Macarons: A Comparative Mission (honest)

A few weeks ago I posted a recipe for macarons.  They were really yummy and were inhaled within a couple of hours by Mr. Boo and myself but I unfortunately had nothing to compare them to.  *Whispers* you see I had never eaten a macaron before!  I know, unthinkable, especially for a bona fide cakeaholic such as myself.  I felt it was only right that I rectify this situation STAT.  I couldn't have a recipe up on the blog with nothing for my very refined palette to draw on for comparison and with a tempting Laduree counter calling to me from Brown Thomas every time I enter the door well sure it would be positively irresponsible of me not to try a few.

Now, I must firstly admit that I have walked (very, very slowly) past the pastel temptresses many times without stopping to press my nose up against the counter in the manner of a hungry orphan.  There were two reasons for this unprecedented restraint on my part.  Firstly, I didn't want to stand there like a big piggy saying, "I'll have one of those, two of those, one of that one, three of them there and sure just shovel ALL of the chocolate ones into the box too".  Nope, not the impression I wanted to create at a counter I will no doubt return to on many occasions.  Secondly, I am of the impression that such a beautiful and delicious treat should be bought for you by someone else, especially for the popping of ones macaron cherry.

For this reason I instructed Mr Boo he was to buy a little box for me at his earliest convenience.  After a few months of no macarons I instructed him the day of the Flora Women's Mini Marathon that he was to wait for me at the finish line with the little green bag.  I arrived at the finish line soaked to my bones, weary and sore only to be greeted by a smile, no little green bag.  On enquiring as to it's whereabouts I was informed it was raining (eh, I know that, I am soaked to the bones in case you haven't noticed) and so he made it as far as BT2 where he settled himself in the warmth, sheltered from the rain and with a newspaper and caramel latte in hand for the duration of my gruelling trek (ok, ok it was only a 10K run but he needed to have the guilt's put on him).  I was far from impressed.

The next occasion to present itself after that day was a Saturday afternoon in June.  Mr Boo headed out in the morning and instructed me to be suitably dressed for lunch in The Mermaid Cafe on his return.  I followed his instructions and was ready and waiting like the good obedient wife that I am.  On our way into town I instructed him that instead of dessert in the restaurant we could walk to Brown Thomas afterwards and he could treat me to a box of macarons.  He agreed and all seemed right with the world.  That was until we emerged from the Port Tunnel and discovered that the world had ground to an abrupt halt.  Dublin Pride was in full swing; a fact that it would seem had eluded our knowledge until this precise moment.  A very agitated 45 minutes sitting in bumper to bumper traffic, more diversions than I care to remember from some very misinformed members of An Garda Siochana and a last minute decision to abandon the car on the quays and run like the clappers to the restaurant in a vain attempt to make our reservation and we made it (just about) before the kitchen closed for lunch, phew.  We enjoyed a beautiful lunch, viewed the revelry of Pride from our window seats and then decided to head to BT's for my treat.  In my panic earlier I hadn't quite put enough cash in the parking meter so we were now on a very tight schedule.  No fear though, there was macarons to be had so we could do this.  We could do it right up until the moment we walked past Size and Mr Boo decided he needed a new pair of runners.  "Relax", he says, " we'll go straight there next".  STRAIGHT THERE NEXT. Well maybe if he hadn't had to try on every pair of Jaysus runners in the place we might have gotten there but oh no, it took him a feckin' age before he finally decided on a pair of dark blue suede Addidas with orange soles and lime green stripes (he likes a funky runner does Mr Boo).  So that day we left town with a new pair of 'holiday' runners (which he has worn sevorial times already and we are no where near going on our hols yet) and no macarons.  For this reason I call them his 'no macaron' runners and spit on them when he wears them (I don't really spit on them 'cos that would be a bit 'scustin). 

Take three.  On Sunday we were expecting 6 guests for dinner.  A few minutes before they were due to arrive we were setting the table.  As I busied myself with napkins Mr Boo popped the cutlery out.  I made a simple request to him that he make sure to place matching cutlery at each setting (we have a 'good wear' set of 6 which meant the 2 of us would have different to the others but he was mixing them).  Well it would seem this was a completely unreasonable request right at the moment and he decided to tell me so in no uncertain terms.  I quietly rearranged his work and then heard a familiar 'beep, beep'.  It was only his parents who like to indicate their arrival whilst still in the car rather than just get out and ring the doorbell like regular folk.  So with me clearly not speaking to him he knew he was in trouble and decided to test the water with a cheerful, "mam and dad are here, come and we'll let them in".  A Tumbleweed drifted past at that precise moment so he tried again in the hopes that my ears had momentarily failed me.  He got a response this time along the vein of, "I'm busy, they're your parents so you go deal with them".  That pretty much confirmed I was still a little peed off with him.  Not being a rude host I followed him and greeted his parents with the smiles and hugs expected and then politely excused myself to the kitchen to finish the last minute prep work.  He popped in and out, each time testing me with a small pleasantry.  Each time the response, if he was lucky enough to receive one, was sub zero.  When our final guests arrived, his brother and his wife and her mam and dad, and relations hadn't improved he knew he was gonna have to pull out the big guns.  Once every body had been suitably greeted and I again retreated to the kitchen he gave me a little squeeze and promised to bring me out somewhere nice the following day.  I told him it was the least he could do and so the stand off was over.

True to his word he treated me to a lunch in brasserie sixty6.  Before we reached the restaurant I again instructed him that instead of dessert he could treat me to a box of macarons and he agreed.  This time he kept his promise and with our bellies suitably full we wandered our way through shops finally landing in Brown Thomas where I found myself with my nose pressed against the sparkling glass of the Laduree counter.  I asked the girl for a box of 8 and she instructed me to pick the colour box I would like.  I chose the 'Rose' box (part of a SATC inspired collection).  I then chose a selection of flavours (rose water, chestnut, caramel, chocolate and bitter chocolate) before she wrapped them up and handed me my beautiful green bag.  Like a 5 year old with a bag of pic 'n' mix I walked away from the counter grinning from ear to ear.  A little wander around the men's department and a peruse of the sunglasses and he very generously treated me to these bad boys, before we headed home.

I made it all of the way home without sticking my face into the box of macarons, all so I could photograph them for you lovely people.  The sacrifices I make in the name of blogging!  Once I had snapped a few pics I sat down to have a little nibble, and they were yum.  Really, really yum.  They had a perfect crisp shell and a moreishly chewy inside and each had a different filling.  My favourites were the chocolate (no surprise there), followed by the chestnut, then the caramel with the rosewater coming up the rear.  And to conclude my comparative study, I have to say my own creations were pretty good.  My shell may not have been quite as crisp as the Laduree offerings and mine did lack feet, but in a blind taste test I think my own humble macarons could most definitely hold their own against the Parisian big boys.  One change I will make next time will be not to be such a lazy cow and actually make some chocolate ganache to sandwich between them and forego the lazier Nutella option, which in itself is perfectly acceptable but the ganache in the Laduree ones just ever so slightly gave them the edge.

Peanut Butter Button Cookies

This is my penultimate twookieparty post.  Is that a sigh of relief I can hear from your waistband???  Mine is still being tested to the limits from all of the ahem quality control taste testing that I had to do.  It was a real chore but I had to do it for you guys, didn't I?!

This recipe is a slight adaptation of one I found on Tasty Kitchen, the Pioneer Woman.  Dianne's Peanut Butter Sweet Kiss Cookies to me are the ultimate all American cookie, combining peanut butter and Hershey's Kisses in one sweet, delicious, moreish parcel.  I made two minor adaptations to the recipe, the first was to swap out shortening for butter.  The second was replacing Hershey's Kisses for Cadbury's Giant Buttons as I thought these would be more widely available in Ireland.  If you would like to check out the original recipe simply check out the link above.

These caused a bit of a discussion in our house.  You see, Mr Boo loves all things peanut buttery, so when he came in from work and declared that he was STARVIN' I offered one of these for him to taste and to take the edge off his hunger.  A minute of very noisy chewing (he tends to do this when he is STARVIN' in an effort to get as much food as possible from his mouth to his stomach in as little time as possible) and a lot of very appreciative mmmm noises later and he declared them to be, "mmm they're mmlicious, aren't mmmthey", as he polished off the last of it.  I don't think he will ever learn it is rude to speak with a mouth full of chewy cookie, not to mention a little disgusting for the person standing directly in front of him.  Another one was snaffled from the plate and inhaled in one go before dinner.

Later that night I carefully arranged a selection of the cookies on a plate for him before heading to bed.  The rest of the cookies were locked away in a large lunch box ready to be photographed the next morning.  Before heading up the stairs I told him they were on the table if he fancied them so he was straight into the kitchen to investigate.  The following is a rough recap of the conversation that almost led to our divorce carried out over the lid of a tupperware box:

Mr Boo: "Where's the peanut butter one?"
Me: "There." *points to peanut butter button cookie on plate*
Mr Boo: "No, where's the lovely one I had earlier?"
Me: "There it is, right there!" *points to the cookie a second time* "And that is a lemon sugar one, that is a strawberry shortcake one and that is a chocolate surprise one.  I popped a peanut butter one in your lunch box for tomorrow if you want to eat that one now aswell." *picks up box to move remaining cookies to a safer place*
Mr Boo: "What's in the box?"
Me: "Just some more cookies."
Mr Boo: "What kind of cookies?"
Me: *ever so slightly annoyed now* "All of the ones that are already on your plate."
Mr Boo: *in an agitated tone* "But where are all of the peanut butter ones"
Me: "In the box."
Mr Boo: *voice raising more with each sentence now* "What are you doing with them?"
Me: "Just moving them over here."
Mr Boo: "What are you putting them over there for?  WHERE'S THE PEANUT BUTTER ONES???"
Me: "In here"
Mr Boo: *at this stage screaming in manner of an addict* "WELL LET ME SEE THEM, WHERE AAAARRRRRREEE THEYYYYYYY?"
Me: *also screaming now in response to his ridiculous behaviour* "There they are, look!  I only have enough left for photographs in the morning.  Here, you can have 2 more but that is your lot."
Mr Boo: *mumbles* "OK, thanks."

He shuffled off then with his glass of milk and truckload of cookies and I had to promise to bake some more fresh the following evening.  I removed the final batch of dough from the freezer on Sunday morning to bake for Saturday nights dinner guests and the face on him at the thought of having to share them with others.  So you have been warned, bake these with caution as they are liable to bring out the cookie monster in some.  Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Button Cookies

Yields approx 36

165g/6oz Creamy Peanut Butter
55g/2oz Butter
210g/7.5oz Firmly Packed Brown Sugar
3tbsp Milk
1tbsp Vanilla Extract
1 whole Egg
210g/7.5oz Plain Flour
¾ tsp Baking Soda
¾ tsp Salt
1 pack of Cadbury's Giant Buttons

1.  Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5.
2.  Combine peanut butter, butter, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until well blended.
3.  Add the egg and beat just until blended.
4.  Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Add to the creamed mixture at low speed with an electric mixer and mix just until blended.
5.  Drop dough by rounded measuring tablespoonfuls of dough 2-inches apart onto the prepared baking sheet. Flatten slightly in a crisscross pattern with tines of fork.

6.  Bake one baking sheet at a time for 7-8 minutes, or until set and just beginning to brown (or divide dough into 3 and freeze 2 batches and bake 1).  I found in my oven that these needed to bake for 11 minutes as the mixture is quite oily and they needed the extra minutes to crisp the shell so adjust the timings if necessary.
7.  Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet.

8.  After about a minute of cooling place the chocolate button in the middle of the cookie.
9.  Remove cookies to cooling racks or wax paper to cool completely. When you put the chocolate button in the middle of the cookie it will warm up because of the cookie and will take a while before it sets again.
10.  Wait a while before trying to stack them on top of each other in a container otherwise you will smush the button.
11. Apparently these will keep for 3 days in an airtight container, I wouldn't know about that.

Also, feel free to make these witout the chocolate button, as plain peanut butter cookies.

***Note: this dough might feel quite oily but the cookies are not at all, they have a delicious crisp shell and chewy inside. NOM!***