apple & blackberry pandowdy

Incase I haven't already toted on enough about how I prefer the milder seasons to an all imposing Brisbane Summer, let me bust into a monologue about desserts. Ice cream, sorbet and gelato are all wonderful. There are few things I love more than spontaneously deciding to go out for gelato at 8pm on a weeknight. But, these few things include Wintery desserts such as custards, crumbles, puddings, pies, pandowdies... Pandowdies?! According to my bible - AGT - a pandowdy is a pie whose lid is smashed (dowdied!) during the cooking process. The result is delicious jumble of pastry, berries and sweet juices making a mess all up in your oven.

This recipe uses a sour cream pastry which is so easy to make, and is wonderfully rich against apples and blackberries. Or, any other fruit, I imagine. A sprinkling of demerera (or raw, if you're desperate) sugar adds a little sweetness and crunchiness that is always welcome in my house.

Ingredients
Recipe from AGT August 2011


For pastry:
250 gms plain flour
40 gms pure icing sugar
rind of 1 lemon, finely grated
seeds of 1 vanilla bean
140 gms cold butter, cubed
120 gms sour cream (no low fat, please!)

For filling:
4 each granny smith and pink lady apples, cut into eighths
300 gms caster sugar
150 gms frozen blackberries
40 gms plain flour
juice of 2 mandarins
rind of 1 1/2 lemons, finely grated

demerera sugar, for sprinkling

For your pastry, process the flour, sugar, vanilla seeds, rind and 1/2 tsp salt in a food processor to combine. Add butter and pulse for about 30 seconds, until only small lumps remain. Add the sour cream, and pulse until mixture beings to come together. Turn the mixture out onto your bench top, and bring together with the heel of your hand. Form into a disc, wrap in plaaaastic, and allow to rest in the refrigerator for two hours.

Preheat your oven to 200C. Combine all of your filling ingredients in a large bowl before transferring to a generous pie dish.

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until 4mm thick. Brush the edges of the pie dish with water before placing pastry over the filling and pressing the rim of the dish to seal. Trim the edges with a sharp knife, and pierce a hole in the centre of your pastry. Lightly brush your pie with water and generously scatter the demerera. Bake for about 35 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden.

Remove from the oven, and break pastry into pieces with a fork, pressing down into the filling. Bake until the filling bubbles over the pastry, and the pastry is dark and golden brown - about 25 minutes.

I usually have an inability to love the results of my baking unless it is aesthetically perfect, something that can be very exhausting at times. But I love the appearance of this dowdied pie, and can see myself squashing and re-baking plenty more pies in the future... It's strangely very satisfying. I can also see bakers with pie failures now feeling confident knowing their pies aren't deformed misfits, but are in fact a new and delicious addition to their dessert repertoire!

Recommended baking soundtrack: Grass Widow - Milo Minute.

rhubarb & strawberry buckle (an ode to rhubarb)

Rhubarb. Oh, rhubarb. I tell people pumpkin is my favourite vegetable: your ambiguous nature means I constantly forget about you, but how I love you so. 

My sister and I had a wonderful childhood in that we always ate such a beautiful variety of fresh food, but I don't remember rhubarb as a part of this. It's one of the few foods my mother doesn't eat, so it wasn't until I was in my teenage years that I remember first trying it: in a cosy restaurant in the Gold Coast hinterland, as part of rhubarb crumble swimming in homemade custard. Love. at. first. taste. So now, rhubarb and me, we're making up for lost time. 

This 'buckle' is similar to a coffee or crumble cake, requiring the crunchy toping to be frozen before baking, ensuring it doesn't just melt and get absorbed into the cake mixture. It's incredibly easy to make, but has a slow cooking time, so is perfect to make on a cold Sunday afternoon. 

Ingredients

Recipe from June issue of AGT

250 gms each of strawberries and rhubarb, roughly chopped

110 gms each of caster sugar and rapadura* sugar

160 gms butter, at room temperature

2 eggs

220 gms plain flour

40 gms hazelnut meal

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsps each of ground cinnamon and ginger

165 mls buttermilk

For hazelnut topping:

80 gms rapadura* sugar

40 gms plain flour

40 gms hazelnuts, roughly chopped

20 gms butter, melted

*Use dark brown sugar if you can't find rapadura sugar. 

Preheat the oven to 170C. Grease a 24cm round cake tin, and line with baking paper. 

For the crunchy hazelnut topping, combine ingredients in a small bowl. Freeze until required - this will stop the topping from melting into the cake during baking. 

Combine rhubarb and strawberry in a bowl with 1 tbsp of each sugar and set aside.

Beat butter and remaining sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then with motor running, add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the dry ingredients followed by the buttermilk. Stir in one third of the rhubarb mixture, then spoon into prepared tin. 

Scatter over remaining fruit mixture, followed by the frozen hazelnut topping. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours or until a skewer inserted withdraws clean. Cool cake in tin for 30 minutes before cooling on a wire rack. 

This cake is delicious served warm from the oven, but surprisingly tasted better when cooled to room temperature so the rubbly topping is crunchy and sweet. With un-iced cakes, I am usually known to heat and add cream, crème fraiche and/or custard to any I possibly can,  but I didn't need to with this wondrous thing! The hazelnut meal gives the cake a nice density, but by no means does it create a grainy texture like it can it larger quantities. 

This cake is very resilient and although best eaten within a day or two, will easily last for a few days before the fruit starts to lose its colour. This. This is my favourite cake of the year. 

Recommended baking soundtrack: Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring for My Halo. 

chocolate & raspberry swirl ice cream

 

I've spent too many baking ventures being trumped by the heat and humidity this summer. Macarons have spent hours drying on my kitchen table, and pastry has been quickly shoved rather than rolled and neatly pressed into tart tins. No more! I have stopped fighting it. I am now - ugh - 'going with the flow'. 

I recently read a wonderful article in February's AGT, written Peter Gilmore and Adriano Zumbo, including their hilarious reviews of store-bought ice cream varieties. What I found interesting was reading about Gilmore's take on what constitutes a good, creamy ice cream, particularly in terms of cream to milk ratios and how people can achieve this at home. So, after reading that pure milk based ice creams are become too icy in home made, slow churners, I became curious with a recipe I've had bookmarked for a while. 100% milk base. 

Ingredients (makes approx 1.6L)
Recipe from AGT online
750 mls milk
5 egg yolks
275 gms caster sugar
150 gms chocolate (70% cocoa solids), coarsely chopped
240 gms raspberries, plus extra to serve
2 tbsps raspberry liqueur

Place milk in a medium, heavy-based saucepan and bring almost to the boil. Place yolks and ¾ cup of the sugar in a bowl and whisk until thick and pale, then gradually whisk in hot milk. Return mixture to same pan and stir over low heat until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Do not boil. Remove from heat and add chocolate, stir until melted, then strain through a fine sieve into a bowl. Allow to cool.

Combine raspberries, liqueur and remaining sugar in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat for 10 minutes or until thick and jammy, then press through a fine sieve and discard seeds. Cool.

Freeze chocolate mixture in an ice-cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions, add raspberry mixture and swirl through ice-cream, then place in freezer and freeze until firm. Serve scoops of ice-cream scattered with fresh raspberries.

Call my taste buds naive, but I love the result of this particular recipe. Yes, it's a little icy in spots, but not very grainy at all. With a milk base, it's chocolate flavour is also very distinct and by no means does it have an oily flavour as a high cream-based chocolate ice cream might. I ended up dropping some fresh raspberries in with the coulis, which meant with every bite you'd get a pocket of tart raspberries to cut through the chocolate. It's a quick and incredibly easy recipe using ingredients most cooks would have at home. And using frozen raspberries won't matter at all. 

Recommended 'baking' soundtrack: M. Ward - End of Amnesia. 

salted peanut & caramel ice cream with hot fudge sauce

There is a serious gap in the recipe-market for good, dark chocolate sauces. Ganache has its place in my heart and in desserts, but it's just no substitute for a good rich and fudgey sauce. I've tried many, from multiple sources: they may have been rich, but by no means thick, gooey and fudgey. And then at last, I found it, thanks once again to Australian Gourmet Traveller. And it was then that I discovered the secret ingredients to a good chocolate fudge: liquid glucose, and cooking time long enough for the ingredients to emulsify.

I've also neglected my beautiful ice cream maker for far too long. What better excuse could I possibly have to make fudge sauce than a need to dust off the ol' ice cream machine.

So here is the simple recipe, accompanied by another for a fantastic recipe for salted peanut ice cream. This combination, says my better half, is snickers in ice cream form. I think it's better.

Ingredients
Recipe from Australian Gourmet Traveller

For ice cream:
180 gms raw unsalted peanuts
290 gms caster sugar
900 mls pouring cream
60 gms butter, chopped
8 egg yolks
200 mls milk
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped

For fudge sauce:
65 gms dark chocolate, chopped
10 gms unsalted butter
75 gms caster sugar
70 gms liquid glucose
2 tsps cocoa powder

For the ice cream, preheat oven to 180C. Place peanuts on a baking tray, roast until golden and fragrant  then rub between a tea towel to remove skins. Coarsely chop and set aside.

Combine 140 gms of sugar and 50 mls water in a saucepan, stir over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves, bring to the boil and cook until dark caramel in colour. Remove from heat, carefully add 100 mls cream, butter and 1 tsp sea salt and stir to combine. Return to heat, cook until smooth and then cool to room temperature. Stir in 40 gms roasted peanuts.

Meanwhile, whisk yolks and remaining sugar in a heatproof bowl until thick and pale. Bring milk, vanilla bean and seeds, remaining cream and remaining roasted peanuts to the boil in a large saucepan, then pour over egg mixture, whisking to combine. Return to pan, stir continuously over medium heat until mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon thickly. Strain into a bowl placed over ice, discarding any solids. Cool completely, then freeze in an ice-cream machine. Fold through salted peanut-caramel to form a ripple effect and freeze until firm. Try to chose a container that's as close to the capacity of ice cream you've made as possible - the more airspace you have in the container, the more likely ice crystals will form. - this recipe makes about 1.2 litres.

Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth and combined. Combine remaining ingredients and 80 mls water in a saucepan and bring to the boil, then add chocolate mixture. Return to the boil and cook over high heat without stirring, shaking pan to dissolve lumps until well emulsified. Set aside and keep warm until ready to serve.

This sauce does get better with age, though I haven't been able to experiment to determine exactly how long it lasts. It also reheats splendidly on the stove or in the microwave. It does this marvelous thing when it hits the cold ice cream where it begins to harden again, becoming a little chewy, which is just amazing. A winner of my heart.

Recommended baking soundtrack: Real Estate - Reality. 

mint chocolate tarts

To say that I love the combination of mint and chocolate would be an understatement, a love my sister and I have always shared. I adore mint slice biscuits, but something is... missing with them. I eat them in enjoyment, but could never put my finger on why I was always a little disappointed, or what I would change about them.

I have also, more recently, fallen in love with Christine Adams, responsible for the wonderful desserts at Neil Perry's Rockpool restaurants. This is mostly due to her six page dessert spread in this months Australian Gourmet Traveller, but also because she has helped me find the elusive something missing from mint slice. Ooziness. Simply put, they're not generous enough. Mint slice give you the flavour, but not in the quantity I need. I want oozy but still slightly firm mint. I want a thicker coating of soft dark chocolate. This tart, my friends, is all of these things and more, and it's such a well written and simple recipe.

Ingredients (makes 6 small, or 12 slightly smaller)
Recipe adapted from September issue of Australian Gourmet Traveller


For pastry:
200 gms unsalted butter, softened
140 gms pure icing sugar, sifted
1 egg yolk
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
200 gms plain flour
30 gms Dutch-processed cocoa

For mint fondant:
200 gms fondant, coarsely chopped, softened
10 mint leaves
3 - 4 drops mint oil or extract

For ganache:
70 gms softened butter
285 gms Valrhona Guanaja (or the best quality 70% cocoa solid you can afford) chocolate, finely chopped
310 mls pouring cream

For the pastry, preheat oven to 180C. Beat butter and sugar in an electric mixer until pale and creamy (4 minutes). Add yolk and vanilla and mix until combined. Sift flour and cocoa together, add to butter mixture and mix until just combined. Turn onto a lightly floured surface, then knead lightly to combine and form into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled (1-2 hours).

Divide mixture into 6 or 12, depending on size of tart tins you're using, then roll out each piece on a lightly floured bench to 3-4mm-thick and line twelve 6cm or six 9cm tartlet cases sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Trim edges, refrigerate until chilled, then prick bases and blind bake until set (10-12 minutes). Remove paper and weights and bake until for 8 - 10 minutes, until pastry is cooked on the base. Cool on a wire rack, then remove tart tins.

For mint fondant, process fondant and mint in a food processor until smooth. Transfer to a heatproof bowl, cover with foil and melt over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat, add 1-1½ tsp water to thin to pouring consistency, then add mint oil drop by drop to taste. Divide among tart cases and stand at room temperature until set.

For ganache, beat butter in a bowl with a spatula until soft and creamy. Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set aside. Bring cream to the boil in a small saucepan and pour over chocolate. Stand for a minute, then stir slowly with a spatula until melted and smooth. Add butter a little at a time, stirring gently until incorporated, then pour into tart cases over fondant. Stand for about an hour or until chocolate has set.

The result is simply beautiful-- it's so nice to get a fleck of fresh mint in the fondant, and the soft just set shiny-ganache is beautiful with the crispy shell. Keep in mind the strength of the mint has to compete with the double chocolate, so I made it quite strong for this reason, which I was very happy with. I just adore everything about this recipe, and imagine it becoming a regular rotation in my sweets schedule. I do have to share it with my sister, after all. 

Recommended baking soundtrack: Benoît Pioulard - Temper.

chouquette: a review

I don't usually do reviews. I feel somewhat uncomfortable about taking photos in restaurants - mostly due to my camera being so old, me never deleting photos, and the reload speed unbearable as a result of both! - and I also have a terribly sparse and sporadic memory, so by the time I sit down to write my experiences, the finer details are a little faded. Also, how many synonyms for "lovely" could there possibly be? 

It's been a while since I've blogged, but not baked. I seem to have many excuses, including working on and  submitting assessments coming close to 25 000 words and baking for and hosting my sister's baby shower. So today when my better half and I headed to New Farm to visit Chouquette, I figured now is as a good time to come back into orbit of the blogosphere. Ugh, I hate that word. A dear friend and coworker of mine recommended this tiny, character-riddled patisserie months back, but I've just never found the time or opportunity to visit. It took Australian Gourmet Traveller to mention in its 2011 Australian Restaurant Guide for me to make it a priority. 

We arrived around 10:30am to find this little cafe bustling, all seats taken, and very shortly a line out the door after us. We were served by friendly, efficient and patient staff, and each chose two treats, which was hard only because of the variety and quality on display. We then ducked off to New Farm park to enjoy the morning and our bounty of goods. My first course: a macaron. Of course. 

Chocolate macaron - $2.70

I should have placed this baby next a 50c piece to show its size - it was huge! More importantly, it was delicious - slightly crispy, chocolatey and chewy. Despite sharing a little, what impressed me most was my ability to eat it all. It wasn't sickly sweet like macarons can be. 

Tarte au chocolat & Tarte au citron - $6 each

After a break, a walk and a coffee, we went halves in a tarte au citron and tarte au chocolat. The pastry on each was beautiful and crispy. The lemon tart was rich and eggy, and the chocolate ganache filling was velvety smooth. Despite my boyfriend's resistance to eating aluminium foil ("It's silver leaf!", I tell him through laughter), we were both in heaven. 

I will definitely be back to Chouquette, but will plan to arrive a little during weekends. I appreciate and admire cafes and restaurants that cook a batch and simply sell out if there's high demand, rather than churning out a product en masse and have an abundance of stock in cabinets. It makes you appreciate acquiring something special. My macaroon left two lonely ones behind, and they were all out of chocolate eclairs, so if you're after something in particular best get there early. 

Chouquette

19 Barker St New Farm QLD 4005

07 3358 6336

Wednesday to Saturday - 6.30am to 5.00pm

Sunday - 6.30am to 12.30pm

jam doughnut cupcakes

I have a crippling fear of spiders, heights and baking with yeast. I understand the first two are dreadfully common and don't need justifying.

I think I'm an incredibly patient baker. I'm fine with complex, multi-step recipes. No sweat having to wait for things to completely chill, or bringing syrups to exact temperatures. Pastry is a-okay. But yeast? With all the kneading, and punching. Rolling and waiting. And waiting again. And again. I resigned myself to the fact that the only yeast products I would be consuming would be store-bought. That was, of course, until I received a copy of Australian Gourmet Traveller's June edition, featuring eight pages of doughnut bliss.

Starting simple, I've made doughnuts to sit atop some strawberry jam filled cinnamon cakes. This was no speedy process, and I did spend my afternoon in cycles of making a mess, cleaning the mess, and waiting between each step. However, I can't believe how much fun it all is! To cut that fluffy elastic dough into the cutest little rings and to later watch them swell up as they're dropped into hot oil had me in heaven. I'm already planning my next doughnut day.

Ingredients (makes 12 cakes, and roughly 24 doughnuts)

Doughnut recipe adapted from Australian Gourmet Traveller

For doughnuts:

390 mls lukewarm full-fat milk

125 gms caster sugar

75 gms butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

14 gms dried yeast

2 eggs, at room temperature

700 gms plain flour, plus extra for dusting

1 1/2 cups caster sugar, extra

3 tsps ground cinnamon

Vegetable oil for deep frying

For cakes:
90 gms butter, softened

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 cup self raising flour

2 tbsps milk

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla bean extract

1 tsp cinnamon (more with caution if you wish)

2 tsps strawberry jam

300 mls thickened cream

2 tbsps icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

For doughnuts, combine flour, sugar, butter, yeast, eggs, half the flour and a pinch of salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Beat on medium speed until smooth and combined (about 4 - 5 mins). Add the remaining flour a little at a time, beating until dough is smooth and elastic and no longer sticks to the bowl (about another 4 - 5 minutes). Transfer dough to a lightly buttered bowl, cover with plastic wrap and stand in a warm place until doubled in size (1 - 1 1/2 hours).

Meanwhile, for cakes, preheat oven to 180C/160C fan-forced. Place 12 paper cases into a 12 capacity cupcake tins.

Place all ingredients (excluding jam) in the bowl of an electric mixer, and beat until just combined. Increase speed, and beat until mixture is creamy and paler in colour. Spoon mixture among cases. Bake for 20 minutes, until golden. Remove cakes from tin immediately, and allow to cool completely on wire rack.

For doughnuts, knock back dough, then roll out on a lightly floured surface to 1cm thick. Cut out 4 - 5 cm rounds with a floured cutter, then cut a hole in the centre of each with a large pastry tip (about 1cm). Transfer doughnuts to two light floured baking trays, allowing space in between to rise. Cover with a tea towel and stand for 45 mins - 1 hour until risen.  

While doughnuts are rising, fill cooled cupcakes. Using a small sharp knife and - holding your knife at a 45 degree angle - slice a circle into the top of a cake. Set lid aside for later. Repeat with remaining cakes. Fill holes with strawberry jam and replace with lids, trimming them down if necessary so lids sit flush with cake tops. 

To finish off doughnuts, combine extra caster sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl. Preheat oil in a deep sided saucepan to 180C. Deep-fry doughnuts in batches, turning occasionally until golden. Be careful when lowering them into the oil as oil may spit. Drain on a paper towel on a wire rack while frying remaining doughnuts. Toss doughnuts it cinnamon sugar. 

To finish off, beat cream, icing sugar and vanilla until soft, silky peaks form. You want it to just be able to hold it's shape but still be velvety smooth. Spread generously onto cakes, and top with a fresh doughnut. 

I know this all looks long and too involved, but I'm a convert: making your own doughnuts is incredible rewarding. These chubby little golden babies have such lovely, crispy exteriors but are so much lighter than the store bought variety. Despite being somewhat terrified of deep frying (I seriously started off wearing safety goggles), the oil doesn't spit but fizzles as you drop the batter in. It's really quite satisfying and dreadfully exciting to watch. 

I imagine these doughnuts would also taste gorgeous on a vanilla malt cake. Or covered in chocolate on a mudcake for a more 'grown-up' affair. Or just mushed whole in your mouth without the cake!

Note: despite these cakes having a bit of resilience, the doughnuts are best eaten the day of making. They're obviously still edible a day after if stored in an airtight container, but the sugar will begin to break down. Worse things have happened. 

Recommended baking soundtrack: Animal Collective - Feels (or their entire catalogue if you're going through the with whole recipe :/ )

gingerbread-spiced macarons

I've tried so, so many macaron recipes - mostly ending in a product that was entirely edible and delicious, but not as handsome as I expected. You can hardly be surprised with the inconsistencies with a traditional macaron recipe: Some recipes call for double sifting icing sugar and almond meal; some don't. Some say to lightly press on the piped mixture with wet fingers; some don't. Most interestingly, some insist the piped mixture rest at room temperature for at least two hours before going into the oven; and some don't. After all of my experimentation, crushed dreams, heartaches and tears, I found my go-to recipe, courtesy of Australian Gourmet Traveller's 2009 French issue. I felt like I had accomplished something in life, albeit a small (but delicious) something.

Since that issue, I've intended on being a little more adventurous with flavours, but I just didn't find the time. This changed when I got my hands on a copy of 'Macaron' by Alison Thompson. This book has me in heaven, and I intend to prolong this sense of the afterlife by trying all 35 recipes. Kind of like Julie Powell, but with less curse words, not as much ambition and with a more lazy and as yet undefined timeframe. We'll see.

First, I bring you gingerbread.

Ingredients (makes 30 macarons, depending on the size)
Recipe taken from 'Macaron' by Alison Thompson

For macaron shells:

225 gms pure icing sugar

140 gms almond meal

110 gms eggs whites, at room temperature

1/2 tsp nutmeg

For filling:

150 gms milk chocolate, chopped

150 mls pouring cream

2 strips orange zest 

1 cinnamon stick

1 star anise

1 clove

2 cardamom pods

pinch of nutmeg

3 tsps honey

1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped

For filling, melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Pour the cream into a small saucepan and add the orange zest, cinnamon, star anise, clove, cardamom, nutmeg, honey, vanilla pod and seeds. 

Bring to the boil, the remove from heat and stand for 10 mins. Strain the cream, then reheat until hot. Pour it over the chocolate and stir until smooth. 

Refrigerate the filling until firm enough to hold its shape. 

Line two baking trays with baking paper. 

Combine the icing sugar and almond meal, and sift together twice, discarding anything remaining in the sieve. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg whites on a high speed until stiff peaks form. Add a small amount of brown food colouring to egg whites, and mix until colour has evenly spread through mixture. 

Fold the sifted sugar and almond meal into egg whites, continuing to fold until the mixture is glossy and moves slowly when the bowl is tilted. It's not necessary to be too delicate with the egg whites - it's most important that the mixture is nice and smooth. 

Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 5mm plain piping tube. Pipe rounds 3cm in diameter onto the baking tray, spacing them 2 - 3cms apart. Sprinkle shells with nutmeg. Tap the trays firmly on the bench a couple of times to knock out any air bubbles. 

The macaron shells must now sit at room temperature until a crust forms - this will take 2 - 6 hours, depending on the temperature of the room (the warmer and drier the room, the faster the drying process will be). When they are ready, you should be able to touch the tops slightly and have no mixture stick to your finger. 

Preheat oven to 150C fan-forced. 

Place macaron shells into the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 130C. Bake for 10 - 12 mins, until firm to the touch but not coloured. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before carefully removing from oven trays. 

Spread or pipe cooled and thickened filling onto half the shells, and sandwich with remaining shells. 

The final product sure is a delicious one. I cooled the ganache for about 4 hours, but it was still only slightly thicker than pouring consistency for me. Next time, I might increase the chocolate ratio to get a thicker and less oozy layer of ganache. 

The most important step is the resting: both this recipe and AGT's call for it - and these are by far the best recipes I've ever tried. For this reason, making macarons just can't be an impulsive decision. Follow the recipe by the letter, and I'm sure you'll be in lust with the results.  

Recommended baking soundtrack - Françoise Hardy - The Vogue Years. Of course!