Friday 22 January 2010

“Petit Fours aux Amandes”

aka gorgeous almond “macaroon” style biscuits that are completely impossible to ignore when you walk past their tray.DSCF6004 To me, it feels like there are so many skills to learn when you start baking – and especially baking for a baking blog. Obviously, there are simple things to master first, simple things to be able to build on. Sponge cakes, roll-out cookies. But then I gradually find there are more things – candy making, fancy-buttercream making, complicated-cakes, puff pastry, elaborate sugar craft. Of course most of these things are completely unnecessary and few but the professional do them – but they are so much more noticeable when you look at the “big blogs”. One small technique I had yet to master properly was piping.

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Which is why these biscuits appealed to me and were on my new To Bake list. They were unusual, from a new book, looked darn tasty – and could give me a chance to improve on that old piping.
For Christmas, I was lucky enough to receive Mary Berry’s Complete Cake Bible. Readers abroad may not recognize the name – but Mary Berry is a classic – a little like a British Dorie Greenspan. This book (as the title may give away) holds every recipe you’re going to need, for every occasion, every ingredient, every time. As I read through it, almost every page had me thinking “Ooh”, “I should make that”, “That sounds nice”, “How clever!” or “That’s so pretty!”. Definitely a book I would recommend.  DSCF6005

Happily, these cookies turned out delicious. They are moist and slightly sticky, bursting with almond flavour. The book says you would probably only make these as a gift as they are slightly fiddly. Well…ahem… my family enjoyed them very much and not one was shared! They are so delicate and small it becomes dangerously easy to munch on a couple at a time. I got the hang of the piping, and feel much more confident with that now.
Notes: I had three trays of cookies and each turned out differently. Tray 1 – had about 9 minutes and turned out perfectly. Tray 2 – same time, but for some unknown reason the piping detail disappeared whilst baking. Tray 3 – had 12 minutes, a little too dark. Just something to bear in mind! You can see the three different batches in the bottom picture.

Petit Fours Aux Amandes from Mary Berry’s Ultimate Cake Bible, by Mary Berry

Ingredients: 2 egg whites
4oz (100g) ground almonds
3oz (75g) caster sugar
a little almond essence

To Decorate: glace cherries or angelica (these do NOT have to be chopped into heart shapes like mine, but I was baking with my arty sister and well…they are so cute!)

To Finish: 1tbsp caster sugar
2tbsps milk

1. Preheat the oven to 180’C/350’F/Gas 4. Line two baking trays with non-stick paper.

2. Whisk the egg whites until stiff. Fold in the ground almonds, sugar and almond essence.

3. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle, and pipe into small rosettes. Decorate each rosette with a small piece of glace cherry or angelica.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until golden. Lift onto a wire rack.

5. To finish, mix the caster sugar and milk together and lightly brush over the cooked petit fours.

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From left to right, Tray 1, Tray 2, Tray 3.

13 comments:

kimberleyblue said...

I think the heart shape is adorable - perfect for Valentine's Day!

These sound really nice...I love that almond flavour!

Bob said...

They look fantastic, even trays 2 and 3. Heh. I can't pipe to save my life

English Mum said...

Wow these are so pretty. I'm completely and utterly hopeless at anything that requires precision - especially piping :)

BTW I've given you a mention here:

http://englishmum.com/2010/01/20/nope-im-all-out-youll-have-to-go-elsewhere/

xx

La Table De Nana said...

They are more than cute w/ the hearts and I love everything almond~ Thank you for this new name in baking to me:)Lucy..you should try and send your last photo into Foodgawker.:) It's lovely..Have you seen Foodgawker?

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

What cute and tempting cookies! That flavor combo is wonderful!

Cheers,

Rods

Dewi said...

Beautiful and delicious sounding petit fours Lucy. Love the heart shape cherry glaze. Very cute indeed. How lovely to bake this your sis.

Amanda said...

They are so cute! And look delicious!

Blessings-
Amanda

Hannah said...

I found your blog via English Mum, really enjoying reading it :o)

Faith said...

These are really lovely and sound delicious with the flavor of almond! I love the cherries on top -- they almost look like little hearts!

Erin @ OneParticular Kitchen said...

These are just gorgeous! I think I'd keep them all to myself too. :) How perfect for Valentine's day though!

Dinners & Dreams said...

I like these petits fours--very flirty with the little red hearts on top. Perfect for Valentine's Day!

Have a great week!

xo,

Nisrine

Steph said...

I'm so glad you made these Lucy because I recently tried an almond cookie that was really gross. I was trying to find a cookie that looked like yours.. I found it now!

Andrea J said...

great job! these look delicious!