Valentine's Day Dessert

Valentine's Day came and went, but I was lucky enough to spend it with good friends. For dessert, we had Marquise au Chocolat with Creme Anglaise, Macarons with Rose buttercream and Macarons with a Vanilla and White Chocolate Ganache, and what Dorie calls Macaron Biscotti (inspired by Sadaharu Aoki).

I had just made the Marquise au Chocolat and Creme Anglaise last week so I still had notes in my head on how to make it more presentable. You can't see from the photo, but the top of the Marquise turned out better because I lined the plastic-wrapped pan with parchment paper. The Creme Anglaise turned out thicker than last time, too, which I really enjoyed.

I made macarons, but my first batch flopped. Some cracked and many puffed up at an angle. I corrected that for the second batch by rotating the pan mid-way through the baking. I was about to discard the misfortune macarons but remember seeing something in Baking Chez Moi about what you can do with just the cookie part of macarons. It turns out that she has a recipe for Double-Baked Macarons that she tried from a Sadaharu Aoki shop. It's basically buttered macaron cookies that are baked again. They get a nice golden color and taste completely different that their original form. Now I know what to do with my maca-wrongs.