Macaron of The Month: Fruity Pebbles

I must start off this post with an apology as I totally flaked out on last month’s macaron of the month.  It was a crazy month for my side business, Duchess Delights.  I will make up for it, pinky promise. 

Fruity Pebbles cereal is Christian’s favorite so why not incorporate it into a macaron?  While searching around the internets I came across this recipe.  They basically tasted like Fruity Pebble meringues.  I sandwiched them between my classic vanillabuttercream.  They were super sweet almost a little too sweet.  Whatever you do, do not give these to small children.  I can almost guarantee they will be climbing the walls after just one.  

 

Macaron of The Month: Strawberries & Cream

As mentioned last month, I began a new feature called, "Macaron of The Month".  This month's flavor is Strawberries & Cream.  So, I've gotten better, but there is still more work to be done.  Here are some things I learned this time around:

- Use almond flour NOT almond meal.  I used almond meal and although they tasted great you could see flecks of the almond skin throughout the macarons

-325 degrees is WAY too hot for these babies.  I tried baking them at 300 and I think that is the perfect temp.  Next time I'll leave them in for longer than 10 minutes.  My feet got stuck to the parchment/silicone mat.

The filling consisted of a vanilla buttercream and diced fresh strawberries.

All in all they tasted great.  Practice makes perfect.  Until next month, my friends!

Life Lately

 {Josiah on his 2nd Birthday}

Sometimes all you need is a nice gloomy Saturday.  At least that's how I felt this past weekend.  I really did nothing imparticular.  Ran some errands, prepped some cake pop orders, gave macaron making another go, among other things.  Here are a few shots from the past two weeks...

 {Mickey cake pop favors I made for the party}

 {had my first professional manicure in over 7 months.  I think my cuticles scared the manicurist}

 {indulged in a few (I use the word few very lightly) of my bro-in-law's mom's AMAZING homemade rainbow cookies}

{celebrated National Margarita Day with some homemade passion fruit margies}

{macaron making round two}

 

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Macaron of The Month: Tiramisu

I decided to finally give macaron making a try.  I have been kind of intimidated by all the stories of how hard and time consuming they are to make.  This weekend I bit the bullet and went for it. 

For those of you that are not familiar with the macaron they are a meringue based cookie (not really a cookie, but I have no other way to describe them) made with ground almonds and filled usually with buttercream, ganache, or even jam. 

Um, so yeah, these where kind of temperamental and time consuming.  They most certainly did not resemble the perfect macarons found at Ladurée.  Those are just out of this world delicious and beautiful (and cost a small fortune, BTW).  Mine came out looking more like tiny whoopie pies with cracks in some of them.  These tiramisu macarons were delicious, though.  Delicate outside shell with a tender inside infused with espresso flavor and filled with a mascarpone cream.  My husband and I may or may not have eaten the whole batch for dinner.  Maybe.  Don't judge us.

I definitely learned not to try and be cute by grounding my own almonds.  Next batch I will be buying almond flour.  Anyway, I decided that I will not claim defeat!  Instead I will make one new flavor each month for the next 12 months.  My hope is that I will get better with time and they will start to resemble those fancy, shmancy macarons at Ladurée (at least a little, a girl can dream can't she?).  Let's see how this goes...

 

Scenes From Memorial Day Weekend

{picked some roses from our backyard to bring a little life into our apt}

 I had a great Memorial Day weekend - spent time in our backyard, went bike riding with my sister in Central Park, enjoyed some yummy food and drinks, had a picnic with Chris, and just relaxed. Wished it could have lasted a little longer, but luckily this work week will be a short one.

 {view from The Oak Bridge at Central Park}

 {Jill and I enjoyed some macarons after our bike ride}

 {Sunday morning breakfast}

 {a mason jar was perfect for transporting the white sangria for our picnic}

 {our picnic at Eagle Rock Reservation}

{made some refreshing mojitos to beat the heat}

{a sweet end to an awesome weekend}

Sweets For Your Sweet

{Coffret Saint Valentin by Maison Laduree - attention husband- this is a PERFECT gift}

Guys and gals let's think a little outside the box (literally and figuratively) this Valentine's Day when it comes to sweets.  Instead of a heart shaped box of nasty chocolates - I don't mean to offend, but I always end up taking a bite out of one putting it back because it's gross then trying my luck on another piece, it doesn't usually work out.  Anyway, these are some treats that are sure to be appreciated and enjoyed...

{Veuve Clicquot Clicq'Up Rose}

{Conversation Heart Petits Fours}

{Cacao Prieto Chocolate Bar}

{Red Velvet Whoopie pies}

{Sweet & Seductive Cookie Gift Set by Cookie Panache}

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