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I started my journalism career as a workie at Yen magazine. A bunch of phone answering, photocopying and transcription-typing later, I found myself writing for a local paper (for free, of course), the Sun Herald (I was paid, things were looking up!) and then eventually for various financial and consumer mags. Now I'm back as web editor in a woman's title (yay!) - it's a bit of a full circle, really.
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12 Feb, 2010
Not sure if you'd agree with me on this, but as far as I'm concerned -- any days where Hallmark cards are involved are a great excuse to splurge on gastronomic treats.
So if, like me, you don't care much for flowers and poorly picked perfumes, try printing this out and casually slipping it to your boy as a subtle way of saying, "You'd better have a go at making this for me or else I'm leaving for Adriano Zumbo before you can utter the word valentine."
Recipe: Baileys' Macaroons
Macaroons:• 2 egg whites
• 120g granulated sugar
• 50g ground almonds (shelled)
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
Cream:• 150g ready-made dark chocolate ganache
• 100mL Baileys Original Irish Cream
• 50g butter
Preparation:1. Beat egg whites until stiff. Gradually add sugar until a shiny, stiff mixture is formed. Mix the almonds together with the cocoa powder and sprinkle over the mixture, folding in carefully with a spatula. Place the mixture into a piping bag. Squeeze about 60 small dollops (about 2.5 - 3 cm diameter) onto a baking sheet that has been lined with baking paper.
Flatten each dollop using a small cooking knife. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C (gas mark 2 - 3, or fan-oven: 160 °C) for about 15 minutes. Leave baking sheet in the oven after it has been turned-off and open the door for about 5 minutes. Then remove the macaroons and leave them to cool.
2. Finely grate the ready-made ganache. Warm the Baileys (do not boil), add the ready-made ganache and melt in the liquid, stirring constantly. Add small pieces of butter. Cool the chocolate mixture until it reaches the right consistency for piping.
3. Give the mixture a vigorous stir and then pour into an icing bag with a large star-shaped spout. Pipe a dollop of the mixture onto half of the macaroons and then cover these halves with the second macaroon. Leave the macaroons to cool.
Plan BFor those who are dating someone less culinary-inclined, we dig these little gems from Max Brenner. At $16 a pop, it's the most fun you can have playing 'love me, love me not'.
Bon Appetit! xx
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