Macaroon oh macaroon

Oh I wish my macaroon looks like this

Colorful

Tempting, aren't they?

Now that I have been baking for a while, I have clear vision on the direction I am heading for. The impression of macaroon has been stubbornly stuck in my mind recently and I cannot help but want to think of opportunities to get my hands working on them. With that in mind, I will be planning macaroon projects at least once every month so as to gain some practice and experience.

After weeks of hesitating (takut nak buat sebab takut tak jadi) finally Cuti Nuzul Quran hari tu saya try buat macaroon..this is my first time ever..I made chocolate macaroon with chocolate ganache as the filling. Bahan-bahannya tak banyak tapi tekniknya agak susah. Saya follow resepi ini drpd internet:

Chocolate Macaroon:

The shells:

- 140 g almond powder

- 250 g powdered sugar

- 25 g cocoa powder

- 100 g egg whites (aged)

11

The filling, Chocolate Cream Ganache:

- 230 g bittersweet chocolate, chopped

- 250 g heavy cream

- 60 g unsalted butter, room temperature

METHOD:

1. Sift almond meal and icing sugar through fine sieve and set aside.    

2.  Whip the egg white until it become really frothy. While beating the egg white, gradually add caster sugar (fine sugar) one tablespoon by one tablespoon at a time. Continue whipping the egg white until it almost reaches its peak. The egg white should be stiff and glossy. Put the food coloring in and mix just to combine.    

      3. Put the almond meal & icing sugar mixture into the whipped egg white. Stir vigorously for the first 10 stokes or so. Then continue to mix the mixture until fully combined. At this point, you might wonder if you have deflated your meringue. Don't worry, we're not after the air and texture of meringue. It's more important that the batter is totally blend-in and combined. The batter should have the consistency of thick cake batter and have the ribbon-like consistency...or many website described it as "magma-like consistency". 

      4. The mixture can be left at this stage for about 10 mins. So, I use this 10 mins to get organise with my trays and piping bag. Line the baking trays (you might need about 2 large trays for this recipe) with silpat or non-stick baking paper.

      5. Spoon the mixture into the piping bag, using 1cm piping tip (plain round tip, size 11). Pipe into 3cm round size. Leave 3 cms space between each shell

      6. Don’t worry if the piped macarons don’t look flat and smooth. This is actually a good thing. It means you didn’t overmix the batter. You can tap the tray on the bench several times to help flattening macarons. 

7.      Leave the tray out in the room temp for about 1-2 hrs until you can touch the top of the shell without it sticks to your finger (this can also take 30 mins depending on the temperature and humidity). 

      8. Preheat the oven to 160c (convection oven), just before you put the trays in, reduce the temp to 140c (convection) and bake for 15-18 mins. Baking time will depend on the size of macarons and oven. So, I usually keep a close eye on them after 15 mins. The cookie should be dry and crisp but not colour.

      9. Remove the shells from the oven, leave them cool on tray for few minutes. Gently remove them onto the cooling rack.

"Trick: if you spray water onto the tray under the baking paper, this will tremendously help releasing macarons from the paper. "

      10. Spread or pipe chilled lemon curd (below recipe)  into the shell and sandwich them together.

      11. You can taste the fruit of your labour straight away. But I find that macaron tastes better and achieve its chewy texture after it's been in the fridge for at least 24 hours. Put the macarons in an air-tight container and put them in the fridge. I believe that they keep well in the fridge for about a week. 

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I’ve followed the recipe closely, however to my disappointment, the foot doesn't come out.. I end up getting flat macaroon..I don’t know what went wrong..maybe telur putih tu tak cukup kembang kot..or the temperature of the oven and the timing..tapi rasanya agak sedap..looks like I have to try again.. Practice makes perfect right?? 

Wish me luck * finger crossed*

Love,