Tiffany Macarons

September 18: Tiffany & Co. founded in 1837

Islander was gifted with a gorgeous Tiffany & Co. sterling silver heart keychain when she volunteered to design a take-out menu for some friends who were opening a Thai café in California. Although she appreciated their generous gesture, she seemed more fascinated with the bag and the box than with the costly content! So she made macarons matching the famous color of Tiffany blue and Highlander photographed the luxurious cookies as if they were part of the pricey package. The decadent white chocolate-cream cheese filling is just as fancy. These Tiffany & Co.-inspired macarons are perfect indulgences on the day the company was founded in 1837.

Recipe

(Adapted from Mélanger)

For the macarons (Italian meringue method)

• 1 cup almond flour/meal
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3 egg whites (fresh, unpasteurized and aged overnight at room temperature)
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup water
• blue and green food coloring (we used a combination of Wilton brand’s Sky Blue and Leaf Green concentrated gel icing colors)

Directions

Sift the almond flour/meal with the powdered sugar. Grind in a food processor in batches to remove any lumps. Whip the egg whites until peaks form. Make a simple syrup to stabilize the egg whites by boiling the sugar and water together until it reaches a temperature of 245 degrees F on a candy thermometer (or until it reaches a soft ball stage). Pour into the egg whites and whip again until stiff and glossy. Stir in the almond flour/meal-sugar mix until the consistency “flows like magma.”

Tint with Sky Blue and Leaf Green food coloring until the macaronage closely matches the Tiffany blue hue. Make the shade slightly darker as the macarons will bake a lighter color. Fill a pastry bag with a large round tip. Pipe one-inch discs on a parchment paper on top of an insulated baking sheet. Let the discs air dry to develop a thin skin for at least 30 minutes.

Bake in a preheated oven at 300 degrees F for about 15 minutes. Watch the “feet” develop, but be careful not to brown or burn the macarons. Remove from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes. Peel off the macarons from the parchment paper. Sort by size and match pairs.  Make the filling.

For the filling

• 2 1-ounce squares of white chocolate (we used Baker’s brand)
• ½ block (4 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1 – 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
• pinch of salt

Directions

In a microwave safe bowl, melt the white chocolate. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the melted chocolate with the cream cheese until smooth.  Gradually add the powdered sugar and a pinch of salt until thickened into a frosting consistency. Refrigerate for a few minutes to harden, if necessary. Fill a piping bag with a large round tip. Pipe in the filling and sandwich the macarons together. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to let the filling set. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Notes

• Thanks to JW for the Tiffany & Co. gift and for inspiring this macaron project.
• Thanks to Lisa L. for sending us the ground almonds from Europe for this recipe.
• After several experiments, we concluded that the above recipe adaptation gave us more “maca-rights” than “maca-wrongs!” See our blog recipe post for details on how we finally found our own method of making traditional macarons for Macaron Day on March 20.

St. Ninian’s Gingery Muffins

September 16: Feast Day of St. Ninian

Our blog would feel incomplete without a recipe associated with a saint representing Highlander’s heritage. St. Ninian of Whithorn, Scotland’s first saint, was an eighth century missionary who envangelized to the Picts in the lowlands of the country. Even in the northeast peninsula of Scotland, a small island is named after him where he is the patron of Shetland. St. Ninian, who may be known as St. Ringan or St. Trynnian along Scotland’s southern border, is also venerated in various parts of the country and in New Scotland (Nova Scotia in Canada). To celebrate his feast day in Scottish style, we made St. Ninian’s gingery muffins that go great with Scottish breakfast tea. Aye!

Recipe

(Adapted from Cooking with the Saints by Ernst Schuegraf)

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cup flour (not self-rising)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon cardamom
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ cup boiling water
• 4 tablespoons butter
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup molasses
• 1 egg

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. In another smaller bowl, mix the boiling water with the butter, sugar and molasses. Stir the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients. Beat in the egg until the batter is smooth.

Scoop the batter evenly into a greased muffin tin. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer the muffins to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. Yield: A dozen.

Wienerschnitzel

September 9: National Wienerschnitzel Day

We had met our guest chef, Lisa L., a German-American friend currently residing in Germany, while living in Oklahoma, where there are several country-style cafes serving hearty down-home cooking. When we visited each other, she made wienerschnitzel and Islander compared it to country fried steak (also known as chicken fried steak). However, Lisa used pork instead of veal/beef or chicken for this traditional Austrian-German comfort food. Many other cultures have their versions of fried, breaded meat cutlets (milanesa or tonkatsu) with sauces and gravies. We chronicled Lisa as she made wienerschnitzel so that we could post an authentic recipe on our blog for National Wienerschnitzel Day.

Recipe

(From Lisa L.)

Ingredients

• 4-6 pork or veal cutlets
• ½ cup flour (optional:  season with salt and pepper to taste)
• 1-2 eggs, beaten
• ½ cup breadcrumbs (she used a German brand)
• oil for frying

Directions

Use a meat mallet to pound the cutlets to a quarter-inch thin between sheets of plastic wrap.  Dip each in flour, then in the beaten eggs and finally in the breadcrumbs, shaking off any excess.

Fry in hot oil until both sides turn golden brown and the meat is cooked through. Drain on paper towels. Garnish with twisted lemon slices.

Notes

• Serve wienerschnitzel with kartoffelsalat (German potato salad). See guest chef Lisa L.’s adapted recipe on August 16 (National Potato Day).