“Hello every creature!” Pinkie Pie enthusiastically welcomed every creature back to the show, “We are back in the studio kitchen because, I don’t know about you, seeing Rainbow Dash and the Wonderbolts do their stuff has made me hungry!”
“You’re always hungry, Pinkie,” Gabby countered.
“That’s because I eat and use up the same amount of energy when I’m busy partying,” Pinkie giggled.
“Can’t argue with that,” Autumn sighed. Marble just shrugged.
“So we are going to go with something classy that would make Rarity proud! Today, we are baking traditional macaroons from the region of Prance! It is the perfect treat for your special some-creature on Hearts and Hooves day,” Pinkie explained their plan for the day.
“Well that does sound exciting,” Silverstream nodded, “So let’s get started. What do we need?”
“To make a nice macaroon, you want a nice crunchy outside and a soft inside. A smooth exterior with the correct base on the bottom for perfect symmetry. You will need one-hundred and twenty-five grams of icing sugar, one-hundred and twenty-five grams of ground almonds or almond flour, ninety grams of egg whites, separated from the yolks, two table spoons of water, one-hundred and ten grams of caster sugar and food colouring for extra colour effect,” Pinkie listed the ingredients from the top of her head. Knowing every recipe comes from lots of practice and being the best baker in Ponyville.
Silverstream and Autumn got to work, gathering all the ingredients from the storage cupboards. Gabby went the fridge, took out a couple of eggs and started separating until she got the right amount of whites.
“Marble, you can start preheating the over to one-hundred and seventy degrees Celestius, gas mark three, and start lining the tray with baking paper,” Pinkie pointed to the oven and tray on top. Marble nodded with a hum and started doing what her sister asked. Gabby and the others had done with their preparations and were waiting for Pinkie to tell them what to do next.
“Add the icing sugar, ground almonds and forty grams of the egg whites into a mixing bowl. Mix them all together until you form a paste,” Pinkie instructed them like a head chef. Gabby gave a mock salute as they started mixing.
“Meanwhile, I am on the stove as I need to caramelise the caster sugar with two tablespoons of water. You need to heat gently first, then turn up the heat and boil until the mixture starts to go syrupy and thickens. Knowing the consistency I need as I have done this lots and lots of times, I don’t use a thermometer. However, if you’re a Twilight and want a precise temperature, you’re looking at around one-hundred and fifteen Celestius,” Pinkie told their listeners as she caramelised the sugar on the stove. She then turned to Silverstream who was waiting for the next step.
“Whisk the remaining fifty grams of egg whites in a small bowl until medium-stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed from the bowl, then pour in the sugar syrup, whisking until the mixture becomes stiff and shiny. For coloured macaroons, add a few drops of food colouring. Tip this meringue mixture into the almond paste mixture and stir gently until the becomes stiff and shiny again,” Pinkie said quickly. Silverstream just got what she was told to do and followed Pinkie’s instruction to the word.
“I’m going for red, yellow and blue food colourings. You can separate them and mix them individually,” Silverstream explained what she was doing.
“Autumn, you get the piping bags ready. Silverstream can then spoon the individual colours into each one,” Pinkie pointed to the piping kit, which Gabby nodded confidently, “To stop the baking paper sliding around the tin, you can glue some of the mix to the corners.” Marble added a bit of the mix to each corner, securing the paper to the baking tray.
“With the bag held vertically, pipe four centimetre flat circles onto the lined tray, about two centimetres apart, twisting the bag after each one. The mixture should be quite loose to give a smooth finish. The piping will leave a small tip on each circle so, when they’re all piped, give the tray two to three slams on a flat surface to flatten them,” Pinkie said as each creature took it in turns to pip the colour macaroon mix into dots on the paper.
“You must leave it to stand for around half an hour, which will give us plenty of time to make Hearts and Hooves day baskets out of paper to put our macaroons in!” Pinkie gave them all building kits.
“Pinkie,” Silverstream scratched her head with a claw, “It’s not even Hearts and Hooves day yet.”
“I know, but you’ll never know if some special creatures comes along,” Pinkie teased with a smirk and wiggled her eyebrows, “You want to make a good first impression, right?” The other creatures groaned, but continued crafting their treat baskets. When thirty was up, Silverstream put them in the oven and set the timer for fifteen minutes. The others were content to clean up the studio kitchen and continue with crafting their creations. Soon, the timer gave a ding to tell them it was time to put them out.
“When cool, sandwich the macaroons together with whipped cream. They can be kept for a couple of days if they hang around that long!” Pinkie joked. They cooled them down and added some jam and whipped cream in the middle. They ate away happily at their hard work and added them to their baskets. Pinkie took a picture with a camera she kept in her mane. The others have come to expect strange things from her by now.
“That’s a keeper for our baking history on the show,” Pinkie giggled, “And that’s all we have time for today, every creature! Hope you enjoyed our baking lesson and hope you have fun baking too! So it’s goodbye from every creature in the studio.”