Lemon macarons

I'm not particularly good at facing up to the hard times. But I know I have to quickly come to terms with failure to overcome it.

In my down moments, I am heartened to have people who continued to believe in me and assured me that it will all be okay. And I'm okay. :)

"When life knocks you over, roll over and look at the stars."

Since I've been thrown some lemons, here are some sweet and tart lemon macarons for dessert.

What?
Lemon macaron shells

• 100 g almond flour
• 100 g icing sugar
• 2 egg whites
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Yellow gel colouring (optional)

Lemon buttercream

• 30 g butter
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

How?
Lemon macaron shells

1. Sift the almond flour and icing sugar together and set aside.
2. In a clean mixing bowl, beat the egg whites on medium speed until frothy. Increase the speed to medium high. Gradually add in the sugar and beat until stiff peaks start to form. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Beat for another minute. 
3. Pour the almond flour mixture into the beaten egg whites. Fold the mixture gently until incorporated. If desired, add yellow gel colouring at this point. Continue folding until batter is smooth and falls off the spatula in a thin flat ribbon. Be careful not to over mix it as the batter will get thinner as you fold.
4. Transfer the batter into a pastry bag with a round tip. Pipe out 1-1.5 inch rounds about 1 inch apart onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Tap the baking sheets on the counter top a few times.
5. Let the macarons sit for 30 minutes to 1 hour until the tops are no longer sticky to the touch.
6. Bake the macarons in a preheated oven at 150 degC for 15-20 minutes. The macaroons should have risen slightly to form "feet".
7. Transfer the macarons to a wire rack to cool completely.

Lemon buttercream

1. Beat the butter. Add icing sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract and beat until combined.
2. Transfer the buttercream into a pastry bag and fill the macarons - or just spread it onto the shells and pop it into your mouth!

The avocado

I was grocery-shopping with my mom one day when we came across Haas avocados. We have never bought avocados before and hence did not know how to pick ripen ones - I had to google it. Apparently, the nice firm green ones are not ripe; ripen ones are of a dark-purplish color to an almost black hue - perfect for our avocado milkshake.

Avocados are known to provide health and beauty benefits, from being a naturally nutrient dense fruit to being part of a hair and beauty regimen. They have high vitamin content and each of the vitamins are important in their own ways i.e. for blood clotting, for healthy eyes, skin and hair, as antioxidants, as antibodies. However, those were not the reason I got them. Who needs a reason to have a good milkshake? :D

We had avocados left over which could be made into another jug of milkshake. Or some sweets.

These chocolate macarons with avocado fillings were made from a new silicon mat and piping tips my mom got me as a gift. <3 Thank you, I love it.

Mom and Dad and my trusty taster gave the thumbs up. I like the avocado filling. It's not at all hard to make, just have to replace the milk in the milk shake with icing sugar. Kinda like trial and error actually, but it turned out pretty well anyway. (:

Coffee baileys macarons

I made these for german class on a friday evening.

Coffee shells and baileys buttercream - this is my favorite combination so far.  I have always loved coffee, and the blend of coffee with an alcoholic twist is einfach himmlisch. I have a friend who frequently mixes his coffee with a little liquor. I guess I understand why that can be addictive now.

German friends liked it. Really glad they did. :)

Mom likes this combination too. Or maybe she likes the baileys buttercream. After we tried the macarons we poured ourselves some baileys on the rocks...

Green tea macarons

This is my first attempt at tweaking the basic macaron recipe to incorporate a different taste. This time I didnt deflat the batter enough, giving me a thicker consistency than desired. These aren't as pretty as I hoped they would be, but nevertheless, I love the green tea flavored macarons. Actually I like them more than the chocolate ones. Mom agrees. :)

These green tea flavored macarons are paired with green tea-white chocolate ganache. Somehow it reminds me of my favorite green tea latte. I think it's the only tea I deem drinkable; I'm very much a coffee person. Hmm, I guess maybe I'll attempt coffee flavored macarons next? ;)

Chocolate macarons

To make these macarons, I had to think of ways to make use of the egg yolks. I didn't like the idea of throwing them away - that's wasteful. Egg tarts seem to be a pretty good idea; my mom loves egg tarts. So now I got my whites to make these chocolate macarons.

I love how overwhelmingly sweet macarons are, how the shells are slightly crisp and the insides soft. It's amazing that the extremely sweet shells pair so well with the chocolate ganache. Yep, overwhelming. But good. I made some pink plain shells too. I love pink and I think they are pretty. Makes me happy. :)

I would like to attempt making different flavors of macarons too. Meanwhile I'll think of other ways to use my egg yolks. Or maybe my mom would want egg tarts again... :p