Mactweets Challenge – Macboobies for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

by Lora Wiley-Lennartz

Jamie and Deeba, those wonderful gals over at Mactweets dedicated this month’s challenge to Pink for Breast Cancer awareness month. We were tasked with creating a Pinkaron.

These Macboobies are a tribute to the Feel Your Boobies campaign founded by fellow Ithaca College alumni, Leigh Hurst. Feel your boobies is not about just reminding women to do self examinations. They encourage women to feel their breasts often to be observant of any changes that may occur.

Once I got past the visual gag of these Macboobies shells, I thought hard about what to fill them with.  I did a bit of research on breast healthy foods. Flax seed and lemons and oranges are on the list. Butter is also there on some  as it is rich in CLA. However, it’s a no no on others. I went with the butter is breast healthy peeps and created two different buttercreams for fillings.  For the pink Macboobies, I used orange and lemon buttercream. For the chocolate ones I made a vanilla flax seed version.

The feet on the pink ones . not so good but the chocolate ones, much better.* I used Tartelette’s recipe for the pink ones and David Lebowitz’s recipe for the chocolate macarons.

*Disclaimer:  I am in no way initiating a Tartelette/Lebovitz macaron recipe smackdown. The state of all feet on macarons on this blog past and future are all my fault in execution and have zero to do with anyone’s recipes.

Pink MacBoobies With 
Lemon Orange Buttercream



For the shells I used Tartelette’s recipe. (Use a kitchen scale for precise measurements)

Ingredients:
  • 3 egg whites – aged at least 2 days. Let them sit out on the counter uncovered.
  • 25-50 grams of fine granulated sugar
  • 200 grams of powdered sugar
  • 110 Grams of almond flour*

*You can buy almond flour that has been ground with or without the skin. I use the later (blanched). The former looks really nice if you are not coloring the shells. You can also grind your own almond flour by putting whole or sliced almonds in a food processor or blender. If you do, make sure you throw a little of the powdered sugar in to prevent the almonds from forming a paste.
Directions:
  • Sift the powdered sugar and almond flour together or pulse them together briefly in a food processor. Make sure there are no large pieces and set aside. 
  • Whip the egg whites. When they start to get foamy, slowly add the sugar. Continue whipping until you can turn the bowl upside down and nothing slides out. (I also add a pinch each of salt and cream of tartar)
  • Add the powdered sugar/almond mixture to the egg white mixture and fold, using quick strokes at first then slow down.  No more than 50 strokes all together. The batter should have a “flowing like lava” consistency. Here is where I added a dab of pink gel food coloring. 
  • Fill a Pastry bag and pipe circles onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or on a silpat. When I first started making macarons, I used to trace circles using a small cookies cutter onto the parchment. Then I would flip it over and use it as a guide for piping perfect circles.
  • Let the macarons dry for about one hour until they harden.
  • Preheat oven to 300 degrees F
  • Bake for 18-20 minutes.
  • Let cool completely.

For the Lemon Orange Buttercream:

Ingredients:
  • 1/4 stick butter, room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed orange juice
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon orange zest
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1 + 1/4 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
  • Cream the butter, juices and zest together. Add sugar a little at a time.

Chocolate Macboobies with 
Vanilla Flax Seed Buttercream

For the shells I used this recipe from David Lebovitz.
For the Vanilla Flax Seed Buttercream:

Ingredients:
  • 1/4 stick butter, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon powdered vanilla bean seeds
  • 1 teaspoon milk
  • 1 + 1/4 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
  • Cream the butter, milk, extract and powdered vanilla seeds together.Add sugar a little at a time.
  • Oh and this one was a special request from my husband. While I was making these, he kept egging me on to pierce one.

So I did.
Feel your boobies and get your mammograms ladies!
And now “Lady Tata” will play us out with  Mammogram, a Breast Cancer Awareness version of Lady Gaga’s Poker Face

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13 comments

Jenny November 4, 2010 - 4:54 am

These are awesome! What a fun way to celebrate our boobies 🙂 and breast cancer awareness!

Reply
Anonymous October 31, 2010 - 5:34 pm

What a creative idea! Macboobies for a good cause!

Reply
shaz October 24, 2010 - 10:54 am

Oh lOra, they are fantastic. I di think about boobies but I usually farm my macs off to my husband's office and he might have gotten a few strange looks! Great filling ideas too.

Reply
Seattle Pastry Girl October 21, 2010 - 10:39 pm

Lora you are always so creative…love it !

Reply
How To Be Perfect October 19, 2010 - 5:04 pm

You genius! I love your Macboobies! x

Reply
Nessie October 17, 2010 - 3:21 am

Ahhhh these are soooo cute!!! Love them! Love your tongue in cheek approach to pink ribbon day 🙂

Reply
faithy, the baker October 14, 2010 - 8:25 am

LOL! Lora, you're so hilarious! I love your Macboobies! Such a cute idea!

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Linda V @ Bubble and Sweet October 13, 2010 - 8:26 pm

Normally I'm not a fan of the boobie cake but nice work Lora these are totally appropriate. I agree this is going to be a hard Mac Attack post to top.

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Cynthia October 12, 2010 - 9:35 pm

HA! I love it! They totally creep me out but I love them anyway (and I'd totally eat one, ack!) Hilarious! And tasty.

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HI Cookery October 11, 2010 - 9:30 pm

Your Mac Attack post is a hard act to follow! Funny, naughty, yummy, informative, creative. Two recipes are DOUBLE D-elightful. Wonderful job all AROUND (puns intended) with the macboobies.

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Reeni October 10, 2010 - 12:21 am

This is such a cute idea! And I love that you went the extra mile by incorporating those booby healthy ingredients. You rock!

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Jamie October 9, 2010 - 12:34 pm

Lora, this whole post is brilliant! Your Macboobies are perfect and I love that you searched for ingredients that were breast healthy. And the video is fantastic! Thanks so very much for baking these perfect macs for us (all recipes are the same, it all depends on what you do with them) and supporting Breast Cancer Awareness with such a fun and informative post! xo

Reply
Deeba PAB October 9, 2010 - 12:30 pm

Yay you Lora, yay you. The first pink post up, and it's rocking Pinktober. ♥ the Macboobies, the research, the effort and time you took with this one! Well done indeed. I have to say I absolutely loved the pierced one!! Thank you for taking to the pink theme so whole-breastedly, ooops whole heartedly, Lady Tata & all. You've done the MacTweets proud!

Reply

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