Absinthe Macarons

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I wanted to make something green. Call me crazy, but I didn't really care what it was I made. It could have been just about anything, as long as it was bright green and festive-looking. I wanted to show my Irish spirit! And since I have been wanting to give macarons a second go (I attempted them for the first time back in July, with great success), I decided to kill two birds with one stone recently and make green macarons.



My husband is a fan of absinthe, or green fairy. It's a French liqueur, strong in fragrance and potent in its licorice-like flavor, known for supposedly causing hallucinations in people (such as artists) to enhance creativity. I don't care for it at all myself, but the hubby definitely has acquired a taste for it. He made a not-so-subtle request not long ago, telling me he would like me to create a dessert for him that incorporated absinthe as an ingredient. He did a bit of Internet research and found that somebody had made Absinthe Macarons.

The blog post he found about this, on Baker of Brighton, describes absinthe well and gives a bit of history on it. The recipe follows at the end of her post. I think she created the macaron recipe herself, and it's a great recipe. She utilizes ground anise seed in her macaron shells, for the abinsthe flavor (since both absinthe and anise have that distinctive licorice flavor). Then, she uses matcha powder (green tea powder) for the green absinthe color. For the filling, she whips up an absinthe swiss meringue buttercream, tinted green with food coloring.



I was very happy with the way my first tray of macaron shells turned out. I did everything exactly as I had before (with the exception of using pre-ground almond flour I bought from the store, rather than grinding my own almonds like I did last time). I folded my ingredients carefully and got the proper consistency. I allowed my shells to sit, unbaked, for over an hour to help develop their firm exterior. When I removed them from the oven, they looked gorgeous and I was thrilled with them. The problems really began when I baked my second full baking sheet. With those, the baking sheet was much larger and could hold many shells. I piped about 2 dozen macarons onto that sheet. When I went to check on them in the oven, they seemed to be taking a lot longer to bake. I was nervous and did not want to overbake, so I ended up taking them out of the oven too soon.

About 15 minutes later, I attempted to peel them off the parchment, and disaster struck. They wouldn't budge. The bottom part, or belly, of the shell was firmly stuck on the parchment. When I went to remove each one, the top of the shell would crack and basically crumble apart. They were so fragile, so delicate, that there really wasn't anything I could think to do to save them. In the end, I managed to salvage nearly 2 dozen shells total, which allowed me to make a dozen sandwich cookies. Not a total failure, but it left a lot to be desired. Fortunately, we didn't really want a huge batch of these lying around because Andy is the only one who would be eating them.

There's a few things I think I may have done wrong. The first and biggest is overloading the baking sheet. I read somewhere that this can create too much humidity in the oven. It could have been avoided by leaving the oven cracked while they baked, but I didn't know that beforehand. The next problem was that I tried to remove them from the parchment without giving them time to really, fully dry out. Because they were underbaked, it would have been helpful to leave them sitting out, undisturbed, overnight and then attempt to peel them from the parchment the next day. And finally, raising the oven's temperature a few degrees or allowing them to bake a few minutes longer might have salvaged things, too.



Now that I've troubleshooted (or is it troubleshot? I never know) what may have gone wrong, I'm eager to try again. I hope the third time I make macarons is a charm! But at least this time I did manage to put together enough macarons to make Andy happy. He loved them. He couldn't believe how much they really did taste like his favorite liqueur. The absinthe buttercream was pretty amazing, even if I did put a smidge too much green food coloring into it. It's justified, though. You can never have too much green on St. Patty's!

I like to use Tartelette's guide to macarons, which can be found here. The Baker of Brighton's take on Absinthe Macarons can be found here.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes with Apple Cider Caramel Sauce

These cupcakes were the product of my imagination, running wild, and trying to come up with the perfect way to use a really awesome caramel sauce that I made recently. Funny how something as multi-step as a cupcake could be born from something so simple as caramel, but that's exactly what happened. Of course, there are many, many things you could do with this caramel sauce; it's actually quite versatile. But for my blogging purposes today, we're just going to talk about it in this recipe.

So what is this magical caramel I speak of, anyway? Well, it's Apple Cider Caramel Sauce, and it is heaven. Instead of making this caramel with lots of butter or cream, or both, you add lots of fresh apple cider. Then, to make it even more apple-y, you throw in a bunch of diced apple pieces and allow them to get all soft and mushy in there. Once the caramel has had a chance to come together, you puree the mixture, so the apple pieces actually become part of the sauce. Oh, my, is it good! After it's had a chance to chill in your fridge, it thickens up nicely, almost becoming a cross between a caramel sauce and an applesauce. Then, you're ready to use it!

The cupcakes I decided to make were from Cooking Light. I found a special issue that I snatched right up at the bookstore; it was a Fall Baking edition! I flipped through it before purchasing and realized I could see myself making over half of the recipes; I thought it would be a good investment! (Okay, that's what I told myself so I'd feel better about buying the more expensive special edition.) I'd probably have to put these cupcakes in the sorta cupcake/sorta muffin category. I mean, they're delicious and everything. They're moist, with nice chunks of apple throughout, but they did remind me of a muffin more so than a cupcake. Still, I suppose that's to be expected when it's a "light" recipe. And, besides, the frosting would more than make up for the healthiness! So I forged on.

I whipped up a Swiss Meringue Buttercream for the cupcakes, using Martha Stewart's basic recipe as my guide. I did have a little bit of trouble with the buttercream, as is usually the case when I make this tricky frosting. But I managed to get everything under control, and the frosting came together quite nicely.

So now it was time to add my Apple Cider Caramel Sauce! I wanted to transform my ordinary, muffin-y apple cupcakes into Caramel Apple Cupcakes, and I knew that adding the caramel to the frosting would be divine. I wasn't sure how much caramel to add to the buttercream at first, so I started out with about 2/3 cup and kept checking the flavor. It took a little over 3/4 cup caramel total before you could really taste the sauce in the frosting. Once I had enough caramel in there, the frosting turned a lovely light caramel color. It was silky and smooth, and you could detect the hint of apple flavor in the caramel sauce. It was pretty amazing.

Just to take these over the top, I finished them off with a drizzle of the caramel sauce over the buttercream. The piping on some of these were really weird, sorry about that (I was trying a thing. It didn't work), but I think for the most part these were a rousing success. I love it when a crazy notion in my head turns into delicious reality!

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

cupcakes adapted from Cooking Light (the original recipe had a streusel topping and a glaze, which I omitted due to my addition of buttercream frosting)

makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

6.75 oz. all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 cups)

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup (2 oz.) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 Tbsp. amaretto (you can use 2% milk, which I did)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 large egg

1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream

1/4 cup 2% reduced-fat milk

3/4 cup finely chopped Gala apple

1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place muffin cup liners in 12 muffin cups; coat with cooking spray. Weigh or lightly spoon 6.75 oz. flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine this flour with baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl; stir with a whisk.

2. Combine granulated sugar, cream cheese, and 1/4 cup butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until well blended. Add amaretto or 2 T. milk, vanilla, and egg to sugar mixture, and beat with a mixer at high speed until well blended. Combine sour cream and 1/4 cup milk in a small bowl, and stir with a whisk until well blended. Combine apple and 1 T. flour in a small bowl, and toss well.

3. Add flour mixture and sour cream mixture alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat just until blended. Fold in apple mixture. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake at 350 for 27 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes on a wire rack; remove the cupcakes from pan and allow to cool on racks.

Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream

adapted from Martha Stewart (I made just half the recipe)

makes about 2.5-3 cups

Ingredients

1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp. sugar

3 large egg whites

Pinch of salt

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, softened and cut into tablespoon-sized pieces

1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

3/4 (or more as needed) Apple Cider Caramel Sauce, recipe follows

Directions

1. Whisk together the sugar, egg whites, and salt in the heatproof bowl of a standing mixer. Set bowl over a pan of simmering water, whisk until sugar is dissolved and mixture registers 140 degrees on an instant read thermometer.

2. Return bowl to mixer; fit mixer with whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until stiff. Reduce speed to medium-low; add butter, a few tablespoons at a time. Continue whisking until smooth.

3. Switch to paddle attachment. Add caramel and vanilla; beat on lowest speed until combined, 3 to 5 minutes. The buttercream can be made several days ahead and stored in the refrigerator. Before using, bring buttercream back to room temperature; return to mixer and beat with the paddle attachment until smooth.

4. To assemble cupcakes, pipe the frosting onto each cupcake in the desired pattern. Drizzle with leftover caramel sauce and serve. (The frosted cupcakes do keep well in the fridge; just bring to room temperature before serving.)

Apple Cider Caramel Sauce

from The Craft of Baking

makes about 2 cups

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/4 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped out, bean and seeds reserved

2 small tart baking apples, such as Mutsu, Cortland, or Granny Smith, cored, and cut into 1-inch pieces

3/4 cup apple cider

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

Directions

1. Combine the sugar, corn syrup, 1/2 cup water, and the vanilla bean and seeds in a medium saucepan. Cook over high heat until the sugar becomes a medium golden caramel, about 15 minutes. Add the apples and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the apples have softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Carefully add the cider and stir to combine. Continue to cook until the sauce is sticky, about 5 minutes more.

2. Remove the pan from the heat and remove the vanilla bean. Rinse and recycle the vanilla bean for another use. Whisk the salt into the mixture.

3. Transfer the mixture to a blender and puree until smooth. Strain it through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl. Serve immediately, or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Reheat the sauce in a saucepan over low heat.

First MSC Post: Strawberry Cupcakes!

I am very excited to announce that I have joined yet another blogging group! This one is the Martha Stewart Cupcakes Club, and is dedicated (obviously, hence the title) solely to cupcakes baked from Martha's Cupcakes Cookbook. I am really looking forward to cooking along with the other members; this is a group I have been following ever since they started out, nine or so months ago. However, this group had filled up with eager members very quickly in the beginning, so by the time I wanted to join, the club was closed to new bloggers. There was a waiting list, but I didn't sign up for it. Instead, I would read the blogs each month and enjoy other people's results, virtually.

But now the group is open for anyone to join! So I decided that it was time. You only need to bake along once a month, so it seems completely possible to keep up. Plus, I have been looking forward to using my Martha Stewart Cupcakes book more often; now is my chance!

For my debut outing, I made Strawberry Cupcakes (found on p. 146), which were chosen by Sherry of Sherry Starts Cooking. This is a great recipe; you incorporate real, finely chopped strawberries into a vanilla cake batter. The result is a light, sweet little cake studded with tart, red flecks that give it this extra pop. So good! I don't even eat strawberries, but I loved them in these cupcakes!

The recommended frosting was a Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream, which could also be found in the book. Here's where my problems began! It's been years since I have made this type of frosting; it's very tricky. I recently tried my hand at Italian Meringue Buttercream, with great results. I felt confident that I could pull off the Swiss variety.

Well, my confidence waned after my first attempt, when I began whipping an egg white/sugar mixture that had been heated on the stovetop, over a saucepan of simmering water. Instead of forming stiff, meringue-y peaks as the recipe called for, I got.....well, I don't know what I got, exactly. It looked like taffy, the kind you can get on the Jersey boardwalks of my youth, watching it pull and stretch on a machine in the storefront window. It was thick and sticky, almost like chewing gum after it's been chewed awhile. I was baffled. I chucked that batch and started over.

This time, pretty much the same thing happened. I got goop; it proved to not be usable; I scrapped that batch. By now, I was ready to give up and run to the grocery store for some canisters of whipped cream. It was only because of Andy that I tried one more time. He had been helping with the whisking stage of the proceedings, and he convinced me that if we tried again, we would be successful, darnit! I was skeptical, but I plunged onward.

I am so glad I listened to him! Our third attempt was a wild success. This buttercream is to die for! The consistency is that of silk; smooth and light on the tongue. The added pureed strawberries give it the right amount of fruit flavor and tartness. The frosting piped onto the cupcakes like an absolute dream. It was wonderful. We were victorious, and it was worth all the hassle! A garnish of fresh sliced strawberry perched on top completed these little cuties.

So, what went wrong? Andy thinks I made an error by setting my egg white/sugar mixture over a COLD pot of water, then heating it to a simmer. By the time the egg whites had come to the temperature they needed to in order to remove them from the heat, I had overcooked them. The third time we did this, Andy started with an already-simmering pot of water, and we were fine. So I'm gonna go with him on this. Now I know for next time! And there will be a next time, because these were an enormous hit! I sent Andy to work with 2 dozen cupcakes, and he returned that evening with one left. People loved them! I'm glad, because now that I'm in this blogging group, they get to sample cupcakes once a month from now on!

We don't post recipes as part of this group, but you can find the cake recipe on Martha's website, here. You can find the (devil) frosting recipe here.

Once again, I am thrilled to be a part of the group and can't wait to keep baking! If you want more cupcake goodness, check out the MSC website to find out how all the other members made out this month.