FEATHERS AND LEATHER

My current obsession: French Macarons

Yes, it is true. I am addicted to making French Macarons.
This comes in waves.
I get an obsession and I can't get over it.
OCD? NAWWWW.
Here are a couple of new ones I have made.

Pistachio Macarons with White Chocolate Ganache and Homemade Cranberry Jam

Homemade Cranberry Jam

Chocolate-Hazelnut Macarons (Nutella!) with cinnamon cream cheese filling or Espresso filling







Meyer Lemon Macarons with homemade lemon curd and lemoncello white chocolate ganache!
YUMMMMMM

THE DREAM, FLUFFERNUTTER MACARON!

I had a dream.
Make a fluffernutter macaron.
Use half peanut flour and half almond flour.
Top with freshly honey roasted peanuts.
Fill with:
homemade marshmallow fluff.
AND peanut butter ganache
AND AND AND a little nanner slice.
It came true.
FREAKIN AWESOME.


For those who don't know what a real fluffernutter is let me explain...
It's a peanut butter sandwich with marshmallow fluff and often dressed with banana slices.


For the Macarons, I began with making homemade marshmallow fluff.
Easier than going to the grocery store.
Unless I guess you don't have the ingredients to make it... hahahaha
Marshmallow Fluff

For the macarons I used the "I Love Macarons" recipe again but this time I used half almond flour and half ground peanuts.
This made me a little nervous because when I attempted a nut other than an almond last time it was a major failure.

The deadly addictive ingredients.. DUN DUN DUNNNN

First the peanut butter ganache. Here's the recipe.

THEN the marshmallow fluff filling. recipe here.

little nanner slices.

Squish them together. AND BOOM BABY!
FLUFFERNUTTER MACARONS.
Can you say YUMM?!

I can.
YUMMMMMMMMM!


I hope my teeth don't fall out...

IT'S ABOUT EFFING TIME: SUCCESS OF THE MACARON

After 5 failed attempts at the perfect french macaron, I had a success.
I made a Cinnamon Macaron and filled it with a heavenly cream cheese frosting.
On a few I decided to do a duo of the cream cheese frosting and left over espresso chocolate ganache and painted the tops with espresso. YUM!

little macarons waiting to bake. At this point you really have no idea if they are going to bake up to have the little feet on the bottom.

They did!

A little dollop of cream cheese filling!

A sprinkle of cinnamon.

A forest of cinnamon macs.

The duo espresso mac.

The freshly brewed espresso that I used to paint.

Oh, Martha. Your boxes are far too cute... Especially when housing a macaron.

I used the base recipe from the ADORABLE book, "I Love Macarons"

Then I added 1 tsp cinnamon.

For the AMAZING cream cheese filling I used the brilliant, 17 and baking recipe.

Warning! YOU WILL BE ADDICTED TO MAKING THESE!!!

Homemade Chicken Stock!

I made a homemade chicken stock.
People are not kidding, there is ABSOLUTELY no comparison to what you buy in the store.
Sorry Swanson, you loose.
SO SIMPLE!

Ingredients:
Chicken Thighs (a variation of different chicken parts is totally fine! Just make sure you have some bones!)
1/2 Onion, cut into large chunks
2 large Carrots, cut into large chunks
4 Celery Stalks (use leaves as well!)
Rosemary
Fennel seed
splash of white wine (optional!)


In a large pot heat a couple tablespoons of Olive oil. Cook chicken and onions together until browned. Once browned, splash a bit of white wine in the bottom of the pan to get all the yummy brown bits off the bottom (if not using, scrape with a but of water). Pour 6 1/2 cups of water in pot and bring to a boil. Throw in veggies and herbs. Cover and lower heat, leave an opening for some steam to escape. Simmer for 3 hours.

After three hours strain through a colander and cool the stock in a bowl in the fridge for an hour. Once cooled, scrape the layer of fat off the top on the stock. Keep in airtight container for three days in the fridge or 6 months in the freezer!

If you do not like fennel, use any herb you have! Thyme would be delicious. Throw in a bay leaf (I would have but didn't have one on hand), So many options, make your own original!

I made a Homestyle Chicken Noodle Soup. You couldn't get more simple. I used the chicken from the stock, cut up some more celery and carrot and threw in elbow macaroni (only pasta I had on hand!)



Other soup ideas:

• Hot and sour soup (I'm making this this week) http://www.wholeliving.com/recipe/ideal-hot-and-sour-soup
  
• Traditional Greek Lemon Chicken soup http://www.oprah.com/food/Avgolemono-Soup
  
• Chicken Tortilla soup http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/chicken-tortilla-soup