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Kikiandkyle - I would agree with you that macarons seem hard to most people, and unlikely to be tackled by many beginners.
But when thinking about a decorated cookie made by your average Pinterest user, all I can think of is cakewrecks.com. Not everyone can harness the power of a piping bag. :)
Liz
I cannot say YES YES YES YES enough to that statement. Soooo many think.. "that looks easy" ... pffftttttt..... I say "Bring it" and when you do then come talk to me
Here in MA, Macaroons (macarons?) were never very popular, I have not seen them around at all. In fact, most people think they're the cookies with coconut. Donuts, however, are a staple...as Dunkin Donuts is headquartered here and there's one in every town.
I think ice-cream cupcakes are a good next trend to have.
AI also would like to try making petit fours, old fashion I know, but I think they are so pretty.
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Here in MA, Macaroons (macarons?) were never very popular, I have not seen them around at all. In fact, most people think they're the cookies with coconut.
Macaroons are cookies with coconut.
Macarons -(a french dessert) are made with almond flour and meringue, and two shells with a filing of whatever you want inside etc.
Completely different pronunciations, ingredients, origins..and just different all together.
It's almost the same people were confusing a cake with a pie- if both of those were spelled similarly.
That one extra "o" seems to throw people into a state of confusion.
I think you will find that the spellings of macaron/macaroon has become interchangeable. And a good macaron/macaroon should not be dry. It should be crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle and then have a delicious filling to totally round it out as a full time sugar hit.
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I also would like to try making petit fours, old fashion I know, but I think they are so pretty.
Yes, I like these too. There are some good tips on here to help get them all level, sized correctly, and some good dipping techniques to make them go faster. I love them with lemon curd filling, but that makes them a bit slippery for the dipping part. I'm not sure they would be quite as good as just a chunk of cake without a filling layer.
Liz
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Original message sent by costumeczar
Macarons are over, that was a few years ago as far as trendy goes.
Ha ha... Only on the east coast. Here in Utah, most people I meet have never heard of them. The few that have are really excited about them. The trend is just beginning! When I travel to the east coast! I can see what's popular and know it will hit Utah in about 5 years...
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Original message sent by stefkovic
I also would like to try making petit fours, old fashion I know, but I think they are so pretty.
I have made petits fours... It's a lot like making cake pops. Poured fondant is just disgusting, though, and very messy. I make a super thin layer of pound cake (the amount that would usually go in a loaf pan gets spread across a half sheet pan lined with parchment) and bake it, cool or, the spread half with really good raspberry jam. Then you take the cute, tiny cutters and first cut into the un-jellied side, and then into the jellied side, so it forms a sandwich inside the cutter. Push it out onto a rack and repeat until you have lots of teeny cakes. Then, you can dip them (dipping cake pop style works a lot better than pouring) in chocolate (like cake pops) or in poured buttercream (must be butter based American buttercream - recipe below).
2 sticks unsalted butter, soft 2 cups powdered sugar Pinch salt 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1 Tbl cream Food coloring
Beat the butter 3 minutes. Add powdered sugar and salt, and beat on low until incorporated, then on high for 3 minutes. Add vanilla, cream, and food coloring, and beat until we'll combined. Take half and put it in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 15 second intervals on 50% power! stirring between until fluid but still a bit thick - like ganache. Don't overheat or it will separate. Quickly dip your cakes into the buttercream and place them back on the rack to drip and harden. (I use chocolate dipping tools.) As buttercream cools, it will stiffen back up to piping consistency. You can re-melt it as needed.
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Ha ha... Only on the east coast. Here in Utah, most people I meet have never heard of them. The few that have are really excited about them. The trend is just beginning! When I travel to the east coast! I can see what's popular and know it will hit Utah in about 5 years...
That's really sad, because I thought that we won the award for being behind the trends...I think the only reason it burned out in Richmond so fast is that the woman who made them brought them in right when they were hitting in NY though. We're usually about 10-15 years behind everyone else.
I've never heard anyone say poured fondant is disgusting before. Messy yes. Is it just too sweet for you?
AYes, way too sweet! I think it overpowers the tastes of the cake and filling. The poured fondant is all you can taste.
http://www.woodlandbakeryblog.com/petit-fours/, I was going to try hers and see how it goes. I have been researching and I think I like hers the best so far. sarahgale314 I will try your buttercream recipe too. I want to make them for my Christmas gifts this year. So I am going to start practicing.
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http://www.woodlandbakeryblog.com/petit-fours/, I was going to try hers and see how it goes. I have been researching and I think I like hers the best so far. sarahgale314 I will try your buttercream recipe too. I want to make them for my Christmas gifts this year. So I am going to start practicing.
That method is great for covering them quickly. There is also another one that involves dipping with a skewer and then dropping the skewer through an elevated screen/cooling rack, and pulling the skewer out the bottom.
Liz
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I have been asked to make ice-cream cupcakes this week. Here in the UK ice-cream cakes are not popular at all and i have never even seen one let alone made one but the customer asked and since she is a friend i said i will do them i just hope they turn out good!
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Original message sent by stefkovic
[URL=http://www.woodlandbakeryblog.com/petit-fours/]http://www.woodlandbakeryblog.com/petit-fours/,[/URL] I was going to try hers and see how it goes. I have been researching and I think I like hers the best so far. [URL=http://cakecentral.com/u/912464/sarahgale314][B][COLOR=000000]sarahgale314[/COLOR][/B][/URL] I will try your buttercream recipe too. I want to make them for my Christmas gifts this year. So I am going to start practicing.
That video was great! The piping bag method looks really cool. I checked out her poured fondant recipe, and it's different than what I've tried. I used Martha Stuart's and Toba Garret's poured fondant recipes, which require creating a sugar syrup with a candy thermometer, then putting it into the food processor with the thermometer still in it, and when it cools to a certain temperature, you run it in the food processor. Woodland bakery's is a LOT easier... It contains chocolate too, which is interesting. I might try it out on my family on Tuesday - out of town relatives are visiting.
AHere is the blog post with a video that first got me interested in making petits fours. I am in love with the music in it:
http://www.sprinklebakes.com/2011/07/poured-fondant-and-petit-fours.html
AAnd here is my own blog post after making them. I omitted the marzipan layer on mine. I know it's traditional, but American customers aren't used to it!
http://citrusspicebakery.blogspot.com/2013/04/petits-fours.html
Macarons have been very big in Aus for a year or so and are starting to slow down... though even McDonalds and Woolworths sell them.
I have only eaten a few that I have loved and they were all from one little shop in Melbourne (the cupcake family in QV for those playing at home!), and they have fresh berries in them, all others have just not been my cup of tea... though I don't like tea... or macarons for that matter.
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Macarons have been very big in Aus for a year or so and are starting to slow down... though even McDonalds and Woolworths sell them.
I have only eaten a few that I have loved and they were all from one little shop in Melbourne (the cupcake family in QV for those playing at home!), and they have fresh berries in them, all others have just not been my cup of tea... though I don't like tea... or macarons for that matter.
Wow, how crappy are the macarons that McDonalds and Woolworths sell??? Do you mean the fast food giant? All I could think of was little macarons on the fast food assembly line being manhandled by teenagers. That made me laugh out loud. :)
Liz
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Wow, how crappy are the macarons that McDonalds and Woolworths sell??? Do you mean the fast food giant? All I could think of was little macarons on the fast food assembly line being manhandled by teenagers. That made me laugh out loud. :)
Liz
Haha, the McDonalds in Hungary was selling dainty little petit fours and mini chocolate croissants last time I was there a a few years ago. They were opening up 'cafes' inside a lot of them, fancy seating and lighting, starbucks-ish menu. Apparently they weren't too bad, but I refuse to believe they can make proper french pastry, lol.
AThere is a newish show on the Cooking Channel called Donut Showdown. I think it is a Canadian show sponsored by Tim Hortons.
One of our grocery stores has a high end bakery inside. They have been selling macarons for a few years now. The new thing I saw last week was a cookie cup. It was cookie that looks like it was baked in a mini springform pan. About 1.5 inches tall, with an indentation in the center which they filled with frosting. I don't remember the price. I believe that store sells their fancy cookies by the pound.
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There is a newish show on the Cooking Channel called Donut Showdown. I think it is a Canadian show sponsored by Tim Hortons.
One of our grocery stores has a high end bakery inside. They have been selling macarons for a few years now. The new thing I saw last week was a cookie cup. It was cookie that looks like it was baked in a mini springform pan. About 1.5 inches tall, with an indentation in the center which they filled with frosting. I don't remember the price. I believe that store sells their fancy cookies by the pound.
Our Whole Foods has the same type of bakery. Their macarons are OK, but I really wasn't impressed with any of their other mini desserts. Based on the ingredients sticker they attached to the box, they included lots of sleeve fillings and such.
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Haha, the McDonalds in Hungary was selling dainty little petit fours and mini chocolate croissants last time I was there a a few years ago. They were opening up 'cafes' inside a lot of them, fancy seating and lighting, starbucks-ish menu. Apparently they weren't too bad, but I refuse to believe they can make proper french pastry, lol.
Same here. :)
Liz
I caught an episode of Donut Wars (or whatever it's called) on FN a few weeks ago. I figured it was from Cooking Channel since we don't get that, only FN.
I can't see gourmet donuts being a trend other than professional because of the equipment involved.
Macarons were merely a blip in my area, if even that.
Decorated cookies a la Sugarbelle? Unless somebody comes up with a foolproof anyone-can-do-it method of replicating the intricacy, I can't see them being a trend.
I don't know what else, TBH...
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