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Holy Forking Website!

holyforkingfudgeballs.com

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

Hello! Two years ago I started baking as a way to cope with the immense pressures and stress of grad school. I figured out that I loved it! So much so that I created a blog so that I can share my recipes, failures, favorite tips and tricks, and other nonsense with those that I love. I want to share so that others can have a place to find easily accessible tips for difficult to make desserts, such as macarons (AKA demon cookies). I have come a long way in a short time span, and I want to help others who may be intimidated by these fancy desserts. You can make these too!

Why the name? Well because 1- I love/loved the show The Good Place, and 2- it’s just the kind of person I am. For years I tried so hard to be elegant, and classy, and “deep”, and poetic and it came off dull, and annoying. That aesthetic really works for people -because that’s who THEY are. Yet, it always seemed really not-so-genuine for ME. I’m loud, I’m goofy, I’m always making jokes, and I have a bit of a potty mouth. That’s just who I am. So in the interest of keeping this blog true to my intentions, that’s what it will be also. For the record, if you are deep, poetic, elegant, and classy you’re still T-totally welcome here baby! Because it’s all about being yourself. What fun is life if you have to pretend to be something you’re not?

I’m not a business. This is solely something that I do as a method of stress reduction and just overall joy. I don’t take special orders. I will ON OCCASION sell a few of my cookies or do a local vendor event just to cover the cost of my equipment/ingredients but this is not about money, it’s just my happy place. 🙂

So welcome! Have fun, and I hope you learn something or at least get a good laugh on occasion.

Macarons: French vs Swiss

There are different types of macarons, all are almond based delicate cookies with some type of filling, usually sweet or fruity. They can be difficult to perfect, and expensive to create. BUT YOU CAN DO IT. The technique for each is very similar, the main difference is how you prepare your meringue. Today we’ll discuss the difference between French and Swiss Macarons. So let’s talk about the different kinds of macarons.

French Method

  • Almond Flour/Powdered sugar base
  • Egg white/regular sugar/cream of tartar meringue
  • Traditionally after the meringue is whipped it’s dumped into the dry ingredients and mixed by a technique called “Macaronage” where you fold the ingredients until the batter reaches a “ribbon stage” where it flows like lava and folds into neat little ribbons. Some refer to this as the “figure 8 stage” because you should be able to create two figure 8s in the batter without the stream breaking apart. Whatever you call it, it’s easy to over do and takes practice. Too thick batter results in lumpy or crunchy/exploding shells. Too thin and you get pancakes that spread and burn like hell.
  • It’s a great method for a beginner or those are afraid of using syrup/heated ingredients.
Orange Creamsicle Macarons-French Method

Swiss Method

  • This method used to intimidate me and is now one of my favorite ways to make macarons because of the super stable meringue
  • You start by weighing your ingredients as usual, however for your meringue you change your technique.
  • For the meringue you combine your egg white and sugar (you can even use powdered sugar instead of granulated!) into your mixing bowl and heat it OVER about 1″ of boiling water until it reaches a temp of 130 degrees.
  • Sound scary? I promise it’s not.
  • After that you whip your meringue like normal and then combine it with your dry ingredients. You’ll notice it’s much more thick and a LOT harder to over mix (but you still can, so don’t get crazy).
  • This meringue is so stable you can even do the first bit of macaronage in your mixer. There are some folks who do their entire macaronage in their mixer, even! I’m not fond of doing that because I tend to over mix, but try it if you like!
Strawberries and Cream macarons-SWISS method

Both kinds have their merits. For example I’ve noticed when adding extra dry ingredients like cocoa powder, cinnamon, etc that the french recipe is much more forgiving, but swiss will give me tiny feet if I add extras. That also may change for you when you try it. Because the first rule of macarons is that they do whatever the hell they want, whenever they want. I can promise you that even if you find the perfect recipe you will have to adjust it to your specifications but that’s the fun of it. It’s like a kitchen science experiment!

So whats the difference on the outside? Nothing. They’re both adorable, they’re both tasty, I find that the Swiss method DOES give me a bit thicker outer shell, making it harder to accidentally crack them, but once they’ve sat in the fridge overnight with filling they’re all the same.

Watch a fast-motion video of my creating my strawberries and cream macarons at my HFF facebook page.