Chewy Chocolate Brownie Cookies

Can't decide if you want brownies or cookies? No problem, just combine the two into one bite-sized handheld piece of ooey-gooey chocolate heaven.

When I was a kid, I used to make these with brownie mixes, but I reckon since I'm an adult, I should make the grown-up version.

• 15g all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• 70g brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 100g fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (60% cacao or more), finely chopped if not using buttons
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 190C. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Melt butter and chocolate in a metal bowl set over lightly simmering water, stirring till smooth. Remove from heat and let cool to warm.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. With an electric mixer, whip the eggs to break them up. Then add the sugar, espresso, and vanilla and beat on high speed for 15 minutes, until thick.

Gently fold the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture until partially combined (there should still be some streaks).

Add the flour mixture to the batter and carefully fold it in. Finally, fold in the chocolate chips. If the batter is very runny, let it rest until it thickens slightly, about 5 minutes.

Drop the batter by heaping tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets and bake until puffed and cracked, 8 to 9 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before removing from the baking sheets. Makes about 18 cookies.

Chocolate Raspberry Slices

This is quick and dirty, rustled up at the last minute.

I know there are fancy schpancy methods of making sponges, what with separating eggs and all that jazz. But I'm lazy and this works just fine.

• 3 eggs
• 115g sugar
• 115g flour
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 180C. Mix flour and cocoa thoroughly in a bowl.

With an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar until it has tripled in volume and is pale yellow and fluffy, about 5 - 10 minutes. Sift the flour and cocoa mixture in and gently fold until the batter is mixed.

Pour the batter into a shallow rectagular pan lined with wax paper and smooth out for an even surface and bake for 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Flip the sponge over and remove the wax paper from the cake. Slice the sponge into 3 equal parts and set aside. In the meantime, make the filling.

• 400ml whipping cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
• 2 cups raspberries

Whip the cream, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. There's your whipped cream right there. Now, on to assembling this puppy.

Spread a layer of cream on one layer of sponge, dot with 1 cup of raspberries and cover with another layer of sponge. Repeat for the rest of the layers and use the remaining cream to cover the entire cake.

To serve, cut into 2-inch wide slices.

Chocolate Mousse

Alright, I caved. This is not healthy but it's all Food Network's fault for tempting me.

A simple no-bake dessert that's so sinfully rich yet light at the same time. 

• 1 cup chilled heavy cream
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 100g fine-quality bittersweet chocolate

Heat 1/2 cup cream and sugar in a saucepan until hot. Whisk together yolks in a metal bowl until combined well, then add hot cream in a slow stream, whisking until combined. Transfer mixture to saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and stir in vanilla. 

Melt chocolate in a metal bowl set over a pot of simmering water till melted, stirring frequently. Whisk custard into chocolate until smooth, then cool.

Beat remaining cream in a bowl with an electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks. Whisk a quarter of the cream into chocolate custard to lighten, then fold in remaining cream gently but thoroughly. Spoon mousse into 4 glasses and chill, covered, at least 3 hours. Let stand out of the fridge for 15 minutes before eating.

Loaded Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Nothing quite beats the smell of freshly-baked cookies, especially if they're fully loaded with walnuts, dark and white chocolate.

The basic recipe is courtesy of a baking classic Joy of Cooking, and I've just piled on an obscene amount of chocolate and nuts. Oh joy...

Anyway, these are really easy and fast to make. From start to wash-up, 45 minutes max. So, there's really no excuse to settle for crappy supermarket cookies now is there?

• 140g all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 115g unsalted butter, softened
• 100g white sugar
• 110g brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat the oven to 190C. In a large bowl, beat flour, salt and baking soda until well blended.

With an electric mixer, beat sugars and butter with the paddle attachment until smooth. Add the flour and continue beating till well mixed.

Next, add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat till you get a smooth batter. Finally, fold in the chocolate and nuts and mix well.

Drop teaspoon sized globs onto a baking tray, spacing them 2 inches apart (the cookies will spread while baking). Bake for 8 - 10 minutes until slightly coloured on top and edges are brown. Let cool completely.

Melting Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Just because I love chocolate. Just because I love raspberries. Just because I love cream cheese. Just because I bought a huge bag of Valhorna chocolate. Just because this is what I feel like eating right now.

I just want to make some really girly and pretty, then demolish it with a man-sized bite.

• 25g dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 120 ml boiling hot water
• 80g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 60g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 100g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 6 teaspoons chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 190C and line 6 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a small bowl stir until smooth the boiling hot water and the cocoa powder. Let cool to room temperature. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated. Then add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.

Fill each cup halfway, then add a teaspoon of chocolate chips (or 1 Valhorna button), then top up with more batter till cup is 3/4 full.

Bake for about 16-20 minutes. A skewer inserted into a cupcake should come out clean. Let the cupcakes cool completely while you make the icing.

• 115g icing sugar, sifted
• 55g cream cheese, room temperature
• 10 raspberries
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Beat cream cheese till smooth, then add icing sugar and vanilla and beat till light and creamy. Add the raspberries and continue beating at high speed till the mixture is nice and smooth.

Spoon into an icing bag and pipe a large swirl over each cupcake. Sprinkle with red decorative sugar and top with a few sugar hearts.

Triple Chocolate Cake

Chocoholics, this is your ultimate fix. The equivalent of mainlining in the world of a chocolate addict.

Seriously, there's chocolate cakes, then there's the mother of all chocolate cakes. Imagine a intensely rich chocolate cake, sandwiched between layers of satiny whipped cream ganache to keep the cake moist, then topped off with a melting chocolate glaze. To die for.

The recipe is courtesy of the legendary Rose Levy Beranbaum and her Cake Bible. Yes, it is indeed the bible.

For the Devils Food Cake:

• 55g cocoa powder
• 240ml boiling water
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 235g flour
• 300g caster sugar
• 2/3 teaspoon baking soda
• 2/3 teaspoon salt
• 225g butter, softened

Preheat oven to 175C with rack in middle and grease a 9-inch round springform cake tins.

Whisk together the cocoa powder and hot water until smooth and let cool to room temperature. In a mixing bowl, lightly beat eggs, about a quarter of the cocoa mixture and the vanilla extract.

With an electric mixer, combine the dry ingredients on low speed, then add butter and the remaining 3/4 of the cocoa mixture. Keep mixing till all the ingredients are moistened, then increase to high speed for another 1.5 minutes to introduce air into the batter.

Gradually add the egg mixture to the batter in 3 batches, beating well in between and scraping down the bowl. Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for 20 - 30 minutes. The cake is done when the edges starts pulling away from the sides of the tin and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let the cake cool in the tins for 10 - 15 minutes, then remove from tin and place on a wire rack till completely cool. In the meantime, make the whipped ganache filling.

• 230g bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped if not using buttons or chips
• 475ml cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Melt the chocolate and 2/3 of the cream in a bowl set over lightly simmering water. Set aside to cool completely.

With an electric mixer, whip remaining cream till beater marks start to show, then add the chocolate mixture and continue beating till soft peaks form.

Now, on to assembling the cake.

Slice the cake lengthwise into 3 layers. Place one layer on a wire rack and spread a layer of whipped cream ganache, followed by a layer of cake. Repeat until you get three layers of chocolate heaven. Frost the top and sides of the cake, then stick the cake into the fridge to chill while you make the chocolate glaze:

• 110g bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped if not using buttons or chips
• 100ml cream
• 1 tablespoon butter

Place chocolate into a mixing bowl. Bring cream to a boil in a saucepan till simmering. Pour hot cream over the chocolate and stir till melted. Let stand for awhile until cooled slightly but still of a pouring consistency.

To finish off, place the cake on the wire rack over a plate or baking sheet to catch the excess glaze. Pour the glaze over the top of the cake, letting the glaze drip down the sides to cover it completely.

Transfer to a cake board and chill for another hour before shooting up (aka eating).

More for the last meal:

• Buttermilk pancakes
• Perfect scrambled eggs
• Saffron-scented pumpkin and apple soup
• Rosy borscht
• Panfried foie gras with a balsamic raspberry reduction
• Crabmeat pasta in a creamy tomato sauce
  
• Shrimp paella
• Lemon meringue pie

White Chocolate and Cherry Cupcakes

Apart from looking crazy patriotic, these cupcakes are beyond deliciously yum.

Breakfast at Chin Mee Chin would invariably include a cherry cupcake... full of fake glace cherries and suspiciously non-dairy butter. Cheap, but tasty.

This is a much more upmarket take on an old childhood favourite. A rich buttery cake, dotted with juicy cherries and topped off with a decadent white chocolate buttercream frosting.

Cherry Cupcakes:

• 60g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 65g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 100g plain flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 30 ml syrup from canned cherries
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup canned cherries, quartered

White Chocolate Frosting:

• 60 white chocolate, finely chopped if not using buttons or chips
• 100g icing sugar, sifted
• 30ml milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 80g unsalted butter, softened
• Pinch of salt
• 3 drops red food colouring

Preheat oven to 190C and line 6 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Beat in the vanilla, then add the flour mixture and milk and beat till smooth. Gently fold in the cherries.

Fill each cup till 3/4 full. Bake for about 16-20 minutes. A skewer inserted into a cupcake should come out clean. Let the cupcakes cool completely while you make the icing.

Melt the white chocolate in a metal bowl over gently simmering water. Stir until smooth and let cool to room temperature.

Sift the icing sugar into a medium bowl. Stir in the milk and vanilla. Add the butter and salt and beat until smooth. Stir in the cooled white chocolate. Tint half the frosting with the red food colouring for a bright red colour, and leave the other half white.

Spoon the red icing into a piping bag with a star tip, and white icing into a bag with a round tip and refrigerate for 30 minutes until firm enough to frost.

Pipe little red stars on half of each cupcake, and little round circles on the other half.

Happy National Day!

Other items on the Red, White and Ooohhh menu:

• Grilled red pepper and sundried tomato pasta
• Mozzarella and cherry tomato salad
• Boeuf bourguignon with mashed potatoes
• Red rubies in coconut milk
• Raspberry macarons with a buttercream filling
• Cream scones with homemade raspberry preserves and freshly made whipped cream

Chocolate Cupcakes with a Raspberry Surprise

It's fridge clean-out day, and time to use up the random bits and pieces that are quickly approaching their use-by date.

I open my fridge and a jar of neglected raspberry jam looks sorrowfully at me. "Eat me" it says pleadingly...

It looks so lonely, the poor thing. It needs a friend. And the best friend raspberry can have is chocolate.

And good friends need to have a playground. That would be a silky creamy pool of buttercream to splash around in.

For 6 cupcakes:

• 25g dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 120 ml boiling hot water
• 80g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 60g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 100g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 6 teaspoons raspberry jam

For the icing:

• 115g icing sugar, sifted
• 55g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon raspberry jam
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon milk or light cream
• 1 drop of red food colouring

Preheat oven to 190C and line 6 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a small bowl stir until smooth the boiling hot water and the cocoa powder. Let cool to room temperature.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated. Then add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.

Fill each muffin cup with 1 heaped tablespoon of batter, then add a teaspoon of raspberry jam, and top up with another heaped tablespoon of batter.

Bake for about 16-20 minutes. A skewer inserted into a cupcake should come out clean. Let the cupcakes cool completely while you make the icing.

Cream the butter until smooth and well blended. Add the raspberry jam and vanilla extract.

Turn the mixer down to low and gradually beat in the icing sugar, making sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the milk and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy (about 3 to 4 minutes). Tint the frosting with the red food colouring for a pretty shade of pink.

Spoon the frosting into an icing bag with a star tip. Once the cupcakes have cooled, pipe little stars all over the cupcakes and decorate with sprinkles if desired.

Isn't it amazing how lonely individuals can come together to make such pretty and delicious pairings?

And I'm high enough from all the waiting
To ride a wave on your inhaling
And I'm high enough from all the waiting
To ride a wave on your inhaling
'Cause I love you no?
Can't help but love, you know...

Molten Chocolate Cakes

Scents and food are one of the most powerful triggers of memories. And this one always brings to mind late nights and loved ones.

A faint air of fatigue, coupled with anticipation as the scent of chocolate wafts from my kitchen to the couch as I wait for them to bake. I'm tired, yet excited all at the same time.

There's nothing like eating these straight out of the oven, as the warm liquid chocolate centre oozes out and melts the vanilla ice cream. Delicious, decadent and just the stuff to make memories by.

Makes 2 cakes

• 2 oz fine bittersweet chocolate
• 2 tablespoons dutch processed cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 2 egg
• 2 teaspoons plain flour

Butter 2 ramekins and set aside. Preheat oven to 180C.

Whisk cocoa powder and sugar together until evenly blended. Melt chocolate and butter in a bowl over gently simmering water until smooth.

Remove chocolate from the heat and whisk in the cocoa-sugar mixture. Then whisk in egg yolks, then whole egg, and finally the flour.

Divide the batter between ramekins and bake 10 to 12 minutes. The cake edges should be set but the centre will be wet and shiny. If you're not sure, stick a skewer through the cake. It will feel firm, with resistance as the skewer goes in, but when you remove it, you should see traces of wet batter on the skewer.

Let cool for 5 mins, then loosen the cakes with a knife run around the edge of the ramekin and turn out onto plates. Serve with vanilla ice cream and eat asap!

Chocolate Hazelnut Truffles

Screw Ferrero Rochers. I can do a better job making my own. That, and a big bag of hazelnuts sitting on my kitchen counter that I don't know what to do with.

Makes 30 pieces:

• 170g fine quality chocolate (60% cacao or more)
• 2/3 cup cream
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 75g of toasted chopped hazelnuts
• 30 hazelnut halves (for decorating)
• Cocoa powder

If your hazelnuts are raw and have skins, the first thing you need to do is toast and de-skin them. Place a single layer of the nuts on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and toast in a 180C oven for 12 minutes. When cool, simply rub them around in your hands until the skins come off.

Place a metal bowl over lightly simmering water and melt chocolate and cream. Whem melted, remove from heat and stir in butter and chopped hazelnuts. Pour into a square of rectangular pan lined with cling wrap and refrigerate for 3 - 4 hours till set.

When set, cut truffles up into squares. Place a hazelnut half on each truffle and roll in cocoa powder. Set on a tray lined with greaseproof paper. Chill in the fridge for another hour and it's good to go.

Raspberry Chocolate Tart with Gingersnap Crust

Oooh... This one is utterly evil. I once saw a show on TV that explains the science of why some foods taste so good together. But I really don't need science to know that the balance of the bitter and sweet of the chocolate, the tartness of the raspberries, and the spiciness of the ginger are perfect complements to each other.

Apart from looking really pretty, the way the flavours layer on your tongue and mouth is also amazing. As you bite down, the raspberries hit your tongue with the tartness, then the bittersweet of the chocolate explodes all over the place, finally finishing off with the spicy crunch of the gingered crust.

To die for...

• About 40 gingersnaps (to yield 1 1/2 cups finely ground)
• 4 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
• 3 ½ cups fresh raspberries
• 8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped if not using chips or buttons
• 1 ¼ cups heavy cream
• Raspberry jam (optional)
• Small pinch salt

Preheat the oven to 160C and grease the sides and bottom of a 9 1/2-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom.

In a food processor, grind the gingersnaps until they're the texture of sand. Transfer to a bowl, add the melted butter, and work it in by squishing the mixture together with your hands. Press into the sides and bottom of the greased tart pan.

A little trick to get the crust evenly flat in the pan is to use a glass cup. Press the glass cup down gently, smoothing out the bottom of the crust as you squish the excess to the sides of the tin. Then press the cup against the sides for a perfectly flat side. Voila!

Refrigerate the crust for 20 minutes until firm, then bake the tart crust on the baking sheet until fragrant and light golden brown, about 15 minutes Make sure you check and rotate if needed to make the sure the crust doesn't get too dark. Set on a rack to cool

Meanwhile, whizz 1 cup of the berries through a food processor. Strain the pulp through a strainer to get rid of the seeds and bits. You'll have about 1/2 cup puree; set it aside and discard the contents of the strainer.

Put the chocolate in a medium bowl. Heat the cream just until boiling. Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and whisk to blend. Stir in the raspberry puree and the salt.

Spread a thin layer of raspberry preserves on the bottom of the cooled tart shell, then pour in the chocolate mixture (known as a ganache).

Refrigerate until the ganache is fairly firm, about 1 hour. Arrange the remaining raspberries on top of the ganache; they should completely cover the surface. Chill until the ganache is completely firm, about 30 minutes, and serve.

Baileys Chocolate Truffles

Why fork out an obscene amount of money for chocolate truffles when you can make your own in a snap?

I'm talking uber premium stuff here. The finest quality Valhorna chocolate and cocoa, fresh cream and pure butter. The cost of ingredients will probably cost you around $12 for 30 regular sized pieces. That's $0.40 cents a pop for pure chocolate heaven.

Makes 30 pieces:

• 170g fine quality chocolate (60% cacao or more)
• 2/3 cup cream
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 4-5 tablespoons Baileys liqeuer

Place a metal bowl over lightly simmering water and melt chocolate and cream. Whem melted, remove from heat and stir in butter and Baileys (or any other liqueur or flavouring you prefer). Pour into moulds and place in refrigerator to set for 2 hours.

Speciality baking supplies stores like Phoon Huat have special moulds in all shapes and sizes if you're really into chocolate making. But for the occasional chocolatier who can't bother with moulds, just pour the chocolate into a square tin lined with cling wrap. Once it's set, pull the cling wrap up to remove chocolate from the tin and cut it into squares with a knife warmed in hot water ala Royce style.

When the truffles have set, pick each up up with a toothpick, roll in cocoa powder and voila! Truffle heaven.

Raspberry Chocolate Macarons

Alright, here's the big kahuna, the Mount Everest of baking. The delicious and dreaded macaron.

This is a tried, tested and proven recipe. Pierre Hermes and Laduree, you ain't got nuthin' on me. You may rule Paris, but I got tropical weather macarons down pat. I've tried the Canele ones, and I must say, mine are just as good, if not better (can you see my head growing bigger?). Ok, ok... maybe not better but I definitely give them a run for their money. Not bad for an amateur baker with a 2m x 2m kitchen.

First, the essential must-haves:

• Weighing scale
• Silicon baking sheets (Silpat) or non-stick baking paper sheets
• Baking trays
• Mixer or wire whisk (I don't recommend whisking the meringue by hand. It is literally too painful.)
• Metal mixing bowls
• Spatula (plastic or rubber)
• Sieve
• Large piping bag with 1/2-inch round nozzle 
• Oven thermometer (if you don't have a digital oven)

Next, the  ingredients:

• Egg whites - aged in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours, 48 is ideal
• Finely ground almond powder - also called almond flour
• Icing sugar
• Castor sugar - the finest grain sugar available
• 1/4 teaspoon of  cream of tartar

 Then, the basic ratios based on 1 unit of egg white of 50g:

• 1.3 almond meal x 50g egg white (1.3 x 50g = 65g almond meal)
• 1.6 icing sugar  x 50g egg white (1.6 x 50g = 80g icing sugar)
• 0.8 caster sugar x 50g egg white (0.8 x 50g = 40g caster sugar)
• Egg white 50 gm
• Total weight of ingredients = 235g

Preheat your oven to 160C.

Here's an important note: An oven that's too hot will cause the tops of the macaron shells to crack. If you're experiencing that problem, turn down the heat to about 150C. If you're making mini-sized petit four macarons (about 2cm in diameter or less), set the temperature at 140C.

Stack two or three heavy baking trays. Line the top tray with non-stick baking paper or silicon baking sheets. If you're not adept with piping, mark the paper with 3cm circles, spaced about 4cm apart.

Sift the icing sugar and almond meal into a bowl to remove lumps of powder. Set aside.

In a clean bowl, beat the room-temperature egg whites, cream of tartar and sugar until stiff peaks form and you have a firm, glossy and compact meringue. You'll know you have the right consistency when the peak of the meringue stands up by itself, like in the image below. If it flops over, it's known as soft peak and not done yet.

Sift the dry mixture over the meringue and fold in with a spatula using a circular motion around the bowl, scraping under the batter and folding it over. You don't need to be gentle, but don't beat the crap out of it either. The whole point is to mix in the dry ingredients quickly without over mixing the batter. It's better to under mix than over mix, because you can mix it more later if the consistency isn't right. Add colourings or flavourings at this point.

A quick note of colours and flavours. Use powder or concentrated gel colourings as it doesn't add more moisture to the batter. You didn't go through all that trouble to dry your egg whites just to put liquid back in. On flavours, use natural extracts rather than the artificial stuff. If you don't have the natural stuff, then it's better to leave it au naturel.

The final batter should be smooth and thick but flowing (often referred to as being "like magma", but like as if we've ever seen lava flowing out of a volcano before. Duh...). Basically, a ribbon of batter dropped from the spatula to the top of the batter should take about 30 seconds to disappear.

Spoon the batter into a piping bag/gun with a 1/2-inch nozzle and pipe evenly onto the baking paper/ silicon sheet in 3cm globs, spaced about 4cm apart (the piped batter will spread about 1 cm).

You'll get little peaks after piping like in the picture below. Mild peaks should settle back into the batter eventually. If they don't disappear, whack the tray repeatedly on a table until the peaks disappear. Usually the batter will spread a little and any bumps will disappear.

Let the piped batter dry so that a "skin" forms on the top  of each macaron. This can take from anywhere from 20 minutes to never in our humid weather, so have a hairdryer on standby. This post will explain why the skin is necessary and the hairdryer (yes, I know it's weird, but it works).

Bake the macarons tray by tray on the centre rack.

At the 5 minute mark the shells should have lifted and developed "feet". At the 6-7 minute mark they should be starting to colour just slightly. Rotate the baking tray if the colouring is uneven. Bake for 12 minutes in total.

Stand back and admire those pretty little feet. Yes, you're gorgeous... Yes you are!

If you are using a silicon baking sheet, allow to cool completely before removing the shells. If they stick to the sheet, place them in the freezer for awhile to help with the sticking problem.

If you're using paper, spritz a little water from a spray bottle under the paper while still hot. The steam created will help release the shells from the paper.

Lay the cooled macaron shells face up and match them according to size (this is where the anal-retentive part of me is really enjoying herself).

For the raspberry ganache filling, you will need:

• 85g fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (60% cacao or more), finely chopped if not using buttons
  
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon raspberry extract

Melt chocolate with cream and butter in a metal bowl set over a pan of lightly simmering water (bowl should not touch the water), stirring until smooth.

Remove bowl from heat, then add raspberry extract. Let stand at room temperature until cooled completely, spoon into a piping bag and chill for 20 minutes till firm.

Now you're almost at the home stretch and ready to assemble the macarons.

Pipe a dollop of ganache onto one side of each shell, the size of a Hershey's Kiss. Gently press down to sandwich the two sides together.

Haha... I lied. You're not at the home stretch yet.

Macarons taste best when refrigerated and eaten the next day. The process of chilling in the fridge and warming back up to room temperature allows the moisture from the filling to meld with and soften the inside of the shells to create that unmistakable crisp outside and chewy soft inside.

Be patient and wait. It will be worth it. Oh yes it will.