Messy Baker

Rainy day? Great day to bake palmiers!!! Recipe by Erin Jeanne McDowell in “The Fearless Baker”. They were delicious and a hit with everyone I shared them with!!!! The recipe was incredibly straightforward and easy to follow (though, puff pastry is still tricky to make- even the best recipe won’t change that).

Garlic and rosemary sourdough!!!! Yum!!! Recipe from Emilie Raffa’s Artisan Sourdough Made Simple and starter from Rose Levy Berenbaum’s Bread Bible. Just look at that oven spring!!!!!

Macaroons!!!!! Delicious pillowy clouds of coconut! https://preppykitchen.com/coconut-macaroons/

Macaroons! These surprised me. I always thought I didn’t like coconut, but these little cookies proved me wrong! These were little incredibly delicious clouds of joy, were super simple to make, and have already become one of my new favorite cookies.

People confuse macarons and macaroons all the time. For clarification, a macaron is a small sandwich cookie traditionally made with almond flour, sugar, and meringue. A macaroon, on the other hand, is a drop cookie made with sweetened coconut.

This particular recipe is courtesy of Preppy Kitchen and is incredibly easy if you have access to a hand or stand mixer to whip up the egg whites. It produces a tender, chewy cookie, and is a recipe I’ll be repeating multiple times in the future.

Recipe: https://preppykitchen.com/coconut-macaroons/

Fudge for cookie boxes! Recipe courtesy of Preppy Kitchen. https://preppykitchen.com/fudge-recipe/

Let’s talk about fudge! I made 6 batches of fudge for cookie boxes I handed out to friends and family for Christmas. The fudge only took about 4 hours for all 6 batches and is super customizable. With one recipe, I made chocolate, rocky road, and chocolate orange. The possibilities are endless. You could add some peppermint extract and some crushed candy canes for a Christmas flavor or some caramel swirls, just to name some other possibilities!

The base recipe is from Preppy Kitchen and is super easy. There are three distinct ways to make fudge. this one uses sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, and a bit of salt and vanilla melted together over low heat (The other methods are a marshmallow fluff base and a traditional approach using corn syrup, sugar, and a candy thermometer). I added marshmallows and peanuts to make the rocky road flavor and I added orange extract and orange zest to make the orange flavor. (The orange was my favorite- it tasted like a Terry’s chocolate orange!) Any additions you choose to incorporate should be added with the vanilla extract after everything is melted together. Stir in extracts and zest first then larger additions like nuts or marshmallows.

I love this fudge recipe and highly recommend it to anyone wanting an easy recipe to try making fudge for the first time!

Recipe: https://preppykitchen.com/fudge-recipe/

Ready for Christmas!!!!! :) Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!!!!

The holiday baking has begun!!!!! This week’s project was s’more’s macarons for a friendly cookie exchange/competition and they won the best overall cookie category!!! These are French style Graham cracker macaron shells with homemade (torched) marshmallow fluff and chocolate ganache.

This recipe is, quite honestly, a revelation. They taste exactly like s’mores and they are well worth the time they take to make (about 3 hours, but one of those hours is just letting them rest).

I highly recommend this recipe, but recommend trying an easier vanilla recipe first, just to understand the technique and what to look out for when making the shells.

Notes: I do recommend adding 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar to the egg whites before whipping for the shells and 3/4 tsp vanilla to the shells just prior to the stiff peaks stage. I also definitely recommend torching the marshmallow fluff if you have access to a kitchen torch.

Difficulty: 8/10- prior knowledge of the technique recommended. Additionally, there are two fillings and potentially a kitchen torch involved, making these a bit more involved than the other macaron recipe I’ve highlighted on this blog.
Recipe clarity: 10/10- instructions were super clear and easy to follow.
Results: 10/10- they won the best overall cookie category!

https://livforcake.com/smores-macarons/

S’more’s Macarons for a friendly cookie exchange/competition. They won best overall!!! https://livforcake.com/smores-macarons/