByMaggie, or under my ID: Maggie13Mae

 

You can also make Ice Cream Sandwiches... Sorry for the finger photo bomb. 

God Bless!!!   =•.•=

S'mores: Kraft marshmallow cream, chocolate ganache, Honey graham cracker crumbs (in the shell & sprinkled ontop), Hershey's bar. 

To make the S'mores' shell, I substituted 1 tablespoon almond flour with finely ground graham cracker crumbs. 

To see how I assembled the S'mores Macarons you can visit my Instagram and  watch the 15 second video. =•.•=

Hello Kitty Meringue Pops =•.•=

I stumbled upon http://www.make-fabulous-cakes.com/valentine-meringue-pops.html this site a few years ago and instantly fell in love with how easy and how beautiful the meringues came out. I decided that this year, I will experiment in making them into Hello Kitty shapes. I skipped a few steps by just piping the meringue directly onto the sticks. 

For HK's eyes and noses, I used royal icing shapes I made a while back for my niece's Hello Kitty Sugar Cookies. I drew on her whiskers with edible food writer or you can use a clean artist's paint brush, (dedicated for food only) and black gel food coloring. I also piped on her bow by adding some red food coloring to some of the meringue. 

Visit her blog http://www.make-fabulous-cakes.com/valentine-meringue-pops.html  for the recipe and video. 

I will need to figure out how to make the face smoother. Hastily, I just used a knife to smooth it out. These are pre-baked pictures:

Hope you enjoy making them... I will continue to experiment with different methods and post them when I can on Instagram.   =•.•=

God Bless! --- <3    Maggie13Mae 

TWO Cupcakes =^.^=

INGREDIENTS

1/2 beaten egg.  1 TBS Soft Butter.  1 TBS Milk. 1 tsp Vanilla. 2 TBS sugar. 1/4 cup AP Flour. 1 tsp baking powder.

PROCEDURE

•Preheat your toaster oven to 300* . Prepare the cupcake pan with 2 cupcake liners.

•In a measuring cup whisk yolks & sugar until pale yellow, then whisk butter until creamy, add milk & vanilla until incorporated. Then GENTLY mix in all the dry ingredients just until wet. Do not over mix.

•Pour the batter in your cupcake liners (try to make them even). Bake for 13-15 minutes or until you test the cakes with a toothpick & it comes out clean.  Cool them before frosting. 

FROSTING

Vanilla Frosting For 2 or more 

•1/2 cup firm but not cold Butter. 1 cup powdered sugar. 1 tsp Vanilla.

•Whip butter until light & fluffy, add powdered sugar & Vanilla. Whip some more. 

VARIETY add to the batter or to the Frosting

You can add different mix-ins or extracts to make them unique.

Chocolate chips on top before you bake the cupcakes

Crumbled Oreos 

Puréed Strawberries instead of the milk

Peanut Butter

Only 2 Vanilla Cupcakes {=^.^=} & Vanilla Frosting

1 egg yolk.  1 TBS Soft Butter.  1 TBS Milk. 1 tsp Vanilla. 2 TBS sugar. 1/4 cup AP Flour. 3/4 tsp baking powder.

•Preheat your toaster oven to 300* . Prepare the cupcake pan with 2 cupcake liners.

•In a measuring cup whisk yolks & sugar until pale yellow, then whisk butter until creamy, add milk & vanilla until incorporated. Then GENTLY mix in all the dry ingredients just until wet. Do not over mix.

•Pour the batter in your cupcake liners (try to make them even). Bake for 13-15 minutes or until you test the cakes with a toothpick & it comes out clean.  Cool them before frosting. 

You can add different mix-ins or extracts to make them unique.

Vanilla Frosting For 2 or more 

•1/2 cup firm but not cold Butter. 1 cup powdered sugar. 1 tsp Vanilla.

•Whip butter until light & fluffy, add powdered sugar & Vanilla. Whip some more. 

You can use egg whites instead... But I had so many yolks (made too many Macarons) I needed to somehow get rid of them... & I don't want to make Leche Flan. 

Oreos & Hello Kitty & Valentine's Day =•.•=

You can make these anytime. For yourself, for hubsters, girlfriend, boyfriend, kiddos. Anyone!!!

What you'll need:
Cookie cutters
Paring knife or Exacto knife
Sprinkles (hearts, confetti, jimmies) etc.
Oreos or JoeJoes (any variety of colors are fun)

Procedure:
Carefully twist off one side of the cookie sandwich.
Using the cookie with the cream still intact, carefully imprint the cutter into the cream (try not to crack the cookie- be gentle). <\3
Carefully scrape off the unwanted cream away from the intended image.
Carefully lift the cookie cutter.
You may garnish with the sprinkles as pictured or just your imagination.

Notice all the "carefully" words I typed? Have a blessed Valentine's Day!

You can watch this on YouTube or on Vine:
MaggieMae on YouTube
MaedByMaggie on the Vine app.

"We Love HIM because He first Loved us".

Pictures of my Valentine's Day!- Blessed

Tutorial for Perfect Hello Kitty Bows =•.•=

Let's cut to the chase. This is a quick post to show you how to make the perfect Hello Kitty Bow by using Wilton's Hello Kitty Cake Pan as a mold. You will also need a microwave safe bowl, small rubber spatula, Wilton Candy Melts, microwave, and a refrigerator or freezer.

When mixing or handling candy melts make sure you do not introduce anything that has water into the candy melt wafers, in doing so, you will ruin the candy; so make sure to wipe your hands, rubber spatula, HK Pan and bowl with a dry cloth or paper towels before proceeding to melt the candy wafers.

1) Pour about 30 pieces of candy melts into the microwave safe bowl.
2) Melt the candy at 15 second intervals and gently stir in between, make sure you do not burn the candy, but should look silky and not clumpy in a spreadable consistency. Do not over mix to prevent adding unnecessary air bubbles to the candy.

3) Spread the melted candy into the well of Hello Kitty's bow and make sure to concentrate on the areas that may need extra strength. Lightly tap the pan to evenly distribute the melted candy and to eliminate bubbles (lightly tap the pan so you do not warp your pretty little cake pan or add permanent dents and dings).

4) Place the pan in the refrigerator or freezer for about 10 minutes until set and solid. 

5) Once the bow is set, carefully tap it out onto your hand and voila. You can now adorn your perfect Hello Kitty Cake.