Of Smocks and Blooms

Introducing... Lilly Macaron

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel) — Thu, 09 May 2013 13:30:00 +0000

It really is fantastic how things just happen and start to fall into place. The past months of my life have been a little bit of a turmoil: hitting multitudes of visa issues in the UK, I started this blog in the fall as a platform to share my exploration into baking. While it was a visa that started to define and dictate my upcoming months, baking was the only place I had control of and which gave me peace of mind. I stumbled upon the challenge to create macarons while browsing blogs and decided to attempt it myself. The macaron proved rather difficult, and batch after batch I became more and more obsessed with the little treat. Not every one came out right, yet those that did kept me striving to create.

After a few test customers, it was decided: I needed to do this for real. After a month or so of deliberation, I took the dive. Lilly Macaron was born. A name based on my childhood nickname and full of love for baking macarons and creating interesting flavors, I'm baking for events, gatherings, celebrations, and pop-ups. Back in my surrogate-hometown of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, I'm so excited for what the future may bring for me and Lilly Macaron amidst starting my dream fashion marketing job next week!

http://www.facebook.com/LillyMacaron

Cassis Macaron

Mint Chip Macaron

Mocha Macaron

Black Magic Macaron

Churro Macaron

Coconut Lemon Macaron

Maple Bacon Macaron

Double Mocha Macaron

Peanut Butter Jelly Macaron

Raspberry Dark Chocolate Macaron

Rosewater Macaron

Salted Caramel Macaron

Limoncello Macaron

Pear and Honey Macaron

Macarons Galore

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 16:53:00 +0000

It's official- my love for making macarons has taken a rather serious turn. The fantastic feedback I've had from friends, family, and colleagues is amazing, and I can't help but want to share my creations with the rest of the world!

If you're in the Greater Boston area, shoot me a mail! I'd love to make some macarons for you.

Deliciously Fluffy Dark Chocolate Brioche

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 09:44:00 +0000

The holidays are always the best time for making bread. Its the only time of year that bread can be fully appreciated by the maximum amount of people. For example, my house in its everyday state has about 2-4 people max roaming around. Hit Christmas and New Years and suddenly the number has reached 12. When it comes down to it, thats the best part of baking: being able to put your love into it and share it with the best people that you know.

On one of my first days in America, the jetlag had awoken me at 5am: the perfect bread-making time of the morning. Brioche is always delicious with coffee, so I adventured onto a dark chocolate version which I adapted from Julia Child. Another great thing about brioche is that the intense stickiness of the dough leaves for lack of kneading this can be done with dough hooks on your mixer. Needless to say, this is not a bread to make for munching on the same morning- it needs at least a night's resting period in the fridge!

Dark Chocolate Brioche
makes 2 loaves

Starter Dough (sponge)
1/3 cup warm milk
2 1/4 teaspoons dry yeast
1 egg
2 cups white flour

Rest of Dough
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups white flour
170g unsalted butter (room temp)
1 cup dark chocolate morsels

First start with the sponge dough: a high concentrated yeast starter that will help make the end result deliciously fluffy. Heat your milk in a small pan until it feels warm to touch. Meanwhile, put 1 cup of flour, egg, and yeast in a mixing bowl. When milk is ready, pour into the bowl and immediately start to mix with a wooden spoon. Once its all incorporated, add your remaining 1 cup flour all over the top of the mixture to cover it. Cover the bowl with cling film and let this to rest for 40 minutes. Over this time, the flour will start to form cracks on the top.

When your starter mix is set to go, attach your dough hooks to your mixer and start to make the rest of the dough. Add your sugar, salt, eggs, and 1 cup of the remaining flour to the sponge and start to mix together. When this looks like its incorporating, add the remaining 1/2 cup of flour. Continue to beat the mixer for 10 minutes or so: this is your substitute kneading process, and the bread needs to aerate to rise properly.

Now to add the butter. For this recipe its so important to make sure the butter really is at room temp. Have your butter in a different bowl and beat it with a spoon by itself to make sure its smooth enough. If its still a little hard, stick it in the microwave to soften (but not melt!) Slowly start to add the butter bit by bit to your dough, mixing to incorporate in between. Keep mixing for another 5-10 minutes until the dough looks silky and has fully come together. Cover and let rise at room temp for 2 hours, or until doubled in size.

At this point, you'll want to knock back your dough before the next resting period. It'll still be sticky, so carefully draw the bread from the sides of the bowl and fold into itself. Do this a few times until the dough has come to normal size again. The long rest period comes next- cover your dough with cling film and let rise in the fridge overnight. Over this time it'll grow and at least double in size again.

The next morning, take out your dough. At this point you should be able to work it with your hands on a well-floured surface. Add in your dark chocolate and knead til the pieces are incorporated. Split the dough into two equal size pieces and shape as you like. Splitting into three and plaiting always looks nice, or even rolling a few small balls would create a beautiful shape for your brioche. Place in a well buttered loaf tin, cover, and let rise for 1 more hour. (Instead of this last rise, you could also freeze until you want to bake. The night before, let defrost overnight in the fridge and complete this 1 hour rise the following day before the bake.)

Before the bake, some people choose to wash the top with egg wash. With this particular bread, the egg wash almost burnt the top of mine for the first loaf. The second turned out much better without egg wash and had a much nicer color. I recommend not using egg wash for this brioche, especially if your oven temp runs a little high.

Bake in the oven at 190°C for half an hour, or until top has browned and bread sounds hollow when tapped.

Serve warm with a steaming cup of coffee for dipping.

Decadent Valentino

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 21:24:00 +0000

Henry Clarke for Vogue, 1968

Its really embarrasing to admit, but being completely honest my initial associations with Valentino were not those in a positive light. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m a 90s child, or grew up in small town America, that my Valentino images are stuck with a dowdy animal print with large shoulder pads. Or even the glitz and glam image, where people grasp to own a set of designer sunglasses that blare 'BRAND NAME HERE' on the side. Nevertheless, I can see where Valentino hits a larger market with these pieces. The Haute Couture world was a sector that I was vaguely familiar with. Its safe to say my preconceptions of Valentino were horribly wrong, and proved so by the incredible exhibition at Somerset House.

Couture previously seemed like something that was untouchable: an incredible realm of fashion that would never be in arms reach. Yet new realizations came to light as entering this haute couture exhibition was an immediate escape from reality. It was a place that took me to a chiffon and glass beaded dream world, where people and things float around in supreme decadence in a white, bright, and misty wonderland. Not to mention the scenery: set perfectly in Somerset House, where walking out of the exhibition, the magic had not yet escaped as you wandered through the courtyard thriving with Christmas bustle and unique gifts.

A/W 2011, Deborah Turbeville for Vogue Italia

It reminded me of everything that had originally drawn me to fashion- the decadence, the escape, the glory of dressing to tell the story of who you are, or even who you pretend to be. Every crease and every fold was so perfectly draped that it was hard to take your eyes off the favorites. The exhibition also screamed of history and evolution of couture. It would be so easy to step out in any Valentino dress from the 60s to the 70s now and still appear as a modern woman. The amount of detail and hours of work put into the pieces is simply breath taking, and to me the whole exhibit certainly captured a new meaning to me of the name ‘Valentino.’

French Vogue, 1969

Twiggy photographed by Justin De Villeneuve, 1969

Deborah Turbeville for Vogue Italia, 1968

Photos via Pleasurephoto Room, Private Disarray, Flickr, Pinterest, Staleywise

Beef and Beer

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel) — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 10:49:00 +0000

Beef and beer. Beer and beef. What could be better? Especially in one of my favorite cold weather dinners, steak and guinness pie. I'm always surprised at the simplicity of British food, but like most of the best hot meals that's cooked in a dutch oven, it takes hours. Yet give me a gray windy day and I'll be happy to jump on the opportunity to have this for supper.

Steak and Guinness Pie

250g beef chunks
1 onion
2 carrots
2 celery sticks
1 potato
3/4 can Guinness
Cornstarch
Fresh thyme
Bay leaf
450ml beef stock
Shortcrust pastry

Coat your steak with a seasoned cornstarch mix, making sure all sides are covered. Heat your dutch oven on high, swig in some olive oil and fry off your steak to brown it on all sides. Take out the steak and set it aside. Pour in Guinness til it just covers the bottom, picking up all the remaining steak juices and bits. Pour this back in the steak bowl and sweat your onions. Add in the carrots, celery, and potato, tip your steak back in, and pour in the rest of the Guinness. Add your beef stock with fresh thyme, bay leaf and seasoning. Leave to simmer for 2 - 2.5 hours.

Once your pie filling is looking scrumptious and the beef is melt-in-your-mouth, take off the heat and allow to cool. It is SO difficult not to eat this as a stew, but hold off! The pie crust really does make all the difference. Once this is all cooled, transfer your filling to a pie dish. Preheat your oven to 200˚C.

Take your shortcrust pastry out of the fridge (cough shop-bought, cough). Shortcrust is a really simple thing to make, and while I'd normally do this myself, the 2 hours waiting for pie filling and previous bakes in the day caused me to lapse to shop-bought. Pretty much an absolute 'no' for a baking blog but we all get lazy sometimes, right? Back to what I was saying...

Take your shortcrust pastry out of the fridge, cut a strip off and roll out to a few millimeters thick on a well-floured surface. Wet the lining to a pie dish and wrap the strip all the way around the dish. Wet the top of this strip with a pastry brush as well so that the top of the pie will stick. Next, roll out the top of the pie and place over the top. Press down, make sure it all sticks and trim the over-hangings with a knife. Decorate your edge with a fork or a spoon by pressing firmly down. Make sure you also cut an X into the middle of your pie so that it can breathe! Nows the fun decorating part - I went for some love hearts. Brush the pastry top with egg yolk and place in oven. Cook for 40 minutes, or until pastry is brown all over.

Serve hot with a dollop of mashed potato and curl up for a movie.

London Hibernation

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel) — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 14:29:00 +0000

When it gets dark at 3pm (2:30 on a rainy day) in a city, it makes it near impossible to be motivated to get out of the house. I think its safe to call this a winter hibernation period, and double that fact up with baking and you end up with far too many cakes and snacks. This meant I needed to get out and see the city (not to mention other life forms besides my living room plants). I sucked it up, put on some gloves, and headed to Somerset House to soak up the festivities and see the Valentino exhibition. It was definitely worth the trek.

Monki dress and sweater, H&M necklace, Sacha boots

A Loaf Cake Gone Festive

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel) — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 18:37:00 +0000

With it being glove-and-scarf-weather and all, I thought that making a seasonal loaf cake might be nice to nibble with a morning/afternoon coffee. Having made my first cranberry sauce this Thanksgiving, I immediately fell in love with the cranberry-orange combination and thought that would translate perfectly into my festive loaf. I cracked open a bag of frozen cranberries (its a pain to get fresh ones round here... total opposite to my home town in Massachusetts) and went to work.

Cranberry Loaf Cake with Orange Drizzle

For the cake
225g butter (softened)
125g soft brown sugar
125g caster sugar
4 medium eggs
225g self raising flour
Handful of fresh or frozen cranberries
Zest of half an orange

For the drizzle
4 tbsp caster sugar
Zest of half an orange
Juice from said orange
Squirt of lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Zest half of your orange and if you're using frozen cranberries, make sure they're out of the freezer. Creme together your butter and sugars with a wooden spoon. Once its all combined, beat in the eggs 1 at a time.

Add half of the flour and start to carefully fold it in with a spatula. Add the cranberries and orange zest and fold in the rest of your flour. Once its all combined, pour into the loaf tin. Put in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes, or when skewer inserted comes out clean.

While the loaf bakes, make the drizzle by combining the sugar, juices, and zest. While cake is still hot out the oven, poke holes all throughout the cake with a toothpick and pour drizzle over cake- make sure to cover the whole cake and pour some down the sides. Leave to let rest in tin and flip out when cooled.

And voilà, a delicious tangy, sweet, and fruity loaf.

The Saturday Eats

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel) — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 18:11:00 +0000

This Saturday Francis and I trekked to East London in search of some delicious snacks - doughnuts from You Doughnut to be specific. We ended up amidst endless street food vendors in Red Market and decided that maybe a full fledged meal to accompany our doughnut was the right way to go.

Street food is no stranger to the city of London with stalls popping up everyday in small markets for lunch time and kicking it off in larger markets during the weekend. I used to pop round Exmouth Market for lunch weekly; Borough Market would draw me in while showing around family; And Broadway Market was a routine Saturday stop for bread and other munchies. Having moved south the river, Brockley Market is now our local food haven. While I've heard many a good thing about Red Market, this was our first venture there, which certainly didn't disappoint.

A lamb kebab and samosa chaat from Red Market, London

You Doughnuts delciousy goodness

We meandered through Boxpark on our way back, which temporarily housed a Las Vegas sign, and made a crucial stop at Cyber Candy for some twizzlers and a root beer. All in all a tasty Saturday which would be highly recommended.

Blooms Biscuits: A Lavender and Elderflower Special

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel) — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 17:17:00 +0000

A friend recently gave me a whole jar full of lavender and I was immediately inspired to make all kinds of things with it - chicken, macarons, biscuits, and even some scented eye pillows. Despite interventions from the boyfriend ('its a perfume! i don't want to eat that!') I went ahead with my floral essences-with-foods instincts and dove into an experiment with lavender and elderflower based biscuits. It was a gigantic plus when they turned out a dream.

I first wanted to pair the flavors with something that complimented them. To go with the sometimes dry yet wonderfully floral lavender, I went for a creamy partner: white chocolate. As for the elderflower, I wanted to stick with its fruity floral flavors and chose to go simple with lemon.

The recipes use the same biscuit dough base, yet each with their own flavoring.

Lavender and White Chocolate Biscuits

125 g butter (softened)

70 g caster sugar

1/2 an egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp finely chopped lavender

50 g chopped white chocolate (the smaller the chunks the better)

150 g flour

Elderflower and Lemon Biscuits

125 g butter (softened)

70 g caster sugar

1/2 an egg yolk

1 1/2 tsp elderflower cordial

Half a zest of lemon

150 g flour

Cream together your butter and sugar in a large bowl with a wooden spoon until well combined. Add in your egg yolk and extracts/flavorings and give it a good mix.

Now its time to add your flour. Sift it in a little at a time, and keep stirring until it all starts to combine. Use your hands when it gets to tough to use the spoon and work the dough against the sides of the bowl until it all comes together. Wrap with cling film and let rest in the fridge for 15 minutes- this will help make it easier to roll out the dough. Preheat your oven to 170°C.

Have a little pile of flour at hand when you start to roll the dough out. Make sure both the surface and your rolling pin (or substitute wine bottle) is well floured and keep checking that the dough isn't sticking. Roll out to about 3-5mm in thickness or to your liking. My lavender biscuits had a thicker cut due to the white chocolate chunks. Cut with a cookie cutter and lay out biscuits on a tray lined with baking paper.

Bake in your preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, or until they start to color on top. My elderflower lemon took about 11 minutes, while the lavender white chocolate were more around 15 minutes. Serve biscuits when they're cooled with a piping pot of tea.

Blue Jeans and Cartoons

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel) — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 11:51:00 +0000

Sometimes its a little more fun to wear button downs with a twist.

This one features cartoon characters riding abnormal bicycles. Its certainly obscure and is the only thing like its kind in my closet. That I said, it doesn't come out of the closet as often as it should. Here's to laundry days!

ASOS shirt, Acne jeans, Monki jacket, Sacha boots

Weekend Focaccia Baking

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel) — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 10:32:00 +0000

There's nothing more heart warming in baking than making a loaf of bread. And nothing more delicious to dip in olive oil and balsamic than a focaccia. Maybe it has something to do with my Italian roots, but this bread was surely the most delicious I've made yet.

People tend to stray away from making bread. Its one of those things that seems like a massive labor, takes too much time in a fast-streamed day, or even an impossibility that it would turn out like you want it to. But trust me, it can be achieved! It's all about the bread-confidence and yes, the timing. Its fantastic to whip up a dough in the morning on a weekend, and by afternoon you'll have a fresh bloom out of the oven. What could be better for a late afternoon lunch?

This rosemary focaccia is made with a really simple dough recipe, and is all about making sure its flat enough on your second prove and that you're not too delicate with your decorating before baking.

Rosemary Focaccia

adapted from Paul Hollywood's recipe

Makes 1 loaf

250g strong white bread flour

1 tsp salt

1 heaped tsp of yeast

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

200 ml water

Fresh rosemary, olive oil, and sea salt for topping

Begin by getting all your dry ingredients in a sturdy bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in about half of your water and your olive oil. Mix together with your hands and continually add the water til combined. Work the dough in the bowl. The dough will most likely not be completely together as one piece yet- this is when we start to knead.

Pour some olive oil on your surface and tip your dough out. Start to need it together until all the little bits are combined. Keep kneading for another 5-8 minutes until it starts to get a stretchy texture. Oil the bread bowl up and place dough in the bowl and cover with cling film. Leave to prove for at least 1 hour.

When it looks like your dough has risen quite a bit, or doubled in size, tip it back onto an oiled surface and knock the air out to prevent air bubbles in your loaf. Knead a few more times and place on a flat tray. Flatten the dough and stretch it to the edges, getting it as thin as you desire- I chose thicker than a pizza crust, but thin enough that the olive oil could seep in throughout. Cover and let rest for another 1 hour.

When your hour's up, preheat the oven to 220°C. Nows the fun part- decorating your dough. Take your fingers and poke LOTS of holes in your dough. This will let your ingredients sit better and let the oil soak in and not pour out. You can essentially use any ingredients you want (sun-dried tomatoes and garlic would be a treat) but I went for just rosemary. Stick sprigs of rosemary into the dough and generously drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle salt all over the top.

Cook in the hot oven for about 20 minutes, or until dough has a healthy color on it and sounds hollow when you tap on it. Eat right away- its best when its hot!

Winter Colors

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel) — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 09:38:00 +0000

It seems almost everyone has reached for their black attire the second the weather turned. I wonder if banning black clothes in the winter would automatically and subconsciously lift the winter spirits of Londoners?

An egg blue coat and a brown 70s dress. They almost don’t want to be friends, but they look wonderful in the gray winter light.

I found this dress in my favorite vintage dress shop- Paper Dress. It’s a little haven of the best dresses from the 50’s to the 70’s. They’re each clearly hand-picked with care and entirely affordable, especially for your day to day wardrobe. Its definitely worth a rummage!

Paper Dress Vintage dress, Monki coat

A Venture Into Ravioli

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 17:26:00 +0000

I at first assumed that the beautiful pumpkin decorating our table for Thanksgiving would only serve a purpose of looking nice. However, a pumpkin hack-job (with the help of strong arms) and a moderately heated oven produced a smooth puree that I had no choice but to use it in a ravioli.

That said, I never made fresh pasta before. I had a dabble with gnocchi not too long ago, which ended up stretching and looking more like warped Andy Warhol balloons rather than pasta. Yet, I had a Friday afternoon to spare so I tackled a simple pasta recipe.

Pumpkin and Sage Ravioli

For the pasta

3 cups flour

3 eggs

¼ cup water

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

For the ravioli filling

1 cup pumpkin puree

Fresh sage (finely chopped)

1 tbsp butter

Salt and pepper

Prepare your pasta first. Mix all the ingredients together by hand until it forms to small chunks of dough. Dump onto a floured surface and knead together until it forms a tough and elastic dough. Add flour/olive oil where necessary to get to the right consistency. Once you get there, you’ll know! (Trust me). Wrap dough tightly with cling film and rest in the fridge for half an hour.

For the filling, mix together all the ingredients in a pan on low heat. Once its warm, let mixture cool while rolling out your pasta dough.

You can roll out the pasta with a pasta roller, but if you’re like me and don’t have one, reach for the rolling pin. Get it as thin as you possibly can- it’d be best to do this with small sections of dough rather than a large piece. Try and reach for 1 mm thick! Spoon filling onto dough, brush edges with water and fold over pasta. Crimp with a fork, or cut with a pastry/cookie cutter. Let rest in the fridge and serve same day. Delicious if sprinkled with more extra virgin olive oil, parmesan, and freshly ground pepper.

Of Smocks & Blooms: The Beginning

noreply@blogger.com (Laurel) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 17:06:00 +0000

Here it is, the start to something new and exciting. A lifestyle blog that will bring together my musings of baking and fashion, as well as the little things in between.

It wasn’t until I recently looked back on my endless iPhone pictures of my baking that I realized that maybe I should be keeping track of what I make. And possibly even that someone else might be interested in it, or even want to try and make it. I’m all about home cooking and sharing, and its about time I shared my words and pictures with more than my usual crowd.

I hope you enjoy!