Yesh! It is what it looks like - macarons! Sublimal domes of sweetness ... complete with feet! omg omg omg
Okay let's rewind a bit here. I had been itching to make some of these meringue confections for quite a while, so for weeks I would fawn over macaron sites and pore over all kinds of Internet recipes, filling my cerebrum with all sorts of scientific macaron theories. As most famous chefs say, cooking is as much a form of art as it is of science x)
Okay let's rewind a bit here. I had been itching to make some of these meringue confections for quite a while, so for weeks I would fawn over macaron sites and pore over all kinds of Internet recipes, filling my cerebrum with all sorts of scientific macaron theories. As most famous chefs say, cooking is as much a form of art as it is of science x)
So anyway, finally believing that I can handle these temperamental babies, I slaved in my kitchen for four hours today. And macarons popped out.
But of course that is only the summary x) Now let's go into details:
NOTE: this account is really detailed. read only if you absolutely have to or if you are simply too bored
But of course that is only the summary x) Now let's go into details:
NOTE: this account is really detailed. read only if you absolutely have to or if you are simply too bored
I followed this recipe (but in actual fact I had fragments of about ten other recipes floating in my grey matter o____o)
a. Sift almond powder & the icing sugar TWICE. It’s your chance to get rid of the not-so-fine almond powders.
I used a normal household sieve and spent twenty minutes trying (in vain) to get my almond meal through the mesh. Then I concluded the ground almond I bought belongs to the "almond meal that isn't quite fine enough" category. So I got out my juice blender and pulverised my almond meal. Problem solved.
b. Line baking tray with cut-to-size baking paper (or prefably a silpat if you’ve got one). Place this tray on top of another tray (Doubling up the tray delays the heat cooking the Macaron from the bottom. This insures that the outer surface is dried up first before the inside starts to lift it up. This is what makes that all important ‘foot’ & the smooth surface that is not cracked).
I absolutely do NOT have more than one baking tray, nor will my mum ever be convinced to buy me one o____o (on a side note: I requested an electronic balance for my baking attempts and she came home with a $2 mechanical scale from Cash Converters)
I absolutely do NOT have more than one baking tray, nor will my mum ever be convinced to buy me one o____o (on a side note: I requested an electronic balance for my baking attempts and she came home with a $2 mechanical scale from Cash Converters)
c. Have a piping bag ready.
No problem x)
1. Whisk the egg whites with the icing sugar. Whisk until stiff peaks.
Let me ramble a bit about egg whites - I read somewhere that grease ABSOLUTELY must not come into contact with the whites, and as I did not possess proper plastic gloves, I used those transparent bags people put curry puffs in. Moral of the story: buy plastic gloves. (I had omelette for dinner)
I read somewhere else that aged egg whites are divine for macaron wannabes, and read somewhere else else that egg whites put in microwave ovens for 10 seconds are as good as old whites. To be safe, I sacrificed two tablespoons of egg white at first - and they cooked. Entry No.1 - utter failure. The second time round I set the dial to low heat and popped another spoonful in for 8 seconds. Good to go xD
Okay finally to the whisking part. I read somewhere else else else that the egg whites must be brought to a foam first. QED. The same source uses caster sugar instead, and asks for the sugar to be added "a little at a time". As I was whisking, I held to only one mantra -
"NEVER NEVER NEVER OVERMIX."
Images of overbeaten batters (courtesy of Syrup and Tang) flashed in my head and scared me to near death. But that aside, I did get a mixture that yielded "stiff peaks" [checkpoint "till stiff peaks": pass] and was really shiny [checkpoint "glossy meringue":pass]
No problem x)
1. Whisk the egg whites with the icing sugar. Whisk until stiff peaks.
Let me ramble a bit about egg whites - I read somewhere that grease ABSOLUTELY must not come into contact with the whites, and as I did not possess proper plastic gloves, I used those transparent bags people put curry puffs in. Moral of the story: buy plastic gloves. (I had omelette for dinner)
I read somewhere else that aged egg whites are divine for macaron wannabes, and read somewhere else else that egg whites put in microwave ovens for 10 seconds are as good as old whites. To be safe, I sacrificed two tablespoons of egg white at first - and they cooked. Entry No.1 - utter failure. The second time round I set the dial to low heat and popped another spoonful in for 8 seconds. Good to go xD
Okay finally to the whisking part. I read somewhere else else else that the egg whites must be brought to a foam first. QED. The same source uses caster sugar instead, and asks for the sugar to be added "a little at a time". As I was whisking, I held to only one mantra -
"NEVER NEVER NEVER OVERMIX."
Images of overbeaten batters (courtesy of Syrup and Tang) flashed in my head and scared me to near death. But that aside, I did get a mixture that yielded "stiff peaks" [checkpoint "till stiff peaks": pass] and was really shiny [checkpoint "glossy meringue":pass]
3. Deposit the pre-sifted dry ingredients (almond powder & icing sugar) in to the white in one go.
Many recipes call for four or more additions, so I went for the majority's opinion x)
Many recipes call for four or more additions, so I went for the majority's opinion x)
4. Use the spatula to fold it in. Once all the dry ingredients has been incorporated & dissapeared, you must check wether you’ve reached perfect consistency. Test by lifting up the dough with your spatula - HOW DOES THE DOUGH FALL? If it is not falling down in ‘GENTLE’ continuous ribbons, try mixing it a tiny bit more. The technique for mixing at this point is to “fold & press” your spatula against the side of the bowl to deflate the air out of the whites. Do this til you’ve passed this vital ‘dough fall’ test. But just remember, don’t over mix it either… (This folding process is called ‘macaronage’. This is the most tricky bit of Macaron making. I find that you can only know how much one should fold by practising again & again…)
Yesh. This is THE killer step that defeated countless of budding macaron-makers. A quote from David Lebovitz recipe: "One extra fold, and it's all over". Gulp.
All along I had the impression that "folding in" consists of literally folding the dough into half, but these videos 1 2 3 steered me back onto the path of righteousness. Note that the pattiseurs in these videos look like they are abusing the batter, really. So by imitation, I abused my batter. My mum thought I looked clumsy, so she took over and abused my batter. After the last trace of dry ingredients disappeared I literally hollered STOP. My mum had the honour of performing the falling ribbon test and OMGicantbelieveit it did fall as ribbons. I did a little dance at this point.
Yesh. This is THE killer step that defeated countless of budding macaron-makers. A quote from David Lebovitz recipe: "One extra fold, and it's all over". Gulp.
All along I had the impression that "folding in" consists of literally folding the dough into half, but these videos 1 2 3 steered me back onto the path of righteousness. Note that the pattiseurs in these videos look like they are abusing the batter, really. So by imitation, I abused my batter. My mum thought I looked clumsy, so she took over and abused my batter. After the last trace of dry ingredients disappeared I literally hollered STOP. My mum had the honour of performing the falling ribbon test and OMGicantbelieveit it did fall as ribbons. I did a little dance at this point.
5. Spatula the mixture in to a piping bag. (tip: having the bag over something like a juice decanter like the picture below is much easier than the professional way!)
6. (skip this if you’re using silpat) Scrape the left over mixture from the now empty mixing bowl & smear it under all four corners of the baking paper. It’ll act as a glue to stick the paper to the tray.
I didnt do step six coz my baking paper was obedient enough to lie flat to receive macarons xD
I didnt do step six coz my baking paper was obedient enough to lie flat to receive macarons xD
7. Pipe 3-4cm rounds on to the baking paper. Make sure to leave at least 2cm around it as it will spread later.
I sucked at piping for the first batch and ended up with a dozen misshapened freaks o____o My mum did two circles and omg, they came out as circles. I got better for the second batch though. The trick is to hold the nozzle low and to let the batter ooze out like toothpaste.
8. Once all piped, drop the tray horizontally on to your work surface to knock some air bubbles out & to spread the dough out a bit. (If you’re doing this at night, & you’re worried you’d wake your kid upstairs (for example), layer some kitchen towels on the work surface to dumb the sound!)
This Is Fun.
This Is Fun.
9. Leave it aside for 20-30 minutes. This is to dry the surface of your macarons. After the time is up, check how dry it is by gently touching the surface. Does the dough stick back? Leave it aside for another 10 minutes. Once it’s not sticky, proceed to the next step.
I didnt actually waited half an hour. Another quote: "Let them sit for a few hours? No way, we just popped those suckers in the oven right away."
But I did wait for the skin, which took about 10 minutes to form. There were some cracked domes in my 2nd batch, which might be due to not enough "skin", as claimed by Syrup and Tang. I'll keep that in mind~
But I did wait for the skin, which took about 10 minutes to form. There were some cracked domes in my 2nd batch, which might be due to not enough "skin", as claimed by Syrup and Tang. I'll keep that in mind~
10. Prepare your oven shelves - you’d want to place your trays on middle shelf. I’d like to cover the shelf above it with foil so that there’s no direct heat hitting my Macarons & discolouring it brown.
My oven has one and only one shelf~ But my macarons never got close to browning. Not with a lousy wheezing oven like mine
My oven has one and only one shelf~ But my macarons never got close to browning. Not with a lousy wheezing oven like mine
11. Pre-heat oven to 190 degrees.
12. Pop your trays in. (Make sure they are doubled up!!) Sit by your oven with your oven gloves.
13. Once ‘the foot’ graciously appears (it’s usually after 4 - 5 minutes), & has reached it’s maximum height, open the oven & quickly but safely take the bottom tray away (meaning don’t double it up anymore). Place the macarons tray back in the oven.
14. Change the temperature dial to 170 degrees.
15. Bake it for another 5 - 7 minutes. If the colour of the surface is starting to brown, turn the oven off, keep the door shut, & bake it with the remaining confined temperature.
Honestly I've never seen more complicated oven instructions o___o I read through this bit a zillion times and committed it to memory. Basically I kept reciting to myself "190 degrees, wait for foot, then 170 degrees for 5 minutes". I even ate duck rice by the oven (lunch). This was where there was a momentary moment of sheer heartbreak when absolutely NOTHING happened in the oven for 15 minutes. Glops of macaron batter remained glops of batter. At this point I replied Waileng's sms and said something about how this will turn out to be just like foam cookies (a previous failed attempt to create meringue cookies) yada yada ... I went out to the dining table to finish my duck rice, while the sad glops sat on for about 10 more minutes under their sun of 190 degrees.
...
Then the miracle happened. I was at the sink washing up my bowl of duck rice when I thought I might as well clean out the baking tray.
And omg feet. The glops in the oven had feet! Feet feet feet! The coveted feet! The feet! Not just any feet but the great feet of macarons! I positively danced in front of my oven.
*insert melodramatic victory-march-esque music*
I was in too good a mood to even feel worried about the burnt bottoms of the mishappened freaks (as the cookies of batch 1 are known). It's small wonder that they are burnt - they sat in that oven for a good twenty minutes! Gross overtime, and macarons are all about precision!
So anyway I happily piped out the 2nd batch (which later became the macarons you see in the photo above) and popped it into the oven, but only after I've given my ancient wheezing oven a good fifteen minutes to warm up.
Results
Skin: B1 macarons have much harder sugar shells while B2 macarons have lovely, fragile skins
Interior: B1 macarons are really chewy and tough. B2 macarons aren't x)
Bottom: Some B1 macarons stick to the bottom of the tray. All B1 macarons have chaoda bottoms. B2 macarons all have good bases xD
14. Change the temperature dial to 170 degrees.
15. Bake it for another 5 - 7 minutes. If the colour of the surface is starting to brown, turn the oven off, keep the door shut, & bake it with the remaining confined temperature.
Honestly I've never seen more complicated oven instructions o___o I read through this bit a zillion times and committed it to memory. Basically I kept reciting to myself "190 degrees, wait for foot, then 170 degrees for 5 minutes". I even ate duck rice by the oven (lunch). This was where there was a momentary moment of sheer heartbreak when absolutely NOTHING happened in the oven for 15 minutes. Glops of macaron batter remained glops of batter. At this point I replied Waileng's sms and said something about how this will turn out to be just like foam cookies (a previous failed attempt to create meringue cookies) yada yada ... I went out to the dining table to finish my duck rice, while the sad glops sat on for about 10 more minutes under their sun of 190 degrees.
...
Then the miracle happened. I was at the sink washing up my bowl of duck rice when I thought I might as well clean out the baking tray.
And omg feet. The glops in the oven had feet! Feet feet feet! The coveted feet! The feet! Not just any feet but the great feet of macarons! I positively danced in front of my oven.
*insert melodramatic victory-march-esque music*
I was in too good a mood to even feel worried about the burnt bottoms of the mishappened freaks (as the cookies of batch 1 are known). It's small wonder that they are burnt - they sat in that oven for a good twenty minutes! Gross overtime, and macarons are all about precision!
So anyway I happily piped out the 2nd batch (which later became the macarons you see in the photo above) and popped it into the oven, but only after I've given my ancient wheezing oven a good fifteen minutes to warm up.
Results
Skin: B1 macarons have much harder sugar shells while B2 macarons have lovely, fragile skins
Interior: B1 macarons are really chewy and tough. B2 macarons aren't x)
Bottom: Some B1 macarons stick to the bottom of the tray. All B1 macarons have chaoda bottoms. B2 macarons all have good bases xD
19. Pipe the ganache centre mixture (Please read the ganache recipe below) or any other mixture of your choice & sandwich the Macarons together.
Lesson learnt: wait for the ganache to cool and semi-solidify before use. Contrary to popular beliefs, chocolate everywhere is NOT a good thing.
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So anyway, I conclude that my first attempt isn't bad. the only sad thing is I have to wait till tomorrow before I can munch on them -_______-
It is the hardest rule to follow.
P.S. I napped for an hour after the whole adventure o__o
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So anyway, I conclude that my first attempt isn't bad. the only sad thing is I have to wait till tomorrow before I can munch on them -_______-
It is the hardest rule to follow.
P.S. I napped for an hour after the whole adventure o__o
