Breakfast time in Holland

As you know I went on a Europe trip with my hubby a few weeks ago. Because he was born in Holland we went to visit his family that I had never met. We stayed with his family for two weeks and had a FABULOUS time!

One of my favourite past times in Holland was breakfast time! (I love my food okay!) Breakfast time consisted of the whole family gathered around the dining room table with everything out to choose from.

The Dutch don't eat toast (someone managed to find a toaster anyway) so I insisted that I eat bread, as they do, the whole time I was there. They typically eat cheese (lots of cheese), sausage meats and other meats, peanut butter and other spreads or sprinkles on bread for breakfast. Of course you can have cereal or muesli too but that was kind of boring for me. Then you always had a good strong coffee with coffee milk (not normal milk) in it.

Just a Normal Cheese Shop in Holland

The cheese was SO CHEAP in Holland, we practically ate it for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

The sprinkles I was talking about earlier, they were my favourite! There is Hagel Slag which is pretty much like chocolate hail except WAY yummier. To me it tasted like Easter egg chocolate! Yum!

Chocolate Hail on Bread for Breakfast (Hagel Slag)

Then there is bosvruchten hagel which is a coloured, flavoured sprinkle. This was quite sweet so I didn't eat it too much, it reminded me of ground up fruit loops.
Another chocolatey breakfast sprinkle they had was called Chocoladen Vlokken which is pretty much just chocolate flakes, these come in dark, milk and white too which is good!

Chocolate Flakes and Ground up Fruit Loops! Yum!

The last kind of breakfast sprinkle they have is called Muisjes, this one is coloured aniseed sprinkles, I was a little disappointed when we bought it because I didn't know it was aniseed flavoured and I don't like it!
We also found some fun breakfast sprinkles, there are these Dutch windmill cookies (you can even get them here) Well they made tiny ones of them that you sprinkle on your bread! Cute and yummy!

Left to Right: Aniseed Sprinkles, Chocolate Flakes & Windmill Cookies
Top: Variety Pack we Took Home

J'adore Macarons - French Macaron Review Part 2

Ever since I had heard of macarons, the name Laduree was always something I heard or read about. The nicest photos online were that of Laduree.

The only macarons I had tried in New Zealand were by Ma Cherie and for the time, they were good. Then I tried making my own and enjoyed the ones I made more. But I really had no idea what they were "supposed" to taste like.

Laduree Stall in Heathrow Airport in London

Our Europe trip started with two weeks in Holland but our flight actually landed in Heathrow Airport in London and transferred to Amsterdam. In those couple of very jet lagged hours at the massive Heathrow terminal 5, I managed to find a macaron stall, not just any macaron stall, a Laduree macaron stall!

My First Ever French Macaron Experience: Laduree
I bought three flavours: Salted Caramel, Green Apple and Vanilla.
Salted caramel was very decadent and oh so delicious! Vanilla was melt in your mouth gooood! The filling was to die for and it left me wanting to re-create this at home (goodness knows how!) Green Apple, however was not a nice experience, it tasted like I was eating an oily gummy candy, too sweet and weird!

My first impression of French macarons:
They seem very moist compared to the ones I had tried in NZ, not cheap either! At Heathrow Airport they were 1.60 Pounds each!

Me Outside the Laduree Restaurant in Paris

My Laduree Experience:
After walking miles and miles I can't begin to tell you just how sore my feet were (seriously, I have to see a Dr now because my left foot is screwed up!) But when I saw Laduree, glowing, all pastel green and golden, I couldn't have cared less about my feet! I took some photos by the entrance and of the window displays (AMAZING window displays!) Then entered into heaven.

Macaron Tower Display in the Window of Laduree

I walked into Laduree and starting clicking away, taking photos until someone told me not to. There were macaron towers, desserts, chocolates, pastries and macarons galore! I ordered a box of eight. My first thoughts were *exciting I'm getting a Laduree box* Then, I had to pick eight flavours! How to choose?! I chose Blackcurrant Violet, Orange Blossom, Almond Morello Cherry, Vanilla, Mint & Strawberry, Dark Chocolate, Coconut and Melon. I also bought a raspberry and rose dessert called Ispahan from Laduree, this looked amazing and I was scared to eat it because of it's beauty!

Strawberry Display Inside Laduree (they're all edible desserts!)

After a long, long day in Paris we got back to our hotel where me and my husband starting devouring these delicious macarons, I wrote a little journal entry about each one:

Macarons from Laduree

From top to bottom:
Blackcurrant Violet: Mmm nice and tangy! Sharp taste and a bit of sour, this is my second fave I think!

Orange Blossom: Delightful! Tasted like a sort of cream in the middle, similar consistency to it too. Nice light flavour -perfect!

Almond Morello Cherry: Yum! Much like the Blackcurrant Violet this one has a lovely sweet tangyness to it. Cherry is always one of my faves though, so I'm a little bias!

Vanilla: This was nicer than the one I had at the airport, those were a lot softer in the middle than these fresh macarons.

Mint & Strawberry: Surprisingly nice, refreshing, not too sweet. Almost a jelly-like centre.

Dark Chocolate: Just like a brownie, these remind me of the ones I made, mainly because of the dark choc ganache. Mmm I could eat a plate of these for dessert!

Coconut:Wowzers! Totally my fave so far, nice light centre that's like the middle of a Bounty Bar or coconut ice but not as sweet.

Melon: Weird filling, feels like I'm eating a melon oil essence. Think I'll give this a miss next time I'm in Paris.

Ispahan Raspberry Rose Dessert from Laduree

Ispahan (Raspberry & Rose Dessert):
Delicious fresh raspberries on a raspberry macaron base with a creamy rose flavoured filling and more raspberries inside. This was a little hard to eat but well worth it once I got in. Me and hubby ate the top off first then took turns biting the base and oh-my-gosh! YUMMY! SO yum and SO worth six Euros!

The Verdict: Laduree:
I love Laduree macarons, I can now say I've tried them and they're the best that I've tried. They are slightly chewier than the other macarons I tried while in Paris. The shells stay in tact when you pick them up and have a definite almondy taste, the fillings are lighter and not as filled as Peirre Herrme. The flavour choices were great, heaps to choose from so I REALLY want to go back and try them all now!

My Laduree Bag and Macarons (I kept them!)

Hope you enjoyed my review of the real French macaron, I know I loved the taste testing! Next stop for me  is the Dizengoff Cafe in Ponsonby where my friend, Danelle, tells me there are some amazing macarons to try! See her post here about the exciting flavours she tried.

Au Revoir!

J'adore Macarons - French Macaron Review Part 1

I've just gotten back from my four week Europe holiday, two of which were spent touring six countries! I can honestly tell you, I need a holiday after my holiday!
The sights were amazing, the food was superb and as we got closer and closer to Paris the more excited I got. I knew we only had one full day there so I got out my "Paris' Best Macarons" print out with the map and started planning our day.

Pierre Herme Macarons

Rose Flavoured Macaron from Pierre Herme

The five shops I wanted to visit weren't the only thing I wanted to see and do in Paris (obviously!) there was the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame and shopping down the Champs Elysees (luckily we had seen the Louvre and Eiffel Tower the night before)
These five macaron stores turned out to be quite a walk from one another so we only got time to see two out of those five BUT we did find another nice macaron store called Pierre Marcolini on accident.

Me and my friends buying French Macarons in Paris

First Macaron Experience: Pierre Marcolini
This store looked so fancy and up market. They sold thousands for different varieties of chocolates and sweet treats. The shop assistant was lovely and very patient with us English speaking tourists. I took a group of Contiki friends in with me who had never tried macarons and we had a great time picking out flavours and taking photos.

Pierre Marcolini Macarons

The Verdict: Pierre Marcolini
The decorated macarons here looked almost too good to eat, I loved the shiny ones! The consistency of the macarons, however, reminded me of the ones back home. They were a bit dry and the flavours weren't as strong. I had the Strawberry Daquiri and the Mojito, lovely flavours and lovely looking but they were just a little too dry for me.

Pierre Herme

Second macaron experience: Pierre Herme
I LOVE the bright colours and energy this store had! From the cute "J'aime les macarons!" signs to the lovely customer service, Pierre Herme was perfect! At this stage I thought I was going to try hundreds more macarons this day so only bought TWO macarons! Crazy, I know!

Pierre Herme Macarons

Pierre Herme Macarons

The Verdict: Pierre Herme
LOVE love love! I had Rose and Jasmine macarons and the flavours were beautiful, not too much, just right on the spot. The textures were great, semi soft with a crisp shell. I tried some of my friends flavours, the one I remember best was Liquorice & Violet which was lovely and no nasty taste of liquorice (but I don't think it's supposed to taste like the candy)
Pierre Herme seem to fill their macarons more than I'm used to, but it doesn't effect the taste in a bad way, their shells are crispy and they were nice and light.

Third macaron experience: Laduree
To be continued...

Chocolate Macarons Recipe

After many requests, here is the recipe I used for the Chocolate Macarons.
This is a different method of making macarons, using an Italian meringue to make the macaron shells rather than the French meringue. The difference in the two methods is that you add cooked sugar to the egg whites rather than raw. The Italian meringue is a bit easier to incorporate with the almond paste and the cooked macaron shells are a little stronger and stay soft. The taste, however, is no different between them.

Chocolate Macarons
From: Secrets of Macarons

Ingredients

180g Ground Almonds
200g Icing Sugar
30g Cocoa Powder
75ml Water
200g Caster Sugar
2 x 80g Egg Whites
Brown Colouring (optional)

1. Process then carefully sift the tant pour tant (ground almonds and icing sugar) and the cocoa. Set aside.
2. In a saucepan, bring the water and caster sugar to the boil. Without stirring, make sure the temperature of the resulting syrup doesn't go above 115 degrees C.
3. Gently beat 80g egg whites to soft peaks, then increase the beater speed once the temperature of the syrup passes 105 degrees C. When the syrup reaches 115 degrees C remove the saucepan from the heat and pour the syrup in a thin stream into the beaten egg whites. Continue to beat the meringue for about 10 minutes, so that it cools a little.
4. Combine the tant pour tant and the cocoa with the remaining egg whites, making a smooth paste. Add a little brown colouring for a stronger colouring if desired.
5. Using a flexible spatula, incorporate about a third of the meringue into the almond paste in order to loosen the mixture a little, then add the rest of the meringue, carefully working the batter.
6. Fill a piping bag fitted with an 8mm nozzle with batter. Attach a sheet of baking paper to each baking tray by placing small dots of batter in the corners. Pipe small, regular and well-spaced rounds about the size of a walnut. Lightly tap the bottom of the trays and allow the macarons to form a crust at room temperature for 30 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C.
8. Bake in the oven for 14 minutes. When they come out of the oven, carefully place the baking paper on a dampened bench top: the shells will be easier to remove.



Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients

250 - 220 g Dark Chocolate (55-70%)
200ml Pouring Cream
10 - 20g Sugar (depending on the chocolate used)
50g Butter
2 Drops of Coffee Extract (optional)

1. Break the chocolate up in pieces into a mixing bowl.
2. Heat the cream and the sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat.
3. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and gently combine to dissolve the chocolate.
4. Finally incorporate the butter, cut into small pieces, and the coffee extract. Combine well so that ganache is smooth.
5. Allow to cool to room temperature, then place in refrigerator for at least 1 hour before filling the macarons (even better if made the day before).



The Assembly

Using a piping bag fitted with an 8mm nozzle, fill half the macaron shells with chocolate ganache the assemble the macarons with the remaining shells. Place the macarons in the refrigerator for an hour.

Customisation

To create the "Stardust" look as I did, after you have piped your macarons on the baking tray, dip a toothbrush (or a paintbrush) into some liquid colouring, then flick the bristles over the macarons. This can get a little bit messy...but it's fun! I also made some heart shaped macarons, just for fun. If you want to create this look all you have to do is instead of piping out a circle onto your tray pipe out a small circle, squeeze and drag down then do the same to the left of the first piped line, now you have a heart!



Recipe Notes:
Okay, I know this one is quite a bit more complicated than the previous macaron recipe I posted but it's worth trying out if you have all the tools at hand.
Where the recipe talks about beating the eggs and waiting for a certain temperature then beating them some more, I would just beat the eggs the whole time, until they get to soft peaks because otherwise (if you're like me) you end up with the syrup at the right temperature and the eggs aren't whipped enough!
Also, not sure about adding those egg whites to the dry mix to create a paste, mine was really hard to work with!
My macarons didn't come out exactly as they should, they were a little too soft, some were cracked and they didn't have very good feet on them (in my opinion!) so I'll definitely be trying this method again and try to get it right next time!

Cake Pops

Cake Pops, made famous by the one and only, Bakerella, are cake and frosting all balled up in one, hand dipped in chocolate then decorated as you please.

I have tried making cake pops (or cake balls, these are cake pops without the stick!) before on three occasions.

My Niece's Birthday Last Year 

I used leftover Red Velvet Cake and tried my hand at making cake balls for the first time...and failed. The were way too sweet and mushy in texture. I got the proportions all wrong!

Red Velvet Cake Balls

My Friend, Danelle's Taylor Swift Themed Dessert Table

We got together to make Christmas Tree cake pops (using Bakerella's book as a guide) for a Taylor Swift Christmas event that Danelle was asked to cater for. They looked awesome, very time consuming though! (That's me in the background!)

Christmas Tree Cake Pops

My Mum's 50th Birthday Toy Story Dessert Table

Earlier this year I made Mr Potato Head & Buzz Lightyear cake pops (well, the Buzz ones were just purple and green) They took SO LONG to make, I found them really hard to transport and found that, even after adding lots of oil to the chocolate, they were tricky to dip!

Mr Potato Head Cake Pops

Buzz Lightyear Cake Pops

SO! I am attending a cake pops course in August at Milly's (where I took my cake decorating courses) and am excited to learn more and hopefully perfect THE CAKE POP!

Top Five for Friday - French Macarons

While in Paris I got the chance to sample some of the worlds finest macarons and let me tell you, they were exceptional!

My Top Five Favourite French Macarons

1) Coconut - Laduree. I was surprised that my favourite flavour would be coconut but this macaron was so delicious! Reminded me of coconut ice, but not as sweet.

2) Blackcurrant Violet - Laduree. Yumyumyumyum! Tangy and delicious!

3) Jasmine - Pierre Herme. Smooth flavour, smooth texture - it's a win/win situation!

4) Mint & Strawberry - Laduree. Refreshing flavour and interesting texture, almost like a jelly centre.

5) Mojito - Pierre Marcolini. Although I don't think the texture is correct at Pierre Marcolini, their macaron flavours and decorating were definitely the best I saw. I loved this Mojito flavour, a cocktail in a macaron - what more could you ask for?!

Top Five For Friday - Lost Cakes!

I'm am a HUGE Lost fan (4,8,15,16,23,42 -I'll never forget those numbers, I'm sure!) It's hard to pick five of my fave Lostie cakes because all of them have awesome elements, whether it's the Dharma logos or the huge four toe statue foot they all look amazing to me!

This was actually made for the cast and crew of Lost, so of course it's going to be the best! It was made by Charm City Cakes (you may have seen the episode on Ace of Cakes)


I love this cake! The idea is fantastic and it's so perfectly executed I can't believe it! This is when Hurley sees the hatch in season 1. See the Flickr account here.


Although Charlie leaving us forever will always make me sad, it was a lovely gesture when he warned Desmond that the boat coming to "rescue" everyone was in fact "Not Penny's Boat" Made by Kylyssa's Fondant Cakes.


Love the simplistic design, this is the Dharma Initiative logo. Made by Frosted Garden.


I love this Lost logo. This was my lap top background for quite some time! I don't know the maker of the cake! If anyone knows, please let me know and I'll update this post!