Macarons, made by K.

K made macarons for the New Year's Eve party. We had quite a few friends over for that occasion, and whereas I was mainly in charge of the savoury dishes, K. had (almost) free hands in deciding which sweet dishes to offer. He had wanted to make macarons for ages, so he decided to go ahead.

I must admit that I was a bit hesitant to start with. Macarons, as we all know (or at least that's the feeling I get when reading bloggers who have made them), are a tricky concoction, to say the least. They sound deceptively simple - icing sugar, ground almonds, egg whites - yet there are hundred tricks and insider tips you must know in order to succeed. Also, as you cannot buy ground almonds in Estonia, K. had to grind his own - using our small old coffee grinder - and sieve the meal again and again. Then you had to wait for the egg whites to dry and so on. In the midst of the preparations for a successful New Year's Eve party, our kitchen was a mess - and occupied by him - for much longer than I had ever planned or wanted..

But - his macarons were a success! He made three different types - matcha macarons with dark chocolate ganache, lingonberry macarons (substituting some of the almonds with ground dried lingonberries - that's the Estonian twist) with blackcurrant buttercream a la Pille (aka icing sugar mixed with soft butter and some unsweetened blackcurrant juice), and plain macarons with plain buttercream.

They were beautiful and delicate and very much macaron-like. Loved these!!!

K. wants to thank Kuidaore and Tartelette as well as Melissa for their excellent tips on how to succeed with macarons.




You can see more pictures here.

Makroonide teema Nami-Nami foorumis

Making chorizo meatballs with a baby

Me and our little Nora Adeele (32 days old on the photo) making Annemarie's excellent chorizo meatballs.

(Chorizo lihapallid)

Mango Yogurt Cake Recipe

Here's a cake I made for K's mum's birthday lunch back in January. After the excessive eating during the festive season, I wanted to make something light, low in sugar and still delicious. An experiment with a pure mango pureé resulted in this delicious yogurt cake. Several people have tried this recipe, also posted on my Estonian site, and they've loved it. I used a can of sweetened Alphonso mango pulp by a UK-based East End company (92% mango), but you could use fresh mango pureé or blend some canned mangoes instead.

The cake needs to set for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight, so make it on a night before.

Mango Yogurt Cake
(Mangotort)
Serves 10 to 12

Base:
200 g gingerbread cookies or cocoa biscuits, crushed
80 g butter, melted

Mango filling:
500 g good-quality mango pulp
200 g plain yogurt
200 ml whipping cream (35-38% fat content)
2 Tbsp sugar
juice of a large lemon
8 gelatine leaves (or 2 Tbsp gelatine powder)

Garnish:
pistachio nuts, sliced or mint or lemon balm leaves

Mix the finely crushed biscuits with melted butter. Line a 25 cm springform with a parchment paper and press the mixture onto the base. If you want to make sure that the base doesn't crumble at all, you can bake it for 10 minutes in a 200 Celsius oven, then cool completely (I usually skip this step and save electricity :)
Soak the gelatine leaves in a cold water for about 5-10 minutes.
In a large bowl, mix the mango pulp and yogurt.
Heat the lemon juice in a small bowl, adding 2-3 Tbsp hot water. Press the soaked gelatine leaves dry and stir into the hot lemon juice/water mixture. Stir couple of times, until melted. Pour into the mango-yogurt mixture, stirring vigorously.
Whip the cream and sugar until soft peaks form, then fold into the mango mixture.
Spoon the mango filling onto (the pre-baked) cookie base, smooth the top.
Place into the fridge for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
Garnish with something green- pistachio nuts, or perhaps a mint or lemon balm leaves. Cut into fine slices and serve.