Posts Tagged ‘Sweet’

Macarons… it’s become a serious obsession now. I blame Lolita brands for this obsession. If they didn’t keep including them in prints or in sweets deco maybe I could forget about how melt-in-your-mouth-delicious they are… maybe I could ignore the fact that they are incredibly pretty… and maybe I could stop thinking about how I desperately want one for breakfast today with a cup of tea…

But no!

And so it goes on until one day I got so frustrated I decided to make them myself. I suppose that’s in keeping with the spirit of this blog ^_^

I searched and searched for a recipe. Many were too complicated with things like measuring the temperatures in the room and comparing the humidity to get the correct amounts for different parts of the world!? Macarons are apparently the most fickle of all deserts.

Finally just as I was about to give up a friend sent me a link to Not Quite Nigella’s Recipe. It seemed easy enough but I wasn’t too keen on the idea of pistachio as I wanted James to actually eat them too. I kept searching until I found the Tasted By Two version. Seemed easy enough… and so the experimenting began! After maybe 10 batches I have modified the recipe for our kitchen/temperature/humidity/what ever other ridiculous things macarons are scared of. I am not a baking purist, I just did what worked! These techniques might not work for you but I assure you that my result was freaking awesome

So here is everything I’ve learned about macarons and my modified version of the Tasted By Two Recipe:

What you need:

Ingredients for chocolate macarons with chocolate filling-

For the outside bit:

• 65 grams Almond Meal
• 80 grams Icing Sugar
• 40 grams  Caster Sugar
• 1 table spoon Cocoa Powder
• 50 grams Egg White at room temperature
• Oil spray
• Pinch of salt

For the filling:

• Cooking chocolate
• Butter
• Thickened cream
• Icing sugar

Utensils-

• Scales
• Sieve
• Aluminum foil
• Mixing bowls
• Electric beater
• Baking trays
• Spoon etc
• Piping bag/Small plastic bag

Gather everything together

Line your trays with aluminum foil. Yes in the photo I’m using baking paper… and you know what, it sucked. Every recipe I found said to use baking paper but EVERY batch that I did using baking paper failed miserably. So what I ended up using for the successful batches was aluminum foil *very* lightly sprayed with olive oil. I’ll talk more about the failed batches and how to avoid that later!

Measure out your almond meal. Having the correct weights is very important so be quite careful. Now about the almond meal… many recipes I found said that you should crush the meal even further in a food processor to make it extra fine. I don’t have a food processor so I used it straight from the pack. No problems so far.

This is how fine it was:

Do the same  with your icing sugar and sift them into your bowl. Make sure there are no lumps.

Then mix them together very well and make sure the consistency is even.

Now weigh your castor sugar.

And your egg whites. Egg whites are another highly debated point of this recipe. Some say you should leave them out over night, some say leave them for a week. I made macarons with eggs right after cracking them, over night and week old… and they were all exactly the same in my opinion. I really don’t think it makes a difference. Just make sure they aren’t too cold or else they won’t froth well.

Put your egg whites into a mixing bowl.

Add a pinch of salt to them

Now using your electric mixer beat them until they become slightly frothy.

When they look like this you should start adding the castor sugar a little bit at a time…

Keep beating…

… until it looks like this The eggs should be light fluffy and peaky.

Now this part is quite fun! You should take your mixed up icing/almond and add 1/2 of it to the egg mixture.

Mix it up carefully, don’t be over zealous otherwise it will end up like cake. Once the first half is mixed in, add the rest and repeat.

According to a lot of recipes it should form ribbons off your spoon when you’re done.

Now mix in your spoon of cocoa

Delicious yes?

Ok time to get ready to pipe them. You can use a proper piping bag but if you’re not keen on cleaning one you can just use a plastic bag and throw it away after ^_^

Put your mixture into the bag!

And tie a knot into the top of it.

Now cut off the corner with a pair of scissors and pipe circles onto your tray.

Apparently some people will actually draw circles onto the baking paper to make sure they are completely perfectly shaped… I don’t really think that is necessary. If I wanted perfection I would go and buy them, I like he idea of mine being a little individual ^_^

Ok! So we’ve done the hard part! You should take your tray and bang it on the counter a few times to get rid of any air bubbles. Then leave the macarons on the counter for 1 hour to settle. While they are settling let’s talk about some other variations!

James doesn’t like chocolate much either so he asked for some blueberry flavored ones.

I used tinned blueberries, crushed them and added to the mixture just before piping.

This is easy enough, you just need to add slightly more of the dry ingredients to counter the wet of the blueberries. If you’ve made a couple of batches you should be able to roughly guess at what the correct consistency should be.

My absolute FAVORITE flavor is green tea with pistachio filling. OMG this is seriously awesome. All you need to do is add 1/2 a teaspoon of matcha powder to the mixture instead of your chocolate powder. I’m using one from Tea2 but any will work.

Green!

They all look so pretty!

When you come back to the macarons the icing should have formed a very slight shell, you should be able to touch the top without getting your finger wet. Pre-heat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius. When the oven is ready you can put in the tray and cook for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes you should be able to see the little crinkly bottom feet, if not something has gone wrong! Cook for another 4 minutes and then allow them to cool on the bench.

This is a picture of the first time I tried to make them, they weren’t very pretty but you can see the little crinkly feet I’m talking about…

Leave the macarons to cool while we make the filling.Basically all that is involved in that is melting chocolate in the microwave, adding a little cream, butter and a little icing sugar so it doesn’t go solid again. Very delicious. Be sure to taste it along the way

The pistachio variation on this is basically crushed pistachios with butter and icing sugar to make a delicious paste:

Now it’s time to remove the macarons from the tray and turn them over… the bottoms should look like this:

Below is a good example of failed bottoms. The reason this didn’t work is because they weren’t cooked long enough so the insides were liquidy. They stuck to the (stupid) baking paper and collapsed when being removed. Still tasted good though.

Take a half and spread some filling on, pop another half on top and you’re done

Taadaa! Success!

And here are the delicious green tea ones:

So there you have it! No longer will I be a slave to sweets deco and brand prints! Next time I crave macarons I’ll bloody well make some! Mine may not be the prettiest ever made but they tasted damn good and nobody complained so I’m happy!

Hope you all enjoyed the adventure as much as I enjoyed eating all of the failed and successful batches!

Today I wanted to give you guys first pick of my new nail art for sale ^_^ This is all going up on the Etsy store soon but I want my blog readers to have first preference. I’ve also made a few of those bow and heart rings that you all loved so much on Twitter. All the information on ordering is down the bottom, I hope you enjoy!

Set 1. Strawberry Fields

Description:
Yum yum strawberries, it’s that time of year again Alternating in red and pink these nails will catch some attention! Each small gold ball has been hand placed to represent strawberry seeds and they shine in the sun like crazy! Good enough to eat, though I don’t suggest trying to…

Measurements:
Included in each set sold are 20 individual nails in 10 different sizes. These are fairly long nails with a rounded tip. Please note that these particular nails have been hand filed to shape, as such they are not completely even. Please examine the photos carefully before ordering. The largest size is 1.9cm wide and 2.7cm long. The smallest size is 0.9cm wide and 1.8cm long. They will arrive on cardboard backing wrapped in pink fabric with ribbon details as pictured below. Gift wrapping is available upon request.

Price: US$25

Set 2. Ribbons and Bows

Description:
These beautiful pastel nails have so much detail going on they are really eye catching! Alternating between pastel pink and blue each has silver glitter and then white candy stripes. Painstakingly hand painted on top in each corner is a big red ribbon bow. Perfect to wear for a tea party or just to look adorable every day!

Measurements:
Included in each set sold are 20 individual nails in 10 different sizes. These are fairly long nails with a rounded tip. Please note that these particular nails have been hand filed to shape, as such they are not completely even. Please examine the photos carefully before ordering. The largest size is 1.9cm wide and 2.7cm long. The smallest size is 0.9cm wide and 1.8cm long. They will arrive on cardboard backing wrapped in pink fabric with ribbon details as pictured below. Gift wrapping is available upon request.

Price: US$25

Set 3. Purple Passion

Description:
These nails are a beautiful dark satin purple. They are very different to most nails you would come across, the only thing that shines on these babies are the silver glitter half moons at the bottom. Pair them with a slinky dress and you’re ready for a night on the town!

Measurements:
Included in each set sold are 20 individual nails in 10 different sizes. These are fairly long nails with a rounded tip. Please note that these particular nails have been hand filed to shape, as such they are not completely even. Please examine the photos carefully before ordering. The largest size is 1.9cm wide and 2.7cm long. The smallest size is 0.9cm wide and 1.8cm long. They will arrive on cardboard backing wrapped in pink fabric with ribbon details as pictured below. Gift wrapping is available upon request.

Price: US$15

Set 4. Loving the Leopard

Description:
This set has been so popular I’ve made another one!

There is no hiding from these nails, you won’t need to camouflage! With a bright purple base and fluro pink leopard spots these nails sure make a splash! The tips have been dipped in bright pink glitter and a matching pink diamante has been added to polish off. These are guaranteed to grab attention!

Measurements:
Included in each set sold are 20 individual nails in 10 different sizes. These are fairly short nails with a square tip.The largest size is 1.8cm wide and 1.9cm long. The smallest size is 0.8cm wide and 1.2cm long. They will arrive on cardboard backing wrapped in pink fabric with ribbon details as pictured below. Gift wrapping is available upon request.

Price: US$15

Set 5. Burn Baby Burn

Description:
Fire is ultimately cool but who has the time or effort to set their own fingers on fire everyday? Now you can have the look without the third degree burns! With an orange/red base and flames of red, yellow and orange people might be fooled into calling the Fire Department, wear at your own risk!

Measurements:
Included in each set sold are 20 individual nails in 10 different sizes. These are fairly short nails with a square tip.The largest size is 1.8cm wide and 1.9cm long. The smallest size is 0.8cm wide and 1.2cm long. They will arrive on cardboard backing wrapped in pink fabric with ribbon details as pictured below. Gift wrapping is available upon request.

Price: US$15

There are still a few sets left in my Etsy store of the last batch, click here to see ^_^

Bow and Heart Rings

Please note that I can custom make these in any colour and size combination. If there is something you want that is not here just comment or send me an email ^_^

Pink Crochet Bow Ring.

Hand crocheted from pink cotton yarn, it is very comfortable to wear and is attached to a matching crochet ring.

Price: US$6 including shipping.

The inside of a bow ring. The ring section is crochet as well, its quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Pink Crochet Heart Ring.

Hand crocheted from pink cotton yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$6 including shipping.

Pink Crochet Bow Ring with Pearls.

Hand crocheted from pink cotton yarn and beaded with plastic pearls to keep it light weight. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$6 including shipping.

Blue Crochet Bow Ring.

Hand crocheted from blue acrylic yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$5 including shipping.

Red Crochet Heart Ring.

Hand crocheted from red acrylic yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$5 including shipping.

Red Crochet Bow Ring.

Hand crocheted from red acrylic yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$5 including shipping.

Black Crochet Heart Ring.

Hand crocheted from black cotton yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$6 including shipping.

Blue Crochet Heart Ring.

Hand crocheted from blue acrylic yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$5 including shipping.

Black Crochet Bow Ring.

Hand crocheted from black cotton yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$6 including shipping.

Ordering Information!

Custom Orders:

I will take custom orders, please comment or email me (violetlebeaux@gmail.com) with what you are interested for a quote

Ordering:

Before you order please take the time to read all of the information.
You can order by either commenting here or by emailing me using my Contact Page to let me know which set you would like to buy and your email address so I can send you a Paypal Invoice. Please note that the email address you put in the comment form can only be seen by me so if you are uncomfortable publishing your email either put it there or order via the Contact Page. Anything that doesn’t sell here is going to be put up in my Etsy shop, if you would prefer to buy via Etsy let me know and I will create a listing for you

Payment:

Payment must be made via Paypal. All prices are in US Dollars.
Australian buyers have the option of doing a direct bank transfer in Australian Dollars but must contact me for details.

Postage:

Shipping fees are included in the listed prices. Shipping is via Australia Post. International shipping will be by standard Airmail (unless you want to pay extra for express).
Insurance is not included in the price, if you would like to buy insurance please contact me. If you do not opt to buy insurance I cannot be held responsible for lost packages.

Notes:

Please note that these nails are all hand painted and as such they are all unique. They are not mass produced and therefore they have small irregularities. Please view the pictures carefully to be sure before you place your order as I will not accept refunds if you just change your mind. Larger photos are available upon request.

As a lot of you would already know James and I will be moving cities soon, it’s very exciting! We’ll be living in an apartment so we’re trying to compress all of the things we have into as small a space as possible… what this leads to is us having a big clean out sale  ^_^ I’m not going to constantly spam you about the sale here so I’ll just post the link and tell you that I’m updating it with new stuff pretty much every day so check back often! There are all kinds of things there including clothes, jewelery and other bits and pieces.

If you want something just email me an offer!

Click here to go to Violet and Jimmy’s Online Garage Sale

Thanks very much for looking!

Today’s outfit was very stereotypical French inspired. The kind of France that’s in my dreams… where everyone always carries a baguette all the time and has a poodle permanently attached to their arm. Yes that may be the kind of France that doesn’t exist but so what, I love my outfit anyway!

Dress- Target
Stockings- Myer
Cardigan- Angel Sissi
Heart Ring- I made it
Hat- SkyLine Vintage
Shoes- Modified by me
Other jewelery- random places

This outfit was for James’ birthday which was last Thursday! None of the pieces were very expensive at all but it comes together for a very sweet look and my hair is super curled/teased.

Make up for the day! I wish the camera captured how sparkly the pink was ^_^ I’m wearing the green lenses from my previous review.

Later that night we had a small family party for James but it was really hot that night. Instead of brushing out my hair I just pinned it up on the back of my head and added a bow.

Getting in the festive mood!

Here’s a bonus pic because I love you all