Now that that's out of the way...
let's talk about lavender! I kind of love lavender. I bought a lavender extract a couple weeks ago and I've made a couple lavender baked goods.
Last weekend, my mom and I went outlet shopping, and, disappointed at a lack of clothing purchases, we decided to splurge at Williams-Sonoma instead. Let's face it, you can't put a baker in front of a shelf full of spices labelled 50% off and expect her not to buy any. Among other things, I got whole vanilla beans, orange peel, galangal, pear & port butter, and a brûlée torch. I also got the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook, so expect to see recipes from that.
And my recent obsession, lavender.
Pretty, right? And the container is so nice too. Look at that pretty font. *-*
Anyway since it says French right on the container, and nothing is more French than macarons, I decided to make some macarons.
For the uninitated, macarons are delicious little chewy meringue nut cookies from France that are typically filled with something else delicious, like jam or ganache or buttercream, and smooshed together to make cute little cookie sandwiches.
I couldn't find a recipe that did it for me, though. Also, I was down to a measly 85 grams of powdered sugar, so the recipe had to be small, but I wanted to use all of it.
This is one of my favorite macaron recipes, and it's a very small recipe, so I started with that.
Then I found this recipe by googling 85 grams macaron recipe. And being the brilliant person I am, I saw that the recipe called for 150 grams of powdered sugar, and I said "Oh, perfect, I'll half it, because 85 is half of 150!"
Yeah, I swear I can do math most of the time.
It worked anyway, so take that, finicky macarons!
Also I just sort of eyeballed an egg white and a half. I lack that baker's instinct for precision, but everything usually works out, so I never learn.
I do use a food scale for macarons, though. There's a lot of tricks that go around the internet for macaron making, including such ludicrousness as the idea that you can't make them when it's raining because the humidity will deflate them. Patently false.
What is important, though, is using a food scale, getting your meringue nice and stiff, folding the flour mixture only until it's just mixed, rapping the baking pan on the counter to remove any air bubbles, and using two pans so the shells don't get too hot and crack.
Do that and your macarons will turn out perfectly, and you can impress your friends and neighbors.
For the filling I made a salted honey, and then added blueberry port because I'm not happy when I'm not putting alcohol in my food. Super delicious, even if it does look like cough syrup.
(Holding the spoon in one hand and the camera in the other was an exercise in wrist cramps)
The finished product was a lovely shade of light purple.
Very extra delicious. Sweet and floral, and blueberry goes so well with lavender. I might use some of the leftover port in a buttercream for a lavender cupcake? Lavender. Laaaveeendddeeerrrrrr.
Lavender Macarons (makes 20 shells, or 10 filled cookies)
adapted from fancyfoodfancy and two spoons
43 grams almond flour (I use storebought, but you can grind your own)
85 grams powdered sugar
1 tablespoon dried lavender flowers, ground in a spice or coffee grinder
1 1/2 egg whites (just eyeball it)
2 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
drop of lavender extract (optional)
red and blue food coloring (optional)
1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. stack two baking sheets on top of one another and line with parchment paper or silpat.
2. In a bowl, whisk together almond flour, powdered sugar, and lavender powder until well-combined (You can sift or use a food processor if you want, but I'm lazy).
3. Beat egg whites on medium-high in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until they just hold soft peaks.
4. Sprinkle in granulated sugar and continue beating on high until very stiff peaks form. At this point, if you bang the whisk, the clump of meringue in there should fall right out. If it doesn't, you need to beat it more.
5. If you're going to add food coloring and/or lavender extract for extra lavenderiness, now's the time. Throw it in the meringue as it whips.
6. Stop whipping the meringue before it crumbles and separates. That's bad.
7. Grab your flour mixture and pour half of it on top of the meringue. Fold gently with a spatula, incorporating thoroughly without overmixing. Add the second half and continue to fold until everything is together and the batter is the consistency of a thick cake batter, like slow-moving lava.
8. Get a piping bag, fit it with a small round tip, and pipe circles on your baking sheet. I like the circles to be about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.
9. Bake for 20 minutes or so, until they feel nice and firm. Rotate the pan halfway through the baking process.
10. Remove from oven and let cool before gently pulling off sheet. (Trust me, if you don't let them cool, you'll regret it. The centers fall right out).
11. Fill with blueberry port honey (recipes follows) and sprinkle in some lavender blended with salt, if desired.
Blueberry Port Honey
This was an extremely imprecise creation of mine.
About 1/2 cup honey
About 4 tablespoons blueberry port
big pinch of sea salt (I used a lot, but I also used a mild pink sea salt. this is really all to taste)
1. Pour honey into a saucepan (you don't even have to measure if you want, just give it a good drizzle until it looks good). Simmer until liquidy.
2. Dissolve in sea salt.
3. Add blueberry port, bring to a boil, and turn down and let reduce a bit.
4. Cool in refrigerator. When viscous, use to fill macaron shells.
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