Baking Expeditions

My red velvet macaroons back in 2011

Italian Macarons

Back in 2010, there was this 'macaron frenzy' going on. My first macaron was introduced to me by my brother at Natalies Gourmet Studio in Solaris Dutamas. It was nearby his office at ZulRafique during those days and being the loving brother that he is, I got to taste these wonderfully-crafted-melt-in-your-mouth desserts!

My own home made macarons - not perfect, but..ok laah?

Now, for those of you who do not know what Macarons are, they are desserts with very simple ingredients (i'll give you the recipe in a bit) with very technical methods in the process.

Italian macaroons ingredients

The amount of time you whisk your white eggs, the heat you use, the temperature of your surroundings, the time you take to get them off the pans - all this, and many other factors have to be taken into account..

Y U WAN TO TEACH ME TO MAKE DIS IF SO HARD?

Because I can.

Oh, if you wanna see some more FB pics you can view them here. This is actually old stuff but I thought it would be nice to have up on the blog. Enjoy!!

INGREDIENTS (MACARON CRUSTS)

1- Almond Flour - 450gm
2 - Icing Sugar - 450gm
3 - Caster Sugar - 45gm
4 - Water - 100gm
5 - Egg whites (fresh) - 160gm
6 - Egg whites (old) - 160gm
7 - Dry red food coloring (or whatever color)
8 - Cream of tartar - 1/2 teaspoon

METHODS (MACARON CRUSTS)

1. Sift Almond flour and Icing Sugar together
2. Combine the FRESH egg whites with this until they are a well combined and pasty - set aside wrapped
3. Heat Caster Sugar and Water in pan with low heat - make sure to stir until dissolved.
4. Slowly bring this to a boil and red food coloring while stirring with metal spoon.
5. Use a digital thermometer to check the temperatures is about 119deg Celc, brush down any excess sugar on the sides with a brush, and remove from heat (at 119 deg Celc)
6. Meanwhile, using an electric mixer, beat old egg whites and cream of tartar in a bowl until combined. Reduce speed to a medium and slowly add sugar syrup to bowl in a thin, steady stream. Beat until thick and glossy and the mixture is cool.
7. Fold ¼ of the red meringue into almond paste to loosen up the mixture, then fold through the remaining red meringue until combined. Spoon into a large piping bag fitted with a 1.5-2cm nozzle.
8. Pipe macarons in 3-4cm circles onto 6 trays lined with baking paper. Leave trays on the bench for at least 30 minutes to form a crust.
9. Place red macarons into an oven, fitting 3 trays in each. Turn oven off and leave for 10 minutes, then turn oven on to 155°C and bake for a further 9-10 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool for 5 minutes on the trays. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

For the filling, to be honest...I forgot which recipe I used because it was 3 years ago! But I would recommend a video -- THIS GUYS MAKES IT LOOK SOO MUCH EASIER! 

Anyways..hope this post helps for anyone trying to take up a challenge in macaron making :)

Come back for more posts!