Ladurée Macarons
My dear hubby had to get there before 9am and was the first in line, about 15mins after it open the line grew to 20 people. These were quite good and a few were amazing (black currant is my fav) great balance of flavors not too sweet. However, I still give the edge to La Maison du Chocolate for imported macarons (though I may need to go back to Ladurée soon for some jams also). There are fewer flavors at La Maison but the ganache is unbeatable, there’s no line, and you can pick up some chocolates too. So if you are in the city and find the lines too long at Ladurée, head down to La Maison du Chocolat (there are two locations in Manhattan).
chocolate chip oatmeal cookies
My first post for the new year! I ventured away from my usual chocolate chip cookies, which I’ve been making non-stop throughout the holidays due to special requests for them. I’m not an oatmeal raisin fan, and my parents aren’t big normal chocolate chip cookie fans, so we compromised this time around and opted for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I based this recipe off the coconut oatmeal cookies from my More From Magnolia cookbook. I don’t like coconut, so I replaced them with semi sweet chocolate chips. It definitely left the cookies chewy yet crispy.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter (softened)
- 1 c. packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 c. sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 c. rolled oats (these are the old fashioned oats, NOT the quick cooking ones)
- 1 c. semi sweet chocolate chips
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
In a larger bowl, cream the butter with both sugars until you have a smooth texture (roughly about 2 minutes). Add the egg and the vanilla and beat well. Add your dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Add in the rolled oats and then the chocolate chips. Mix well.
Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving several inches between them for expansion. Bake for 10 minutes. The original recipe said 12-14 minutes, but they were too crispy, almost burnt, by 12 minutes. I used a tablespoon scooper that looks like an ice cream scoop. Baked the cookies at 10 minutes, and was able to yield 40 cookies.
The good batches came out thin, soft & chewy but had a crispy texture at the same time. I loved them, and so did everyone else at the office. Apparently, the bad batches weren’t so bad either. They were all gone in 15 minutes. 
Till next time!
-
chelle
Heavenly waffles
I bought a new waffle iron to make beglian waffles and soon realized that I couldn’t just use my all purpose pancake/waffle mix (which came out too heavy and dense). But this was the perfect time to try out a yeast waffle recipe. A quick googling got me to http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/belgian-yeast-waffles-recipe and it’s pretty easy. I had recently bought some organic cultured butter which was perfect for this. I whipped it together in the morning and made waffles for lunch and dinner. They are so light and crispy and fluffy in the center. I just picked it up by hand and ate them plain, they need nothing else.
The longer the batter sits the more it expands.
-L
Rose Honey Almond Madeleines
- 1/3 cup coconut oil or butter
-
1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp rose powder (optional)
- 1 tbsp rose water
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 3/4 cup almond flour/meal
-
3/4 cup flour
-
1 tsp baking powder
-
pinch of salt
Cream together sugar and shortening, then incorporate one egg at a time till completely blended. Add in flavorings (rose powder, rose water, honey, almond extract) and almond flour, mix thoroughly. Then add flour and baking powder with the pinch of salt, mix till smooth. Preheat oven to 350º. Grease pans throughly. Try to under fill the molds, and you can get make 2 batches of the full sized madeleine pans or about 3 batches of minis. Bake for 18 min (for full sized pans, 13-15 for minis) till the top starts to turn golden brown. Cool for 5min before popping them out.
-Lina
super crispy panko tempura
I fried up zucchini, portobello mushrooms, onion, and shishito peppers (not pictured).
tempura + panko = best of both
I was making Japanese curry (a recipe I never gotten around to posting). It’s a thick curry sauce served over rice usually with fried foods, more specifically panko breaded fried foods (like potato croquettes and shrimp). I fried up some spare veggies I had in the fridge.
I was trying to think of a way to get a super crispy light but crunchy coating. Then it hit me, instead of coating the veggies in egg then breading it, I was going to dip them in a thin tempura batter then coat them in panko. What I got was a study coating that did not turn soggy. (It’s important that the tempura batter is thin like heavy cream consistency, and NOT pancake batter.) I also didn’t lose most of the breading when it hit the hot oil (as I often get with an egg dip). The onion rings turned out especially well, the crispy exterior didn’t fall off with the first bite nor were the onions limp/overcooked.
I used a store bought tempura mix, it’s a huge time saver and I’ve never made it as good from scratch. Do check the ingredients, go for ones with the least amount of addictives and look for panko made without hydrogenated fats.
-Lina
Panya Bakery
8 Stuyvesant Street
New York, NY 10003
(212) 777-1930
I just wanted to post these photos. I’m pretty sure I’ve tried everything in those cases.
-L
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