- Today we have a very special guest on
"Binging With Babish".
He is a Hollywood megastar.
He's the actual creator of "The Mandalorian"
and he's a friend of the show, John Favreau is here.
John thank you so much for coming by.
- Thank you, good to be here.
I'm very excited.
- I'm very excited.
- You know avid watcher of "Binging With Babish" as well.
You know that, right? - All right,
I'm gonna fall over here.
I'm already nervous Sir, you're gonna make me fall over.
(John laughs)
I think you have a very good idea of what I'm calling about
because last episode the Baby Yoda was munching upon
some really delicious looking Robin's egg blue cookies.
I'm calling you for some answers.
What's the deal with these cookies?
- Josh, our prop master came to us and was asking,
"What do these cookies look like?"
Actually, if you look at the very end of the episode
under the credits, we like to include a lot
of production arts.
You could see the first look at what we thought
it might look like.
We wanted it to be blue 'cause it was like blue milk
and the prop master ended up baking macaroons for it
but not a full macaroon, not the sandwich just like one half
of the sandwich.
- Was there a flavor?
What kind of flavor are we talking about?
- It didn't really have much flavor.
It was kind of a blue raspberry, a little bit but again
because it's on a film set you're not worried as much
about the taste it's just about the look.
But what I also found out now that everybody loves,
especially kids love to nerd out on the stuff in the show
that little kids might wanna eat macaroons
because it's what Baby Yoda's eating.
I later realized that macaroons when you buy them
could be several dollars each.
So it's an expensive thing.
First of all, it's cool that you're thinking of packing
the recipe so that people can make them for themselves.
But I was also thinking maybe it might be fun for when kids
are asking parents especially everybody might be stuck
at home it might be fun to have a simpler recipe.
So like a cookie that's easier to execute that still has
the same look.
Also, you can't eat a lot of macaroons.
They're very rich and so you might end up actually
throwing up like Baby Yoda did if you eat that many of them.
So you're not just eating cookies but you're also learning
about baking which is part of what's fun about your show
is not just nerding out on the food and getting to taste
delicious things but also learning the fundamentals
of cooking which I think is a really cool thing.
- Well, thank you so much.
And I think that's a great idea.
We'll make a genuine French macaroon which is difficult
and time consuming and expensive to make.
And then we'll make something that's much more snackable,
much more accessible for people at home to make some
sky blue Nilla wafers.
- But we'll be authentic too so you're not feeling like
you're eating something.
I will say it right here that it is an approved other
alternative recipe for the kids that want to have it.
So they're still eating what Baby Yoda is eating.
- Also, I think to be accurate I think I need to eat enough
of these that I puke on myself.
Would you agree? (John laughs)
- Nice, good.
- Well, thank you so much John.
"Mandalorian" season two is streaming right now.
New episodes on Fridays on Disney plus.
"Alien Xmas" is available on Netflix and "Chef Show"
season two, volume one is on Netflix right now.
John Favreau thank you so much for joining us.
Really appreciate it.
- Keep up the good work, buddy.
- All right, so now that this is already of the best days
of my life let's make it even better with some
French macaroons.
A precise recipe for which we're gonna need some precision.
Do not attempt to make this recipe without a scale.
I'm way out of my depth here so this recipe comes
courtesy of Preppy Kitchen.
We're starting by sifting together 140 grams of almond flour
with 130 grams of powdered sugar into the bowl of a food
processor where it will be whizzed for about 30 seconds,
pulsing occasionally so we get as fine a powder as possible,
but we're not done.
We're sifting this mixture back into the food processor
and whizzing once again and again once more after that
for a total of three whizzes.
This is all in an effort to get as finer powder
as possible which is gonna help give our cookies
smooth tops.
We're also missing bring out 100 grams of egg white
reserving the yolks for a little bit later on.
Then we're dumping into the bowl of a stand mixer equipped
with our wirerstic whisks.
And we're adding one eighth teaspoon of cream of tartar
which is optional but it's gonna help us form
a more staple meringue.
Go ahead and start whipping that together for about
one minute until frothy and then we're gonna slowly,
very slowly sprinkle in 90 grams of granulated sugar.
This is both going to be absorb into and punch lots
and lots of little holes into our egg whites forming
a stiff creamy emulsion known as meringue which we want
to bring to what's called stiff peaks.
More on that later, for now we have to add our flavor
and some colors.
I'm adding a half teaspoon each vanilla and raspberry
extract which kind of smells like insanity but it's gonna
bring a nice blue raspberry vibe to our macaroons
as will Just a few drops of some very, very strong
food coloring.
Don't overdo it because we want to hit that sky blue color.
Within mixing this and scraping down the size of the bowl,
whipping the egg whites to a state of stiff peaks.
That is we wanna be able to take the mixer out of the bowl,
flip it upside down and have it form a peak that doesn't
flop over.
Then we are to engage in a practice as macona,
excuse me, macahonudge, macaronage.
Basically, we're gonna sift a third of our finely ground
almond flour and powdered sugar mixture into the meringue
and using a long rubber spatula gently fold it together.
Once all the dry stuff is incorporated and it's looking
relatively smooth I'm gonna sift in the remaining dry stuff
and continue folding until it's a smooth goopy mixture.
A little thicker than pancake batter it should also form
a figure of eight when you let it drip off your spatula.
That's how you know it's ready to make into macaroons,
Macarons, I'm positive on saying it accurate macaroon.
Next up, we are dumping the mixture into a piping bag
whipping it around like you see them do on the
"Great British Baking Show" and piping into perfectly round
little dollops on a parchment lined baking sheet.
This being my first time macaroning I'm going to experiment
with a bunch of different sizes but no matter what size
you make your macarons once they are piped they must then be
thoroughly whacked against the table.
This both gonna help release any errands bubbles
and flatten out the tops which you can help
along with your pinky finger if they didn't go totally flat.
Then we're gonna let these guys sit out uncovered
for 45 minutes at room temperature after which they're gonna
look exactly the same but they will have formed harden
little shells on their exteriors meaning they are ready
to bake at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for about 12 minutes
rotating once halfway through.
And if you did all the fussy little steps just right
after cooling completely on the baking sheet you will be met
with perfectly pudgy little macaroon halves.
Ready to be stuffed into a space age mylar pouch
both for accuracy and convenience.
But enough set decoration let's take a closer look
at these guys.
A good macaron has a nice, smooth, shiny round top,
a pebbly ring around the bottom and is at once light,
crunchy, airy and just a little chewy.
My first round was kind of rough but after just a little
practice I was pulling perfect paddle one pastry.
But how do they taste?
Well, true to what John said they have a light...
Woo, whoops, they have a nice lightened up...
Come on, third time's the chip.
There we go.
They have a really nice light raspberry flavor.
It's almost like cotton candy in the best way possible
but if you don't care about being show accurate,
you're gonna want some French buttercream filling.
So into a medium saucepan goes 100 grams of granulated sugar
and 30 mil of water which we're gonna place over medium heat
whilst we beat up some egg yolks, five of them in the bowl
of a stand mixer on medium speed until they're about
doubled in volume.
During this time your sugar mixture should hit its nominal
temperature of 240 degrees Fahrenheit, the softballs stage.
And very, very carefully we're gonna slowly stream it
into the mixer as it runs.
We want this slow enough so that it doesn't scramble
the egg yolks.
Once it's cooled down to room temperature it's time for this
frosting to live up to its name and become the recipient
of 225 grams or two sticks of unsalted room temperature
butter added one little piece at a time.
Once all the butter is incorporated we're gonna add
a quarter teaspoon each raspberry and vanilla extract.
And we should end up with a nice thick, creamy
(Oliver speaks French) or French buttercream.
At this point, we're gonna beat in the requisite food
coloring so it matches our macaron shells.
Yes, I did look up the proper pronunciation of macaron.
How could you tell?
Give this guy a taste for tastiness.
Once you have confirmed that it is indeed tasty
it's time to place it in the piping bag with a fluted tip.
Place a small circle of (mans speaks French)
on the flat side of the cookie.
Find that cookie soulmate one that matches in size
and sandwich the two together.
And there you have it, a genuine French macaroon.
Not exactly what Baby Yoda was eating on the show
but the macaroon without filling is like Mando
without his helmet.
But that being said as delicious as these guys are all
filled with (man speaks French) they're still really,
really good on their own to the point where like I said
for accuracy sake, got to eat enough where I get sick.
You can't be non-canonical in Star Wars.
(man retches) Gross.
Maybe John's right.
Those are very rich and they're very difficult to make.
So if you want a fun alternative to make with the kids
that looks the part cream together a quarter cup
or half a stick of unsalted butter, softened with half a cup
of granulated sugar using a hand mixer or a stand mixer
for about one minute or until it is light and fluffy
then we're gonna beat in one room temperature egg,
a quarter teaspoon each raspberry and vanilla extract
and a little bit of blue food coloring until it is nice
and smooth, about one minute scraping down the sides
of the bowl halfway through.
Then we're combining one cup of flour with a half teaspoon
each kosher salt and baking powder,
tiny whisking to combine and then adding to our alien blue
wet stuff which we're just gonna mix until no dry streaks
remain otherwise we're gonna have a tough cookie
and we should end up with a nice, stiff, thick batter
maybe a little less blue than mine.
I definitely used too much food coloring
and we're going to distribute it into dollops
on a parchment lined baking sheet.
You can use a melon baller or a couple of spoons
or you can cut the corner of a Ziploc bag turning it
into an impromptu piping bag.
Maybe flatten out any protruding peaks and bake at 325
degrees Fahrenheit for 15 to 20 minutes until they're dry
to the touch.
And what you're gonna end up with are some cute little
sugar cookies which have an actually really nice,
unique blue raspberry flavor.
They look like the real deal, they're fun for the whole
family and they're not gonna make you puke if you eat half
a dozen of them.
Well, I don't know about that.
It depends on what kind of aerial combat you're involved in.
(soft music)
- Well, I know that as a film maker I really feel
very flattered when you recreate the recipes
from like "Chef" or when you did the bone broth from
the first season of "The Mandalorian" and everybody
who works on the production always gets a big kick out
of it too.
So we love how much you think about what we do
'cause we put a lot of care into that stuff
and then when you really nerd out and dive deep
we sometimes even learn a little bit more about what
we're doing on the set than we do at the time.
Thanks for it, keep doing what you're doing.
It's always a lot of fun to watch.
Guarantee you we'll be watching on the set.
(Oliver laughs)
- Oh my God, this is a big day for me.
Thank you so much.
And thank you for telling amazing stories that we can all
enjoy during this difficult time.
- And every time I put something in a movie that has food
in it, every time I put food in the movie I'll know
that I have the responsibility of knowing that someday
you're probably gonna end up having to cook it.
So I'll keep that in mind too.
- Likewise. (Oliver laughs)
(soft music)