Week One...Coconut-Marzipan Macaroons!

I'm in Palm Desert, taking care of my Dad while my brother (the 'regular' caregiver) is on a very short vacation. Since I didn't bring any recipes with me, I decided to make up an easy Macaroon to share with you all... my Dad loves Macaroons! I didn't bring my camera, so I took a photo with my phone. Sadly, it isn't a Smart Phone, so I can't post directly from there. I've asked Larry to send the photo from his smart phone to my email, and I'll try to post it from there as soon as it arrives. What a lot of convolutions to look at some cookies!

The ingredient list is short and the prep time minimal, so get into the kitchen and whip these up! (You'll understand later why this is such a bad pun. Think eggs.)

Coconut-Marzipan Macaroons

Difficulty Rating = Easy

Tools Required = Med-small bowl, Whisk, Stand Mixer (OR Large Bowl and Wooden Spoon), Scale (or measuring cup if you want to convert measurement), Half-Sheet Pan, Parchment, Cooling Rack

Prep Time = 15 min.

Bake Time = 20 min. depending on “chewiness” desired. Bake longer for more crunch.

Ingredient list

7 oz. Marzipan paste – one roll if you are using the pre-made kind.

8 oz. Sugar

6 oz. AP Flour

5 oz. Unsweetened Coconut

3 Egg Whites – beaten to ‘frothy’

1 Whole Egg

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 375, move rack to center. Cover a half Sheet pan with parchment. Crumble Marzipan into bowl of stand mixer and add the Sugar and Whole egg. Mix (on 2-3) to smooth batter consistency. In a smallish bowl, whisk Egg Whites to Frothy and set aside. Slowly add Flour to stand mixer bowl. Remove bowl from mixer and fold in the Coconut. Fold in the frothy Egg Whites last so you don't lose all the air.

Place large, rounded spoonfuls – use a scoop for consistent size – on cookie sheet. Bake until goldy-brown on the points and the bottom, and very light in the crevasses. About 20 min, depending on oven and your tastes.

Cool on a rack. Store in an airtight container, or freeze up to six months. (Mine never last that long, though!)

New Year, New Start

Welcome to 2012, everyone! After a two year hiatus, I'm back in the kitchen... still without my Culinary School Certificate, but validated or not I'm ready to cook and share what I've made.

This year's cooking focus, should I prove up to it, will be to bake a different sort of cookie each week. Yes, that is 52 different varieties of cookies... and I have no idea what I will do with all of those little morsels of goodness.

I'll bake each Thursday and post each Friday. The posts will have photos of the current batch of cookies, how-to-make-them information, and a review from my "Panel of Test-Eaters". Maybe after the year is up, I'll put them into some sort of hard copy collection for my family. Or not.

The cookie project still needs a name, but it will start on Thursday, January 5th with Almond Macaroons. I'm starting off with these because I will be in Palm Desert taking care of my Dad and giving Larry some well deserved vacation time.

More Cake

As I was leaving to take Nora's Birthday cake to her on last Friday, Contractor Jim (who is becoming a friend as well as buiding our wonderful new shop) said "So where is my cake?"

I decided to surprise him and make him a chocolate cake this week. It takes me a long time to do a cake, but I do a really good job - Henry calls them my "ten dollar cakes". When I was a bit miffed at that description, he explained that he didn't mean $10 for the whole cake, but $10 per SLICE... like a really good 'White Tablecloth Restaurant' desert! I was mollified. This is the cake I made for Jim's family: a very dense chocolate cake with a raspberry/moscarpone and whipped cream/Chambord filling and a chocolate French Buttercream frosting. Nice.

Since I had a bit of cake batter left over, and a 6" cake pan takes about half as much as an 8" pan, I made a small cake for Henry to have for his dessert - so he wouldn't feel left out. The little cake is the same as Jim's, and met with great success (and destruction) last night. Yummy, it was.

Saturday Bread

I haven't made bread for months! I made a Birthday cake for Nora's 50th, and delivered it to her on Friday... Then I came home and needed to bake something else.

Saturday morning I decided on bread, because I am good at bread and making it makes me feel good. I made plain French Bread, it had good crumb and a nice nutty taste. I only have one baguette pan, so I made some rolls for hamburgers, and a plain loaf. I need to give some of these away: they won't keep more than two days... and it has already been three.
Dog treats, maybe?

Berries and Pears... Oh, My!

After picking blackberries for a couple of hours yesterday, I grabbed a 5 gal bucket and went around picking up windfall pears. Jim said there was a bear in the neighborhood, so I didn't want to leave an open invitation to wildlife to drop by and help themselves to goodies! I have four of these buckets now, and all I've managed to do with them is dry some, and make some pear butter. They are super-sweet and juicy... I'm not sharing with bears!

Since Henry has really sensitive teeth, he can't eat Blackberry Jam... I decided to surprise him! I removed the seeds from the Blackberries (with a sieve, almost like making jelly, but I used a large enough mesh to allow most of the pulp through) He was pretty pleased.

Pickles, Anyone?

Hey, look at that!

I made pickles... maybe. They have to sit for three weeks to mellow, then we can see how they really taste. When I tasted the "product" before I put the jars in the canner for processing, they were pretty good. We'll see what they are like when I get back from Palm Desert on the 15th or so. I hope they are good, I love sweet pickles!

Back on the Range...

I've been gone - obviously - for almost a month. Mostly in California, visiting my Dad and letting my brother have a much-needed vacation. It was fun being Dad's "Private Chef" for a while... his tastes are not as eclectic as mine, but he enjoyed having a different hand in the kitchen. Didn't complain too much about having to eat so many desserts, either! Larry doesn't bake much, (though he's an excellent chef) so ice cream and puddings are Dad's favorites. I did some cookies for his ice cream, a gallette, lemon tea cake, and rice pudding with blueberries.

When I got back to the farm, my new "Gelato Pro" was here!!! YYAAY!

I did a White Peach Fro-Yo just now... doesn't it look yummy? I'll do Cherry Ice Cream tomorrow for Henry - that's his favorite, I think - but I don't think he'll have too much trouble putting away the Peach tonight!