Tuesday, November 13, 2012

hello kitty macarons for a wedding dessert table


Sometime last year, Cherish, a friend of a blogger friend of mine, contacted me about doing a dessert table for her wedding.  I had never done one before, but I told her I was willing to try!  She wanted to have a classic rustic wedding, and after we exchanged a few brainstorming emails she decided she definitely wanted my Hello Kitty macarons on the table, among other things!

A year flew by, during which we exchanged many emails, until finally it was a week before the wedding!  I had scheduled my week around the baking that I would need to complete, and for the Hello Kitty macarons I started on them 2 days before the wedding, as they would need at least 24 hours in the fridge to "develop". 

The first time I made macarons, it was quite a process!  Grinding almond meal, aging egg whites, etc.  You can read about it in this post, but since then I've gotten a little more used to the process.  I've also switched to using raw slivered almonds when making my almond meal, which saves lots of time!  (Although you could also just buy almond meal, but I prefer to grind my own!)

I like to use the Italian meringue method, where you make a hot sugar syrup on the stove, and then slowly pour it into whipped egg whites to help stabilize the meringue.


Then you continue whipping the egg whites until you get a stiff, glossy, beautiful Italian meringue!


Then you mix in the rest of your ingredients (almond meal, confectioner's sugar, and more egg whites) and fold them until you get the right consistency (until it "flows like lava"), and then fill a piping bag and pipe out circles of batter onto a silpat or parchment paper.


The first time I made my original Hello Kitty macarons back in June of 2011, I made the ears by using a toothpick to pull out the batter (based on a method I saw at 6Bittersweets where Xiaolu made lemon-shaped macarons).  But this time I decided to also try piping out the ears to see how it would look.


I liked it and it was much more time efficient than pulling out ears with a toothpick, however I think I still prefer the toothpick method better - they look more like ears!


But either way, they are still cute once Hello Kitty's face is drawn and bow is attached!  (See my original Hello Kitty macaron post as well as my post on rhubarb Hello Kitty macarons for more info on how I do this).


When all the shells were baked and cooled, I made a fresh strawberry cream cheese filling to fill them with.


I ended up making more than 150 macaron shells, which turned into 75 plus assembled macarons - I always make extra to allow for mess-ups!


Stay tuned for more posts on the rest of the wedding dessert table goodies!  I'll also have a post on the final set up of the dessert table, but here's a sneak peak on how I displayed these babies!


*** Update: click here to see the potted plant chocolate puddings for the dessert table, and here to see the football cookies and tooth cookies!

*** More updates:
You can now find my recipe for Hello Kitty Macarons in my new book, "The Hello Kitty Baking Book"! Enjoy!

18 comments:

  1. These are super cute! I've always wanted to bake macarons but I was always sacred I would mess up. But I now know that practice makes prefect, so I will suck it up and give macarons baking a try! ^_~

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    1. thanks @Elizabeth King ! you should totally give it a try! they are so fun to make (and eat)! :)

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  2. these are so so amazing. i would be thrilled to get these as a gift!! i bake all the time but still haven't tried macarons...i need to change that!
    xoamy
    www.cupcakesncouture.com

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    1. @Amy {Cupcakes+Couture} - thank you! and yes you definitely need to try making them!

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  3. I can't wait to see the dessert table! Do you recommend his book? I've been only making macarons the French way.

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    1. @Jen - and i can't wait to post on the dessert table! :) yes i love pierre herme's book, and all the pictures are beautiful and inspiring! i've only tried the italian meringue way, but have been meaning to try the french way sometime soon.

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  4. YEY! Loved these and everything you did. Thanks Michele!!

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    1. @cherish. - so glad you liked them! can't wait for you to see the rest of the posts! :)

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  5. Did you use edible pen for the eyes, whiskers and nose?

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    1. @Cielo - yes i used foodwriter edibale markers to draw on the face! you can also see my original hello kitty macaron post for more info.
      http://i-heart-baking.blogspot.com/2011/06/hello-kitty-macarons.html

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  6. Just to let you know that your link to Food on Friday: Go Bananas was featured in my Need Some Inspiration? Series today. Have a nice week.

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    1. @Carole - thanks so much for the feature, and for linking to my site! :)

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  7. Omg I love hello kitty! These are so cute!

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