Almond Macarons

Almond macarons with chocolate buttercream

For my birthday, Kelsey gave me the Ladurée sweets recipe book, and I've been dying to actually get some good use out of it for a while.  Well, I finally found time this weekend to test out the Ladurée macaron recipe and I got some great results!

Ladurée Sucré Book

Piped macaron batter, sprinkled with chopped almonds

Macaron batter waiting to go in the oven

Macaron shells after baking and rising!

Almond macarons sandwiched with chocolate buttercream

Almond Macaron Shells
* 140 g ground almonds or almond flour
* 125 g powdered sugar
* 3 1/2 egg whites
* 105 g granulated sugar
* 1 tsp almond extract
* chopped toasted almonds for garnish

     Combine the ground almonds and powdered sugar in a food processor and process until it is a fine powder. Sift the mixture through a fine sieve to remove any lumps.
     In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk 3 egg whites into a foam.  Once the egg whites are frothy, add a third of the granulated sugar and whip until it is fully dissolved. Add the almond extract to the eggs. Add another third of granulated sugar and whip for a minute. Add the remaining sugar and whip for another minute, until the egg whites are just short of soft peaks.
     Use a spatula to gently fold the dry mix into the egg whites and continue folding until you have a batter.  In a separate bowl, beat the remaining 1/2 egg white until frothy and add it to the final mixture, to gently loosen the batter.
     Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a plain tip.  On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat, pipe small macaron rounds about 1- 1.5 inches in diameter. Rap the sheet on the counter to get rid of any air bubbles and allow the macarons to spread fully.  Sprinkle the chopped almonds on top of the rounds. Allow the unbaked macaron shells to sit uncovered for at least 10 minutes (maybe longer if it is very humid) until they form a shell and do not stick to your finger when you touch them.
     Bake at 300 for approximately 12-15 minutes until they rise and form a slight crust. You do not want them to brown, so remove them or lower the temperature slightly if they begin to brown. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow them to cool.  Remove them from the sheet and prepare the filling. Store the filled macarons in the fridge for 24 hours to achieve the best texture and flavor.

Source: modified from Ladurée Sucré book, Macarons Amande

Chocolate Buttercream
1/2 cup butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk

     Cream the butter in a stand mixer for a minute until it is smooth.  Sift the powdered sugar and cocoa powder into the butter and continue to mix.  Add the almond and vanilla extracts and then the milk to moisten the buttercream.  Whip for another minute longer.  Spoon the buttercream onto each half macaron shell and top with another matching macaron shell.

Library Reveal!

Wow, I can finally say this room is DONE! It's taken a while, but that's because I wanted to make sure that I loved all of the pieces I picked. Here are all of the pictures of the room!

 

Sources:

Sofa - Macys

Linen Chairs - World Market

Wall Paint - Sedate Gray, Sherwin Williams

Chandelier - Home Depot

Bookcases - Billy, Ikea

Curtain Fabric - P. Kauffman Leaf Cloud, LS Fabrics

Square Frames - Virserum, Ikea

Botanical Prints - Rocky Top Studio, Etsy

Ottoman Fabric - Robert Allen Home Casablanca Geo Aquamarine, LS Fabrics

Geometric Pillows - 3BModLiving, Etsy

Geometric Pillows - Connected fabric, LS Fabrics

Floor Lamp - Target, shade covered wtih ikat fabric from LS Fabrics

Silver mirror table and mercury glass lamp - HomeGoods

DIY Upholstered Ottoman

I am so excited to share with you my most recent project... turning an old table into an upholstered ottoman! It was actually really easy and I think the result is a very professional looking ottoman! Here's how I did it. 

I already had this coffee table, but you could easily find one like this on Craigslist or maybe you already have one around the house. Anything that has legs that you like and an easy shape to cover will work. If the table is taller, you can cut the legs down so that the ottoman will be comfortable for resting your feet on.  This one was fine, so I didn't do that step. 

First, I painted the legs. You could stain them or leave the legs as they are, whatever you prefer. I used Martha Stewart Light Reflections paint and gave the legs a slightly distressed finish. Annie Sloan Chalk Paint would be a great option too. 

Because of the shape of my table, I added wood around the bottom, so that the finished shape would be straight on the sides and I would have something to hammer my nail heads into. 

If you are going to want to add tufting to your ottoman, go ahead and figure out the placement of the buttons.  For my square ottoman, I decided to use this pattern of button placement. 

Drill holes in your table(!) where the buttons will go, so that you will be able to thread a long needle through later.

Cut your foam to fit the top of the ottoman. I used 2" high density foam from JoAnn's fabric. It usually cost's about $32 a yard, so be sure to get it on sale or use a coupon! To cut the foam, use a marker to draw a straight line and then use a sharp blade, like an Exacto knife, to cut through the foam (a serrated knife from your kitchen even works well). 

Use spray adhesive to glue your foam directly on top of the table.

Next, I cut foam strips to go on the sides. This makes it comfy on the sides so you won't hurt your leg if you bump into it. Use the adhesive to get it to stick and stay in place. At the end of this step, you should start to see your ottoman coming together!

Cover the foam and table with batting. 

Use a staple gun to staple the batting to the underside and pull tightly to get the shape on top that you like.

I cut out and stapled down the excess fabric on the corners and underneath, so that there was no extra batting hanging down.  Now your table is really starting to look like an ottoman! 

Place your fabric on top of the ottoman and make sure you have it lined up properly if you have a geometric fabric.  I tacked it in some places on the bottom to make sure it stayed in place. 

Flip the table over and staple the fabric to the wood.  Work around the sides making sure it is pulled tight.  I made straight seams down the side on the corners, but you could do a lot of different things to finish the fabric at the corners however you like.

To add the buttons, push a long sturdy needle straight up from the bottom, through button covered in your fabric, and then back down.  You can secure the knot on the underside of the table with another button or some nails to hold it in place. Make sure you use heavy duty upholstery thread, it won't break from the tension. Pull all of the buttons so they are equally as deep in the foam as the rest.

Yay, a tufted ottoman!

The last step is to add decorative nailheads along the base of the ottoman. Use a rubber mallet to hammer them in without damaging the surface of the nail heads. I placed the nails about 1 inch apart and used a pen to mark all of the holes, so they would be in a straight line. 

And there... you're done! Now you have a great and much more inexpensive upholstered ottoman, in the fabric of your choice!