Saturday, March 26, 2011

Strawberry Cheesecake Icecream and Strawberry HolyBasil Macarons


My friend’s 3 year old, quite naturally, goes on and on and on about pink all the time and the other day ‘S’ suddenly came up with this weird question…”Are girls crazy about pink from the day they are born or are they taught to like pink or is it just butterfly (as he fondly calls her)?”. Probably true or maybe not! Nonetheless the fact is, toddler or an adult, girls always go crazy over pink and I am no exception. I adore everything pinkpink roses, pink dress, pink shoes, pink pen and even the pink limo that goes past our street every now and then. Every girl definately owns at the least one t-shirt in either a (or all...no surprises here) baby pink, cherry blossom pink, carnation pink, shocking pink... One of the many advantages of owning anything pink is, none of the boys will ever think of stealing borrowing them because pink is officially a girl's color!This month Sarah of Maison Cupcake is hosting the Monthly Mingle and the theme is Think Pink. I made this luscious Pink strawberry cheesecake icecream and some Pink strawberry & holy basil macarons to go with it.  Yes, you read it right, Strawberry and Basil, very unusual and it so totally works!
I am also sending these Strawberry Basil macarons to MacTweets Jamie and Deeba.


Strawberry Cheesecake Icecream (adapted from not quite nigella)
Ingredients
600ml heavy cream
150g icing sugar, sifted
250g mascarpone
250g strawberries hulled and halved
3 tbsp icing sugar 
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1tbsp Creme de Fraise
Method:
Whiz the washed and hulled strawberries in a processor along with balsamic vinegar, strawberry liquer and 3 tablespoons of icing sugar. Whip cream and icing sugar until soft peaks form (watch to ensure that the firm peak stage is not reached). Add the mascarpone and beat until incorporated. Mix this with the strawberry liquid and then freeze in your ice cream maker according the manufacturer's instructions. 
Strawberry Basil Macarons
Ingredients
30g almond meal
58g powdered sugar
36g aged egg whites
18g caster sugar
pinch salt
pinch egg white powder
5g strawberry powder
3-4 fresh basil leaves
Method:
Preheat oven to 140C.
Line two baking sheets with silicone sheet. Pulse the Icing sugar with the almond powder, food colour, strawberry powder& basil leaves in a processor. Sieve this & set aside. Beat the egg whites until foamy and add the granulated sugar, whites powder. Beat until very stiff and firm. Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in two batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula. When the mixture is just smooth and there are no streaks of egg white, stop folding. The mixture should be thick and fall in ribbons when lifted. Fill a piping bag with this and pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1″ circles evenly spaced apart. Tap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons, then rest to form a skin for about an hour. Bake them for 12-15 minutes depending on size. Once done, transfer them to a cooling rack.
I have used leftover vanilla buttercream recipe from here for sandwiching the macarons.


17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome as always. Spelling binding to say the least. The combination for macaroons is stellar.

Lea said...

the icecream looks sooo delicious!
Even though I'm not the biggest fan of ice cream, I always wanted to make some, and now, I remembered that a friend of mine has got a ice cream machine :)
Your macarons look flawless, and amazing with the green top.
Did you participate in the fruit & spices macattack with them?

Lea said...

And, what exactly is strawberry powder? I often read about fruit powders in international blogs. Can you buy that?

Jenn said...

Your ice cream sounds delicious and your photos look perfect!

Debugcooking said...

Thnx all ;-)
Lea..the freeze dried fruit powders are available to buy online!

Anonymous said...

Simply beautiful. Strawberry cheesecake ice cream? I'm in! Love the photos on the chalk board.

URS SUNNY said...

superb combination.really missing ur flavours dear.thanks to ur blog for connecting my eyes and my thoughts...i love the idea of presentation on chalk board.i didnt see anywhere...very fresh thought...keep ur brain always fresh dear...for us...sunila

Memória said...

Goodness! The photos are lovely!

Is there a non-alcoholic substitute for the liqueur? I don't drink, consume, or purchase alcohol ever.

Debugcooking said...

Oh you can actually skip the alcohol bit...Its just that alcohol will reduce the freezing point of the ice cream makes it easier to scoop!

Unknown said...

These look amazing! I've heard about basil with strawberry but never managed to try it, all of these pictures look so pretty! Thanks for submitting these to the monthly mingle!

Debugcooking said...

Thnx sarah..the flavors work beautiful together!

Deeba PAB said...

Strawberry and basil are a great pairing, and that dried powder makes me GREEN! Beautifully done dear girl! I would love to try some right now! mmmmm

Poires au Chocolat said...

Both are absolutely beautiful. What's the difference between 'normal' basil and holy basil? Can you taste it by putting the fresh leaves in the batter? Intrigued. Love the chalkboard too.

Debugcooking said...

Actually it is basil but back home in india we call it holy basil(Tulsi)that's y I named it so..You could use fresh basil leaves into the batter and yes you can instantly taste it..hope this helps

Sally - My Custard Pie said...

Your pictures and ideas are fabulous - love the chalkboard.

Anonymous said...

Holy moly--holy basil with strawberries--what a unique combination. Love the artistic swash on the shells, too!

Puspha said...

Nice blog, if you want to taste delicious flavors of desserts then check out the slim chicken gluten free

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