My Macarons Inspiration
“Macarons only weigh a few grams, but that’s enough to leave your senses quivering with pleasure. Their thin, crisp shell, slightly rounded shape, tempting colours and tender interiors draw devotees to devour them with their eyes, and caress their smooth surface. Their flavours solicit the nose and, when one bites into that crisp shell, the ears tingle with pleasure and the palate is finally rewarded.”Pierre Hermé
The word macaron comes from "the Italian maccherone and the Venetian macarone (meaning fine paste), from which macaroni is also derived," says Larousse Gastronomique, the encyclopedia of French cooking. Various sources trace the roots of the pastry to an Italian recipe from the Renaissance or a group of French monks who modeled the dessert after the shape of their own belly buttons.
Macarons are made with egg whites, ground almonds and sugar. Their hard outer shells are sandwiched together with a soft creamy center that can consist of anything from fruit purée to chocolate ganache. Macarons, pronounced mack-ah-rohn, typically come in fruit flavors, pistachio, chocolate and sometimes more exotic varieties such as violet, foie gras and white truffle. The English spelling is "macaroon," but the French confection is not to be confused with the dense chewy treat made with sweetened coconut.
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| Macaron day at home |
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| Gingersnap flavored macaron with white chocolate buttercream |
A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge. T. Carlyle
My love history with macarons started while I was working at The Langdon Hall as Executive Sous Chef. It was not my job to make macarons but I would bake macarons from 10 pm until 7 am, if need be. I teamed up with our pastry chef and we combined our skills to make our legendary macarons. I have not met anyone, who would devote that much time for a macaron.
The chocolate macaron was my favorite recipe at that time. It is baked at 475 °F then the temperature is reduced by 25 degrees every 2 minutes until the temperature is 350 °F. I still love this recipe but other people find this overly complicated. The white macaron is baked at 250 °F for 12 minutes then the temperature is reduced to 225°F for another 10 minutes.
To be able to make perfect macarons, you must love making macarons. The perfect macaron takes time. I have tested so many recipes and I have tasted so many macarons from many different cities, each one offers a new experience.
Here is a Macaron recipe, simple enough but you must carefully follow the procedure
Read it carefully before you start making it.
Basic Macarons
(makes 30-40 cookies)
90 g egg whites (about 3 large), at room temperature
30 g granulated sugar
200 g powdered sugar
110 g almond flour or almond meal
1.Combine almonds and powdered sugar in the food processor and pulse until finely ground and no lumps remain in the powdered sugar.
Sift the almond and sugar mixture. This is a very important step.
2. With an electric mixer, beat the eggs whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add granulated sugar and beat until meringue is really stiff.
3.With a rubber spatula, fold in 1/3 of the almond-sugar mixture, using quick, firm strokes. You want to break up the meringue in this step. Add remaining almond mixture, 1/3 at a time, using gentle stokes to fold until all almonds are incorporated and no lumps of meringue remain. The batter will be thick and when you drop a teaspoonful of the mixture on top of the rest of the batter it should take 30-60 seconds to disappear and be reincorporated.
4.Using a pastry bag with a plain 0 .4" tip, pipe the meringues into 1-inch circles on parchment paper. You can trace circles on the paper if you want or just guess, but try to make them uniform sizes since you will match them up later to make sandwich cookies.
5.Let air dry or rest for 45-60 minutes.
6.Preheat oven to 300F. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet and then carefully transfer to wire racks.
Chocolate Ganache Filling
8 oz. heavy cream
8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped or white chocolate
1. Boil the cream.
2. Add to the chopped chocolate, cover with plastic wrap for 1 minute.
3. Stir until the mixture is homogeneous and shiny.
4. Chill for about 2 hours before using.
Tant-pour-tant
125g almond powder
125g icing sugar
Blitz in a food processor and sieve.
For the macaron
125g caster sugar
31g water
47g “aged” egg whites
250g tant-pour-tant
43g fresh egg whites
1.Preheat the oven to 160°C/ 320 °F
2. In a sauce pan, put the sugar and water and bring to 120°C/ 248°F
3. When the syrup starts to boil, start whisking the aged egg whites and when the syrup reaches 248°F pour it over the egg whites.
The meringue should be thick and glossy. This is your Italian Meringue. Continue beating until the meringue is almost cold.
4.Meanwhile, mix in the tant-pour-tant and the fresh egg whites.
The equal quantities of ground almonds and icing sugar, mixed together, is called a "tant pour tant" by pastry chefs. Beat in the egg whites to form a tacky dough. Then, fold in the Italian meringue in 3 batches.
5. The mixture should be still firm, but softer and very glossy.
Pipe the batter small rounds (2cm) onto a lined baking sheet and and allow the surface to dry out for 35 minutes to an hour. Bake for 9 minutes (oven door maintained open with a wooden spoon). The time might vary depending on the size of the macarons. Not all ovens are the same, so you need to watch the baking process carefully.
6. Let cool for 2 minutes then carefully detach the macarons from the parchment paper and set aside.Continue until there is no mixture left.
7. Pair the macarons of the same size and pipe the ganache onto one of the macarons.
Sandwich and refrigerate for at least 24h before eating
Notes:
Making macarons could be intimidating but it should be easy if you pay attention to the following tips.
1. Blitz in a food processor the almonds and icing sugar for a good minute.
2. Sieve the almond/icing sugar powder. This is a very important step.
3. Bring the syrup (used for the Italian meringue) to at least 120°C/248°F
4. Continue whisking the meringue until it’s almost cold.
5. If you are using food coloring, add it to the meringue, stir quickly just until blended.
6.Leave the mixture in a warm, dry place for 35 to 60 minutes before baking.
The macaroons are ready to bake when their surface is smooth and no longer sticky. If you don't allow them to set their surface will crack during baking.
7.Every oven is different. They are ready when the surface is crisp and the underneath is also set and lifts easily off the baking sheet.
Notes:
Aged egg whites - separated egg whites kept in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 5 days. Keep at room temperature the day you are making the macarons.
Pied - Also called 'foot' is the pleatlike frills that form at the bottom of the macarons while baking. Without it, the pastry cannot be called macaron.
Macaronnage - the term for mixing almond flour and meringue to make macarons.
Incorporate the meringue to the almond mixture. Starting from the middle, work the spatula from the bottom towards the top. Do this for about 2 to 3 minutes, and you should have a shiny, smooth, pliable, quasi-liquid mixture that resembles magma. When you lift the spatula, a thick magma-esque ribbon of batter should fall back down in to the bowl. This is the key step of “macaronnage.”
Macarons Gallery
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| Vanilla Macarons with vanilla buttercream |
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| Basic macarons |
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| Allowing the surface of the macarons to dry |
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| In the oven at 320 F |
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| Apricot- rose macaron with yogurt (hung overnight) |
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| Coconut Macarons because I also love coconut |
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| White Chocolate buttercream and coconut caramel (also called coconut jam) |
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| My coconut macarons are made with 40% unsweetened dessicated coconut |
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| I dusted the apricot-rose macarons with gold |
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| These Macarons were baked at different temperatures |
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| My stylish gifts |
Sources:
Pierre Hermé
I Love Macarons [Hisako Ogita]
Macaroons, Love Food, Parragon Books ltd.
www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/.../i-love-macarons-french-recip...
http://www.catererandhotelkeeper.co.uk/Articles/2007/05/03/313500/masterclass-macaroons.htm
http://www.foodbeam.com/
