Bake yourself a Cheese Cloud

Hello everybody ! Today I want to present to you a recipe for an edible cloud. It's called a Souffle ! I plan on baking many different flavours but today I'm writing about a Cheese Souffle. Yummy ! 

Ingredients : 

- Mature Cheddar Cheese (125g)

- Grated Parmesan Cheese 

- Plain Flour (45g)

- Butter (45g)

- French Mustard (1/2 tbsp)

- 5 eggs (5 whites and 4 yolks)

- Milk (225ml)

- Salt 

- Pepper

First I suggest preparing your space and your ingredients. I found it very helpful. Grate the Cheddar. Weight Flour, Butter and Cheddar and keep them in separate glasses so when you need one of them you just grab the glass. Separate the Egg Whites from the Yolks (remember that you need only 4 yolks, keep the fifth one in another container and put it in a fridge. You can use it later on for another recipe). Measure out the amount of Milk you need. Have the Salt, Pepper, Mustard and Parmesan close to you. You're ready to go ! 

By the way, I find a spiral whisk (http://homeware.fiskars.com/web/fiskarsweb.nsf/uk/utensils_functional_form_spiral_whisk_858150) the best to use when preparing the mixture for the souffle. 

In a small pot melt the butter. Add flour and stir until smooth. Cook it for a minute over a medium heat.

Pour in the milk and stir until the flour-butter mixture blends with the milk. When it's done bring it to the boil while stirring constantly until the mixture becomes thick and smooth. 

Remove the pot from the heat. Season it to your likings and add cheddar and mustard. Stir properly. Add the yolks bit by bit to the mixture and stir well. 

Preheat the oven to 190°C. Prepare a baking tray on which you will put the ready-to-bake souffle. 

In a large bowl whisk all the egg whites until it's stiff. Stir in a bit of the egg whites into the pot and stir well. Combine the mixture from the pot with the rest of the egg whites. Stir well. 

Grease the souffle dish with butter. Pour the mixture into the souffle dish. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top. Do not panic if at some point during baking, the souffle rises so much it breaks and starts to boil over. Just leave it alone, later on you can cut of the part that boiled over and eat them anyway. 

Bake for 20-30 minutes. 

When done serve immediately. The puffiness of the souffle goes away very quickly so you're trying to serve it as quickly as you can so your guests or family can see the souffle in a full glory. 

That's it ! Congratulations, you just made a cheese souffle ! 

Now hurry up and eat it while it's still hot. Enjoy this small piece of cheesy heaven. 

Bon Appétit ! 

Butterfingered Chef

Sweets That Made Me Die and Go To Paradise

Can you find those delicious sweets I'm writing about today ? 

I've seen it a lot of times but I never wanted to try it. My friend had a dirty keychain that looked like it and I think that was one of the reasons why it was on a no-no list. Besides, it looked like food made out of Pokemons. I always thought it would be squashy and sweet beyond boundaries but... I was wrong and it became my favourite sweet with a first bite. 

Yes, I am talking about macarons. 

The term 'macaron' is derived from the Italian word 'macarone' which means meringue. 

It should not be mistaken with macaroons. Macaron's main ingredients are eggs whites, icing sugar, granulated sugar, ground almond or almond powder and food colouring while macaroon's main ingredients are just almonds and egg whites. 

Macarons were brought to France by Catherine de’Medici. She was a daughter of a Duke of Urbino and a brief ruler of Florance, Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici. He died from syphilis 21 days after Cathrine's birth at age of 26. Her mother was Madeleine de la Tour. Catherine married King Henry II of France in 1533 at age of 14 and brought with her Italian pastry chefs who introduced macaron to France. 

Just a few days ago I tried my first macarons which after today I don't even consider a macaron but a "wanna-be". Macarons are very popular all over the world but it is difficult to find the good ones. A lot of macarons are just different colours but do not taste like what they are suppose to be made of. A lot of them do not have a flavour what so ever; they're just really sweet and no matter what colour you're going to buy it will not taste like anything else than just sugar. Also a lot of them don't even have the right consistency. The good macarons are unfortunately really expensive. 

Btw, the beautiful earrings you see in this photo are made by Horsecka Jewelry

The macaron we know today (so called double-decker) was created by Pierre Desfontaines of Laduree in 1930's. His grandfather, Louis-Ernest Laduree, founded  a french luxury bakery, Laduree,  in 1862 which thanks to his grandson's invention became famous all over the world and till today is still one of the best known makers of macarons. 

Everything from Laduree's paper bags, through the packaging to the macarons is classy and sophisticated. The small box of 6 macarons costs 15 euro. A box of 8 macarons 17 euro. The price says it all. 

Rose - at first I just felt its amazing texture, not the flavour. The almond meringue discs are crunchy at first but they really quickly melt in your mouth. The inside is really soft with a creamy, delicate texture. Just when I completely forgot that the macaron is suppose to have a flavour it hit me with such strength that I behaved as if I ate something really hot. The strong taste of a rose appeared first on my tongue and within seconds it was all over my cheeks and then nose. While the aroma was spreading in places I never thought have taste-buds (and I'm still sure they don't) I completely forgot about reality and the fact that I was sitting with my parents in a living-room. I was miles away in my grandparents summer house picking up petals of a wild rose from a garden which later I would mash in a small kitchen with lemon juice and sugar to create rose jam. Surrounded by the aroma of the rose I was 10 again. 
Now I know what I would say if somebody asked me what would be the last thing I would want to eat before I die. Rose macarons because they move my whole body and mind to what I consider my heaven and paradise. 

Pistachio - The creamy inside contains small pieces of nuts which gives a nice crunch to the whole macaron. After I ate it I looked at the notes I took while tasting it and I realised that within two sentences I used the word "pistachio"five times, which should give you a really good idea about its flavour. It tastes more like a pistachio than a pistachio itself. 

Pure Origin Chocolate From Venezuela - it tastes like a Polish Prince Polo chocolate bar (dark chocolate version) with a  creamy inside. If you never tried Prince Polo before I bet you can easily find it in Polish shops and if you're from Czech, Slovakia, Lithuania, Ukraine or Iceland you should have no problem in getting one as apparently those chocolate bars are quite popular in those countries. In Iceland it's called "Prins Póló".

Chocolate - Because of this little macaron I literally started screaming asking my mom "What is this chocolate ?! Where do they get it from ?!" because I never ate a better chocolate in my entire life. 

Salted Caramel - Really strong taste. Even though the name of this macaron suggests that the filling was made with an enormous amount of sugar and some salt I didn't taste carmel whatsoever. Instead of that I felt like eating a less sweet version of condensed milk. It reminded me of wafer-cakes my grandma used to make. It also tasted the way a honeycomb smells when taken out of the beehive (at least that's the way I remember the smell of it). 

Raspberry - After the first bite I felt like having a handful of raspberries in my mouth. After a whole macaron I felt like I ate at least 60 raspberries at once. The aroma is really strong and what I like about this macaron are the seeds that I could feel in my mouth and which gave me an illusion of actually eating a raspberry. 

If you ever ate a cheap macaron from a nearby bakery and it wasn't very good or it was just really sweet without any specific flavour please do not think all of them are like that. It can take time to find the good and real macarons. If you'll ever find yourself in Laduree store buy a small box. I know it's expensive but I'm sure you won't regret spending those 15 euros. Just don't get addicted to them! 

Take care sweet-tooth comrades! 

Butterfingered Chef