Strawberry Macarons

Strawberry season is here again! ヾ(@°▽°@)ノ I was so happy that I bought an entire flat at the farmers' market this past weekend.  AN ENTIRE FLAT.  That's 12 whole baskets.  I had to ask them to hold it for me while I shopped at the other stalls because I couldn't carry it all while walking around the farmers' market.  It's been less than 3 days since the market and we've already consumed more than half of the flat.  (*^^*)

I can't wait to make strawberry pie again this year, but in the meantime, I wanted to practice making macarons using the Italian meringue method so I decided to make these strawberry macarons with strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream.

That said, macarons are a huge pain in the butt.  HUGE.  The ingredients can be pricey, it can take a long time when you are making large batches, there's so many dishes to wash after, and it can all end up being a big flop after all that effort.  BUT when they do come out right, it's a glorious sense of accomplishment for me - like TAKE THAT YOU DAMN COOKIE!! I BEAT YOU!!!!  (Except, no, you lose since you'll get fat from all the sugar... :P)  Anyways, I highly recommend watching some Youtube videos just to see what the texture of the meringue and batter ought to look like and techniques on folding the meringue into the almond meal.  It took me a long time to get a feel for it and I still end up with hollows or no feet frequently.  Ovens can also be tricky so you may have to play around with your temperature and bake times to find what is ideal for your own oven.

Earl Grey Tea Macarons

I've been so ecstatic about having an over 50% success rate in the macaron shells from my last post that I had to try again to make sure it wasn't a fluke.  And two batches later my success rate is increasing - I think only the green tea ones had a few hollows, and they again all had feet and were smooth! ヾ(＠^∇^＠)ノ*happy dance*  I made the matcha sesame macarons again (though I forgot to add the black sesame seed decoration on top this time), and an Earl Grey tea flavored macaron, also from Shiawase Days (senpai noticed me! o((*^▽^*))o).  Seriously though, check out Amy Lu's blog - love her beautiful photos of all the super cute desserts she makes!  I always get so hungry looking at them.  Since I did a couple things differently, I'm posting the recipe here with my changes as a note to myself.

Green Tea Macarons with Black Sesame Buttercream

YUUUUSSSS!!! >50% of this batch of macarons came out perfect. （*/∇＼*）And they were all smooth topped and had proper feet! The failed ones were the ones that came out hollow but hey, those are still edible and I'll take it! It's been ages (if ever) that I've been this happy with a batch of macarons.  They are the cookies that refused to be conquered.  Honestly, they aren't even my favorite cookies!  I keep making them though because I'm stubborn and I love the challenge of trying to make them precisely because I have not mastered it.  Every time I have an extra egg white I try to practice making a small batch, and although I sometimes feel like it's playing roulette, it is so rewarding when they do come out correctly.  There is also an infinite number of flavor combinations that one can play with so it never gets boring.

This attempt came about because I've been on a black sesame kick and had a spare egg white left over from making kasutera.  I love this recipe from the food blog Shiawase Days as it makes a small batch using just one egg white (extra large egg), has a simple ingredient list, and her ingredient amounts made exactly the right amount of batter and filling.  One thing she does differently that I hadn't seen much of was to bake at a much lower temperature for a longer time to prevent browning, which I think I will be doing now too as my oven tends to run hot.  She also piped 2" rounds, resulting in fewer cookies, but my template was closer to 1.5" so I was able to get about 26 shells.  I still need to work on my technique (sometimes I wonder if it's the way I pipe the batter that causes some to be hollow and others not??) but will definitely be using her proportions going forward.  (⌒▽⌒)☆

Fresh Strawberry Pie

Spring is in full swing here - with some days so blazing hot it feels like summer.  Thanks to that, my allergies are also on full throttle with all the blooming plants everywhere.  Though we are still getting the occasional chilly day here and there, the weather otherwise has been going to the mid 70s and up, bringing with it the first batches of beautiful ripe strawberries for the season.

Even though there are at least 6 other vendors selling strawberries at different stands throughout the farmers market we go to, one vendor consistently has the longest line for their berries - often to the annoyance of their neighbors since the line blocks their stalls.

Since we bought quite a few strawberries, I wanted to try my hand at a fresh strawberry pie - especially since I failed to make a pie last week for Pi Day.  I grew up eating mostly Chinese and Japanese food, but my mom would occasionally buy American food as a treat for us - usually in the form of Western-style desserts or fast food and frozen food when she didn't feel like cooking.   My hands down favorite was when it was strawberry season and she would buy a fresh strawberry pie on sale for $5 from the Marie Callender's restaurant near our house.  Piled high with strawberries that glistened like jewels, and topped with whipped cream, those pies never lasted more than a day in our house.

I tried a few times in my early 20s to bake pies...but they always ended up completely and utterly DISGUSTING.  Uncooked gummy dough.  Dull and tasteless fruit.  Tons of wasted ingredients.  It was enough to turn me off trying to bake pies from scratch for nearly 10 years!

I finally got up the courage to try again after coming across this recipe for a sourdough pâte brisée from the Bojon Gourmet while chatting with a friend and wondering if there was such a thing as a sourdough pie crust.  Who knew? :)  Being older and wiser (and with a bit more means than a recent college grad), I now had proper baking tools at my disposal, including an investment into a nice ceramic pie plate from Emile Henry for this new attempt at pie-making.  It also helped to watch YouTube videos on how to fraisage dough. (^_−)☆ 

Much to my surprise, the blueberry-apple pie I made using the recipe from the Bojon Gourmet was an edible success!  As was my attempt at a banoffee pie a few weeks later!  All of which led to today's attempt to do a fresh strawberry pie and recreate my childhood tastebud memories. The result?  My tastebuds (and tummy) were pretty darn happy. （⌒▽⌒）