Pumpkin Meringues

I love meringues. They are one of my very favorite desserts. They are so light and airy, and are easy to make.  If you like the centers less chewy, you turn off the oven and leave them in overnight. I have made these pumkin meringues twice now. You could set some meringue aside, die it green, and pipe in the vines (the fondant vines don't stay on very well) but I thought, why waste my time when I have fondant?

Now, I set up an awesome Halloween style "set" to take pictures of these in, but the lighting was horrible, and I was to lazy to set it up again the next day.  Here is the recipe (adapted from Holly Wilkins on Allrecipes.com):

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup egg whites
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup white sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 225 degrees F (110 degrees C). Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
2. In a large glass or metal bowl, use an electric mixer to whip egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar, salt, and vanilla. Continue whipping until the whites hold soft peaks. Gradually sprinkle in the sugar so that it does not sink to the bottom, and continue whipping until the mixture holds stiff shiny peaks.
3. Place a large star tip (the size you use to make swirls in cupcakes) into a pastry bag, and fill the bag half way with the meringue. To pipe the pumpkins, squeeze out large meringue stars onto one of the prepared cookie sheets.

     4.  Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until the caps are dry enough to easily remove from the    cookie sheets.   Form a twisty vine and leaf for each pumpkin from green fondant.

Look! They're moldy now! (me and my brother had some fun with the halloween effects on Picnik.)

 

Have fun! Maddie

Canning Peaches

I am SOO busy now that school has started but on Saturday we canned a LOT of peaches.  My hands were pruney from dipping my hand in peach filled water all day.  Not to mention the floor.  It was really really sticky.  Every time you lifted your foot off the ground it made a strange scwelching sound.  We canned over one hundred jars of peaches, handpicked from the church orchard.

 

 Next week I'll have a peach cobbler recipe for you.

Maddie

Macarons, and the Best Filling Ever!

I just want to say how delicious Macarons are.  I love anything made of meringue.  Meringues are my favorite cookies (are they even cookies?).  But they make a great base to add things to, like in Macarons and Pavlova. To tell the truth, I don't even know what macarons are. What is the difference between Macarons and Macaroons? I heard that they are the same, except Macaroons are French and Macarons are American, but I don't know whether that's true or not. I'll just call them macarons.

I got the recipe from Martha Stewart, but I think mine are cuter.  Here is her recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups plus 1 teaspoon confectioners sugar
• 1 cup (4 ounces) finely ground, blanched almonds
• 6 tablespoons fresh egg whites (from about 3 extra-large eggs)
• Pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• Martha's Filling
• OR you can use our filling (which is AMAZING)

Directions

1. To make the macarons: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together confectioners' sugar and ground almonds. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip egg whites with salt on medium speed until foamy. Increase speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar. Continue to whip until stiff glossy peaks form. With a rubber spatula, gently fold in the confectioners' sugar mixture until completely incorporated.
   
2. Line baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. Fit a pastry bag with a 3/8-inch #4 round tip, and fill with batter. Pipe 1-inch disks onto prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies. The batter will spread a little. Let stand at room temperature until dry, and a soft skin forms on the tops of the macarons and the shiny surface turns dull, about 15 minutes.
   
3. Bake, with the door of the oven slightly ajar, until the surface of the macarons is completely dry, about 15 minutes. Remove baking sheet to a wire rack and let the macarons cool completely on the baking sheet. Gently peel off the parchment. Their tops are easily crushed, so take care when removing the macarons from the parchment. Use immediately or store in an airtight container, refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 1 month.
   
4. To fill the macarons: Fill a pastry bag with the filling. Turn macarons so their flat bottoms face up. On half of them, pipe about 1 teaspoon filling. Sandwich these with the remaining macarons, flat-side down, pressing slightly to spread the filling to the edges. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
   
   
   I know the recipe seems long, but they are actually really easy to make.  And there is no need to space them 2 inches apart.  They only need one inch spacing (don't space them too close together, they do spread out a little bit).  And now for the best filling ever.  We got this recipe from our old cake decorating teacher at Joanns,  (thank you SO much) and we have used it ever since.  It is SO GOOD! We use it to fill cakes, cupcakes, and macarons.  Here is that super easy recipe.

 1 pint whipping cream
 1 small package of cheesecake flavored instant pudding (or oreo, or coconut cream with coconut added)

Dump into mixer and whip until very thick, dense and buttery tasting (it almost tastes like butter!)

YUUUMMM!! (I'm sad because they've all been eaten)

Maddie

Homemade Ice Cream Cones!!!

A while ago I was searching Family Fun for a recipe when I stumbled upon Homemade Ice Cream cones!!! But I didn't bother to write a tutorial because I am to lazy Family Fun already has a perfectly good one here.

This is VERY IMPORTANT, I have some major tips:

1. WEAR GLOVES (heat resistant, like cheese making gloves) or be in danger of burned fingers and extra difficulty (I didn't wear them unfortunately)
2. This is not for kids under the age of 10
3. Beforehand, make paper cones out of cardstock to wrap the "cookie" around to make forming them easier
4. only make them 2 at a time
5. go as fast as you can
6. stuff a marshmallow in the hole in the bottom
7. If you don't have a marshmallow, use a chunk of bread (it is kind of nasty, but that's what we did. You could also stick a chunk of yummier bread in, like banana bread)

 Maddie

PS. Sorry I havn't been able to post for a while,school has been keeping me busy.