Mac Attack: Ginger Coffee Macs with French Pastry Cream

For December's Mac Attack Challenge, Mac Tweeters went Savory Sweet for the holidays!! It took me quite awhile to complete the challenge and I scrambled to post this on time! I had a few options which I kept in mind and this included chili macs, curry macs and allspice macs among others. I was also intriqued by Jamie's suggestion to prepare the macs as hors d’oeuvres (isn't that interesting?). After much deliberation, I went with Ginger (a feisty spice) and Coffee (a perfect flavor for cold winter days) with French Pastry Cream filling (a sweet and sophisticated custard perfect for the holidays - or so I imagine - I don't celebrate Christmas and its summer all year round here!!)        

So here they are - my Ginger Coffee Macs with French Pastry Cream. I think I may have added too little ginger powder in the dry ingredients as the spice isn't really noticeable, although they blended quite well with the coffee to cut down the sweetness of the crust. Add French Pastry Cream and voila!! Everything tastes better with French Pastry Cream (I'm biased!).

Happy Holidays everyone!!

Baking With Dorie: Sablés

 According to Dorie, the Sablés that we made this week is "the master recipe" adapted when she "learned to make sablés in Paris working with some of the city's best pâtissier". Wow!! How can one pass trying out this recipe!

This week's recipe was chosen by Laurie of Cookin' up North. You may find the recipe posted on her blog here or page 131 of Baking from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan.

I made half the recipe and ended up with one log and about 20 cookies. They are buttery and sandy and my eldest daughter can't get enough of it! Mine turned out golden brown although Dorie's sablés look creamy and pale. We love them anyways! And they make your kitchen smell super terrific too!!

The bejeweled log. So pretty!!

Check out the other BWD bakers here!

Mac Attack: Pistachio Sprinkled Macarons for Falling for Macarons...It's Fall!

I've wanted to participate in the MacTweets Challenge for a couple of months now, and finally...here I am!!

I am so glad to have 'made' it this month of November, with the MacAttack #13...Falling for Macarons ... It's Fall!

For those who don't know, it's summer all year round where I live so you could say I had to use my imagination and memories of the four Fall seasons I experienced during my college years in the US to soak in the Fall mood for this challenge.

Coincidentally, Fall was my favorite season!! I love the warmly colored autumn foliage of greens, yellows, orange and reds. This inspired my pumpkin-colored macarons sprinkled with pistachios (love the green!).

Pistachio sprinkled macarons with chocolate ganache filling

The macaron madness has definitely caught on me and I'm so glad I found the MacTweets blog and looking forward to future MacTweets challenges!!

Baking With Dorie: Applesauce Spice Bars

This week it's Chaya of Chaya's Comfy Cook Blog's turn for hosting BWD and she has chosen Applesauce Spice Bars on page 117 of Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. Hop over to her blog for the recipe!

I loved preparing this week's bake as it did not take any time at all!! And the ingredients of apple, pecan and cinnamon made the kitchen smell terribly wonderful as they were baking in the oven.

A little note: I omitted the raisins and substituted applesauce with homemade apple puree. Plus there were not enough glaze to cover the entire bar, so I made double the recipe.

A lovely snack to have with tea, the minimal ingredients yielded 32 little bars!! I saved a few pieces for home and took a dozen bars to my sister's place and the rest will be shared with the lovely people at the office!

See how the other BWD bakers did this week here.