Les Macarons

What better way to start the month that 
encapsulates a day that celebrates love than with these little delightful bites of pure heaven.


A cliché? Maybe, but I am just too excited! It is like finding true love and after many trials and errors, thrills and disappointments (such are relationships), I have finally managed to master the art of making...les macarons.


These little almond meal and egg white sugary delights have long been a favourite of mine (what is not to love? Almonds + sugar = love)





The first time I remember seeing macarons, before they became something of a cult fixture was in LADURÉE, Burlington Arcade,London.

Who could help but be fascinated by a tower of delicate but brightly coloured confection constructed in the window?

The colour-splashed window (as if it were not enough in its own right, is encased in gold with rich dark wood window frames. Sauntering up from Bond Street and in through the Burlilngton Street arcade, for a second, walking past Ladurée  it feels as if you are suddenly back in Victorian London. No, it is more decadent than that: as if one has suddenly transported into the 'beau-monde' : the world of fashionable society of the late 18th century.
Although officially it was only in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century that these almond delicacies were sandwiched together with chocolate ganash by Ladurée, indulge me for a minute.


And as you can imagine les beaux-mondes like their delicacies and petit-fours. One could imagine how with elegantly gloved hands ladies reached for the small but scrumptious treat when they stopped for tea in the arcade while shopping for fabric. 
Macarons often form part of a petite-fours plate : Little baked pastries that are no more than bite sized.  Perfect for high tea, but for the details in which I also delight but for which you'll have to wait for the next blog post. 

The macaron has a fascinating history that dates back to the 16th century when they were created by Italian pastry chefs for Catherine de Medicis in 1533 on the occasion of her marriage to the Duc d'Orleans who then became king  Henry II of France in 1547. 

There are other little tales that involve royalty and macarons, which,had clearly moved from their Italian home to become thoroughly French nationals. 

In Nancy there is a tale of two Benedictine nuns, Sister Marguerite and Sister Marie-Elisabeth, seeking asylum in the town of Nancy during the French Revolution (1789-1799) who produced this "fine dough" ( the meaning from which the macaron's name is derived) and sold them in order to pay for their living. 


Again in Nancy, Catherine de Medici's grand-daughter is said to have escaped starvation by eating one of these delights. In Saint-Jean-de-Luz, the macaron of Chef Adam regaled Louis XIV and Maria Theresa of Spain at their wedding celebration in 1660. 


For some of us, once we have been transported to that era, there is just no going back. Well maybe that is wrong to say. Like Owen Wilson's character in "Midnight in Paris" there is an ever-longing to go back.  Taking a bite of this originally French delicacy, one is transported immediately into that world of colourful decadence and the only way to recreate being there is to take another bite. 

 There is also only so much you can spend on these relatively expensive delights before the indulgence brings you back to reality. 


All the same, for a treat there is no denying where I would find myself heels no longer clipping cobblestones but the marble flooring of Burlington Street arcade.  


Also close to Covent Garden where having tea at the Covent Garden Hotel was another favourite thing of mine to do, mostly because just post the Victorian era I could imagine Virgina Wolf having tea there (when she was in a sociable mood and eating - but I digress here into another era, so that's for another blog-post) 

I think that more than anything, that once you have had a really good macaron, there is just no going back. I am not afraid to say either, that I judge ones which have bits of almond because the pastry maker didn't go to the trouble of grinding the almonds finely enough. I see that I am not alone in my peculiarity...


 They are things that you crave and so, they not being as popular back in Cape Town as they were in London or Paris, and so I had to set out to make my own.  
This, of course, was more difficult than I originally thought. Like all things meringue-based, they are particularly finicky. Undermix the mixture and you get hard almond cookies. Over beat the mixture and you end up with baked watery blobs. Leave the mixture too long and all of a sudden the air is deflated out of them and you won't get the "feet" that are the hallmark of a true macaron. 

You can get some really fantastic food colouring these days and I'm besotted with this electric blue but pale colours are equally delicate.

The trick is, however, to work quickly and not to handle the mixture too much. Learning to use a piping bag can be another challenge but happily was a skill that I quickly perfected - it's all about keeping your eye on the prize! 

A Little Dinner Before The Play

I recently came across Agnes Jekyll's "A little Dinner Before the Play" a collection of her "Kitchen Essays"that was published in The Times in the 1920's  put together by Penguin earlier this year.

It is, in a few short words, delightful. I think particularly for me because of their historical information about food. Being interested in food, I am interested in people (not necessarily those that are still living, mind, who can be somewhat annoying!) But those that have gone before exist at a safe distance and in that way I find are a great deal more endearing to me.

For instance, I know that Lady Jekyll and myself would have been very good friends, both taking an interest in food and both acknowledging that one is not at one's best first thing in the morning - though she published these thoughts in The Times almost 90 years ago and for those of you who have never met me, for the first time, now on this blog.  But I do feel so strongly on the idea that getting up before the sun rising is wrong, that I'll be surprised that I haven't written it somewhere else. All the more reason form the cheerful breakfast tray which she prescribes!

But I digress: this is not about me, but about Lady Jekyll.  Agnes, from her writing seems like a perfectly no nonsense kind of woman who found that all things being equal, and even if they weren't, that they were to be rectified immediately by putting effort into how and what you provided your guests with, but moreover, by putting careful thought into what guests ate.

Here is one such example. She says:

God made the first Christmas and man has ever-since been busy spoiling it. Year by year, the propaganda of the shops grows increasingly active (what would she have said today?) ; and their suggestion for the keeping of that high feast, including such secular items as dozens of brandy, whisky, and champagne, appear annually more elaborate and incongruous than never before.

So she doesn't hide her indignation at the fact that then friends will come from the countryside to Town in order to procure said brandy and champagne. But does she hold it against them? Of course not! Being delighted that she should see her friends, she suggests that the gracious Town hostess would make for them such delights for tea (read here an almost three course lunch to allow them relief from the effort of being on their feet and flitting from one shop to the next) as they would not be able to make in their country abode due to their being unable to procure the ingredients: A dear friend indeed!

The effort (or her cook's effort - since she was lucky enough to oversee one - though I have no doubt that if she saw her cook doing something incorrectly that she would take over and instruct with the good intention of bettering her cook's skills) that she went to in proving them with such fare leaves us in no doubt as to her being much treasured as such.

Some of her recipes do seem a little on the difficult side, but she seems not to have been one to spare the horses on account of her guests' happiness!

She would insist that guests enjoy themselves and in doing so, benevolently allow others to do so - another point with which I sit in solidarity with her on.

She was after all, a famed philanthropist, which starts in the kitchen.

I'm so delighted to have met her through her writings!

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

You don't need to be romantically involved to enjoy these. You don't even need to have Valentine's day as an excuse to make them. I love baking over the weekends because I have more time to play around with decorating. It's like having your own edible canvass to work on. This Sunday just happens to be Valentines Day and there is nothing nicer than having a sweet treat to present to your sweetheart. But like I said, if you're not attached this is no reason that your romantic sensibilities shouldn't take over when you decorate these, and I can tell you that I feel similar heart-racing, giddy and indulgent sensations to being in love everytime I bite into one of these little cupids.

I have chosen royal icing, which is traditionally used on gingerbread or Christmas biscuits, because it has a decadent texture and richness. It also comes out glamorously glossy and makes the cupcakes look especially exciting!

Makes a dozen cupcakes

175g butter
1 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla essence
2 cups self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder

Royal Icing
1 egg white
+/- 1 cup icing sugar

To make the cupcakes simply smooth the butter and the sugar together. When smooth and soft beat in the eggs. Add the vanilla essence. Fold in one cup of sifted flour and at a time. Mix together whipping in plenty of air. Heat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius. Fill the cupcake holders in a cupcake tray and bake for approximately 20 minutes, turning the tray round half way through baking so that each of the cupcakes rise equally.

Allow to cool.

To make the icing place the egg white in a bowl and slowly mix in the icing sugar (make sure that it is separated and smooth) until the icing gets thick. Colour with food colouring of your choice- red or pink for Valentine's fun. Ice the cakes and decorate with by piping on your decoration or pattern.

These make a delightful desert for picnic lunches and are easy to pack. Or simply make a cup of tea and indulge alone or with the one you love on the couch!