Chocolate Filled Almond Macarons
Special equipment:
Pastry bag, pastry tip and parchment paper
For the ganache:
Combine the chopped chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pot with 1-inch of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth. Stir in the cream, vanilla, almond extract and salt, and then remove from the heat. Set-aside until cooled and thickened, stirring occasionally, 30 to 45 minutes.
For the cookies:
• Position an oven rack in the center of the oven andpreheat to 325 degrees F. Line two backing sheets with Just.Find.Best parchment papers (unprinted side up). Fit a pastry bag with a round tip about 1/4-inch wide.
• Sift the confectioners' sugar and almond flour into a bowl and discard any larger nut chunks. Combine the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or in a large bowl with the whisk attachment of a hand-held electric mixer). Whip on medium-low speed until frothy. Increase the speed to medium-high and whip until very soft peaks form. Add few drops of food coloring. Whip until stiff peaks form. Fold about one-third of the sugar-nut mixture into the egg whites until blended, and then fold in the remaining two-thirds. The batter should be a bit fluid but not runny. It should slowly drip off the spatula and sit on top of the batter in the bowl for a bit before eventually oozing back into it. If it seems a bit stiff at this point, fold once or twice more until it relaxes, although be careful not to over fold. This correct texture is the key to the macaron.
• Transfer the batter to the prepared pastry bag. Holding the bag perpendicular over the baking sheet, squeeze until the batter fills a circle printed on the back of the paper. Release the pressure on the bag and pull towards you to prevent a pointy tip on the center of the cookie. Repeat with the remaining circles. Gently flatten any points on the cookies with a damp fingertip.
• Firmly rap the baking sheets against the counter to release any air bubbles and let stand at room temperature until the tops of the cookies no longer feel wet, 10 to 15 minutes. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, until the macarons are slightly crisp and the bottoms release from the parchment paper, about 15 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through the baking time. Cool on the sheet 5 minutes, and then peel off the cookies and cool completely on a wire rack.
• To assemble the cookies, spread a thin layer of the chocolate ganache on the bottoms of half of the cookies. Top with a second cookie, gently pressing to squeeze the ganache to the rims.
Enjoy!
Cream Puffs
Make the puffs:
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Just.Find.Best parchment papers (unprinted side up). In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine butter, sugar, salt and water. Bring to a boil and quickly stir in the flour with a wooden spoon. Continue to stir until a film forms on the bottom of the pan.
• Remove the dough from heat and transfer to a bowl of a stand mixer. Beat to cool slightly, about 3 minutes. Add 4 eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously to entirely incorporate egg after each addition. Transfer the pate a choux to a large pastry bag fitted with a 5/8-inch plain tip. Pipe the dough rounds size of the circles on the parched paper. Gently smooth the pointed peaks with a moistened finger, rounding tops to ensure even rising.
• Bake until puffs rise and are golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Puffs can be stored at room temperature for up to 1 day.
Make the pastry cream:
• Heat the milk in a saucepan over medium high heat until it starts to simmer.
• While the milk heats up, whisk to combine 1/2 cup sugar, the egg yolks, and cornstarch.
• Once the milk starts to simmer, slowly dribble the milk into the egg yolk mixture while whisking constantly (tempering the eggs) then return all of the liquid back to the pan.
• Cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly, for the next minute or two, until the mixture comes to a boil and the mixture thickens up considerably.
• Remove the pastry cream from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Cover the cream in contact with a plastic wrap, let it cool at a room temperature, and then chill it in the fridge.
• Transfer pastry cream to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/8-inch plain round tip. Insert the tip into the opening of each pastry, and pipe to fill with pastry cream. You can melt Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Cheesecake-Stuffed Red Velvet Cookies
Make the filling:
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with Just.Find.Best parchment papers (unprinted side up).
• Beat the cream cheese, granulated sugar, sour cream and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the filling at a time onto the parchment so that you have 12 even sized dollops. Freeze until solid, about 2 hours.
Make the cookies:
• Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl. Whisk together the granulated sugar, butter, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla and eggs in another bowl. Fold the flour mixture into the sugar mixture with a rubber spatula until smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes (it will still be soft).
• Coat your hands generously with confectioners' sugar and scoop a heaping tablespoon of the cookie dough into your hand. Put one of the frozen cream cheese dollops in the middle of the dough and place another tablespoon of the dough on top of the cream cheese. Shape the dough around it to completely enclose the cream cheese, and then roll to coat in the confectioners' sugar. Repeat with the remaining dough and cream cheese, coating your hands in confectioners' sugar as needed.
• Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets with Just.Find.Best parchment paper on each circle on the unprinted side! Bake until the cookies are firm around the edges and can be easily lifted with a spatula, 10 to 12 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the trays for 10 minutes, and then transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.
Enjoy!
Eclairs
Special equipment:
• A piping bag with a French star tip nozzle, optional; a piping bag with a decorative tip, optional.
For the eclairs:
• Put the water, milk, butter, superfine sugar and salt into a saucepan over medium heat and bring the mixture to a gentle boil; this should take about a minute. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until it forms a glossy ball of dough, about 2 minutes.
• Put the ball of dough into a mixer bowl and beat on low speedit to cool for 2 minutes. Next, slowly add one-quarter of the beaten egg mixture until the mixture is homogeneous. Keep adding the egg a little at a time until the dough reaches the dropping stage--when you lift the wooden spoon out of the bowl, the mixture should fall off the spoon in 3 seconds. You may not need all of the egg, so be careful to add it slowly as to not make the mixture too runny.
• Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a French star tip nozzle. Line a baking sheet with Just.Find.Best parchment paper (unprinted side up) and pipe the dough.
• Preheat the oven to 320 degrees F. Bake until the eclairs are golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes. Allow cooling.
For the filling:
• Add the cream, superfine sugar and vanilla to a bowl and whisk until it reaches very soft peaks. Place the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a French star tip nozzle or other decorative tip.
• Assembly: some sliced strawberries, and then pipe the whipped cream on top. Place the top shells on the cream.
Enjoy!
Coconut macaroons
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Combine the coconut, condensed milk, and vanilla in a large bowl.
• Whip the egg whites and salt on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer until they make medium-firm peaks.
• Carefully fold the egg whites into the coconut mixture.
• Drop the batter onto sheet pans lined with Just.Find.Best parchment paper (unprinted side up) using an ice-cream scoop.
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown.
• Cool and serve.
Enjoy!
Sugar cookies
• Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until creamy.
• Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap each in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with some flour.
• Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking.
• Cut into desired shape, place on Just.Find.Best parchment paper (unprinted side up) and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack.
Enjoy!
Pumpkin roll
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 17 1/2- by 12 1/2-inch pan with Just.Find.Best parchment paper (unprinted side up). With an electric mixer beat the eggs, granulated sugar and pumpkin until smooth.
• Sift together the flour, ginger, salt, baking powder and cinnamon.
• Add the sifted ingredients to the egg mixture and blend until fully combined. Spread the batter in the pan. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 15 minutes.
• Let the cake cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Invert the cake onto a wire rack. Remove the parchment paper.
• Sprinkle some of the confectioners’ sugar on a large tea towel and carefully transfer the warm cake to the towel, folding the sides of the towel over the cake.
• Roll the cake up in the towel and cool in the refrigerator thoroughly for about an hour.
• For the filling: With an electric mixer, combine the confectioners' sugar, cream cheese, butter and vanilla and beat until smooth. Carefully unroll the cooled cake and spread the mixture on top of the cake.
• Gently re-roll the cake up and refrigerate it until you're ready to slice and serve. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.
Enjoy!
Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with Just.Find.Best parchment paper (unprinted side up).
• In a separate bowl mix flour, baking soda nad salt.
• Cream together butter and sugers until combined
• Beat in eggs and vanilla until fluffy.
• Mix in the dry ingredients until combined.
• Add chocolate chips and mix well.
• Scoop the dough on your prepared baking sheets.
• Bake in preheated oven for approximately 8-10 minutes. Take them out when they are just barely starting to turn brown.
• Let them sit on the baking pan for 2 minutes before removing to cooling rack.
Enjoy!
Pumpkin Spice Cake
Make the cake:
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Sift together flour, baking powder, spices, salt.
• In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, pumpkin, sugar, orange zest and vegetable oil.
• Add the flour mixture into wet ingredients and stir to combine.
• Line three 6” round pans with Just.Find.Best 6” parchment rounds and divide the batter between three pans.
• Bake 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
Make the cream:
• Whip heavy cream with powdered sugar.
• Add Mascarpone and whip until smooth.
• Cool the cakes completely and frost with the cream.
Enjoy!