Hit hard by the Macaron bug
Posted by aaronjen | Filed under Recipes
So I realize it’s been a while since I’ve contributed to our blog – that comes with the craziness of a semester of study – and so this post seems way overdue! But hey, I don’t get marked 10% off a week for not posting here…
My mom came to visit us from the US in late August/early September and since her birthday was a week after she left us, I thought I’d take her out for high tea at the Tea House at Macquarie Centre and to the movies to see My Sister’s Keeper. We had a great time and it was during our high tea at the Tea House that I tried my first ever French macaron! Instantly hooked! Two varieties - Strawberry and Pistachio - simply AMAZING! But at $2 each, I thought I could quickly send us bankrupt, so what else could I do but work out how to make them at home. And wouldn’t you know that macarons are everywhere in cyberspace! Prophecies that they’ll be the new cupcake - and I couldn’t agree more!
My first attempt was a Chocolate macaron and when it didn’t turn out very well, I suddenly recalled that French macarons were one of the tougher components of a Pressure Test on MasterChef Australia – and felt both scared, and slightly relieved – you see, mine didn’t look the best, but they didn’t look as bad as the bad ones on MasterChef either. Then I found Kitchen Musings, and was also reassured that chocolate macarons are a bit harder to master – another boost of confidence!
So we tried again – and by we I mean WE – Aaron is great at these kinds of things – and tried the basic almond macaron recipe from Kitchen Musings, and what do you know, we got feet! Yet the butter cream let us down – mainly because I was trying so hard to lower the fat content – alas! it cannot be done.
Third time was the charm – the Almond Macaron from Kitchen Musings with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Butter Cream from Martha Stewart’s website - oh so good! We’ve tried a few more times, still experimenting with different ingredients, flavourings, and slowly acquiring better equipment, but one of the most interesting results has been our renewed love for food – and with that has come our decision to apply to take part in The Daring Kitchen challenges.
So heads up – food is probably going to become a regular feature of this blog! – JRR
Tags: high tea, Kitchen Musings, macaron, Macquarie Centre, Martha Stewart, MasterChef Australia, My Sister's Keeper, Pressure Test, Tea House, The Daring Kitchen
Creamy Peanut Butter Dip Recipe
Posted by aaronjen | Filed under Recipes
I came across this peanut butter dip recipe on FitSugar a couple weeks ago, and just had to share it because my boys LOVE it! It recommends serving with slices of apples, bananas, and pears, but we’ve also tried it with Ritz crackers/Jatz biscuits and celery sticks. It is super easy to make, low fat, full of protein, and very creamy.
It is also very satisfying for those hard-core peanut butter fans, like our 3 1/2 year old Caleb, who likes to nick jars of peanut butter when we’re not looking and cleans it out in a manner that can only be described as Joey Tribbiani’s ‘peanut butter fingers’ (for those Friends fans out there). Our almost 6 year old Noah loves it so much that last week when he got his school report and we told him we would reward him by letting him decide what we have for dinner one night that week, he replied, “I know what we haven’t had in awhile – peanut butter dip!” (not only not dinner, but also, as I mentioned above, a recipe that I’d only first tried the week before). Team Rose highly recommend this one!!! - JRR
Tags: FitSugar, Friends, Joey Tribbiani, peanut butter dip
