Monday, January 18, 2016

When life gives you lemons... they're sour.

It should be no surprise by now that I'm typing this at almost exactly 11:00 PM. After all, it's me we're talking about. The crazy midnight baker, at it again.

Recently, my baking hit a bit of a stand still. I went back to work after being on vacation for two weeks, got sick my first day back. Thought I was better, went back to work, still sick. Went back home. Well, you get it. I was out of commission for a while. So it wasn't until today that I started to hear the sweet sound of my kitchen aid calling to me.

"Holly, Where are you?"

"Who said that?!"

"It's me. Your gorgeous Tiffany Blue mixer."

"Huh?"

"I miss you." *Whispered

We made whisk-to-eye contact. I run to the kitchen and there we both began to cry and embrace in the warmth of a hug.

Okay, maybe not. But one things for sure, I was ready to bake.

After junking out on online tutorials and watching an endless stream of cooking shows. Watching was no longer enough. I needed to get in on the action. I needed to bake.

I had found a new recipe online for making Macarons, so I thought I would give it a try.

I was skeptical at first and had a few moments of panic when I put the flavoring in and thought I had caused my batter to go flat. But when all was said and done, I ended up with some delicious smelling lemon macaron batter.

The first batch was beautiful. I watched those puppies like a hawk. Like a hawk who didn't want to burn his macarons. I would think if a hawk were making maracons, they would also feel this to be a priority and area of concern.

So there I sat, on the floor. Oven mit in hand, ready to swoop in and save my little yellow cookie babies at any moment. That was until I glanced up and noticed the timer on the oven was never set.

Panic! complete and utter PANIC!

How long have they been in there?! ARRRG!!! I WAS SUPPOSED TO ROTATE THEM HALF WAY!

Okay, calm down. After regrouping myself and saying a few phrases of self affirmation, with my oven mit ready I turned those suckers as fast as I could. However, When one turns a cookie sheet in a hot oven and only has on a short oven mit, Words of caution: THOSE WALLS BE HOT!

Okay, so now that that is finished. There I sat on the floor watching my macarons through the glass oven door and propping my hand up to the sink where I positioned it under cold running water. Nothing could stop me from obtaining cookie perfection, not even my own burnt hand (It was a tiny burn, but I like the sound of the extreme dedication in that sentence).

Two minutes shy of the timer going off, I pulled those beauties out of the over. Drum roll please! Yummy, delicious lemony macarons.

I placed my first batch to rest and cool. After that, I quickly whipped up my next batch and plunged them in the oven. After all, I am a pro now. What else could go wrong? (Insert more words of self affirmation because well, sometimes I get cocky.)

I filled the finished Macarons using a raspberry butter cream frosting I had made over the break. My mouth was watering. Next step, tasting. As a ritual, I always make sure to use my husband as a guinny pig, I mean taste tester. So after I practically force fed my husband while he was in the middle of a computer game, because I'm pushy and needed further affirmation of my improving baking skills. I got what I was waiting for, Success!




Next step, obligatory foodtography session and a quick tasting of my own handiwork.

Aww, so good.

Wait, wasn't I doing something else?...

There it was. The second batch sitting teary eyed, neglected and brokenhearted in the oven. Well, more accurately, cracked and burnt. They were ruined. Much like parents do with their first child, I had babied and panicked over the small stuff, then by the second batch, I thought I had it all figured out. And much like babies, macarons don't raise themselves.

So, to conclude. Sometimes life is sweet, and in other times sometimes your lemon maracons come out a little sour.




1 comment:

  1. Holly, I am in awe. Seriously. Not only can you bake, your writing skills!!!! Amazing! I adore you and I adore this blog almost as much! You are as wonderful as your lemony macarons :)

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