Pink Tagada Macarons

Pink macarons, ok...but what is "tagada" you may ask. "Fraises Tagada" is one of my childhood favorite candies, and it is pink, and it is good and it makes me giddy like a kid again. I just like saying the name over and over! Since I introduced B. to the line of Haribo candies, the licorice rolls and "fraises tagada" have become his favorites, so it was no surprise that when we came back from Christmas with my parents in France that we had several bags tucked away in our suitcase. I thought we had gone through all the stash when I found a bag that had fallen behind my pastry box. The candy is like little pink pieces of strawberry flavored marshmallows.
I know I said May was the month of things pretty and delicate but when you read the reason why I made these, you will understand.

I started thinking about these ever since I saw Requia' post about a pink event to support the fight against breast cancer. I wanted to make them very pink and very giddy...Well, yeah I am weird: just looking at them makes me happy, feels me with hope and the color even calms me down. I put it in the back of my mind until Bea's savory pink "verrines" reminded me it was high time I cranked up the mixer.
Cancer makes no distinction of gender, reace, age and social status. We live with cancer, know somebody with it and hold the hands of too many friends going through the same thing. Cancer is global, cancer is universal...so is hope, so is the fight against it. A few weeks ago I participated in Barbara's yellow event for LiveStrong Day, and today I want to pay tribute to all the women and men devasted by breast cancer.

I also wish to pay tribute to my grandma who found out in her early 8os (yes, you read right) that she had breast cancer. When her doctor suggested biopsies, exams, breast removal and what not, she looked at him straight in the eyes and said "you're crazy...let me live". AH!!! And there you have it, my grandmother in a nutshell...and the essence of the way I lead my life. She passed away at 93 from a cancer that had invaded her tiny frame but never her spirits or her will to live.

Now, and before you all start to yawn...These are just plain macarons shells colored with neon pink powder dye, with different pink sparkles and filled with a "fraises tagada" and white chocolate ganache. For the macaron shells I followed a different recipe than my favored Italian meringue one, and with good results. The first tray looked like the meringue was not folded enough so I gave it a couple of extra turns and the remaining tray turned out beautiful...I think I could get addicted to this lazier method!!

Pink Macarons and Fraises Tagada White Chocolate Ganache

Shells: (original recipe here)

3 egg whites at room temp

100 g almond powder

160 g powdered sugar

40 g granulated sugar

a few drop of neon pink coloring

pink sprinkles of your choice

In a food preocessor, grind the almonds and powdered sugar togther to make sure they are really fine. Pass through a sieve and set aside.

Note: when I process them very fine, I usually skip the sieving step and just break any lumps with my fingers.

Start whipping the whites on low speed to break them up, and slowly increase as to obtain a soft foam. Slowly add the granulated suage, one TB at a time until the meringue is tight and glossy.

Stop the machine and fold in the coloring and the almond/powdered sugar. The batter should flow like magma. Try a spoonful on a plate. The little peak created by the meringue should flatten when tapped on the counter top.

Line 2 baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 300 F.

Fill a pastry bag with the batter and drop rounds on the baking sheet. Add the sprinkles. Let dry for 30 minutes and bake for 10-12 minutes.

Once they are cooled. Fill each with about 1 Tb. of the ganache.

Fraises Tagada White Chocolate Ganache:

2 cups fraise tagada candy

1 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 cup heavy cream

Heat the cream until hot. Drop the chips and candy into the cream and stir until all are melted and come together. Let cool.

If you read French, here are some more "Fraises Tagada" recipes:

- Emmanuele's mousse

- Samania's yogurt

- Paris Breakfast's fun post about the candy

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Cherries and Coconut Mini Cakes

How is it that every time I turn the computer on and spend more than 30 minutes looking at the screen, my "favorites" box ends up being full of luscious, simple, adventurous, down to earth recipes that I know I won't have time to get around? How is it that everytime I hit the market, my produce guy, Sunny, hands me a box of the best he's got around and charges me pennies for it? Maybe because he knows I will bring you a share of whatever I end up making.
Sunny knows my love for berries, blood oranges, lemon, all things tart and puckery, and naturally of all things "cherries". He tried to compete with Beverly for all things local and homegrown but when it comes to cherries, he knows one tree is not enough for me...so he brings me case after case.

Every night this past week, I sat down at the dinner table, covered in old newspaper and I pitted cherries, pound after pound. I have preserved, jammed (oh yeah, I am cool like that), jellied, pickled and froze 30 pounds so far. Crazy? maybe, I don't know...I see red everywhere...If I see one more pit I might scream...I think people wonder why I paint under my nails...! But there you have it: first installment of a very cherry summer to come (oh, yeah , I am funny like that) in the form of mini cakes inspired by 3 different recipes I had bookmarked from other blogs, and as a Taurean, not quite capable of making up my min,d I decided to combine all three and make my own little tambouille (French slang for nosh).

Cherries and Coconut Cakes

Makes 8-10

8 oz flour (230 gr)
6 oz sugar (170 gr)
2 eggs
2 Tb. melted butter

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 tsp. coconut extract
1 tsp. baking powder

grated zest of one lemon
pinch of salt
1 cup fresh or frozen pitted cherries

1/2 chopped almonds or coconut

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, melted butter, coconut milk and extract.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the wet ingredients. Fold in the cherries. Sprinkle with almonds. I wanted to use coconut but ran out after another baking project.

Divide between muffin tins lined with cupcake liners, or other molds. I used Reynolds heart shaped molds, coated with cooking spray.

Bake at 350 F, for 20-25 minutes

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Birthday Mingle: Lemon Mascarpone Charlottes

Yesterday, June 2nd was one special lady's birthday: Meeta from What's for Lunch Honey? blew another candle and knowing her I am sure it was done in style surrounded by many friends and family members. Happy Birthday one more time, dear Meeta!

During the last roundup of her event Monthly Mingle, she realised it was also a year ago that she started the Monthly Mingle event. Thus, she invited us for the June edition entitled Big Birthday Bang, to make a dish for her, the guest of honor. Smart woman, not only does she get to make her birthday last a little longer but given the past roundups, she can be sure to be served some pretty tasty things!

I have only known Meeta for a few months and through her blogs (she also writes The Daily Tiffin, and asked me to join its writers pool last month), The Daring Bakers, and emails and yet I imagine her to be strong willed, warm, organized and detailed, attentive, a great friend, wife and mother. I also imagine her stylish, feminine and full of pep and colors.

I had a list a mile long list of different birthday cakes I thought about making for her and that special day but once I imagined these Lemon Mascarpone Charlottes, I really found them fit for the event. Just like I envision Meeta, they stand tall with confidence, soft and strong in flavor and yet playful at the same time. A soft and just a bit decadent lemon mascarpone surrounded by Limoncello dipped ladyfingers...enough to make you happy, not tipsy!

Lemon Mascarpone Charlotte, inspired from Mercotte:

Serves 6

1 package Italian style ladyfingers
2 eggs, separated
1 1/2 oz sugar
4 oz mascarpone cheese
150 ml. heavy cream, divided
2 tsp. powdered gelatin (1 sheet) + 1/4 cup water
zest and juice of one lemon

Syrup to dip the ladyfingers:
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup Limoncello

Sprinkle the gelatin over the water, stir and let sit to bloom.
In the meatime, warm up 5o ml. heavy cream until hot but not boiling hot. Stir in the gelatin and allow to cool.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the mascarpone with the sugar, add 2 egg yolks and whisk until well incorporated. Add the lemon juice and zest.
Whip 2 egg whites until stiff, fold them into the mascarpone mixture.
Whip the remaining heavy cream to medium stiff peaks, and fold into the mascarpone.

To assemble the charlottes, I used 2.5 inch diameters pvc pipe cylinders (I use pvc for cold molded desserts and metal for baked ones), but you can use the diameters that you like best.
Dip the biscuits very briefly (1 second/turn/1 second/done...yes, that fast or you will end up with mush) in the Limoncello water and stand them straight one next to the other into the molds, fill with the mousse. Refrigerate until set. Trim the tops.
At this point I like to freeze the charlottes for a couple of hours, so it is really easy to unmold them. Just push through the bottom, they slide out of the molds very easily.
Decorate with sliced strawberries or whole raspberries.

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Pistachio Ice Cream and Chocolate Pears

Beware: sentimental post to follow. I am working on another project and have very limited access or time to the computer today, but I have been meaning to post this for quite some time now.

When I started this site, almost 2 years ago, I had no idea my life would be altered forever by a handful of bloggers. All bloggers have different lifestyle, backgrounds, affinities. We sometimes click, we try to visit as many blogs as we can and try to leave as many pertinent comments or simple "hellos" here and there. Over the past year, I have become somewhat "internet" close to a few bloggers scattered all over the world. It is no wonder that they also happen to be Daring Bakers but we were already "regulars" on each other's blog prior to forming our (ever expanding!) group.

About three weeks ago, there was a bad and nasty cloud over the Tartelette household. I shared this with those few bloggers, expecting a simple "sorry, thinking about you". Actually, I did not expect anything...I just wanted to tell them, I figured that if we shared croissant making and crepe cake inferno, that was just as good as washing our dirty laundry together!
What I did not expect was the week long delivery of small packages, from all corners of the world, filled with as much diversity as the people who sent them. From handmade beauty products, to carefully selected chocolates, candies, sauces, and such. I tried to use some in my cooking, like a huge bottle of Dulce de Leche used to make cookies. I devoured 4 chocolate mice in one sitting and took only 2 days to drink too much Godiva hot chocolate and eat half a box of handcrafted chocolate...hmmmm.....Bloggers rock!

I am not going to name anybody, they will recognize themselves. One day that I was scavenging for more chocolate I noticed a small yellow one from Michel Recchuiti on the coffee table. B. said it was "some sort of dried fruit dipped in chocolate". Yes, my husband is not very well versed in the world of chocolatiers, he's just happy to blindly follow me in my chocolate quests.
The box contained Michel Recchiuti's Key Lime Pears: key lime juice kissed dried pears dipped in dark chocolate...! I had one by itself and immediately thought about using them in ice cream sandwiches. I made a batch of pistachio ice cream, sandwiched it in between the chocolate pears, thought about clling the neighbors and quickly changed my mind. I needed that much chocolate and sugar all by myself!

Thank you again, my dear new and not so virtual friends. You were with me through the joy and the pain and I am here to do the same for you.

Bloggers Special Pistachio Ice Cream and Chocolate Pears:

For the Ice Cream:
4 egg yolks
2 cups half and half
4 oz sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup ground pistachios

For the sandwiches:
I used the dried pears I had received but you can use your favorite cookies or it the ice cream by itself.

In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick, add the vanilla and pistachios.
In a saucepan, on medium heat, bring the half and half to boiling point but do not let it boil.
Slowly pour the hot cream onto the egg yolks mixture and stir to combine (tempering). Pour the whole mixture back into the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the cream coats the back of spoon. At this point you have made a custard sauce, also known as "creme anglaise".
Let cool completely, strain and refrigerate until cold. Process the custard according to your ice cream maker manufacturer's instructions or use a hand held immersion blender.
Freeze until firm and fill your favorite cookie or chocolate dipped dried fruit with it.

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Bye Bye May: Lemon Macarons

Why would the end of May prompt me to make macarons? Well, they are delicate little cookies and for me May is a "delicate" month. On the first of May, I get a card from my parents with dried, fragile Lily of the Valley tucked inside. Then there is my birthday, for which I receive some precious orchid (background in the picture above) or other exotic flower....delicate.
Then there is a few more girlfriends' birthdays and of course mother's day...the month ends up being very feminine, very pink and a major reason to make macarons!

I have been experimenting with a couple of recipes, one is promising but I want to tweak it a little bit more before posting, the results are almost as good as my cherished recipe originally found on Mercotte's blog.
I made a batch of these in an attempt to teach my friend C. and when she divided the loot in half I told her to keep them all and that I did not like macarons that much. Her jaws dropped, her eyes rolled in their socket and she almost checked my temperature. Yes, I am weird: I will gladly put me through the joyous torture of Italian meringue and macaron making but I don't like eating them. I love the whole process, from deciding on the flavors, colors, folding, piping, filling but I am not a big fan. I find the process more rewarding than the results but friends and family think otherwise.

What could be more fitting the celebrate the end of May than a lemon flavored macaron filled with freshly whisked lemon curd? June will bring bolder flavors and colors but for now let's stick to a tried and true recipe for the shells, as well as this lemon curd that I use now all the time.

Lemon Macarons:

For the shells:

120 gr. egg whites, divided
35 gr. sugar
150 gr. finely ground almonds
150 gr. powdered sugar
2 tsp. pure lemon extract

For the boiling syrup:
150 gr. sugar and 50 gr. water

Sift the ground almonds and powdered sugar.
In a stand mixer, whip 60 gr. egg whites to soft peaks, add 35 gr. sugar.In the meantime, in a saucepan on high heat bring the water and sugar for the syrup to 230 F. on a candy thermometer.
Slowly add the boiling syrup to the egg whites and continue to whip on medium - high speed until they are completely cooled and you have a shiny meringue (10-15 minutes).
Mix the remaining 60 gr. of egg whites, the lemon extract and the sifted almond/sugar and carefully fold into the meringue.
Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip with the mixture and pipe macarons about 3 inches in diameter on parchment paper lined baking sheet. You can let them sit at room temperature for 20 minutes if desired. This is often done to assure those little feet at the bottom but I found that I can skip this step with this recipe and still end up with the same result.
Bake at 320 for 15 minutes. Let cool.

Lemon Curd:

grated zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup strained lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
1 eggs
Combine the zest, sugar, juice in a saucepan, and bring to a simmer.
In a small bowl, beat the eggs until light.
Beat some of the lemon mixture into the eggs to temper. Scrape the mixture back into the saucepan and cook stirring constantly until it thickens up, about 5 minutes.
Strain and refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap until ready to use.
Fill the macarons with about 1 Tb of the curd and refrigerate.

Bye bye May...Looking forward to June!

Note: Check out the WTSIM May edition on Jeanne's blog...Yum!

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Waiter There's Something In My... Citron

I almost missed that one, all entangled that I was in webs of spun sugar! This month's edition of "Waiter There's Something In My..." focuses on stuffed fruits or vegetables and is hosted by Jeanne from Cooksister.

There are those challenges when two or three recipes come to my mind and I keep oscillating between them for days...not for that one. For some reason only known to my brain (and trust me sometimes we don't communicate very well), the only thing that came to my mind and stayed there was "Citron Givre", or Frozen Lemon, another typical bistro dessert in France back in th 70s and 80s: a hollowed lemon filled with lemon sorbet. This was my dessert of choice when I was a child, really, it never failed that anywhere we went with my parents I would either have "vacherin" (a dessert of meringue and ice cream) or citron givre. Imagine: a whole lemon stuffed with more refreshing tart and sweet lemon flavored! How fitting for the theme and the hot days we are having now!

As an adult, I did not lose my love for anything lemony but I also added a repertoire of spices, herbs and other ingredients to my palate. This particular sorbet falls more on the line of a sherbet as it contains milk but the French only have one word for "sorbet". The ice cream was inspired by Pierre Herme's Lemon sorbet (sherbet) and kicked up a notch with crystallized ginger. The only downfalls to this particular dessert are that you don't want to share and you wished you had more!!

Citrons Givres:

Serves 4

4 lemons
150 ml lemon juice (some coming from hollowing out the lemons + extra if needed)
150 gr. (2/3 cup) sugar
150 ml whole milk (less fat makes it curddle)
150 ml water
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped crystallized ginger (your taste)

Slice a tiny bit off of the bottoms of the lemons so that they can sit straight (relatively speaking). Slice the top off and keep that "hat".
Scoop as much of the flesh out of each lemon and set in a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl. With your hands or the back of a spoon press as much of the lemon juice as you can and measure 150 ml. Add extra lemon juice if needed.
In a saucepan over medium high heat, bring the water and sugar to a bol. Add the ginger and let cool completely. Add the milk and the lemon juice, stir and process in your ice cream machine according to your manufacturer's directions.
If you do not have an ice cream machine: freeze until soft serve consistency and mix with an immersion blender or whisk in a stand mixer. Put back in the freezer and repeat the operation 2-3 times, leaving enough time in between whippings for the mixture to get frozen.

Once your ice cream is ready, fill the lemon cavities and keep frozen until ready to serve.
The presentation always makes people happy and you have just made an easy bistro dessert in almost no time!!



Head over to Jeanne's blog in a few days for a tasty roundup!

Previous Tartelette's participations:
Waiter, There's Something in My Brioche
Waiter, There's Something in My Easter Basket
Waiter, There's Something in My Pie

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