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October 14, 2007

MACAROON EGGS IN SPUN CARAMEL NEST

Ever since Jai and Bee announced the "Click" event I HAVE had this stellar recipe spinning in my head, but it took me a long time to put everything together,reason being -I knew I needed an absolutely FREE day and loads of patience to pull this together. A long time back I had entered this recipe in a Cooking contest ,the theme of which was-"EGGS" and it had won the first prize.

 12102007692                                              Macaroon eggs in spun caramel nest

The "Coconut macaroons "as most of you must be aware of comprises mainly egg white and the recipe here makes them just the way I LOVE them -crisp on the outside and coconutty softness on the inside, the "NEST" is made up of spun sugar much like the candy floss that all of us {kids and grown-ups alike}love so much.

Making the "NEST" is slightly tricky , if you have no experience handling caramel  temperatures, but if you have even little experience, it will be easy.

Ingredients-

(for 14 bite size macaroons)

  • Egg white- 1
  • Sugar- 4 tbsp.
  • Flour- 1 tbsp.
  • Baking powder- 1/4 tsp.
  • Salt- a pinch
  • Dry grated Coconut-4 tbsp.

for the caramel-

  • Sugar -1/2 cup
  • Water- 4 tbsp.

Method-

for macaroons-

Preheat oven to 180 deg. C.Take egg white in a CLEAN bowl, start beating , add salt , gradually add sugar , the egg white will start to thicken and resemble heavy cream -

12102007662        

           beating egg white and sugar

Tip in the rest of the ingredients and softly fold in with a large metal spoon. I am using mini muffin liners here so carefully put a small teaspoon into each liner, smoothing the top to make them resemble "eggs" :).Bake for 10-15 mins,cool.

12102007674                

                 the ready macaroons

For the "NEST"-

Now very carefully and with complete attention ,combine the sugar and water , place on stove, stir the mixture till sugar is completely dissolved, now bring to a rapid boil. Keep a small bowl filled with cold water ready, after few minutes of boiling the sugar syrup rapidly you will notice that it becomes very thick, and sticky and color changes to caramel brown, a drop of this syrup when dropped into the bowl of water should form into a firm ball, once it reaches this stage, remove and cool slightly.

12102007678         

caramel for spinning the nest

After 4-5 minutes , when syrup is sufficiently cooled, take a round steel bowl and working carefully, dip a wooden spatula in the syrup, when you pull it out it will leave silken threads- keep wrapping these threads around the bowl, till it is completely covered.

12102007681

beginning of spinning the caramel around bowl

Upon cooling the nest slides off easily, add macaroon eggs and they are ready to serve.Enjoy the macaroons with a cup of Tea/coffee, my hubby crushed 4 macaroons, added a scoop of vanilla Ice cream , sprinkled the caramel on top ,and was in Heaven on Earth in 5 sec. flat, (acc. to him) !

 

12102007687121020076971210200769912102007711                                       coconut macaroons in the spun sugar nest

(sorry for the large number of pics, but just could not help myself )!

The first picture is off to "incubate" at Jai and Bee's event, till the roundup-

  This recipe and post is singularly the one I have put all my love, time and attention into till date(read almost 6-7 hours, about 60 pics and making the caramel 4 times !) but I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT !!!

"LOvE AND hUGS To BOtH jAI AND BeE"AND BEST WISHES FOR A SUCCESSFUL EVENT

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24 comments :

Nupur October 14, 2007 at 4:18 PM  

Oh dear, that was quite some effort! But you have this spectacular result to show for it. The spun sugar nest is gorgeous.

Saju October 14, 2007 at 4:52 PM  

Wow! they look scrumptious. Great picture for the one click event.
your comment on my blog led me here.

Apple October 14, 2007 at 5:28 PM  

Hurray..Me first to comment...Wonderful idea Bindiya...you made the caramel 4 times...Lord..Kudos to your patience girl..Very creative entry...

Dhana October 14, 2007 at 8:21 PM  

I luv the caramel nest! I remember I tried to make a witch's hat this at last Haloween, and it turned out to be more like errrr....a witch's flat :(

TBC October 14, 2007 at 9:44 PM  

The nest is beautiful!
Labor of love indeed.:-)

Kamini October 14, 2007 at 10:06 PM  

that really must have taken a lot of effort... Looks so fabulous though. Great job.

Finla October 14, 2007 at 10:26 PM  

Wow that must have been a really hard work. But i am sure you were happy with the rusults.
They are great

zlamushka October 14, 2007 at 11:48 PM  

Oh my gosh, you re a magician. That nest thingy totally blew my mind. I ve never seen anyhting like it. And you actually made that ? (bow)

We make similar cookies in Slovakia, we call them Coconut kisses, casue they kind of puff and melt in your mouth making that "muah" sound.

Anonymous ,  October 15, 2007 at 12:13 AM  

wow..they look so inviting...

Rina October 15, 2007 at 12:16 AM  

Lovely caramel nest, Hard works rEwaRDs..

bee October 15, 2007 at 12:23 AM  

looks wonderful and a great effort. glad that you enjoyed every minute of it. i am just exhausted reading about the time and energy spent !! Thanks for participating. See you at the roundup. --j

bee October 15, 2007 at 12:48 AM  

dear bindiya,
thanks for your lovely entry. i can imagine how delicious those macaroons must have been.

i have sent you an e-mail. please check it and get back o me.

Sivani October 15, 2007 at 2:29 AM  

Oh, it is clear why you won the prize for the competition. Delicious macaroons and then caramel to boot!

Padma October 15, 2007 at 4:48 AM  

My goodness, you took so much pain in designing that caramel nest. Love the egg macaroons, I will surely try next time.

Tee October 15, 2007 at 5:03 AM  

Wow...your pic looks so beautiful. You really have some patience :)

Neelam October 15, 2007 at 6:51 AM  

Hi Bindiya that was really a great effort! Lovely pictures and recipe!
Keep it up!

Lissie October 15, 2007 at 6:07 PM  

hats off, bindiya! great effort! lovely pictures!

FH October 15, 2007 at 6:52 PM  

That is really creative Bindiya, looks great!:))

Anonymous ,  October 15, 2007 at 9:57 PM  

bindiya, this is by far the most innovative entry i have seen - look at the nest - it must have been very satisfying after all that sweat :)

DK October 16, 2007 at 10:13 PM  

I am speechless! which is saying smthing since i am a chatterbox! i am jus able to muster up a feeble 'WOW'

Prajusha October 17, 2007 at 9:59 AM  

bindiya,
Great job.looks beautiful

Mansi October 19, 2007 at 5:33 AM  

nice recipe, and great photo!! 4 times must have been a lot of work...you deserve an award for your diligence Bindiya!!

and now I hope i see a peach dish on your blog next time!!:)

Bharathy October 19, 2007 at 7:10 AM  

This looks Soooo brilliant..So Bindya is an expert in photography as well!!(You are an expert baker too)

The macroon eggs and caramel eggs look very creative and yummy!!!

Planning for a looong time to try out the banana bread..will get back when I try..(donno when ;))

Love your cake recipes very much!!

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