Macarons, with feet!

Macarons! 

Aren't they pretty? Comes in lotsa different colours and flavours. 

Pistachio, Coffee, Chocolate, Rose, Green Tea, Passion Fruit, Raspberry, you name it. 

I've even tried truffles.

And of course, my favorite is still pistachio.

Now don't get confused with macaroons!
 You can find macaroons easily at any Tesco outlet, and they look nothing like these colorful shells!
Macaroons are English, Macarons are French.

And if you Google them, you ll learn that they are only made up by 4 simple ingredients.
That's right. 4 simple ingredients.
Caster sugars, Icing sugars, almond meal and egg whites.
You do the maths.
But they are all sell at relatively high price.
Their price range can go from 1 pcs RM3++ to 1 pcs RM12++ in Malaysia.

After a few attempts of trying to make them, I think I know why!
 Making macarons at home can be a real pain in the ass!

 It's no where near a forgivable recipe, always about the precision in  measurements,
the folding process, the temperature of the oven, this and that!

You know what they say, we are all a macaron foot-fetish when making em.
I've given a few attempt, they always turn out either burnt, flat or cracked.
NO FEET!

They always disappoint me!
Until after I've come back from Paris last December
.

Guess I did learnt something new from my second Paris Trip.

So here's mine! 

Like finally! Finally a successful one with feet, ie the ruffled skirts surrounding the shells. 

Hot pink macarons with chocolate ganache filling. 

Heh. 

 Because of the low temperature and high humidity in my house, 

my macarons while resting on the baking trays NEVER forms a thin layer on top. 

That's my major problem.

No thin layer, no feet!

Got my trick! 

Simpy throw them into a cool oven (not preheat) after piping out the batter, 

and turn the oven to 40 degree Celsius for 20 minutes.

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Here's the ingredients:-

1. 50g Almond Meal

2. 90g Icing Sugar

3. 15g Castor Sugar

4. 50-55g Room Temperature Egg Whites (No more than that, or you'll get a runny batter!)

First of all, whip the egg whites till stiff peaks, ie glossy, thick and when you lift up the mixer, the egg whites pull off from the batter straight. That is on low speed, beat the egg whites till it forms bubble, then add in a few drops of vinegar/lemon juice (stabilizing purpose)  followed by the castor sugar, gradually.

This is known as the French meringue.There are also recipes that calls for Italian meringue, ie pouring it hot sugar syrup while whipping the egg whites. This is just too little too troublesome for me. After all, aren't we making FRENCH macarons?

The next thing to do is to sift in the mixture of almond meal and icing sugar. You won't wanna skip this step if you want a smooth surface of macarons. Discard any lumps.To make em easier to sift (smoother), I always throw the almond meal and icing sugar into the food processor for grinding first before.

At this point, you want to fold the meringue and dry mixture carefully. That is, using a spatula, scrape from the bottom of the bowl and fold up and over. This is known as the macaronage. The mixture will be very sticky and lumpy. Continue folding until a thick ribbons form.

*If you are to add in food coloring or flavoring, here's the point when you can fold in a drops or two.*

If the batter went too runny, you are over folding the mixture already, I'd say you can now throw em away and remake, cause you ll only get flat cookies.

ALMOST THERE! Scoop them into the piping bag and pipe out small little rounds onto baking papers, keeping them well apart as you are going to give the baking tray a few taps to release all the air bubbles, and they will spread out a bit here.

TIPS! Slide in the baking tray into the cool oven, and switch on to 40 degree Celsius for 20 minutes. It can take shorter time than this, depending on your batter. So long as your finger come out clean when you give the piped batter a gentle touch, you are ready to go.

FINALLY, increase the temperature of the oven tp 160 degree Celsius, after 10 minutes, you ll be too excited to see FEET! Macaron foot-fetish, remember? Bake further for about 7-10 minutes, keeping an eyes on them. And, we're done with the shells! 

Taadaa!

After you succeeded making the shells, sandwich em with whatever fillings you like.

Nutella, fruit jams, ganache, dulce de leche, buttercream frosting... 

Till then,

Good luck!