Practice... Practice...

First of all, I like to thank Tanja of Tanja's Cupcakes for this beautiful Happy 101 - Sweet Friends award. Really appreciate it, thanks Tanja!



Let me pass it on to 10 good friends...
- Simone of Jungle Frog Cooking.
- Y of Lemon Pi
- Valerie of Chocolate Bunny.
- Anjelikuh of Anjelikuh.
- Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen.
- Chef D of Energetic Chef.
- Deeba of Passionate About Baking.
- Rosa of Rosa's Yummy Yums.
- Jo of Sugar and Everything Nice.
- Vicky of Sweets at Vicky's.



Lately I have been busy dealing with the latest development in my life. Since my work was cut down to 4 days a week, I have been looking for extra things to distract myself and fill up the free day. Aren’t I lucky? My off day is Wednesday, right in the middle of the week. So I literally work 2 days, break 1 day, work 2 more days and weekend break 2 days. It is a great thing, but it is just that I am learning to get used to it. Well, apparently a distraction came handy - the organizer of my previous bazaar told me a week ago that there would be another bazaar at a new location. She was kind enough to book a booth on my behalf since she was familiar with the bazaar organizer. So participating in her bazaar 2 times in a row has made me somehow a familiar face to her.



So I went to visit the building where the bazaar would take place and get to know its residents in order to decide the suitable cakes for the occasion and the rate to price them. Next, I took the time to look into my recipes and books and determined what cakes I should be baking. From the onset, I had included my Chocolate Kiwi Cake ,Fresh Cream Fruit Cake, and Baked Cheese Cakes. However, I needed new cakes to inspire myself and of course allure my prospective customers. So I figured let’s put other types of cheese cakes and mouse cakes in place.



It was a tiring business. Since the bazaar was on a Saturday I had planned to start preparing since Wednesday. Most of the days, I came back tired from work and went straight to baking. Lucky me, T was always there preparing dinner and setting everything up on the dining table right in front of TV. Thanks dear! 2 nights in a row I baked until 3am and in between these long hours, I sometimes wanted to quit and just went to sleep. I just couldn’t keep T to assist me any later than midnight, no matter how much I needed a companion or a pair of extra hands, cause his natural clock rings at midnight sharp and he has to wake up early in the morning. I totally understood and wouldn't mind to do the rest on my own. I was fine, I had to be fine.



On those closed-to-quitting moments, I told myself that this was a practice – a valuable experience - that would help me familiarize each cake’s baking process and speed things up in the future. And compared to my previous two bazaars, I could see that I did improve in terms of speed. I finished on time on Saturday morning!

Okay, I will be right back with you about the bazaar. For now, I hope you are happy with a Saffron Macaron recipe! Enjoy…

SAFFRON MACARON
Makes 10 macarons
Prepare: 1 big baking tray lined with a Silpat or parchment paper



Ingredients :
- Egg white > 70 grams
- Sugar > 50 grams
- Icing sugar > 90 grams
- Ground almond > 45 grams
- Saffron > 2 teaspoons
- Orange coloring > 1 drop

Method :
- Ground 1 teaspoon of saffron. Set aside.
- Combine icing sugar and ground almond. Sieve.
- Whip egg white until frothy. Add sugar and continue whipping until stiff peaks form.



- Fold almond and icing mixture, and ground saffron gradually into the egg white in 2 additions. Mix carefully with a spatula until batter is shiny and flowy like magma.
- Fill batter into piping bag tipped with a plain circular nozzle and pipe into a circle with a diameter of 3 cm. Piping makes 20 pieces. Sprinkle the top with the rest of saffron.
- Leave to rest until surface of these pipings are flat and dry or when touched, it doesn't stick to our finger. Meanwhile, preheat oven at 150°C.
- Bake at 150°C for 8-10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 125°C, turn tray 180 degrees and continue baking for 8-10 minutes.
- Cool on the rack and detach from Silpat or parchment paper.



2. Orange Ganache

Ingredients :
- White chocolate > 90 grams
- Whipping cream > 40 grams
- Orange concentrate > 1 teaspoon
- Butter > 16 grams

Method :
- Place white chocolate in a bowl.
- Heat whipping cream until boiled. Pour into white chocolate. Leave for a while until white chocolate melts. Stir thoroughly.
- Add butter and orange concentrate. Mix well.
- Leave to cool and thicken.

3. Assembly

- Fill orange ganache into piping bag and pipe on the macaron. Top with the other macaron to form like a sandwich.