Marzipan class at La Bonne Vie...and Happy Easter!!

On Wednesdays before Easter, we (well, it was mostly just me) held a marzipan-modeling class for children.  I've never worked with marzipan before (because #1 I don't like them and #2 they're expensive), so Chef gave me some marzipan for me to practice with.

Marzipan is basically a mixture of fondant and almond paste.  The result is a mass very much like Play-Doh.

Since it's Easter, I made a bunny and a chick....

Not too shabby for my first time playing with them.  But then again, I've worked with Play-Doh in the past so this was a no-brainer.

An hour before the class started, I made a big batch of white marzipan, separated a few chunks and dyed those in several colors.

I carted the blobs of colored marzipan, a few sample pictures, and gold boards for the kids to La Bonne Vie.
The kids had a blast playing with the marzipan!  Some made a caterpillar...

Some made an orange panda (I didn't make a whole lot of black marzipan).

Some were pretty detailed and elaborate, like this owl here.

I was told that this whole event is a set of two classes, with maximum of four kids (must be 6 to 12 years old) per session.  At least that what it's supposed to be.  Well, the first class went fine, four kids showed up, just as planned.  At the second class, however, four families showed, bringing their six kids.  And we only allowed six kids because two more mothers showed up, bringing their three kids...and any more than six would've turned the dainty little French pastry shop into a chaotic preschool.  So we had to ask the two mothers to wait another 45 minutes for the second class to be over...and I ended up teaching a third class, with two mothers and three 3-yr. olds (note the age requirement mentioned earlier).  I was exhausted...but everyone had so much fun they asked if we're doing this again next year.

For my private Easter fun, I made chocolate moai monoliths using a silicone mold.

They're statues from the Easter Island...get it??  I made two kinds, one is filled with oozy brandy-caramel, and the other is rum-raisin ganache, upon Mom's request.  They were pretty delish.  So that was how I spent the Holy Week.  Happy Easter everyone!

Macaron Help

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine (a former classmate from culinary school) whom I haven't seen or talked to in a while, contacted me--she needed help with the macarons.

She is now a chef instructor at a local grocery megastore, and had wanted to have a macaron making class...except apparently, she has NEVER been able to successfully make macarons in the past.  After many failed attempts, she had quit making them six months ago, out of sheer frustration.  But she finally decided to give the macarons a try--and enlisted my help to do it.

We set up a macaron-baking date at her workplace.  When I got there, I was mesmerized by all the shiny, fancy equipment she had. 

This is what the classroom looked like.  The glass door on the far end is the entrance/exit.

A huge, industrial fridge on the left side...

The back end, where the chef instructor stands.  The shelves contain spices, herbs, about four Cuisinart stand mixers.

What's really cool about these cabinets is that the doors open upward instead of sideways.  Unlike those with doors that swing out sideways, these hatchback cabinets will definitely prevent someone from banging their heads on the doors--as I myself have done before, and ended up with a nasty bump on my skull.

Anyway, back to the real issue at hand--the macarons.  We used the recipe from our textbook, which involves making a French meringue--the easiest, the least intensive method.  Since she wants to teach this class to people with (probably) no culinary background, we decided to opt for this recipe.

I asked her what was exactly wrong with her macarons.  She said that they "just didn't look right".

...All righty then. Guess we'll follow the recipe step-by-step and see how they turn out.  

After I piped them out, I told her that we now have to let them rest for at least 20 minutes, to which she asked why.  When I explained to her that it's the resting that gives macs their characteristic smooth shell/domes, she...looked a bit aghast.  Turned out she never did that, which totally explained why her macs never turned out right!

After the resting period, we popped them into the ovens.  By habit, I am wary of ovens I've never used before, since every oven is different.  We ended up with two sheet pans, so as an experiment, we put one in a non-convection oven and the other in a convection oven.

Halfway through the baking time, we took a peek...

It's working!  We both (almost) squealed in delight.  We compared the results between the convection vs. non-convection oven.  The convection oven had better results;  the non-convection oven caused the bottom to cook faster, and the macs ended up with dark foot.

The feet got a little big, but the texture was spot on.  The meringue would've been a bit more stable if we had used fresh egg whites instead of from the carton, but it's OK.
We whipped up a small batch of vanilla buttercream and filled them.

My friend was very happy that her macs finally turned out good!  Her daughter loves them, so she was more than happy to take home the vast majority of them--I took only one, to give to my mom.  It is kind of unfortunate that my family is not a huge fan of macarons... :P