vanilla bean and rosewater buttercream.

I finally tasted my horrible looking failed macarons today after slightly more than 24 hours of anxiety and anticipation, which were needed for the macarons to mature. Will they taste decent at least? Enough to swallow?

Although the shells were chewy and sticky, a result of under-baking, the buttercream fillings were great! Kick-ass, in fact! Just a side note: the amount of rosewater you put in should be based on your own personal preferences.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream
recipe from TARTELETTE


Ingredients
1/2 cup (100gr) sugar
2 large egg whites
1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 vanilla bean, split open and seeded

Put the sugar and egg whites in a large heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like marshmallow cream. Pour the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat the meringue on medium speed until it cools and forms a thick shiny meringue, about 5 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment and add the butter, one tablespoon at a time, beating until smooth. Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes. Add the seeds from the vanilla bean to the buttercream and fold with a spatula until fully incorporated. If not using right away, refrigerate for up to a week or freeze for up to 1 month.

Rosewater Buttercream

an adaptation of the above recipe by me

Ingredients

1/2 cup (100gr) sugar

2 large egg whites

1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 teaspoons rosewater

Put the sugar and egg whites in a large heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like marshmallow cream. Pour the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat the meringue on medium speed until it cools and forms a thick shiny meringue, about 5 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment and add the butter, one tablespoon at a time, beating until smooth. Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes. Stir the rosewater into the buttercream. If not using right away, refrigerate for up to a week or freeze for up to 1 month.

a comforting breakfast.

Actually, it's more like brunch, since I woke up at 11.15 am. Oopsie! It's the same recipe as my previous bowl, but this time I used strawberries and raspberries instead of blueberries. Try saying the second half of that sentence fast! Haha!

This breakfast polenta recipe has really started to grow on me. Not just because it tastes great, it's all that somewhat therapeutic stirring and stirring that goes into the making of an ultra smooth, creamy pale yellow pudding. Because I only have stone ground cornmeal, I upped the water to 1 cup and cooked it on a low flame so that it won't turn out gritty. Be prepared to watch over it for at least half an hour but what the heck, I enjoy it.

And check out my new bowl!

macaron take #1 - failure.

Total disaster. Some turned out cracked, some pancake-flat, almost every one resembled an amoeba and all failed. My only consolation was that at least they weren't crippled- they had "feet". Okay, maybe more like frills. The only macaron shell I was moderately pleased with was, funnily, the tiniest one.

The rest were more like this one.

I made two colours for the intended vanilla and rose macarons. The pink colouring was a fright to work with. Just one drop stained my entire finger which ended up looking like a mutant part of me. Not pretty. At first, the batter was almost a ghastly neon pink! I'm so glad that baking lightened the colour a bit.

I made a rosewater buttercream and a vanilla bean buttercream to sandwich between the macarons. The recipe for both the macarons and the fillings are from the amazing Tartelette with the exception of the rosewater buttercream. Her recipe is perfectly fine. It's me. I over-whipped the egg whites and under-mixed the final batter. And I piped badly.

Would you like an ivory macaron?

Oh gosh... they're just hideous. I'm just so demoralized I need to wallow in defeat.

How about a pastel pink macaron?

But! Amanda does not go down so easily! I will conquer the macaron, and I will show no mercy! HA!

Can't decide? Just take both!

But just not today...

cream puffs with vanilla bean pastry cream.

I present to you... my jumbo cream puffs! Which are about to be brimming with pastry cream. I absolutely love this pate-a-choux recipe by Pierre Herme. It sits firmly in the non-cardboard-tasting category- buttery and tender. The smell itself is worth making this for- I would bottle it and label it Cream Puff No 5.

I made 2/5 of his recipe because I'm sadistic and I love torturing my brain. Nah, just kidding. I just wanted to make a small batch in case I failed, that's all. According to the original, you would have yielded 12 small cream puffs. Instead, I super-sized them and I got 4. I didn't follow the instructions for baking temperatures. I was afraid that 190C might be too low so I baked mine at 210C for 10 minutes before lowering to 190C for 20 minutes. So in total, I baked my jumbo cream puffs for 30 minutes, daring to open the door only past the halfway mark.

Still, they weren't as tall as I would like. Although, I was incredibly happy they didn't fall at all! I should know- I watched the "baking cream puffs" show for half an hour. I would be eternally grateful if anyone can give me tips on how to make a tall, sturdy cream puff! 

I live in a humid country, so just about 2 hours after baking, the shells started to get soft. I think it would be best to re-crisp them before serving if you made them in advance.

I like be extremely liberal with the icing sugar- go powder power!

Lick-your-lippylicious vanilla bean pastry cream I made yesterday! Take note if you used my pastry cream recipe: there's not enough to fill 4 gigantic puffs! I advise you double it.

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough
Pâte à Choux via Apple Pie, Patis & Pate

makes 20-24 Éclairs
1/2 cup (125g) whole milk
1/2 cup (125g) water
1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
5 large eggs, at room temperature

1. In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the
   boil.
2. Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium
   and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very
   quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You
   need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough
   will be very soft and smooth.

Pâte à choux before adding the eggs.

1. Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your
   handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time,
   beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.
   You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do
   not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you
   have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it
   should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.
2. The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

Notes:

• Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.
• You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

vanilla bean pastry cream.

Behold... the humble vanilla.

There is no such thing as a vanilla-holic. Only chocoholic. Why? I think vanilla is just as wonderful as chocolate, maybe even better. Okay, definitely and infinitely better. Not even a bittersweet chocolate molten lava cake can excite me as much as the prospect of vanilla beans. Not even close. I'm terribly sorry to all chocolate fans out there- don't come after me with a chopper!

To me, a vanilla bean pastry cream would be a cocoa-bean-lover's equivalent of an excellent chocolate mousse- creamy, dreamy and makes me want to spoon the entire batch into my mouth. But I shall practice self-restraint because it's going to be a part of something bigger and better.


Vanilla Bean Pastry Cream
Recipe from BAKING WITH JULIA 

Ingredients

1 cup milk

1/4 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

2 large egg yolks

2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 vanilla bean or 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

Put the milk, 1/4 cup sugar, salt, egg yolks, and cornstarch in a 2-quart saucepan. Split vanilla bean lengthwise, scrape seeds into pan, and toss in the pod. Stir with wire whisk, bring to the boil, whisking constantly, and let the pastry cream boil for one minute. Remove from heat, scrape pastry cream into a strainer set over a bowl. Push the cream through the strainer and discard the vanilla bean. Cover with plastic wrap and a layer of ice cubes. Leave ice cubes in place until the cream cools.

P.S Don't discard the vanilla bean! Wash it and dry it in a low 150C oven until, well, dry, and jar it with some sugar to make vanilla sugar. It's too good to waste!