Monthly Archives: October 2009
Daring Bakers: Macarons
| October 27, 2009 | Filled under Daring Kitchen, Desserts, French, Special Occasions, Weekend Meals |
The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s TheLast Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.
Macarons. A word that will simultaneously put joy and fear into the heart of any home baker. I was excited to hear that this month’s Daring Baker’s challenge – I’ve made them before, but lost the pictures before I had a chance to post them. I’ve been looking for another excuse to make them. I chose to make chocolate cookie with a salted caramel filling.
In the US, people often confuse French Macarons with macaroons – a cookie made primarily of coconut. Although macaroons are also delicious, they don’t even begin to compare to the beauty that is a macaron. Macarons are a sandwich cookie made of almond flour that is combines with sugar and egg white. The texture is a combination of crispy and chewy, with a crispy outer shells that gives way to a soft meringue center. The cookies are sandwich together, often with ganache, caramel, or fruit preserves.[....]
Southwest Stuffed Acorn Squash
| October 25, 2009 | Filled under Beef, Lamb, and Pork, Fall, Mexican and Southwestern, Reviews, Winter |
I love acorn squash, but I usually only ever have it one way – baked with butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup. I’ve been eating it that was ever since I was a kid and its delicious. Like candy. But I don’t really think my dinner should taste like candy, which is why I decided to switch it up this time and take a more savory approach to the squash. Erika from Itzy’s Kitchen inspired me to try stuffing the squash – she’s been making some beautiful stuffed squashed lately that are packed with vegetables and look wonderful. Like the pumpkin gnocchi with mushrooms and chestnuts that I posted the other day, this dish went through a few incarnations before I settled on the final version: a southwestern styles acorn squash stuffed with black beans and chorizo and toped with melted cheese. [....]
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