My first post! I am finally making use of this blog. I hope my next post won't take another two years. ^_^
Yummy Macarons. I was searching for recipes on almond cookies and came across this Italian/French cookie. They are quite popular in many food blogs and apparently hard to make. They have a unique look and comes in a variety of flavours. There are coffee, chocolate, hazelnut, nutella, matcha, tea, raspberry...and the filling can be any flavour of butter cream, ganache, mousse, icecream or jam. The cookie itself can be made in advance and be frozen until ready for use. Simply defrost and add filling (I like this idea...good for gift making). The cookies are made from a meringue based batter. I love meringue! I love anything that are similar to it.
The recipe below is derived from my research. I made slight changes to the original to accommodate what I have and the sweetness I want. Okay, enough talking and Let's bake!
Vanilla Bean Macaron with Dark Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients:
3 large egg whites at room temperature
200g powder sugar
125g ground almonds (unsifted)
25g castor sugar
1 vanilla bean
Yield 26 sandwiched cookies
1. Sift ground almonds and powder sugar into one bowl and keep aside.
2. Beat egg whites to soft peak (bird's beak) adding the castor sugar 1/3 at a time.
3. Cut open vanilla pod and scrap the beans onto the meringue. Fold in briefly.
4. Fold the almond mixture a little at a time into the meringue.
5. Transfer the mixture into a pastry bag and pipe 1 inch balls on to pan lined with parchment paper (they spread out over 2 inches in diameter)
6. Allow the uncooked macarons to sit in the room for 30 minutes before going into the oven at 315F middle rack.
7. Bake for 8 mins at 315F or until frilly feet appear fully. Then reduce temperature to 300F and bake for another 4 to 6 minutes.
8. Allow the baked macarons to cool for a minimum 15 minutes before transferring on to cooling rack. Cool completely before adding filling.
Dark Chocolate Ganache
Melt shaved dark chocolate couvertures in a double boiler.
Add cream and mix.
I have no recipe for this because I basically eyeballed everything, despite having the recipe right under my nose. I simply cut as much chocolate needed and poured cream until my conscious yelled 'stop'.
Results:
1) Yay, my macarons have frilly feet!
2) They were inconsistent. Some turned out perfect while others have cracks or hollow centers. I think my oven wasn't preheated enough and had uneven heat distribution. Perhaps I should preheat longer? Or maybe, I wasn't pipping the stuff properly. I should invest in a proper pastry bag rather than using a ghetto plastic bag.
3) The base came out clean without sticking to the parchment...can be removed after 5 mins resting.
4) Sweetness level was just right.
5) Crispy outside, slight chewiness inside which goes very well with the soft filling.
5) Best to consume within 3 days...would still be good afterward but you won't get much of the 'meringue feel' as it will dry out over time. My cookies are now 5 to 6 days old...still good...the crispiness still there....but no meringue chewy texture.
Yummy Macarons. I was searching for recipes on almond cookies and came across this Italian/French cookie. They are quite popular in many food blogs and apparently hard to make. They have a unique look and comes in a variety of flavours. There are coffee, chocolate, hazelnut, nutella, matcha, tea, raspberry...and the filling can be any flavour of butter cream, ganache, mousse, icecream or jam. The cookie itself can be made in advance and be frozen until ready for use. Simply defrost and add filling (I like this idea...good for gift making). The cookies are made from a meringue based batter. I love meringue! I love anything that are similar to it.
The recipe below is derived from my research. I made slight changes to the original to accommodate what I have and the sweetness I want. Okay, enough talking and Let's bake!
Vanilla Bean Macaron with Dark Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients:
3 large egg whites at room temperature
200g powder sugar
125g ground almonds (unsifted)
25g castor sugar
1 vanilla bean
Yield 26 sandwiched cookies
1. Sift ground almonds and powder sugar into one bowl and keep aside.
2. Beat egg whites to soft peak (bird's beak) adding the castor sugar 1/3 at a time.
3. Cut open vanilla pod and scrap the beans onto the meringue. Fold in briefly.
4. Fold the almond mixture a little at a time into the meringue.
5. Transfer the mixture into a pastry bag and pipe 1 inch balls on to pan lined with parchment paper (they spread out over 2 inches in diameter)
6. Allow the uncooked macarons to sit in the room for 30 minutes before going into the oven at 315F middle rack.
7. Bake for 8 mins at 315F or until frilly feet appear fully. Then reduce temperature to 300F and bake for another 4 to 6 minutes.
8. Allow the baked macarons to cool for a minimum 15 minutes before transferring on to cooling rack. Cool completely before adding filling.
Dark Chocolate Ganache
Melt shaved dark chocolate couvertures in a double boiler.
Add cream and mix.
I have no recipe for this because I basically eyeballed everything, despite having the recipe right under my nose. I simply cut as much chocolate needed and poured cream until my conscious yelled 'stop'.
Results:
1) Yay, my macarons have frilly feet!
2) They were inconsistent. Some turned out perfect while others have cracks or hollow centers. I think my oven wasn't preheated enough and had uneven heat distribution. Perhaps I should preheat longer? Or maybe, I wasn't pipping the stuff properly. I should invest in a proper pastry bag rather than using a ghetto plastic bag.
3) The base came out clean without sticking to the parchment...can be removed after 5 mins resting.
4) Sweetness level was just right.
5) Crispy outside, slight chewiness inside which goes very well with the soft filling.
5) Best to consume within 3 days...would still be good afterward but you won't get much of the 'meringue feel' as it will dry out over time. My cookies are now 5 to 6 days old...still good...the crispiness still there....but no meringue chewy texture.
Pictures:
My Ingredients
Almond & flour mixture
My ghetto pipping bag...a produce bag...it was clean =)
It gave inconsistent shapes.
My wonderful boyfriend helping me shave and chop my block of frozen dark chocolate.
Yay!! Frilly feet!
Batch 1 - yea, some where cracking...
Batch 2
A hungry man snatching a macaron off my hand!
1 comment:
Meh...
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