When it comes to food I only know how to eat it; I’m no iron chef and when it comes to beer, you can see me snoozing after 5 sips. Samuel Adams is executing a Canada-wide a Brand-in-Hand program in which I am participating by incorporating Samuel Adams beer in a food experience.
Making dessert with Dr. Oetker’s Creme Caramel
Since I was at home today with a swollen throat due to some unknown food allergy, and I finally opened my box of Dr. Oetker’s Creme Caramel mix I bought from Superstore (approximately $2.50) couple weeks ago.
This is a mix that comes with one pouch of custard powder, and another pouch of caramel syrup.
On the back of the box are instructions:
After all the prepping and boiling; pre-chilling
I only had one ramekin bowl (that I bought from Las Vegas and brought it to Vancouver) and used glassware instead. Because the dessert mixture was hot and I don’t like putting hot things in the fridge, I put them on a cold towel before chilling them in the fridge.
Some problems I encountered
- Syrup was very thick so it got a bit messy with me when I was trying to pour them evenly.
- I was impatient and set the milk to boil a bit over the medium so the milk almost spilled out of the sauce pan.
All in all, I think I got most of the steps right. I put the serving dishes in the fridge and they were in a jello-ed state after several hours. They were quite tasty, and a bit sweet, but not too sugary.
I tried this before turning it upside down on a dessert plate:
Couldn’t get a picture of the ramekin with the upside down dessert, because my parents ate it before I even knew.
Baking Lemon Coconut Macaroons!
Not only am I obsessed with macarons/French macaroons, I also like coconut macaroons. I have such a sweet tooth. A while ago, I made a bunch of lemon coconut macaroons from a simple recipe I found on a blog – alpineberry.
These instructions were taken from her site.
Lemon Coconut Macaroons
(adapted from Gourmet magazine April 2007)
2 large egg whites
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
pinch of salt
1 3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 tsp potato starch or all purpose flour
Preheat oven to 325F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone sheet.
Stir egg whites, sugar, lemon zest, salt to combine.
Toss coconut with potato starch and then add the coconut to egg mixture and mix well.
Scoop out 15 mounded tablespoons onto baking sheet, spacing them about 1.5 inches apart.
Bake at 325F for 16-18 minutes until the tops are light golden brown in spots.
Allow to cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes.
********
The trickiest part for me was getting the lemon zest. Lemon zest is the yellow part of the peel of the lemons that contains the oils and flavour. I bought two lemons and grated them with a veggie peeler; then I chopped them up as small as I can. I had random cubes and irregular shapes of lemon peel, instead of finely grated zest.
(Btw- I used regular lemons, but meyer lemons is supposed to taste better. However, I couldn’t find any in my local superstore, and the 2 lemons I bought only costed me $0.50)
I threw my improv lemon zest in my mixture anyway, testing them out, and hoping for the best…and thank goodness it tasted okay! I enjoyed my homemade macaroons! It’s a very simple recipe that anyone should try, especially if they love citrus flavoured pastries! For me, I prefer citrus > chocolate anytime!
My finished product:
Do you see the awkward lemon peel on the macaroon? Hehe.
I think I messed up somewhere though…because the bottom of the macaroon is supposed to be more brown, and mine is just melted lemon..goo 🙁
I will have an attempt number 2 soon! 🙂 Hope they look tasty to you!