Panna Cotta and Florentine Roses

Once upon a time in 2009, I wrote a post about Strawberry and Dark Chocolate Panna Cotta Shots. It was my sixth post. As I had tried the whole layering-in-a-glass thing then, I decided to try unmoulding my panna cotta for this challenge.

I have to admit that I screwed up the panna cotta part of this challenge and didn't try it again. I must have got my sheet gelatine conversions wrong because it was like rubber. I will defnitely try making it again at some point in the future as I like panna cotta.

The roses didn't come out quite how I wanted them but I'm pleased they're at least recognisable as roses. To make them I spread the batter thinly over a baking sheet and then baked it like that. When it came out of the oven and was still hot I used heart shaped cutters in two sizes to cut out petals and then constructed the roses from those. Another time I would spread the batter even thinner in the middle as it was a bit greasy and thick. 

The recipe pdf is on the main DK page here.

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

Macarons

Nothing has made me feel worse in the kitchen than macarons. I know they have plagued many a home baker but I thought I would tell my story anyway.

I am a perfectionist. Sometimes this is a great asset and serves me very well but often it just produces crushing dissapointment. Oxford is a punishing place to be a perfectionist. It just isn't possible - something had to give, and that was my confidence. I will be very happy when I finally finish at the beginning of June. Don't get me wrong - I love my degree and tutors and Oxford is a lovely place in many ways - but it has been tough for me. 

I decided to tell you about my macaron failures (and even publish the awful pictures) as part of a plan to accept them and to be kinder to myself. I can strive for my best, but I need to stop beating myself up about failure in all parts of my life. Learning to bake should be a process of accepting failures and faults and understanding them so you can improve.

I first tasted a macaron sitting on the sides of the Arc de Triomphe in blazing sunshine. It was September 2009 and my housemate Sarah and I were on a trip to Paris. We had picked up a box each (above, though this was Sarah's) from Ladurée and after a slow walk up the rest of the Champs-Élysées we settled down to our tasting.

They were delicious, but I have to admit I had expected more after the hype. They're not my favourite pastry to eat. 

The photo below shows my first ever batter resting before baking. It was last April and I decided that I finally had gathered enough courage and information to attempt a batch. A few days before I had admitted in this first blog birthday post that I wanted to train as a pastry chef. Now, surely, I had to show that I could do it and make macarons. 

I bought special powdered food colouring for my berry macarons and flew it home. After much deliberation, I chose to make them through the French meringue technique as I wasn't experienced with Italian. I looked through many recipes until I decided to try Tartlelette's recipe from her useful guide. I was so excited - surely they would be pulled out of the oven with a flourish looking just like Helen's. 

A lot of hope rested on them as I placed them in the oven.

Would you like to see what I pulled out? It still pains me. 

Later that day I tried again with another batter, below. I have to admit that I cried - despite the slight improvement. I know it's pathetic to cry over a deformed macaron - especially only on your second attempt - but I did. 

Mum pointed out that some of them look like human cheek cells, complete with cell wall and a nucleus. She always knows how to bring a smile back to my face. 

Two more botched bright pink batches later, I tried a plain batter with no colour or flavouring. These came out mildly better again, with more compact feet. Yet still they were nowhere near what I wanted. For the first time I bothered to fill them with some raspberry puree mixed with yogurt. They were too sweet even with the filling. 

At this point, Mum told me I had to stop. I was only upsetting myself. 

This Christmas I tried again (after yet another attempt last term) and made some chocolate macarons with a bitter chocolate ganache. These came out better again. I actually let people other than my mum see and eat them. 

Finally, I tried out the Italian method a few days ago. From the beginning it just seemed to work. I much prefer this method. 

I chose to make lemon macs as I had spare curd and I thought I would prefer something that cut throught the sweetness. This is the first batch I actually enjoyed eating. Though I do have a sweet tooth (obviously), I like my food to taste of more than icing sugar (which, incidentally, is my main problem with a lot of cupcakes). 

They're still not perfect.

Blogging has taught me to be incredibly critical of macarons. Even professional ones often have some flaws.  With practice I'm sure I can remove some - and that should be part of the fun.

*

This time I used Ms Humble's recipe for lemon macarons and her three guides to Italian macarons. I then filled them with leftover lemon curd made with David's wonderful recipe.