Sebastian Michael's cookbook

Caramel macaron, coffee cream e

INGREDIENTS

MACARON SHELLS
150 g almond meal
150 g pure icing sugar
55 g aged egg whites (A) see post
55 g aged egg whites (B)
pinch cream of tartar
150 g caster sugar
38 g water
caramel food colouring I use brown and yellow, to get desired color

SALTED CARAMEL FILLING
250 g caster sugar
75 ml water
120 ml heavy cream
200 g butter cubed
1 teaspoon sea salt flakes to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

MACARON SHELLS
Preheat oven to 150°C/ 130° Fan/ 300°F and place an empty baking tray on the middle rack.
Line baking trays with silpat mats (you'll 4 mats, if you want to pipe the macarons all at once).
Prepare a large disposable piping bag with a #1A piping tip and place the bag inside a tall cup/jug, ready to be filled (see post for tips on using the piping bag).
In a small saucepan, heat the caster sugar and water over medium heat. Give a little stir as you insert the digital thermometer. Once the syrup starts to boil, stop stirring, as this will cause crystals.
In a medium sized bowl, begin whisking the egg whites (A) and cream of tartar once the sugar syrup reaches 110°C. Use a hand held electric mixer on medium speed to form soft peaks, keeping watch of the syrup, as it must not go over 118°.
As soon as the sugar syrup reaches 118°, remove the thermometer and (with the mixer turned to low) pour the syrup into the whisked egg whites in a thin, steady stream. This is the Italian meringue.
Increase speed to medium and continue to whisk until mixture cools to 35°. At this point, you can add desired food colouring (I used a combination of chocolate brown and yellow).
In a separate mixing bowl, combine the tant pour tant (almond meal and icing sugar) with the remaining egg whites (B) with a rubber spatula, to form a thick paste.
Once the Italian meringue has cooled to 35°, scoop some out with the rubber spatula and mix it into the paste to loosen it.
Add the remaining meringue and continue to fold through, scraping the bowl and folding the mixture over, whilst rotating the bowl. Make sure you scrape the bottom, to get all of the paste.
Continue folding, scraping and rotating (macaronner) until the batter is smooth and shiny. Batter should have the consistency of cake batter and not too thin (see post).
Scoop batter into prepared piping bag, then place the bag on the bench and push out air pockets. Twist the end of the bag and secure with a rubber band (I find twisting it is sufficient).
Piping the shells: holding the nozzle end with one hand and the twisted end with the other, hold the bag directly above the marked silpat mat and gently squeeze from the top hand. Release pressure before the batter reaches the inside edge of the circle and give the bag a little twist at the nozzle end, to break the release of batter.
Place a tea towel onto the kitchen bench, then give a gentle whack of the tray, to release air bubbles. Rotate tray and repeat.
Let macarons rest for 15 minutes, to dry a little.
Place tray with the piped shells into oven, directly on top of the tray that's already in there.
Bake at 150°C/ 130° Fan/ 300°F for 5 minutes, then reduce oven to 140°C/ 120° Fan/ 285°F and continue to bake for another 10 minutes. Repeat with remaining trays. (I bake one tray at a time, but you can bake several if using fan forced setting).
After 15 minutes check macaron shells -if they still wiggle, they're not quite ready. Give them another minute.
Once cooked, immediately slide silpat mat off baking tray and onto the bench to cool. Once completely cooled, shells can be gently lifted from mat (see post), put into pairs and filled.

SALTED CARAMEL FILLING
In a medium sized saucepan, heat the sugar and water over medium heat.
With minimal stirring, cook the sugar until it's lightly golden brown.
Carefully add the cream in a steady stream, stirring with a rubber spatula to prevent burning. Be careful, as the mixture bubbles up.
Use a digital thermometer and heat the mixture to 108°C/ 226°F
Remove from heat and add small cubes of the butter, whisking as you go, to ensure a smooth caramel. Stir through the salt flakes.
Pour into a container and chill for about an hour, or until thick enough to pipe.
Scoop into a piping bag fitted with a #1A nozzle and pipe onto half of the macaron shells, sandwiching with the other half.
Refrigerate or freeze in an airtight container.

Eclair Ingredients

For the Dough:

▢ 1/2 cup unsalted butter
▢ 1 cup water
▢ 1 cup flour
▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt
▢ 4 large eggs
For the Vanilla Pastry Cream Filling:

▢ 4 cups whole milk
▢ 1 1/2 cups sugar
▢ 1/2 cup cornstarch
▢ 1 pinch salt
▢ 8 large egg yolks
▢ 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
▢ 1/2 cup unsalted butter , room temperature
For the Chocolate Icing:

▢ 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
▢ 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
▢ 1 cup powdered sugar
▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
▢ 3 tablespoons water

Instructions

For the Dough:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Melt the ½ cup butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
Once the butter is melted, add water and increase to high heat until boiling.
Reduce to low heat and add the salt, then add the flour gradually, stirring rapidly. Continue stirring until the dough begins to form a ball, not sticking to the sides of the pan. Remove from the heat.
Add eggs, one at a time, whisking until completely mixed in after each egg.
On a greased cookie sheet or a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, spoon the dough in 1 inch by 3 inch strips.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Reduce oven heat to 325 degrees and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Lightly tap an eclair on the bottom with a spoon - if it sounds hollow inside, they're done baking; if not, bake for an additional 3-5 minutes.
Allow the eclairs to cool on a wire rack.

For the Vanilla Pastry Cream Filling:

In a medium saucepan, bring the milk to a simmer, stirring regularly to prevent a film from forming.
Is a separate bowl, mix the sugar, cornstarch, and salt, then add the egg yolks and mix until smooth and creamy (this may take a few minutes.)
Gradually mix in the milk while whisking constantly to prevent the egg from solidifying.
Return the filling to the saucepan and bring to a boil for 30 seconds to reduce to a pudding-like consistency.
Stir in 7 tablespoons butter and vanilla until creamy and smooth,
Rub remaining butter over the top of the mixture gently, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cool, 1-2 hours.
Load the filling into a piping bag (in a pinch you can put it in a plastic ziploc bag and just cut off the corner.)
Poke a hole in the bottom of each eclair shell and pipe in the filling.

For the Chocolate Icing:
Melt the butter and chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave, stirring after each 30-second microwave period.
Stir in the powdered sugar and vanilla until well combined.
Add in boiling water, one tablespoon at a time, until icing is smooth.
Dip the top of the eclairs in upside down and let excess amounts drip off.
Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Florentines Ingredients
200 grams flaked almonds, finely chopped
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup craisins, (dried cranberries) chopped
pinch of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon of orange zest
3 tablespoons gluten free plain flour
50 grams butter
2 tablespoons rice malt syrup
100 ml double cream

Coating
100 grams good quality dark chocolate, (70-85%) chopped and melted

Instructions
Preheat fan forced oven to 160 degrees celsius.
Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine.
Place butter, rice malt syrup and double cream in a small saucepan.
Stir until butter has melted and bring to the boil.
Once boiling, pour over dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Leave mixture to sit for a few minutes.
Place heaped teaspoon amounts on baking trays lined with baking paper. You many need to use your hands to help shape each circle.
Flatten each one with your hand or the back of a spoon. I like mine thin, so no more than 1/2-1cm thick is good. Make sure you leave enough room for them to spread a little.
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, or until spread a little and golden.
Leave to cool completely on trays.
Once cool, dip one side of each biscuit in melted chocolate and leave on a wire rack (with a tray underneath to catch the drips!) until set.