Sunday 21 December 2014

Christmas morning macarons: hazelnut macarons with spiced coffee and chocolate ganache

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I once tried making hazelnut macarons, quite arrogant of me really, because it was the second time i was ever trying out macarons. I hadnt even perfected normal almond macarons, so its no surprise that the hazelnut ones didnt turn out nice. So without even trying to figure out what went wrong, that was put to rest.

Now that i eat, breathe, live macarons, I thought i should try the hazelnut ones a go, also because i was getting a bit bored of serving the almond ones to friends and family and before they started complaining about it, thought I should play around with the recipe a bit. Macarons are so temperamental, and fails with the slightest of changes, so technically I should have gone with a recipe using powdered hazelnut, but I couldn't find one that follows the French meringue method, hence I just sub'ed the almond measurement in my regular recipe with hazelnut. Of course my heart was in my mouth till i saw the feet, but it all worked out well in the end.
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When its baking it smells just like nutella and taste wise, its not as neutral as the almond ones, so you need to be quite careful with the filling flavour. They are obviously nuttier and if you didn't know its hazelnut, you would be a bit confused as to what the taste is. I loved it, but Ro was not too sure, he said I should stick to almonds, how boring! Anyways, to play it safe I filled them with my spiced coffee stash (from my Harrods Hamper- yes i know eons back, but its only taken out every Christmas), perfect for Christmas morning and since hazelnut and coffee is a gorgeous match it went down very well with me :)

Talking about Christmas, have you all planned your feast yet? My house is all decorated (yes, as you can see, this year i went a bit crazy with diy christmas decorations), presents are all wrapped and i am all ready for my huge Christmas feast. I have invited a couple of friends over and have already planned my menu starting with cocktails and champagne all the way to cheese, dessert and coffee. Hopefully I'd be able to post one more recipe before the year ends, but if I don't come back, here's wishing My Kitchen Antics' readers a very merry Christmas and a kick ass New Year.

Makes 22 medium size macarons
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Ground hazelnuts- 60 gms, after sifting
Powdered/ icing sugar- 100 gms
Egg whites- 60 gms
Caster sugar- 40 gms
Vanilla bean paste- 1/4 tsp (optional)

For a detailed macaron making process, check out this post of mine.
Get the baking tray with baking paper ready. Make sure you cut them exactly to fit the size of your pan without any folds or dents, because this will affect the shape of your macaron. You would need 2 trays for this quantity.
Sift the ground hazelnut with the icing sugar to remove any lumps.
Using a free standing mixer with whisk attachment or hand mixer, whisk the egg whites till frothy.
Add the caster sugar bit by bit, while continuously beating the egg white, till soft peaks form. (When in doubt, beat till still peaks form, so you don't deflate the meringue too soon)
Into the meringue mix add the sifted hazelnut-sugar mix and vanilla bean paste and fold gently using a spatula, starting from the bottom and continuing to the top till you get a smooth even mixture, with no meringue visible.
Go really easy on the folding because if you over do it, you could end up with disfigured macarons when you pipe them out. To test of the batter is of correct consistency the batter should fall back in ribbons when you life the spatula and the ribbons should have disappeared in about a minute or so. If it doesn't, then give a couple more gentle strokes and test again.
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Pour the batter into piping bag with a plain round tip and pipe small round, leaving about 2 inches gap between the shells for them to spread and expand.
Leave aside to dry for 20 to 30 minutes. Again, this completely varies, If the batter is towards the looser side, it would take longer to dry, if it is humid it would take longer to dry and sometimes with no particular reason it just takes forever. If you don't leave it to dry enough, you wont get a proper developed feet.
Lightly touch the piped batter with your finger and if it doesn't stick them it means you are good to go.
When the batter is drying pre heat the oven to 140C and once ready place the tray in the middle rack and bake for 13 to 15 mins.
If your macarons are undercooked, it becomes crinkled and hollow. It also becomes too delicate to handle as well. So when it doubt, bake a little longer, but make sure you don't burn them.
Once done, cool completely in the tray itself before filling.

Spiced coffee and chocolate ganache
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Dark chocolate- 1/2 cup
Double cream- 1/4 cup
Spiced coffee- 1/4 cup (brewed with 2 heaped teaspoons of spiced coffee)

Melt together the chocolate and cream in the microwave, in bursts of 30 to 45 seconds.
Stir in the spiced coffee and make sure its all mixed together.
Pour into a piping bag and place in the fridge to firm up, and till ready to use.
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When ready to fill, pair the macarons with similar sized ones and pipe the filling on to the shells.
Sandwich them and store in an air tight container till ready to serve.
They taste better when the flavours have mixed well and has moistened in the fridge for a couple of hours.
If you leave it in the fridge for a long time, it would moisten too much leaving you with soggy shells.

Notes: If you want to do your own spiced coffee, add a 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp all spice and a pinch of nutmeg
Of course, just replace the 60gms of ground hazelnuts with ground almonds and you'll get the original almond macarons

Friday 12 December 2014

DIY home made gifts for Christmas

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A bunch of us here have a tradition of making home made gifts for Christmas. Just for the fun factor, we all slog it out for weeks and come up with DIY gifts that for me are much more personal than buying something from the stores. Last year i gifted everyone this home made lemon extract and sweet and salty crunchie bars. This year, I thought I'd go completely off food and do something different. Needless to say, hours were spent on pinterest, Etsy and the like for some motivation and finally i decided on doing vintage home made candles.

I have been obsessed with candles for the longest time. There used to a time back in India when i had candles strewn all over my apartment but when there was a power cut I wouldn't let Ro light even one of those (because they were really too pretty to waste at a power cut). It was a joke my husband loved telling everyone. Grown out of all that, now i use scented candles more to smoothen the cooking smell and such.
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I had chanced upon candles in vintage tea cups long back and since i had trawled Ebay for English tea cups for our chaiparty (more on this later), i knew what my options were. So making a decision to gift those came easily. Now, of course i couldn't gift just a candle, so again pinteresting started and i decided to gift a sa pack for my friends this year. the pack would have the scented vintage tea cup candle and an assortment of scented fizzy bath bombs, for that relaxed night in.

They were both really really easy to put together and I was rather proud of how organized I was this time, ordering everything online and finishing it all off way ahead of time. The cost is also very minimal because you are putting these together yourself, and for me it was the creative part of it that was most fun.
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My lovely friends gifted me so cool stuff as well. Vineetha made delicious rocky roads and presented them in a beautiful vintage tin, Gayathri went all out and made a hamper with Christmas classics like mulling syrup, stollen, panettone, salted caramel and garam masala sea salt and Suchi did a spa pack with personalised body scrub and lip balm, full on with our name tags and such. Not to mention, her packaging was spot on. I love this tradition of ours and am so glad I have a small group of friends who share the same interests. We exchanged these gifts over a lovely brunch in Covent Garden followed by some shopping.

Scented candles in vintage tea cups (makes 4)
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Vintage tea cups with saucers- 4 (i bid on them on Ebay. These are Royal Albert English Rose tea cups)
Candle wicks- 4, waxed and preferably with sustainers
Wooden skewers- 8, to hold the wicks in place
Heat proof bowl- 1
Saucepan
Cup with spout (if its heat proof then use that for the wax as well, in which case the cup is not required)

Eco friendly soy wax- 500 gms
Wax dye- 2 gms (I used baby pink. For a darker shade add more)
Fragrance oil- 1 tsp, or according to preference (I used one called Woodland Rose)

Before getting on with the process make sure you have set up the containers with wicks etc.
I first tried to keep the wicks in place with a clothes peg balanced on the rim, but when i poured in the wax, with the slightest movement they changed position.
So I placed two skewers on either side of the wick to keep it in place (as in picture).
(small sticker dots to stick the wick came with the kit but the moment the hot wax hit it, it just melted and came off. i have no clue what the purpose of this thing was)
PicMonkey j Once the mis en place is intact, heat enough water in a saucepan to come about half way up and bring to a simmer.
Place the wax in the heat proof bowl (cut them up into smaller pieces if they are in a block, to allow easy and even melting) along with the wax dye and let it slowly melt.
Use a long wooden skewer to stir in between if needed.
Once the wax has completely melted, take it off bain marie and keep aside to cool a bit.
Pour in the fragrance oil at this point, stir with the skewer and slowly pour into the cups till about 3/4th full.
If the wicks have moved a bit, don't worry, just readjust. The wax is not going to set immediately.
Also, rinse out your utensils quickly.
Don't move the candles until its completely set. If there is a bit of sinking in the centre, just warm some more wax and fill it up.
Light the candles only after 24hrs.

Scented fizzy bath bombs (makes 12- adapted from here)
IMG_5108 Bowls- 3, large
Measuring cup
Mixing spoon
Mould- I used my muffin tin

Baking soda- 1 cup
Corn flour- 3/4th cup
Epsom salt- 1/4 cup
Citric acid- 1/2 cup
Food colour - 3 different colours (I used baby blue, kiwi green and pink)
Fragrance oils- 3 different ones (blue- winter spice, Green- Christmas pine, Pink- Woodland rose)
Water- as needed
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Mix together the baking soda, corn flour, Epsom salt and citric acid in a bowl.
Divide it among 3 bowls, around 3/4th cup in each bowl.
Add the colours and fragrance oil into each and starting with one, sprinkle water into the mix bit by bit and mix with a spoon or with your hands if that's more convenient.
Watch it fizz, but make sure you only sprinkle water and not pour water into it or else you'd have a lot of cleaning up to do.
Add enough water to get the mix together. Take a fist full of the mix and press hard and if they hold the shape then you are good to go. If now, add some more water and get the desired consistency.
Pack the mix tightly into the muffin pan and keep aside for about 24 hrs before you turn it over and tap the bath bombs out of the tin.
Store them in air tight containers till ready to use of pack them immediately if gifting.

To use, fill a bath with water and thrown the bomb into it. Watch it fizz, change the colour of the water, enjoy the aroma and have a relaxing bath.
The baking soda and citric acid makes it fizz and the addition of Epsom salt acts as a muscle relaxant

Tuesday 9 December 2014

What I've been up to...

Right... 2 months since I've opened the blog, yes, not lying, i swear i haven't signed into it that long and today i open to find loads of comments, something I've not seen in a while :). I feel people have stopped reading blogs, like properly reading them and enjoying them, me included. I still do scout around for recipes and the majority of recipes i follow are from blogs, so there is still some hope in this world.

I don't have any recipe for you today. But thought I'd fill you in on what I've been up to.

Sucre Sale by Bobo Macarons
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We have been extremely busy in the Bobo kitchen with the launch of our new collection of savoury macarons, Sucre Sale- sweet and savoury all in one bite. You'd be surprised at how nice they taste, and I'm not saying this because i work there, but from someone who was sceptical about how they'd turn out, you just have to take my word for it. They are yummm. Dora, the chief taste developer, has come up with flavours like English old mustard with salmon mousse and dill, beetroot, coriander and goats cheese, oregano mushrooms filled with avocado cream and so on. They are perfect for parties and seriously, canapĂ©s never looked this pretty! We are currently running an exclusive Christmas offer, so if you are wondering what to gift your loved ones, then head on over to our website and place an order. 

Christmas menu at Tentazioni restaurant
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From top left: Swordfish cubes with aubergine ratatouille and red pepper coulis, beef fillet carpaccio with fois gras ice cream, pumpkin ravioli with butter and sage sauce, Scottish lobster and beef fillet, tagliatelle with black truffle sauce, tiramisu.

I was invited to Tentazioni Italian restaurant for a preview of their Christmas menu. It was back in September and walking into a cosy restaurant in Bermondsey with carols playing in the background, Christmas crackers on tables and decorations made me wish for Christmas to approach faster. Now that we are a little over 2 weeks away from Christmas, I want time to stand still so i can hold on to 2014 a little longer. We were treated to 7 different dishes from their tasting menu and i loved all of it, fav being the tagliatelle with black truffle oil. They use fresh seasonal food and the menu is designed by head chef Alberto Modena. The restaurant is conveniently located and has a great private dining area that can host parties of up to 20. I am definitely going back to try their a la carte menu.

Dream non-dairy ice cream
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On a cold Nov evening i scurried along the back alleys of Soho to get to the gorgeous Good Housekeeping cooking institute to check out the Dream ice cream pop up. Ice cream in winter is not really my thing but i had to find out what the deal with this gluten free, dairy free, low fat ice cream made with almonds (I know!), was all about. All decked in pink, with an ice cream trolley in a corner, i put together my ice cream sundae of praline crunch and velvety vanilla, full on with sprinkles and wafers. The ice cream is nice, i mean you wouldn't know its gluten free or low fat or anything except its a wee less sweeter than usual, which i think is a good thing, if you plan on dousing it with sauces and such. Right now they have 4 flavours- salted caramel, praline crunch, mint choc chip and velvety vanilla and are retailed at Waitrose at £4.99 per tub. Snuggle up next to a roaring fire with a tub of the praline crunch and I'm sorted. Its never too cold for ice cream, i learnt ;)

L'eto Caffe
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L'eto caffe, a high end cafe and restaurant had a press launch of their new location on Brompton street, opposite the V & A museum last month. It was a fun night where bloggers and members of the press attended a champagne and canapé reception and then a feast of pastries from their elaborate collection. We got to take home a goody bag filled to the gills with all sorts of pastries and tarts and cakes. I must add that the tres leche cake i had there was the best, closely followed by the honey cake which apparently is one of their best sellers. L'eto has 6 London locations, so make sure you pop by one of them when you have the chance.

The Great British Chefs Dinner
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I had the privilege of attending a gala dinner hosted by Great British Chefs in aid of NSPCC at the grand Banqueting Hall. It was a black tie event, and my first time at a fund raising gala, one I'd never forget too. Michelin star chefs- Nathan Outlaw, Martin Wishart, Frances Atkins and Mark Dodson- put together a gorgeous menu and needless to say, the food was fabulous. The dinner gala raised more than £175,000 and I'm so glad i could be part of this worthy cause. If you would like to donate, please do so on the link provided.

Eat First
20141208_190554 One of the problems I face at work is lunch. I don't have many options around and carrying lunch every day is not feasible for me. Same goes with the husband. So I was pretty thrilled to know about this new service called Eat First, delivering fresh and healthy meals to your office. Every day you get to choose from a veg or non veg option (no confusion there) and its delivered within 15 minutes of placing the order, which i think is definitely a plus point. I got to taste some of their food at the launch event and its really good. At the moment they cover only the city and Canary wharf but I'm hoping they'd expand west and I'd be able to avail of their services soon.