Isabelle Spike

The Birth of La Belle Macaron- What’s Next!

As you may know, La Belle Macaron isn’t my only project- I am also the owner and Executive Chef (and Chief Marketing Officer, Head Dishwasher, and Primary Bookkeeper) for Isabelle Spike Catering Co.  The catering company has grown in wonderful ways in the past 2 years, and has kept me REALLY BUSY! So, La Belle Macaron has been on a bit of a hiatus…

But, now that we’re nice and cozy in a fabulous commercial kitchen in Lafayette, CO (Check out Back to Basics Kitchen, we rent space in their kitchen!), and everything is running smoothly on the catering front, we’re SO READY to launch La Belle Macaron in some retail locations in Boulder!

Flavors you can expect to see soon? Check out a few below….

Matcha!

Raspberry!

Espresso! (Or maybe Chocolate?? Leave a comment and let us know what you think!)

And the rest are TBD soon. We’re looking at offering a standard 4-6 flavors all the time, and then Seasonal Flavors that change every 3 months or so.

Stay Tuned and see what wonderful places start to carry La Belle Macarons!

And hey, Friends in Boulder— Let your favorite cafe, grocery or other retail location know you want some Macarons in your life!  Or let us know your ideas for where you’d like to buy Macarons!

The Birth of La Belle Macaron- Part 4

The Website!

After the party, I had a much better idea of which flavors were a hit. So I teamed up with my awesome friend and the best photographer I know- Michele Rogers-Scully- and we got to work on some photos for La Belle Macaron’s future website!

Me, in intense focus, setting up a shot of Mango Macarons.

Café Mocha Macarons

Matcha Macarons, with Dark Chocolate, Matcha Buttercream, and White Chocolate fillings.  I love how the Matcha Buttercream looks like grass when piped with a star tip. :-)

Pistachio with Pistachio Buttercream Macarons

Raspberry with Raspberry Buttercream Macarons

Chocolate Macarons, with Cafe Mocha Buttercream, Dark Chocolate Ganache, White Chocolate Ganache, and Raspberry Buttercream Fillings.

Mango Macarons, with Matcha Buttercream and White Chocolate Ganache Fillings.

A Pyramid of Macarons! 

This is the wallpaper on my MacBook Pro.  Feel free to make it your wallpaper, too, and you’ll probably feel a wave of happiness rush over you whenever you turn on the computer.  At least, that’s what happens for me.

I declared the photo shoot a success and got to work with the supremely talented Allie at Allie Creative on designing a website for my favorite little pastries.  Of course, a website needs the right words just as much as it needs great photos (and a fab design), so I also got in touch with the amazing Rebecca of Copy Tuner, who took lots of rambling emails from me and worked her copy-writing magic for the site.

And…. here it is: www.LaBelleMacaron.com

Stay Tuned for Part 5 tomorrow, where we’ll give you a glimpse into what is on the horizon for La Belle Macaron!

The Birth of La Belle Macaron- Part 3

The Tasting Party!

I decided that the best way to narrow down the dozens of flavor options I was considering for production was to have my own “market research team” do it for me- i.e. I would throw a giant party and let all my friends decide collectively which macarons were the very best. 

After several days of furiously baking, I had about 30 different flavor combinations ready to go.  I put on the mint-green circle skirt I had sewn for this occasion and got to work displaying the macarons!

We got the apartment spruced up, set up a beverage station out on the patio (what goes better with a few macarons than a champagne cocktail?!), and waited for the Focus Group to arrive.

Also notice the Izze juices, because I, Izzy Spike, can never resist offering a Spiked Izze.

I got comment cards ready for everyone to record their favorite flavors, and for the first time featured my brand-spanking-new name for the macaron division of Isabelle Spike Catering Co:  La Belle Macaron

I chose “La Belle Macaron” because macarons are a beautiful thing, and also to play on my name, IsaBELLE Spike. 

*And yes, as a semi-fluent French speaker, I realize that Macaron is a masculine noun, and the name “should” be Le Beau Macaron or Les Beaux Macarons.  The brand is a play on my name as much as it’s about macarons, so you can stop sending me emails about it.  Merci beaucoup! :-)

Guests arriving!  Here’s me explaining the flavors we have to try.

The Fabulous Claudine enjoying a Chocolate Macaron

Cheers!

I heard one complaint many times that night:  “I can’t eat another bite, but I want another macaron!!”

The Birth of La Belle Macaron- Part 2

I started to test out all kinds of flavors, and decided that I did NOT want to go the traditional route and use artificial coloring in my macarons.

These, and all the rest, are made with natural ingredients that also serve as a coloring agent- the macarons pictured below are Raspberry, made with freeze-dried powdered raspberry from this great company. 

Using dried, powdered fruit works great for making macarons, because the shells are finicky and don’t like extra liquid added during the baking process, so powdered flavors (or ground nuts, like pistachios or hazelnuts) are the best way to flavor the shells while still getting consistent results.

These Cafe au Lait macarons are made with this great Italian Espresso Powder.

Using powdered fruit, espresso, matcha, cocoa, etc. is also great because you can use the powder as pigment, add water, and create your own food paint! That is how I get the brush-stroke of color on my macarons. I must admit this idea is 100% inspired by Helene Dujardin of Tartelette, and her picture-perfect macarons.

Stay tuned for Part 3 tomorrow!

The Birth of La Belle Macaron- Part 1

Two years ago I started noticing Macarons all over the food blog scene.  I read everything I could find, particularly Tartelette’s fabulous blog and “Demystifying Macarons,” her article on making macarons.

Then I got to work!

My first batch looked like this…. Not so good.

But my second batch looked like this:

MUCH BETTER! 

(This one is Concord Grape, and it was also a great flavor that I need to bring back soon!)

After about 20 more test batches, which basically confirmed that the recipe & technique I used on this was in fact the best, I was having some consistent success!

Raspberry Macarons, drying on the parchment before getting baked.

Raspberry Macarons with White Chocolate Ganache, Matcha with White Chocolate Ganache, Matcha with Dark Chocolate Ganache, and Plain Almond with White Chocolate Ganache.

By this point, my friends were enjoying the test-baking process quite a bit!  They often got phone calls saying “Please! I am swimming in Macarons, COME EAT THEM!” 

Watch for the rest of the story, coming each day in installments!

Christmas in Boulder

I can “play the piano,” if by that you mean “bang out extremely simple Christmas tunes with willful abandon and lots of wrong notes.”  I can play the piano REAL GOOD.

Christmas in the Spike House was a quiet affair this year- a leisurely breakfast followed by new board games with my Dad and Husband and then a delightful dinner with our good friend, the Fabulous Claudine.

One wonderful gift- Martha’s new book “Martha’s Entertaining”-perhaps the most beautiful book on entertaining that I’ve ever seen.  Excited to savor every page and get lots of ideas for parties in 2012!

As promised earlier, I made Smitten Kitchen’s Nutmeg Maple Butter Cookies, and they were AWESOME.  Simple, easy to put together, and possibly the best butter cookie I’ve ever had.  These will definitely be put into regular Winter-Holiday rotation. 

I used an Owl cookie cutter and then embellished the cookies with a knife, fork & spoon.  They are all a little different, which I love!

We’re fans of board games around here, and some new additions to old favorites Carcasonne and Dominion were a *big hit* from my Dad!

*SPOILERS:  I’m the Red pieces, and I’m going to WIN BIG.  

One of my favorite traditions every year is pulling out the Christmas linens from my Danish grandmother.  Here’s one with an awesome candle pattern, and another in the photo above under “Martha’s Entertaining.” They have bits of wax, tiny stains, and are loved to pieces. 

We had a few snacks while gaming, and then some GIANT crab legs for dinner.  As someone who cooks for a living, let me tell you how much I appreciate food that tastes amazing and yet requires 1. No preparation 2. cooking time under 10 minutes and 3. Zero leftovers to pack up and put away and then eat again!! 

Crab + Melted Organic Butter+ Lemon Wedges= Perfection. 

Here’s everyone running to their seats!

#entertaining #Boulder #

Hostesses Slip Into Something A Little Practical