• Autumn baking,  Baking Recipes,  Experiments & experiences,  Foodie Life,  J'adore macarons

    {Kitchen Diaries} Autumn Edition

    It’s November, which means I am officially starting my countdown to Christmas! Since we don’t actually celebrate Thanksgiving holiday here, we’re jumping right into festive, Christmas-y baking before the last week of November arrives. It’s my favourite time of the year and I’m super excited to make the recipes I have planned for Christmas already, but before that, I wanted to share some of the autumn recipes that did not make the cut. I’ve actually been pretty busy in the kitchen even though it’s not as apparent on the blog. Poor planning, crazy whims, and the desire to use ingredients screaming at me in the fridge have led me to…

  • Baking Recipes,  Cookies,  From the books,  J'adore macarons,  My favourite things

    Into the macaron bandwagon, and I don’t want to get out

    Macarons are probably one of the easiest things a person can fall in love with. The endless possibilities in shell and filling combinations is mind-blowing, and whatever combination in colour and flavour one chooses, the results will almost always be a guaranteed winner. I mean just look at how adorable these things are! Making macarons has evolved from being intimidating to something really fun to do. Now I know this is only my third time making macarons, but it has been an incredible learning process. I think this is one of the things I love most about making these babies: I learn something new every single time. The difference in…

  • Baking Recipes,  Cookies,  From the books,  J'adore macarons,  Lemon Obsession,  My favourite things

    A semblance of Lemon Macarons + I need a new oven

    I’m officially obsessed. I want to make every macaron flavor in the Universe– every odd, outrageous, and wonderful flavor known to man– and file all the really memorable ones into my repertoire. But right now I have to experiment with recipes and techniques to find the ones that produce consistent results for me. And then I have to master them. And I also seriously need a better oven, but more on that later. Malcolm Gladwell says it takes 10,000 hours of hands-on application to become an expert at anything. And I know this is only my second try at macarons, but the improvement in knowledge from my first to my…

  • Baking Recipes,  Cookies,  David Lebovitz,  J'adore macarons

    Two bits of good news

    You guys!!!!!!! I did it. I made macarons!!!!! With feet!!!!! On my first try!!!!! Now on a typical day, seeing this much exclamation points would make me cringe, but not today. Because apparently the only way I can describe my feelings about this success is: !!!!!!! In hindsight I kind of wish I had spent significantly less time worrying about whether I would fail or not and used that time to actually attempt macarons. Considering all my past ventures into things involving whipping egg whites into a sort of meringue turned out better than I always anticipated, I think I may have unconsciously held unto those when I finally decided…