macarons: white chocolate & blueberry

My journey to make macarons is funny because I succeeded and failed many times. Guess because I don’t understand them thoroughly, I’m not professional. Last week, I tried to make macarons au cassis but in the end I found out that I don’t have blackcurrant anymore. Instead I use blueberry to make berry filling. My macarons shells had purple tint which I experienced by mixing food coloring. In case you don’t know how the colors work, you can see from here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUc31f0A7CQ&feature=youtu.be 



                                                   Macarons: white chocolate& blueberry

The macarons shell recipes I used from the cookbook Gifts from the Kitchen: 100 Irresistible Homemade Presents for Every Occasion by Annie Rigg. http://www.fromvalskitchen.com/2011/holiday-gift-idea-gifts-from-the-kitchen/ The recipe is very simple and easy to follow. For the filling (my own way). Mix about 2 handful of frozen blueberry; boil them with a bit of water to give it liquid. Then strain through a fine sieve to get the condense juice of berries and mix it with 100g melted white chocolate. It may be runny in the beginning, but cool it down by put the mixture in the fridge or let cool at room temperature until it become thicker but pourable filling.

Though it is not as I planned but the macarons turn out beautiful this time, the pastel purple shell combine with the violet ganache from the berry filling make it a beautiful pair.

Simple sweet potatoes soup

This a a warm soup for the turning of autumn. Raining outside, would it be nice to enjoy a warm soup at your dinner while looking at the rain falling on the window?

                  

Ingredients

600 g sweet potatoes
1 rubagata
2 potatoes
1/2 onion
70 g butter
400 ml water
1 cup cream
1 tsp salt according to taste

Directions

1. Chop the onion into chunks.
2. Peel and cut the sweet potatoes, potatoes, rubataga into 3 cm pieces.
3. In a large saucepan, melt the butter in high heat, add the onion, soften about 2 minutes.
4. Add the root vegetables, and stir fry until fragrant but not burn. Pour the water, bring to boil and reduce to medium-low heat. Simmer until all the vegetables become soft and cooked through. Add the cream and salt.
5. Set aside to cool about 5 minutes and blend the soup until smooth with emersion blender. Serve with baked bacon.