Celebrating with Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes

These cupcakes!  Oh boy...I could say so much about them but basically, they are just ridiculously good!  Cooks Illustrated calls them "ultimate chocolate cupcakes with ganache filling" and I have to agree...they deserve "ultimate" status.  They are really something else!

Because take a look inside...these intensely-chocolate cupcakes not only feature a sturdy, dark, chocolate cupcake base, they have a dollop of chocolate ganache filling baked within them!  Finished with a top-hat of rich chocolate frosting, it is an ultimate chocolate cupcake experience.  

There are not many things I love more than chocolate and I'm pretty picky when it comes to chocolate treats, and I can tell you I was highly impressed and totally smitten with these.  They also brought back a good personal memory, of chocolate cupcakes my husband used to get for us at a bakery in Tribeca called, Umanoff & Parsons, that's been closed now for over 10 years.  Those chocolate cupcakes, which we still think about, live in my mind as the "ultimate" and this version comes very close (because it's hard to dethrone a memory that can no longer be tested)!

Talk about 'better late than never'...it took years for me to finally make these cupcakes!  I remember first seeing them in the magazine and then a post from Brown Eyed Baker cemented them in my mind.  But I have to confess that making cupcakes is not my favorite thing to do.  These cupcakes were a bit of a commitment but you'll be happy and thankful you made the effort when you taste it!

Recently, I finally grabbed a good opportunity to make them...in celebration of this blog's 6th anniversary!  Yes - hard enough as it is to believe - I'm still trying recipes, taking photos, and writing about some of them here in this little corner.  It's been a rewarding hobby and a creative outlet, a happy place where I indulge and make delicious discoveries such as these chocolate cupcakes!  

So let's pop a candle on top of one of these ultimate chocolate cupcakes and celebrate!  To those of you who take the time to visit, leave a comment when you can, I really appreciate your encouragement and kind words!  I don't know how much longer or at what pace this little blog will continue for but I hope I'll stay busy and make tasty discoveries for many years to come.  I can't believe the little treasure trove of recipes I've amassed here that my family and I truly love and enjoy over and over again.  It has been a real treat!

To all my fellow chocoholics out there, roll up your sleeves and tackle these cupcakes. You'll wonder if it's worth the effort and when you're done and finally sit down and take a bite of these deep, dark, rich (not particularly sweet), unabashedly indulgent cupcakes, you will think that "yes, they were totally worth it!"

Chocolate macarons: Take 2

Remember that delicious disaster of mine?  I chronicled our macaron infatuation a few weeks ago and if you recall, my first attempt at making chocolate macarons was far short of perfect...but still ever so tasty.  I wasn't about to go down without a fight - or at least try a few times to see if I could figure it out.  I had to try again and this time, I wanted to gather all the right equipment to see if I'd have better luck. 

So this is the making of Chocolate Macarons: Take 2.   

First, the good news:  this batch came out a lot better!  I have a few authentic macarons!

But the bad news: I still encountered some of the same problems I did last time.  The macarons didn't crack this time but out of 2 sheet pans, the first once again had barely any "feet" (that foamy looking bottom that's a signature of a macaron).  And I still had a hard time removing most of the macarons from the baking sheets.

Nevertheless, this attempt was far better than the first and certainly motivation for me to keep trying.  Instead of ending up with just one quasi-macaron looking confection, I had several serious macarons at the end of this experiment.  I was more careful to salvage what I could this time (instead of eating most of the imperfect macaron shells right off the baking sheet like last time) so I had a good 17 finished cookies to savor with my family. 

Our resident six-year old macaron-lover was again very happy!  I'll never get tired of hearing him say, "they're really good, mommy!"  And considering said child is usually busy running around trying to light-saber something in my vicinity, I'll greedily take the accolades and hope he remembers this the next time we're arguing about him finishing those green beans at dinner. 

Delicious disaster - Chocolate Macarons

I must've thought about making French macarons - those dainty, delicious little bites of airy yet crisp and chewy cookies - for years now.  But like so many others, I've been deterred by how complicated they sound and by the many firsthand accounts of things gone awry.  The macaron is a perfect example of baking as a science.

Chocolate macarons with chocolate ganache filling

I wish I could sit here and tell you my macarons came out great and I'll be making them over and over again from now on.  Alas...the lone macaron you see above is essentially the only one that came out nearly right (it's as close as I got).  Some things worked and other things didn't.  I got that shiny, crispy top and chewy center but didn't achieve the coveted/signature "feet" on the macarons.  I had a horrible time removing most of the baked cookies from the tray; each tray that came out of the oven seemed to have a distinct problem.  But I call it my "delicious disaster" because they tasted awesome.  My son and I had a great time eating the broken cookies and frankly, even though most of the ones that made it on to the plate were far from perfect, they tasted really good.  If you close your eyes, you could be tricked into thinking you were biting into the real thing.  When I was telling my little guy that they didn't come out right, he kept telling me "but they're still really tasty, mommy" and he's right.

So I was motivated to finally roll up my sleeves and dust off my piping bag to give the macarons a go by a recent visit to Ladurée, the pâtisserie based in Paris that started it all.  They just opened their first shop in New York City and on a cool Fall day, we went to sample the goodies.  Naturally, I loved the macarons.  Just stepping into the cozy shop and seeing the pretty pastel packaging is almost enough for me.  I wanted to take every gift box home.  To do what with, I don't know, but they're just so beautiful. 

But I have to say that our six-year old son has an almost unnatural love for these cookies.  Each time I've had any and attempted to hoard them for myself, he manages to sniff it out and is chomping at the bit for a bite.  What is up with that!  Like mother like son perhaps?  So we sampled an array of flavors that day in the city and I'll never forget sitting in Central Park and my son eagerly awaiting each taste.  He took a bite of the coffee macaron and told my husband and I: "the coffee one is really good!"  He was totally right again; I think the coffee flavor is so good because it offsets the sweetness that comes with meringues.  We had to go back for seconds and he has since asked often for macarons.  It came to the point where he started asking if I knew how to make them and if I could make some for him.  Of course I had to try with motivation like that.  He really wanted coffee ones but I told him I had to keep it simple and start with chocolate.  He had no problems with that.  He seriously loves macarons, even the ones I made.

Now you've seen my attempt and I'll go into details of what I think went right and what went wrong after the jump.  But how about taking a look at the real deal. 

This is the Ladurée shop on the Upper East Side in New York.  I kept telling my husband not to take out the camera (I've heard stories of people being kicked out of the shops in Paris for taking pictures) until I saw plenty of locals playing tourist as well. 

I think we tried about ten flavors that day.  Of the ones we tasted, coffee was the clear winner for my husband and son.  I'm a bit on the fence.  I stay eternally faithful to chocolate so that gets my vote, as well as pistachio.  On our return trip to the shop for seconds, I heard the woman behind the counter explain to a customer that praline was hazelnut and I had to try it given my love of hazelnuts.  The praline macaron turned out to be (another) favorite of mine; although it was quite sweet, the strong hazelnut flavor more than made up for it.

Another great place we can get our hands on some macarons is La Maison du Chocolat.  I love their chocolate to bits.  My husband got me some macarons from there a while back and I remember the caramel flavor was surprisingly my favorite.

Check out the serious "foot" (that sort of foamy bottom) on them.  When you bite into one, the crisp shell shatters and the center is soft and slightly chewy mixed with a creamy filling.  It is so delicious.  And everyone loves the array of colors that come with macarons; it's really visually appealing. 

I plan to give these macarons another try.  I've learned a lot from my first attempt and I'll arm myself with the exact equipment I need next time around (I had to make due with what I had on hand in a couple of instances).  Saving nearly $3 per macaron is a huge incentive, not to mention my child's love for them (he literally licks up every bite).  I'm always telling my son that practice makes perfect.  In this case, even when the end result is imperfect, it can still be quite good and worthwhile.