ANZAC Muesli Biscuits

ANZAC Day came and went on the 25th of April. These muesli biscuits, modelled after ANZAC biscuits, are lovely as afternoon tea biscuits or a lunch box addition.



Makes 36-40 biscuits

1 c plain flour, sifted
1 c raw muesli
3/4 c (165 g) raw sugar
1/3 c (60 g) almond meal
1/2 c desiccated coconut, omitted
125 g butter
2 T golden syrup, see below
1 T water
3/4 t bicarbonate soda

1. Combine flour, muesli, sugar, almond meal and coconut in a mixing bowl
2. Combine butter, golden syrup and water in a saucepan. Heat until butter is melted.
3. Add bicarbonate soda. Allow to foam.
4. Add the foam to the dry ingredients. Mix to a dough with wooden spoon.
5. Shape dough into 2 cm ball. Place on greased and lined baking tray, 5 cm apart.
6. Bake at 170 degrees Celsius for 15-25 minutes until golden.
7. Cool on baking tray until hard enough to move to cooling racks.



Golden Syrup Substitute
180 g (3/4 c) raw sugar
60 mL (1/4 c) boiling water
1/8 t cream of tartar

1. In a glass basin, dissolve sugar in boiling water by heating in a microwave using 30 s bursts. Avoid stirring. Wash down sugar crystal with a wet pastry brush if necessary.
2. Add cream of tartar.
3. Continue to boil in the microwave in 30 s bursts until the sugar is syrupy with frothy bubbles. Be careful not to scorch. Allow around 5 minutes.

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Bush Tucker Macaroons

Piquant lemon myrtle imparts an intense lemon aroma to this macaroon made with LSA, a mixture of linseed, sunflower seeds and almond meal.




The beautiful, mild flavour of quandong, Australian native peach, pairs well with the aroma of oriental almond (apricot kernel) and peach scented osmanthus flowers.




Together, these ingredients create this exquisite quandong macaroon. The amaretto-like aroma from apricot kernel and peach flavours work wonderfully together. There is a subtle hint of sourness from quandong to balance the sweetness of the meringue. The lovely colour comes from quandong and red fermented rice (ang kak). This macaroon is truly for the connoisseur.




Wattleseeds give these macaroons their hazelnut-coffee-chocolate flavour. The perfect pairing for wattleseed is vanilla cream, chocolate, and fruit like pears, peaches or berries.

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Salted Black Sesame Macaroon

Post in progress.....

Black Sesame Macaroon

55 g black sesame seeds, milled*
75 g icing
40 egg white (from 1 x 67 g egg)
15 g sugar
1/4 t salt
1/2 teaspoon water, optional

To make these macaroons, check out instructions listed by David Lebovitz or use the method found at this restaurant. In a nutshell, process sesame seeds with icing and fold into a meringue made with the remaining sugar. The meringue can be made using French (slow sugar addition), Swiss (bain marie) or Italian (sugar syrup) methods.

This macaroon is designed to be eaten without filling. Suitable fillings include vanilla cream, caramel/butterscotch, palm sugar/coconut, chocolate and jasmine rice ganache.

*To mill the black sesame seeds, freeze beforehand. Mill in a spice grinder using short bursts. Freeze again should oil forms during milling. Finish milling with icing and return to the freezer. Just before making the macaroons, remove from the freezer and process to aerate and remove clumps. The milled black sesame and icing sugar mixture resembles a fine grey powder, not an oily paste.

For a dramatic look, sprinkle with black sesame seeds before cooking.

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Macaroon

Nothing beats the mystique of the delicate almond flavoured macaroon whose history spans some 4 centuries, from monastic origins to haute Parisian tea parties, and war time interludes. The romance of these meringue cookies that marries a crisp crust and a soft chewy interior goes as far back as 1533 (The Food Chronology by James Trager). Read the history of Italian and French connections.



Traditional macaroons are like the Italian amaretti without the bitter-sweet amaretto almond liqueur. These macaroons are baked on edible rice paper. The rice paper is trimmed around the cookie after cooking.




Rice paper is used before the invention of silicone baking parchment. Some of the older folks probably remember the recycled brown paper shopping bags which require steaming over a hot wet tea towel to remove the cookies.




Coconut kisses are many a grandma's x-rated version of the macaroon.




The French spelling is macaron. Pedantic French patissiers refine the cookies, giving them ruffled petticoats or skirts, and smooth shiny, dome sugar crusts, by air drying while resting the uncooked cookies. Haute restaurants serve these intimate French rendition, sandwiched with ganache, buttercream or jam in many combinations of colours and flavours.




Part of the fun making macaroons is to find the perfect matching pair to join together. Grandma's generation bakes slap dash "kisses" without fuss. It takes time to master the intricacies of the macaroon, to create that perfect union in the French style.


Ingredients
60 g icing sugar (3 tablespoons)
40 g almond meal (1/3 c or 1/4 c + 1 tablespoon ground rice/cornstarch/cocoa)
40 g egg white (from 1 x 67 g egg)
30 g castor sugar (1.5 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon water or reserved egg white, optional
2 drops almond essence, optional


Method

1. Freeze the almond meal to prevent oil from clumping the meal.
2. Blend the almond meal with icing sugar in a food processor to aerate and remove lumps.
3. Whisk the egg white and castor sugar over a basin of freshly boiled water until stiff and glossy, but not dry. This takes 2-5 minutes. Do not cook the egg white.
   
4. Fold in the almond and icing mixture. The consistency resembles sloppy mash potatoes.
5. If prefer, adjust with water or reserved egg white to a flowing consistency for a smoother finish. Trails disappear back into the mixture after a few seconds.
6. Fold in flavouring.
7. Fill a piping bag fitted with a plain piping tube, or use a folded greaseproof paper cone with the tip cut off.
   
8. Pipe 2-3 cm rounds on silicon baking parchment or rice paper. Space about 2 cm apart for spreading. Use a tooth pick to adjust the shapes. If wanted, smooth the surfaces with the back of a wet spoon.
9. Transfer the piped sheets to paper lined baking trays.
10. Knock the trays to remove air and to aid smoothing.
11. Rest 30 minutes to 2 hours for sugar crusts to form.
12. Bake at 130 degrees Celsius for 12 minutes, without browning, until firm to touch.
    

Notes
One large egg white (40 g) makes about 72 cookies or 36 sandwiched macaroons with a diameter around 2 cm. For 3 cm diameter, the number of cookies is around 40, or 20 sandwiched pairs.

Instead of almond, use other nuts, seeds, crushed biscuits or coconut. Toast the seeds in a cast iron pan or roast the nuts in an oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 5 minutes. Freeze before milling to prevent clumping and/or oily butter from forming.

For icing sugar, mill granulated sugar to powder in a spice mill. For castor sugar mill granulated sugar in short bursts until the required texture.

Age the egg white at room temperature for at least 1/2 hour before, or overnight for a better consistency of batter.

For browning, cook at 160 degrees Celsius.

Cracks often develop for shorter resting time. Traditional macaroons are not rested. For the characteristic skirts (also called feet) on the French versions, rest for 2-5 hours for the sugar crust to form. Some patissiers dust the raw cookies with icing. Depending on humidity, resting times can be longer or shorter.

To flatten and even out the piped cookies, slap the silicon baking parchment on the kitchen bench before transferring to a baking tray.

To prevent the bottom from browning and reduce cracks, put 3 sheets of printing paper under the silicon baking parchment.

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