Macaron

Recently, I started working on baking French Macaron cookies. What I pictured were those spongy coconut-laden treats that usually show up around the holidays dipped in chocolate. Nope, those are coconut macaroons - note the extra o. The actual macaron is a meringue-based cookie that is both fluffy and dry like a meringue and tacky or taffy-like. The trick is to get the perfect balance between the two properties. The balance is affected by the recipe ingredients and by the baker. 

Well, the recipe I used was a tried-and-true one, so it came down to the method. The first time I made them, I followed the directions exactly. The macarons were beautiful; they were pale with just a hint of color, the feet - the crusty little bottoms of the meringues - were about 3 to 5 mm high, the tops (most of them) were round and smooth, and they were a good balance of crisped and sticky. Almost perfect! So now, let's ruin them. 

The second time, I goofed around (scientifically of course) with baking temperature, resting time, and the equipment I used.  I have been working with a 50 degree range, changing the temperatures up 25 degrees and down 25 degrees to see the effect on color and texture. I also tried baking them with  different rest times, such as letting them sit at room temperature for thirty minutes, an hour, several hours. I also tried leaving the batter overnight. Each had a rather surprising effect on the cookies. Fascinating, but they resulted in not so delicious cookies. 

The exploration continues.

Curiouser and Curiouser

I have been playing around with recipes lately, and I have found that I truly enjoy taking a recipe and playing around with the ingredients and preparation methods.

I've been baking protein cookies for Josh for almost two years now, I don't think I've made them quite the same each time. That is partially because I am constantly modifying the recipes, but it's also because I don't write down everything I do, so each baking day is a little bit different.

Well, I can't do that in my new job - I have to write down everything I do. It's definitely a good thing, because, eventually, we write the recipes or formulas down for future use.

Josh has been so supportive of my longer days and my exploration. He even picked up a notebook for me to record notes and recipes. I think he hopes I'll eventually standardize his protein cookies. Hmmm

I think the difference between simply making up recipes and going about recipe development is in being deliberate, methodical, and good about writing everything down, even if they fail.

So, I guess I'll start doing that, ey?

Since I'm not taking any culinary classes again for a while, I will be changing the direction of my blog. I hope you don't mind.  This blog will now be more of a record of adventures in my kitchen from a research perspective.

Enjoy

Crispy Corn?

I just received a gift package from Green Giant showing off their new SteamCrisp canned corn. I remember seeing their new in-can steamer when we toured their factory, so I'm excited to give it a try! I incorporated it into my vegetable paella. Okay, it's not really a paella, but I had lots of vegetables and have some arborio rice...so...

I'll let you know how it goes, but in the meantime, if you're interested in trying out the SteamCrisp corn, I have some recipe cards that I can send to you. The tenth person to comment on their most interesting memories about canned vegetables. Mine involves wearing the vegetables... stories and maybe pictures later.

Courtesy of the Green Giant Valley Visit