Paulchens FoodBlog?!

MAC ATTACK #24 – PINK OCTOBER MACARONS

5 November 2011 12 Comments

Pink Ribbon

Every year in October lots of people around the globe are going Pink!

Pink is not only a very girly color *brrr* I hardly ever use but also the color of Breast Cancer Awareness!

Nowadays the big and dreary “C”-word seems to affect so many people around the globe and with social networking and the virtualisation of our little world it nearly takes an (uninvited) place in our living rooms way too often.

My own family has been affected by cancer since my Grandmother (Mom’s Mom) died of abdominal cancer and I still can’t think of the time in hospital when she was nearing the end, constantly in pain and a shadow of herself. Those very last few days where she wasn’t even able to speak and her eyes pleading us to help her… even now – seven years later – my Mom is not able to speak about this time and it took us a long time and much love to help her deal with the death of her mother.

The second wife of my Grandfather is fighting Breast Cancer for like 10 years now. I think it has returned about three times until now and – although I never got very close with this woman – I fear the time when it will come back for one last time. I know my Granpa loves her and I dread to see him suffer!

I guess I could go on about old classmates and far relatives and friends all affected by the C-word but that would not help either…

All I want to say is: People! Wake up! Inform yourselves!

Cancer is something that can affect everybody, anytime!

Keep yourselves up to date, examin, go to your doctor on a regular basis for checks and information! The earlier a doctor can help you the better your chances are!

Claire of A little piece of me – who draws wonderful, funny and awesome doodles by the way – made some doodles to show how easy it is to do a self exam.

One thing I really want to mention: Breast Cancer is not something that only affects women! Men have boobs too!

Please guys believe me, I know it is much rarer in men than in women – but even one man dying of breast cancer is to much if he could have been treated!

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Jamie and Deeba are dedicating the October Mactweets to this cause and asked us to bake Pinktober Macarons. It’s been a while since I made macarons and they even worked out so I can participate in this monthly event.

This time - though I am very late again - I made Rose Macarons filled with Rose Jelly. All pink – and I am not a pink kinda girl, ya know! For a good cause you can part with your rules, yes you can!

For this Pinktober challenge I wanted to make something special – not your ordinary macaron – but alas I was very insecure since my last two batches were a complete failure. No feet, runny dough,… well need I say more?

When it comes to pink I tend to think of the nice pink roses that are blooming in my Mom’s garden all summer long. So after many back and forth I decided on making rose-flavored macarons and fill them with a rose jelly that I made for the Birthday Cake for Mrs Q. earlier this year.

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Print recipe

Pink Rose Macarons with Rose Jelly Filling

As base I used the basic recipe given in Helen’s guide and Jamie’s instructions again.

Ingredients
3 egg whites (100gr)
50 gr granulated sugar
200 gr powdered sugar
110 gr blanched almonds ground
1 TBS dried rose petals, finely ground
2-3 drops rose water

Method – Please see Helen’s guide for instructions!

Rose Jelly

Ingredients
3 cups of good clean water,
1 lime (use the juice)
2 cups of granulated sugar
3 ozs of liquid pectin
petals from 6 roses or about 2 cups

Method

Low pulse the water and rose petals in a blender, just to chop them coarsely.

Pour mixture into a saucepan and bring to a boil, but turn off heat right away to allow the petals to infuse in the hot water for awhile.

After 30 minutes, pour mixture through strainer to remove remaining pieces of the petals and place back onto the heat to simmer, covered for another 30 minutes.

Add sugar, lemon juice and pectin and stir while simmering until sugar is dissolved.

Bring to a boil for 10 minutes or until the mixture begins to set.

Pour into hot sterilized jars, seal and refrigerate.

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MACTWEETS is a monthly challenge for all macaron lovers out there and for those among us who need ~~a frustrating experience from time to time~~ love to improve your baking skills with this sweet tempting lovely baked goods.

Jamie and Deeba created a virtual home at MACTWEETS where you can read all about the past challenges. Be sure to follow them at twitter and follw the hashtag #mactweets for all things macaron.

12 Comments »

Jamie said:

Oh, Astrid, thanks for baking these gorgeous macs for Pink October Mactweets! They are so beautiful…perfect! And yes, all of us face cancer way too often and breast cancer is one that can be dealt with if there is early detection. I love the cartoon. Perfect, just a wonderful, heartfelt post, dear, and perfect, pink, girly :-) macarons!

Astrid Reply at November 5th, 2011 8:54 PM:

Thank you Jamie! You can’t imagine how many times I edited this post. It’s a topic very dear to my heart and I still seem to lack words or feel I can’t put them right when I try to write about it.
Plus I am so glad the third batch I made finally worked again and produced perfectly little feetsies!

# 5 November 2011 at 8:48 PM

Tanna Jones said:

Absolutely right on in all ways!
Rose jelly nice… but I have red pepper jelly… that would pop your eyes out ;-).

Astrid Rauscher Reply at November 6th, 2011 8:20 AM:

haha I bet! red pepper jelly might be a nice filling too. these macarons are not too overly sweet.

# 6 November 2011 at 12:09 AM

Simone said:

Such gorgeous macarons Astrid! It does seem the C word is heard too many times lately and we’ve list a couple of people to the dreaded disease in the last two years too.

Astrid Reply at November 6th, 2011 9:20 PM:

Thank you Simone!

# 6 November 2011 at 11:44 AM

uwe@highfoodality said:

There is another campaign running (“Turn your city Pink” by Siemens) where you could place your macarons: http://www.medical.siemens.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/LandingPage?storeId=10001&langId=-11&catalogId=-11&catTree=&pageId=135289&Identifier=&_nc_showLayer=1&lang=en

I really like the pictures and your motivation behind the recipe. Let’s raise awareness!

Astrid Reply at November 8th, 2011 1:26 PM:

thank you!! :)

# 7 November 2011 at 10:26 AM

Deeba Rajpal (@vindee) said:

Absolutely gorgeous. If you are late with beautiful macarons like these, we can wait forever Astrid! These are stunning, and so is the flavour combination…wow! Thank you for the pink shout out and for joining us at MacTweets!

# 8 November 2011 at 6:10 PM

thelittleloaf said:

Great awareness raising post and gorgeous macarons…I love the combination of flavours here. This Matweets challenge has been so much fun, and so inspirational. Looking forward to seeing what the next theme will be.

# 10 November 2011 at 8:52 AM

Lora Wiley said:

These a just stunning both in flavor and color. what a lovely informative post. Thanks for sharing your story.

# 10 November 2011 at 2:13 PM

Paulchens FoodBlog?! » Blog Archive » MAC ATTACK #25 – Chestnut & Pistachio Macarons said:

[...] had not many success stories to post either. So far I successfully made Vanilla Macarons and Rose Macarons and these two Holiday flavored Macarons you see [...]

# 29 December 2011 at 8:04 PM