Kona Coffee Macarons - Run #23

I miss Hawaii.

Before heading home to SF in October, Keat and I stopped by Ala Moana Center to do a little shopping.  I spotted the Honolulu Cookie Co. kiosk in the food court and I made a b-line straight for it.  My favorite out of all of the varieties is the Kona Coffee White Chocolate shortbread cookie.  If you've never had one before, you should really check into it.  Their signature shape is a pineapple - though there is no pineapple in the cookie.  The "leaf" part is left bare, while the "fruit" part is dipped in white chocolate.

They are amazing.

So here is another attempt of creating a Hawaiian-inspired macaron.  I've already made a cute speckled yellow mac with Dole Passionfruit jelly, tried recreating Liliha's Chantilly frosting (and failed), filled my Pink October macs with Honolulu Coffee Co. strawberry guava jam, and made an ultra blue Mauna Loa Chocolate Kiss Mac.  2 for 4 - wah!  Don't get me wrong, the Liliha failure, turned out to be a ftw in the end!  

Honestly, I was not overly happy with these.  I think I should have ground the coffee finer because there were chunks of coffee bean in the mac shell that kind of ruined the experience.  Or next time, I'll brew the Kona coffee in cream and use that to make white chocolate ganache.  The ganache in this one was too runny.  I think I rushed this one...so it's all my fault.

Yes, this is truly a learning experience, isn't it?

3 for 5.

Any suggestions for the next Hawaiian-inspired mac?

11/13/2012 - Kona Coffee Macarons with White Chocolate Ganache

Pierre Herme-Inspired Pistachio Macarons - Run #10

My dear friend Lara truly believes in me...so much so that she lent me her Kitchenaid stand mixer while she tours SPAIN! Miss Jelly over here! Just teasing!

Before she left with her husband Kuya Chip for their anniversary vacay, she and I attempted to make pistachio macarons filled with Pierre Herme's recipe pistachio butter & white chocolate filling. I've had Pierre Herme's macarons smuggled to me from Paris by my Twinsy Cristina (God bless you), so I knew how good they are!

Tell me why this was a fail upon fail macaron experience! From over beating the egg whites in the stand mixer since it was our first time using it for this process, over-greening the batter til it became leprechaun-worthy, theb watching the macs bake, rise, and develop feet only to see them collapse. Don't even get me started on the filling! That was drama too!

It was so frustrating, but we got a few that were decent after making a second (less green) batch using my hand mixer and less coloring. Like I keep saying: learning experience! This is one recipe I'd like to revisit for sure!

I am not settling for "decent." They have to be "great."

9/28/12 - Pistachio Macaron Shells with
Pierre Herme-Inspired Pistacio White Chocolate Filling

San Francisco 49er Inspired Macarons - Run #3

The City of San Francisco lights up especially when football season and baseball post-season arrives.  We are definitely one of the best places to be a sports fan.  I have been a 49er fan as long as I can remember, so my friend Jnet and I met one night and made these babies:


9/11/12 - "Niner Nation" - Red and Gold shells filled
with white chocolate cream cheese buttercream

  PS: Who else remembers those old school Starter jackets?