Clementine Macarons

Macarons or Macaroons to give them their English name are little meringues made with ground nuts, most usually ground almonds, although one of my favourite versions includes ground pistachios.

Macarons are usually presented sandwiched together in pairs and can be filled with chocolate ganache, buttercream or jam. They can be made in a range of flavours but the traditional flavours are vanilla, raspberry, pistachio and chocolate.

I really love macarons… I mean I really I REALLY LOVE MACARONS! I love their appearance; I love their adaptability and how easy it is to incorporate different flavours but most of all I love the feeling you have when you eat one…a feeling of doing something slightly naughty and of giving in to a self-indulgence that cannot be resisted.

Although very few ingredients are used in the making of macarons, they are notoriously difficult to make and to perfect. I love a culinary challenge and about a year ago I became more than a little obsessive about making macarons. I think I have cracked it and after many failed attempts, I am now able to churn out batch after batch of consistently good macarons. Once you get used to making them and are able to achieve consistent results, you can then really start experimenting with flavours.

The recipe that I give here is for Clementine Macarons. I recently purchased a large crate of clementines and I know quite a few of my recent posts have included recipes using clementines, but let me reassure you, these are delicious. You can of course, use other citrus fruits… but given that it is Christmas, I think that these are very apt.

There is nothing more delightful than seeing the look on someone’s face when you present them with a selection of home-made macarons in a range of beautiful flavours and colours. There is something so decadent and luxurious about them and in case you hadn’t already guessed… I LOVE MACARONS!

Ingredients:

Macaron shells:
90g egg whites
30g caster sugar
200g icing sugar
110g ground almonds

Finely grated zest of 1 clementine

Few drops of orange food colouring (gel colouring)

Clementine buttercream:

100g butter, softened

250g icing sugar

1-2 tsp lemon juice

3-4 tsp clementine juice

3 tsp clementine zest
 

Method:

1. Prepare your baking sheets. Draw about 40 round circles (about 4cms in diameter) on two sheets of non-stick baking parchment and place on two baking trays, ensuring that the side that you drew the circles on is on the side against the baking tray – you should still be able to see the circles through the baking parchment.
2. Put the icing sugar and ground almonds into a food processor and pulse to grind the nuts to a fine powder. Pass this mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl and set aside. Discard any large lumps of nut that are retained in the sieve.
3. Using a hand held electric mix, whisk the egg whites until they have reached the soft peak stage.
4. Add the caster sugar and whisk until the mixture is standing in firm peaks. Stop once you have reached this stage, because over beating will result in macaron shells that are too dry. Add a couple of drops of orange gel colouring and whisk the mixture briefly to incorporate the colouring.
5. Add the nuts and sugar mixture to the meringue along with the clementine zest and fold into the meringue with a spatula, using firm folding strokes. Make sure everything is well incorporated. The meringue will slacken as the nuts are folded in. It will take about 40-50 strokes to achieve the correct consistency. It should be a softly flowing consistence that does not retain any peaks, but will still hold its shape without spreading everywhere.

6. Place the macaron mixture into a disposable piping bag fitted with a ½ cm plain round nozzle and pipe out rounds of the mixture using the pre-drawn circles as guides. Let the piped macarons sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes to dry out their shells a little.

7. Pre-heat the oven to 140C/Fan Oven 120C/Gas Mark 1. Place the macarons in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow cool. Remove the baked macarons from the baking parchment. If you are not filling the macarons immediately they can be stored in an air tight tin until they are required.

8. To fill the macarons, pipe or spoon a teaspoon of buttercream onto the underside of one macaron and sandwich together with another macaron.

To make the clementine buttercream:

9. Using a hand-held electric mixer cream the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Add the clementine and lemon juices along with the clementine zest and beta again to fully incorporate. Use to sandwich the macarons together in pairs.
 

Makes 20-24 macarons (sandwiched together).

Sauternes Crème Caramel with Sauternes soaked Raisins

This is an incredibly simple dessert to make and one that would be perfect to serve when you want to prepare something in advance but that still looks stunning and tastes delicious when served.

Whilst Crème Caramel can be served in one dish and then portioned out when served, it can also be made in individual moulds or ramekins in single serving sized portions. I have always favoured the latter as it easier to control the cooking of the custard. When serving in a larger dish, the outside may cook before the inside and scramble slightly whilst the centre remains liquid. In this recipe, sugar syrup is cooked the caramel stage and then poured into ramekins before being topped with a custard mixture. The custards can be steamed or baked in a water-bath or bain-marie in the oven. When baked, the custards are allowed to cool and are then chilled before being turned out so that the caramel sauce covered bottom is now on top.

A classic French recipe, it is one that uses few ingredients to produce something that is rich tasting yet light to eat. Crème Caramel does need to be served chilled but as alluded to earlier, it is a dish that you can make in advance and turn out of its mould(s) just before serving where the caramel will pool invitingly around the gently baked custard.

I love the simplicity of this dessert…it is just so tasty. You can serve it with some fresh berries or soft fruits, when in season, on the side if you wish, but to be honest, I like it served more or less as it is. Why over complicate something just for the sake of it?

However, I have adapted the traditional recipe for Crème Caramel by adding a splash of Sauternes wine to the basic custard. I love dessert wines and in particular Sauternes. I think that the almost syrupy nature of Sauternes compliments the slight bitterness of the caramel beautifully and creates a dish which has a really Christmassy feel to it. I decided to serve the custards with a few Sauternes soaked raisins, which I think add a fruity richness which is also very appropriate for this time of year. Sauternes wines, like many quality dessert wines can be shockingly expensive and I certainly wouldn’t advocate buying one specially to make this dessert, but I have to say that it really does add something special to this dish. I think a Muscat de Beaumes de Venise could also be delicious. When I get the chance I will try it out and possibly serve with some seasonal clementines.

      

Ingredients:

Caramel:
75g caster sugar

1 tblsp water

Custard:

150ml double cream

50ml Sauternes

25g caster sugar

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

Soaked raisins:

Small handful of raisins

25ml Sauternes
 

Method:

1. Put the double cream and Sauternes into a small pan and heat over a moderate heat until just below boiling point. Take off the heat and set aside for about half an hour.
Make the caramel:

2. Put 75g caster sugar and water in a small pan over a low heat. When the sugar has dissolved, turn up the heat slightly and cook, but don’t stir, until you have just reached a dark caramel stage (a roasted hazelnut type colour). Pour the mixture into the bases of two 150ml capacity ramekins and set aside.

3. Preheat the oven to 150C/Fan Oven 130C/Gas Mark 2.

Custard:

4. Put 25g caster sugar and the egg and yolk into a bowl and mix together with a hand-held electric mixer until light and pale in colour (about two minutes). Pour the infused cream onto the egg yolks and beat again at a low speed until fully incorporated. Pour the custard evenly over the caramel in the ramekins.

5. Place the ramekins into a small roasting tin and pour in enough hot water to come half way up the side of the outside of the ramekins. Bake in the oven for approximately 25 minutes until the custard are just set, but have a slight wobble in the centre. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. When cool, cover each ramekin with a little cling film and refrigerate for at least two hours, but overnight is preferable.

Soaked Raisins:

6. Put the raisins and Sauternes in a small saucepan and heat until just below boiling point. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

To serve:

7. Run a sharp knife around the rim of each of the custards. Turn out onto serving dish and place a few soaked raisin around the base of each pudding.

 

Serves 2.

Coffee Shortbread with White Chocolate & Hazelnuts

The great thing about cooking and baking is that once you know the basics and are familiar with them; they can be adapted incorporating other ingredients to create new recipes. Granted, the confidence to do this comes with practice and familiarity with the various techniques involved, but once you take the leap and start putting your own stamp on the dishes you create, a whole new world of possibilities opens up.

When I first started cooking, I lacked the confidence to do this and, understandably because of my inexperience, I followed recipes religiously and would not consider attempting to cook anything unless I was able to get the EXACT ingredients specified.

I have always loved reading food magazines and cookbooks. I will often compare similar recipes by different chefs/writers to see how they have tweaked recipes and find that this is a great way to learn how recipes can be adapted.

Ultimately, I have always loved food and was never a fussy eater; I have always been eager to try anything new or unusual and I am in no way squeamish about what I eat. This definitely helps when you are trying to create new and interesting flavour combinations.

To illustrate this point, I am posting this recipe for Coffee Shortbread with White Chocolate & Hazelnuts. This is essentially the basic shortbread recipe that I use all the time with the added addition of some espresso powder. I also decided to dip the finished biscuits in white chocolate and sprinkle some chopped roasted hazelnuts on the chocolate before it hardened.

I used coffee this time, but different herbs such as lavender, thyme or basil could be added. You could also experiment by adding ground spices, citrus zests or a handful of dried fruit. Just use the basic recipe and include other ingredients.

I do not want to suggest that all my recipe “experiments” are successful. They aren’t, but most of them are tasty if sometimes a little unusual. You can’t really go wrong if you rely on the flavours that personally appeal to you.

 

Ingredients:

300g plain flour
200g butter, softened
100g caster sugar

2 heaped teaspoons of finely ground instant espresso powder

50g white chocolate

25g hazelnuts, skinned, roasted and roughly chopped
 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/Fan Oven 150C/Gas Mark 3. Line two baking trays with non-stick parchment and set aside.
2. Place the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and using a hand-held mixer, beat together until light and fluffy and pale in colour.
3. Sieve the flour and espresso powder together and work into the creamed butter and sugar mixture with a wooden spoon to form a dough. Turn out the dough onto a very lightly floured surface and form into a ball shape.

4. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough until about 1cm thick and using a petal cookie cutter (roughly 6cms in diameter) stamp out biscuits from the dough, leaving space between each biscuit. Place on the lined baking sheets and then refrigerate for about 15 minutes to allow the dough to firm up a little.

5. Bake in the pre-heated oven for approximate 15-17 minutes until the shortbread is cooked through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about ten minutes on the baking trays before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

To finish:

6. Melt the chocolate in a small bowl. Dip half of each biscuit into the white chocolate and then place on non-stick baking parchment. Sprinkle a few roasted chopped nuts onto he chocolate before it hardens. Repeat this for the remainder of the biscuits. Once the chocolate hardens, the biscuits are ready to serve.

Makes 18-20 biscuits.

 

Pavlova with Clementines in a Cointreau Syrup

Inspired by my previous post, where I used clementines with chocolate in a marble cake, I decided to explore other ways to use this delicious fruit. If I’m being honest, I purchased a very large crate of clementines, because they were so inexpensive as they are in season. This is one of the great benefits of buying in bulk and also in season…the unit costs are so much lower!

Anyway, I now have a mountain of clementines that I will be using to experiment with in various recipes over the next couple of weeks. But, in truth, I’m not going to apologise for the amount of recipes to appear in the near future which will include clementines, because this is what canny cooks do – they buy what’s abundant and good value at different times of the year and find creative ways to use the produce.

I have decided to keep it simple here and I am giving a recipe for a pavlova. Pavolvas are essentially just meringues but they also include generous amounts of lightly whipped clouds of cream and are usually served with whatever fruits that are in season.  Nuts and chocolate can also be added but as I have already announced, I have kept it simple with this recipe and used clementines alone. To enhance the clementines and accentuate their orangey, citrus flavour, I soaked them in advance in sugar syrup laced with Cointreau – an orange flavoured liqueur.

What I aim to show here is that with minimal skills in the use of a piping bag, the most gorgeous and delicious dessert can be created.

      

Ingredients:

For the Cointreau soaked clementines:
5 clementines, peeled, white pith removed and segmented
100ml water

100g caster sugar

2 tablespoons of Cointreau

For the pavlova discs:

175g caster sugar

3 large egg whites

For the meringue kisses:

225g caster sugar

4 large egg whites

To finish:
500ml single cream, lightly whipped
 

Method:

To make the Cointreau soaked clementines:
1. Put the water and caster sugar into a small pan and heat until boiling. Let bubble away for about three minutes without colouring until you have a clear syrupy mixture. Remove from the heat and allow cool for three or four minutes. Add the Cointreau and stir through gently. Add the segmented clementines and set aside to cool. Once cool, cover with cling film and refrigerate until required.
For the pavlova discs:

2. Preheat the oven to 140C/Fan Oven 120C/Gas Mark 1. Mark out three 18cm circles on three pieces of non-stick baking parchment and place each piece of baking parchment on a baking tray.

3. Place the egg whites in a spotlessly clean bowl and whisk them until they are standing in soft peaks in the bowl. Gradually add the caster sugar and whisk well between each addition to ensure that the sugar is fully incorporated.

4. Divide the mixture evenly between the tree circles and using the back of a metal spoon, spread out to form three discs, using the pre-drawn circles as a guide.

5. Bake for 90 minutes until the meringues are crisp and dry. Turn off the oven and allow the pavlova discs to cool, with the oven door slightly ajar for about an hour.

To make the meringue kisses:

6. Pre-heat the oven to 140C/Fan Oven 120C/Gas Mark 1. Line three baking trays with fresh non-stick baking parchment.

7. Following the method given above, place the egg whites in a bowl and when you have reached the soft peak stage, gradually incorporate the caster sugar.

8. Once the meringue is made, spoon it into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and pipe out approximately 60 meringue kisses about 4cm in diameter.

9. Place into the preheated oven and bake for an hour. Again, turn off the oven, leaving the door slightly ajar and allow to cool for about an hour.

To assemble:

10. Whip the cream lightly until it is standing in softly billowing peaks which just hold their shape. Place one of the pavlova discs on your serving plate and top with a layer of cream about 1cm deep.
11. Scatter over a third of the Cointreau soaked clementines. Place the second pavlova disc on top and as before top with a layer of cream and one third of the clementines. Top with the remaining disc.

12. Cover the side of the pavlova with the remaining cream and then gently press the meringue kisses into the cream so that the peak of each is pointing out. Top the pavlova with the remaining clementines.
 

Serves 8-10.

Chocolate & Clementine Marble Ring Cake

Whilst rich fruit cakes are hugely popular at Christmas, they are not to everyone’s taste. I love Christmas cakes laden with fruit, but I also think that it’s nice to serve an alternative. Children in particular, can find traditional fruit cakes too rich and given that you can never go wrong with chocolate, I quickly decided that I wanted to create something that had chocolate in it. Each year I bake a Chocolate Yule Log, but for this cake I was keen to include a fruity element.  I also did not want to ice the cake with buttercream or glacé icing… I actually wanted quite a simple cake which was all about the flavours used.
 

Chocolate and orange are two flavours that go so well together, but I decided that I would use clementines along with the chocolate because they are a fruit that is closely associated with Christmas!

Clementines are a variety of mandarin orange, so called because they were first discovered by Father Clément Rodier in the garden of the orphanage that he ran in Misserghin, Algeria. Clementines have many desirable characteristics, not least of which is that they are seedless. They are also easy to peel and have citrusy sweetness that still retains a zingy freshness on the palate.

Rather than flavour the chocolate element of my cake with the clementines, I opted to keep the flavours separate and decided to make a marble cake where the chocolate and clementine flavours mingled but also remained distinct from each other.

 

I was determined to create something that was also very Christmassy looking and taking my inspiration from Christmas wreaths which adorn many a door during the festive season, I chose to bake my marble cake in a ring tin and decorated it with drizzled chocolate to emulate woody twigs.

 

I am very pleased with the effect that I achieved and think that it does look very Christmassy.  It was a very easy cake to make and the chocolate and clementine flavours went so well together.

     

Ingredients:

225g butter, softened
225g caster sugar
275g self raising flour1tsp baking powder4 large eggs, lightly beaten2 tblsp milk
25g cocoa powder
2 tblsp boiling water
Grated zest and juice of 2 clementines
To finish:

125g melted dark chocolate
 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan Oven 160C/ Gas Mark 5. Grease a 25cm ring cake tin generously with butter and then dust the buttered surface with a couple of tablespoons of flour, shaking out any excess. Set aside until required.
2. Mix the cocoa powder and boiling water together, in a small bowl.
3. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy using a hand held electric mixer. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition. Sieve the flour and baking powder together and add to the creamed mixture gradually, add the milk once approximately half of the flour has been mixed in. once all the flour has been added, mix for a further minute.
4. Divide the mixture evenly between two bowls.

5. To one bowl add the Clementine zest and juice and mix well with a spoon to incorporate.

6. Add the cocoa powder mixture to the other bowl, again mixing well to incorporate.

7. Alternating between the two, spoon blobs of the chocolate and clementine flavoured mixtures into the tin and gently level the surface.

8. Place in the pre-heated oven to bake for approximately 35-40 minutes until the cake is well risen and springy to the touch.

9. Remove from the oven, allow to cool slightly for ten minutes, then turn out of the tin and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

To finish:

10. Melt the dark chocolate in a small bowl over a pan of water. Spoon the mixture into a small disposable piping bag. Snip off the end of the bag and drizzle the chocolate over the cake.

11. Allow the chocolate to harden. The cake can also e decorated with chocolate holly leaves or as I have done by placing a few clean pine cones in the centre of the cake.
 

Serves 8-10.