Blueberry Macarons w/Lemon Curd + Part Two- Tartlette Comes To Town (The Photo Daze)

When I first walked in to the Tartlette Macaron/Photography Workshop, I was almost dizzy with excitement and with dread. I was excited to finally meet Helene Dujardin, someone whom I had been inspired by long before I joined the ranks of "food bloggers". Besides her "never-fail" recipes, there were always those photos...ahh, those photos. I've taught art classes for several years (one of my 100 careers) and I've talked about photography being the art form that paints with light, and Tartelette is one of those artists.
So, the dread part was about the Photography portion of the day. I was confident enough about my baking skills that even if I failed with the macarons, I knew I'd pick it up with practice. However, my photography skills fall into that area of "desire for excellence being far far greater than ability". I can see it in my head, but more often than not - can't technically capture the feeling - the artistry...of painting...with light. My lack of skills were exposed immediately. I politely asked Helene if it was fine to take photos during the class. She very earnestly nodded, "of course, yes - all you want." I pulled out my "new to me" Canon camera and in what I thought was a completely anonymous moment, clicked a quick photo of Helene speaking directly to another student. As I just as quickly brought my lens down, hoping to not be noticed, Helene calmly and sweetly said, "that picture will be very blurry, I could hear your shutter speed is too slow". My hair stood on end...please don't ask to see what I know full well is a perfectly blurry example of my photography ignorance. Helen held her hand out, "let's take a look". YIKES! Busted! With great embarrassment I fiddled with the gadgets I'd been trying to learn and finally brought up my latest shot; a beautiful piece of moving swirls in muted colors without even a tiny hint of clarity. I thought to myself, "she HEARD my shutter speed and KNEW I didn't have a great shot?!?" It's going to be a long day.

I'll spare you the rest of my moment-by-moment thoughts and cut to the highlights of what turned out to be an awesome, fun-filled, confidence building class.
Helene had me reset my camera's aperture to 5.6, leaving my shutter speed to automatic. Once I did that, I could get a fairly decent shot without using flash (which was the exercise I wanted to practice.)
It was a common sense move for anyone who knew photography, and one that I could have figured out if I'd had...oh, a hundred tries, and a lot of time to experiment. But, I would not have understood the "why", so Helene explained. (I will not try to teach in this post, because you deserve to hear it correctly.)

I do suggest any of these:

1) Reading Helene's site, and doing her workshop at your earliest chance,
2) Taking a Food Styling/Photography workshop with the extremely talented Food Fanatics, Matt Armendariz and Adam C Pearson.
3) Reading/Watching the photo tutorials of these wonderfully talented people who explain it very well, even online: Diane and Todd of White On Rice.

After a very well put together DVD of Helene's work with her narrating and explaining how she got these shots, where the light source came from, how she reflected it back when she back-lit subjects, and the importance of asking yourself, "what do you want to say with this shot?", I was feeling taken care of. I had that feeling you get only when the teacher's spirit lets you know you are in a safe place to fail, to ask questions and to grow.

Each student began setting up their space with napkins and food props (things we brought with us to practice on) and Helen would circulate, giving undivided attention to each person's ideas. Then, she would give advice without changing the concept, but giving it focus and strength.

The ideas that I came away with included: Colors pop better with the inclusion of shadows, design ideas should include the movement you want the viewers eyes to follow, don't waste space - even the negative space should be with purpose, when shooting from above - everything is on the same plane so try shooting at 22 without so much fear, think outside the over-used 1.8 aperture used in a lot of food photos if your subject needs to offer more.

For my practice shooting, I brought a small bag of limes. I wanted to learn how to shoot in shadow, when the subject matter is not just one nice piece of cake, but a series of orbs or angles.


Helen had me cut the limes into segments, showing their moisture, their inside life and action. For a few minutes I was a photography partner with Tartelette (heh heh.) I left hugging my camera and feeling proud to own it, wanting to study and practice and, as Helene recommended: Shoot, shoot, shoot, it's the only way to really learn.

Since the workshop I have been on a Macaron flavor obsession. My latest are these:

Blueberry Macarons w/Lemon Curd
(the blueberries are oven dried, then ground to a flavorful dust)

*I followed the Macaron recipe ingredients and directions found on Tartelette's site, HERE, except I added 2 heaping Tablespoons of the oven dried blueberry dust to my powdered sugar and almond flour when pulsing it together.
*I also added a dash of powdered blue coloring to accent the blueberry flecks.
*The Blueberries were dried in a 200F oven for 2 hours, cooled, and ground in a coffee grinder to a dust.



LEMON CURD recipe:
(this is an easy basic recipe I used at CSCA)

1 cups sugar
3 egg yolks
3 lemon (juice and zest)
3 oz. butter cubed

Over a double boiler, with water at a simmer, whisk together the sugar, yolks, juice, and zest until it covers the back of a spoon and has thickened.
Remove from heat and beat in butter a little at a time til creamy - if any lumps, put through a sieve or chinois.
Chill before using.

I'm still experimenting with flavors and I'd love to hear about some of yours or your ideas.
Thanks, as always, for stopping by.

One Day Sweet Tartelette Came To Town...(Part 1) + Blood Orange Macarons

A few years ago, before I ever thought about being a Blogger and I was just a Googler, I used to check two sites all the time for recipes and inspiration. One of the sites was 101CookBooks and the other was Sweet Tartelette. You can imagine my personal joy to actually meet and workshop with the charming, funny, generous, and lovely Helene Dujardin, who genuinely deserves the moniker: Sweet Tartelette. For a few hours on a Saturday morning, Helene led us wide-eyed Food Bloggers through a Macaron workshop.
When we arrived, the work tables were already set up with a gift bag for each of us that contained: A Pastry bag, A Pastry tip, a full bottle of powdered food coloring, a bottle of water and a bag of pistachios. It was a great touch that made you feel like you had won something just for showing up. Then, Helene thanked the three ladies who had arranged this visit and opportunity for us all: Rachael of LaFuji Mama, Gaby of WhatsGabyCooking, and Jen of Devour The World. All three of these gals are adorable and multi-talented bloggers.

Macarons have become a "medal of honor" to many bakers. We knew this was our chance to have the "Macaron Master" teach us "pastry grasshoppers" how to make magic out of ground almonds, powdered and granulated sugar, and those ever mercurial damned egg whites. Helene did not disappoint and was amazingly generous with her individual attention and her expertise.
In a world where people litigate over the ownership of everything from a lottery ticket to a twinkling star in the heavens, here was a talented chef ready to share any and all knowledge about her craft.

Helene's personality is an amazing combination of "passionate, cool, hip" French-ness and "friendly, down-to-earth, neighborly" Southern American. In one sentence you may hear the lyrical kiss of a French accent, but the sentence could end with "yawl". She is what you would hope for: Super talented without any "Diva-tude".


If someone had peeked in on our little baking troupe that morning they would have snickered at how we oohed and aahed over egg whites, and stared at electric mixers whipping as if they were spinning gold in front of our very eyes. Even Helene had to laugh at how intense we all were, how focused we watched her every move and how kid-like we giggled over the vibrant colors.

And how we all became complete Foodie-Photo nerds when the chance of having "feet" (the little lacy bottoms that are so desired, yet so elusive) on our macarons became a reality.


The Macaron workshop was a great mixture of fun, learning, hands-on lab work and meeting new friends. Nice combo, wouldn't you say?


Tid-Bits from Macaron Workshop with Tartelette (as interpreted by me)

1) Measure out your egg whites, and all ingredients carefully and using a scale is preferred.

2) Aging the egg whites makes a huge difference; the more age the less liquid and it is liquid and moisture that is the enemy of success for these sweet treasures.
3) Beat your egg whites til very foamy and light before pouring your granulated sugar in like rain over the white while continuing to beat.
4) Beat your egg whites until they hold a stiff peak, glossy and firm rather than loose.
5) Add your well ground almonds and powdered sugar into the egg whites and give it an aggressive mix at first. (Helen checked each and every one of ours to help call the right time to stop for adding in color or any other ingredient.)

6) Once color, etc. has been added, continue to fold (less aggressively) until the mixture folds back on itself and settles to the count of 5. In other words, if you draw your spatula through the center, the mixture returns to itself and settles in about the count of 5.

7) Have everything ready ie.. pans with parchment, etc. before filling your pastry bag. Once filled, tilt your tip to the parchment and squeeze lightly from the top, lifting at the count of 1,2,3 lift.
8) Space your circles about an inch apart (I thought it helped to see how much a couple of them spread before deciding how much room was needed for the rest.)
9) Bang your pan straight up and down on the counter a couple times to settle any bubbles, but be careful not to tilt the pan.
10) Put your macarons in a preheated oven at 280F for convection, 300F for regular gas or electric, for about 15 - 20 minutes. Cool for a few minutes and remove each one carefully to finish cooling on a rack.

All of these tips have been posted (and much clearer) on Tartelette's site and in her articles for Dessert Magazine. Although none of these written tips are nearly as good as having her eyes and guidance in person, it's a good start. If you have the chance to take her workshop or can help organize her visit to your city to lead a workshop; DO IT NOW!

The pictures I posted so far were from my class with Helene and the many new friends I met that Saturday morning. At home, I used many of Tartelette's tips, including how to dry fruit for flavorings, and experimented at home with these:

Blood Orange Macarons with Dark Chocolate Butter Ganache
I was thrilled to have them come out so delish. I've included my added steps for these below, and you can follow the link [HERE] for the recipe at Tartelette.
Bon Appetite, Yawl.

Blood Orange Macarons:

Tartlette's recipe plus these steps:
+ Cut segments from 2 blood oranges, place them on parchment and dry in the oven set at 200F for a couple hours until all moisture is gone. (Turn several times during the 2 hours.)
+ Rub 1 tsp. of zest from a blood orange into the powdered sugar and almond flour.
+ Remove the dried segments and grind to a powder. Add this powder to the bowl half way through the mixing of your flour and meringue.
+ I added several drops of gel food coloring (mixed to make orange) at the same time to the mix.

Dark Chocolate Ganache Filling:
4 oz. darkest chocolate in small pieces
2 Tbls. butter Melt in a double boiler, stirring to make creamy.
Remove and let cool to room temp. before piping as a filling.

Quote from Deb, my Sister-in-law: "Can I have another one of those before you put them away, I think these may be the best dessert thing you've ever made."

**Next: Part 2 is the Food Styling/Photography Workshop I did with Tartelette (I know; How much talent can one woman have, right?)***