Spring is here!

Spring is here – finally! I like winter if there is cold outside and everything is covered in snow … but last years we don’t get as much snow as we used to when I was little. And snowdrops and primroses in the middle of January? Not OK 🙂 But I like spring flowers now in the middle of March … and fresh air, warmer days, sunshine … Even our oven is happy with weather and finally works fine 😉 I am really happy that I can finally bake light-colored shells and I’m in love with recent photos of macarons that I have taken during past weeks.

Pomlad je tu – končno! Zimo imam rada, če je zunaj mrzlo in je vse prekrito s snegom … ampak zadnja leta je snega manj kot ga je bilo včasih, ko sem bila še majhna. Zvončki in trobentice sredi januarja pa niso ok 🙂 Pomladne rože imam rada sedaj, sredi marca … ter svež zrak, bolj tople dneve, sončno vreme … Še naša pečica je vesela lepega vremena in končno deluje tako kot je treba 🙂 Zelo sem vesela, da lahko končno spečem svetlo obarvane ploščice. Zelo so mi všeč tudi zadnje fotografije makronov, ki sem jih naredila v preteklih tednih.

Lemon, chocolate, coconut, vanilla and strawberry chocolate macarons / limonin, čokoladen, kokosov, vanilijev in jagodno-čokoladen makroni.

Coconut, vanilla and strawberry chocolate macaron / kokosov, vanilijev in jagodno-čokoladni makron.

Lemon, coconut, vanilla and strawberry chocolate macarons / limonini, kokosovi in jagodno-čokoladni makroni.

I have finally find out what causes strange feet or even cracking of macaron shells – humidity and hygroscopic sugar (some brands of sugar aren’t ok). Fortunately they taste the same even if they are not so beautiful 🙂 (Sometimes I complicate too much, I know 🙂 )
If you have problems with cracking you can try using double pan. It worked for me at my beginning, but now I use only one pan and if the macaronage is ok, shells won’t crack.

Končno sem ugotovila, kaj je vzrok za čudne “nogice” in včasih celo pokanje školjkic – vlaga in higroskopni sladkor (nekatere znamke niso v redu). Na srečo so kljub temu enako okusni, čeprav niso tako lepi. (Včasih preveč kompliciram, saj vem 🙂 )
Če imate probleme s pokanjem, lahko poskusite uporabiti dvojni pekač. V začetku mi je to zelo pomagalo, sedaj pa uporabljam samo enega, saj sem ugotovila, da če je masa v redu, potem školjkice ne popokajo. Več o peki makronov si lahko preberete tukaj.

Banana, apricot and strawberry vanilla macarons with not-so-beautiful feet / bananini, marelični in jagodni makroni z ne-tako-zelo-lepimi nogicami.

I still want to “develop” new tastes of fillings. I made forest fruits curd a while ago but I didn’t like it, it didn’t taste like forest fruits at all … Perhaps I will experiment with Swiss meringue buttercream which is still less sweet than ordinary buttercream.

Še vedno želim narediti nove okuse polnil. Nekaj časa nazaj sem naredila “curd” (kakšen je slovenski izraz za to? Gre za kremo, ki jo zgostimo s pomočjo rumenjaka) iz gozdnih sadežev, ampak mi ni bil všeč, saj ni imel nikakršnega okusa. Mogoče bom začela eksperimentirati s švicarsko masleno kremo, ki je še vedno manj sladka kot navadne maslene kreme.

Mixed macarons / mešani makroni

Mixed macarons in gift boxes for women’s day / mešani makroni v darilnih škatlah za materinski dan

Gift box with 20 macarons / darilna škatla z 20 makroni

If you are freak like me and enjoy seeing pretty macaron photos, I’ve got two mobile phone wallpapers for you 🙂

Če je mogoče kdo od vas tak “frik” kot jaz in rad vidi lepe fotke makronov, imam za vas 2 ozadji za telefon.

Colorful spring macarons / pisani spomladanski makroni

Heart shaped macarons / srčkasti makroni

You can get them in full size here / v polni velikosti jih lahko dobite tukaj:

Macarons wallpaper #1: click
Macarons wallpaper #2 (hearts/srčki): click

I think that heart macarons deserve their own post, so see you soon! 🙂

Mislim, da si srčkasti makroni zaslužijo lastno objavo, tako da se beremo kmalu! 🙂

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All macarons and boxes on my blog are handmade with love ❤ 🙂

Vsi makroni in vse škatle na tem blogu so izdelani ročno z ljubeznijo ❤ 🙂

One year

Exactly one year ago I made my first macarons. They weren’t tasty, they were completely overbaked, too sweet and they didn’t look good. I told everybody around me that I would never make them again … But next day I tried again … and then again … and again. And they finally turned out O.K. 🙂

Natanko eno leto nazaj sem spekla prve makrone. Bili so preveč pečeni, neokusni, presladki in tudi izgledali niso lepo. Vsem sem dejala, da jih ne bom nikoli več pekla … ampak naslednji dan sem poskusila ponovno … in nato ponovno … in ponovno. In končno so uspeli 🙂

And here am I now, still baking them almost every week, trying new flavors and combinations. You can read more about macarons in one of my posts (click).

Eno leto kasneje jih še vedno pečem skoraj vsak teden ter preizkušam nove okuse in kombinacije. Več o makronih si lahko preberete v eni izmed prejšnjih objav (klik). 

 

Chocolate, banana and raspberry dark chocolate macarons / čokoladen, bananin in malinov makron s temno čokolado

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All macarons and boxes on my blog are handmade with love ❤ 🙂

Vsi makroni in vse škatle na tem blogu so izdelani ročno z ljubeznijo ❤ 🙂

Chocolate banana muffins recipe

(Slovenski recept se nahaja na spodnjem delu objave)

I have not been making macarons these days, because I am waiting to get a new oven (I hope it will be good). But I can not help myself, I really like baking. And chocolate. And I had one very ripe banana (ripe bananas are not edible for me 🙂 ) So I have made chocolate banana muffins. They are d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s! Really! I do not like dry muffins and these are really moist and soft.

Chocolate banana muffins

Here is the recipe (makes 12 muffins):

Wet ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 100 g sugar
• 1 pack vanilla sugar
• 240 mL milk
• 120 g yogurt
• 125 g margarine (or butter)

Dry ingredients:

• 380 g flour
• 3 tsp backing powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 4 tsp cocoa powder

• 100 g semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 ripe banana, chopped

Preheat oven to 180 °C. In one bowl mix together dry ingredients and in other wet ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix lightly (not with mixer!) until just combined, mix in chocolate and banana. Pour mixture into muffin pan, filling each cup to the edge (you should have enough mixture for 12 muffins). Bake for 20-25 min (a toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean).

Chocolate banana muffins

Chocolate banana muffins

Zadnje čase nič ne pečem makronov, ker čakam, da nam priključijo novo pečico (upam, da bo dobra).  Ampak ne morem iz svoje kože, res rada pečem. In res imam rada čokolado. Imela sem tudi eno zelo zrelo banano (zame prezrele banane niso užitne 🙂 ). Tako, da sem naredila čokoladne bananine mafine. So o-d-l-i-č-n-i! Res! Suhih mafinov nimam rada, ti pa so zelo sočni in mehki.

Recept za 12 mafinov:

Mokre sestavine:

• 2 jajci
• 100 g sladkorja
• 1 zavoj vanilijevega sladkorja
• 240 mL mleka
• 120 g jogurta
• 125 g margarine ali masla

Suhe sestavine:

• 380 g moke
• 3 žličke pecilnega praška
• 1 žlička sode bikarbone
• 4 žličke kakava v prahu

• 100 g nasesekljane temne čokolade
• 1 na koščke narezana zrela banana

Pečico segrej na 180 °C. V eni posodi zmešaj suhe sestavine, v drugi mokre sestavine. Suhe sestavine rahlo vmešaj v mokre (ne z mikserjem!), toliko, da se omočijo, na koncu vmešaj še čokoladne in bananine koščke. Maso razdeli v pekač za mafine (vsako vdolbinico napolni do roba; mase bi moralo biti za točno 12 mafinov). Peci 20-25 min (toliko da zobotrebec, ki ga zapičiš v sredino mafina, ostane čist).