Sunday, March 30, 2014

French Macaron


I don't know if I was ever this nervous to bake anything before. 
Macarons, hard to make, easy to mess up, under-mix, over-mix, no feet, breaks, cracks and all this horrid words and, and, and...
Ever since I decided I want to give it a try read and heard so many tips and trick what should you do; leave the batter in the fridge overnight, use cold eggs and so on. So you can understand how overwhelming it can be.... NAH. Just do it and learn from your own experience. So here we go. 

First things first, make sure you read through the whole recipe if you are making macarons for the first time and always. J 

You will need:

For the Macarons:
  • 2 c. confectioners’ sugar, sifted
  • 1 c. almond flour
  • 3 egg whites at room temperature*
  • ¼ c. granulated sugar 
  • ¼ tsp cream of tartar*
  • Pinch of salt
  • Food color of your choice and/or 2 Tbs. cocoa powder
    *Soak the eggs in warm water for 10 minutes to get them to room temperature.
    *You can omit the cream of tartar, it just makes the egg whites whip faster
    For the filling:

    Blueberry ganache
    • 1 c. blueberries
    • 1/4 c. granulated sugar
    • 1/4 c. heavy whipping cream
    • 110 g good quality white chocolate, chopped into small pieces 
      Chocolate ganache
      • 1 c. heavy whipping cream
      • 2 Tbs. unsalted butter
      • 350 g good quality dark chocolate*, chopped into small pieces
      • 1 tsp vanilla extract
      *70% cocoa or higher

      Instructions:

      For the Macaron:
      1.    Gather your ingredients, have everything at hand.
      2.    Line your baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Set aside.
      3.    In a bowl lightly whisk together the almond flour and the sifted confectioners’ sugar. Set aside
      4.    In a separate bowl place egg whites, granulated sugar, cream of tartar and salt.
      5.    With your electric mixer beat on low- medium speed until egg whites start to break up. Increase speed and mix on high speed for 2 minutes.
      6.    Scrape down sides and bottom of the bowl and beat on high speed for another 2-3 minutes until it forms stiff peaks. (When you pull the mixer from the bowl the cream holds it shape and doesn’t fall back)
      7.    Sift half of your confectioners’ sugar and almond flour mixture on to the egg mixture. Discarding any lumps, don’t “force” the lumps with a spoon to go through the sift.
      8.    With a rubber spatula start to mix it with a folding motion. Scraping it from the bottom, moving in a circle. Fold it for 10 times. Count it!
      9.    Sift the remaining sugar mixture and fold it together for another 20 times, counting it!
      10. It should be homogenized a little bit by now so you can eyeball it and separate your batter into two. Or you can just leave it, if you want one flavor.
      10.1.1.               In one bowl add your food color and with a clean rubber spatula fold your mixture for another 10-15 times, counting it!
      10.1.2.               In the other bowl sift the 2 Tbs cocoa powder and with a clean rubber spatula fold your mixture for another 10-15 times, counting it!
      11. To see if your mixture is ready just pull your spatula out and the drop mixture back to the bowl, it should keep its shape for a second than very slowly fold back to the batter. You can mix it for another 5 times if it folds back fast. Don’t mix it for more than 60 times, that should do.
      12. Fill your piping bag(s) with the mixture.
      13. Pipe your macarons 2 cm apart from each other.
      14. Once you piped one baking tray, tap tray on the counter firmly 5-10 times turning it around, this will help remove bubbles and even out any piping “peaks”.
      15. Repeat piping and taping on the second tray.
      16. Now comes the fun part. WAITING. (Time to make the ganache) Set your pan aside for 30 minutes, and 30 minute it is no less!
      17. Turn on the oven and heat it to 150C°
      18. After 30 minutes put your first tray in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Leave the other tray to set.
      19. After 15 minutes switch trays and bake second tray.
      20. Let them cool for 10 minutes and gently remove from the tray. Cool them completely.

      For the blueberry ganache:

      1.    Place the blueberry and the sugar into a pan, on medium heat bring it slowly to boil and cook for 5-10 minutes until the sugar completely dissolves and the berries start to fall apart.
      2.    In a separate pan bring the cream to simmer.
      3.    Pour hot cream over white chocolate an let it sit for a minute.
      4.    Mesh the blueberry through a sift. Set aside.
      5.    Stir your chocolate mixture, till completely homogenized add 3Tbs. of the blueberry “jam” and mix it well.
      6.    Let it firm up at a cool place

      For the chocolate ganache:

      1.    In a pan bring the cream and butter to simmer.
      2.    Pour hot cream over chocolate an let it sit for a minute.
      3.    Stir your chocolate mixture, till completely homogenized.
      4.    Let it firm up at a cool place.

      Finally:

      1.    Fill you ganache into piping bags.
      2.    Match up you macaron halves
      3.    Pipe the filling and press together with the other half of the macaron.

      4.    Let it set in the fridge overnight, Hah, I’m just kidding. You worked soo hard on these little delights, go ahead and enjoy. (though if you have the patience they actually, do taste better the next day, just sayin’)

      We made it, it's not perfect, but our own work. This recipe is still in progress to find the way to make perfect French macaron.

      If you have any question about this post, please, do ask, I mean it ;)