Macarons
I finally had my first attempt of macaron making! Been hesitating to bake these for the longest possible time partly due to all the horror stories and failed attempts I've read from food blogs. However, to throw away the egg whites left over from making lemon curd just seems so wasteful....I really had enough of baking and eating chiffon cakes :(
So last nite, I used excel spreadsheet to scale down one of the two macaron recipes I owned. Had decided to go with the italian meringue method as I'm pretty confident of cooking sugar syrup having gotten plenty of practice from making almond brittle. Besides, I just can't imagine myself whipping egg whites by hand which was called for by the second recipe.
The grinding and re-grinding of almonds was fine...so is the pouring of syrup into the beaten egg white. The only thing that really baffled me was the mixing of meringue into the dry ingredients. Every blog and recipe I've read called for the final batter to be smooth and flowing like magma. But how would I know how magma flows since I've never seen an active volcano?! Eh...maybe I could rely on the video recording my geography teacher had shown during lessons many many many many many years ago? Piping was pretty easy as I've drawn a template to be used under the silpat. The recipe didn't specify for the piped batter to be left to dry but I decided to do that since Singapore's weather can be pretty humid.
Not wanting to miss the action, I sat in front of the oven as the macarons formed their feet. It is such a sight to behold. The feet will gradually push the hardened cap upwards as it forms. Of the 30 macaron shells, 6 of them had uneven feet. I wonder if it's due to uneven heating in my oven. Will give it another go tomorrow to see if I can rectify the problem. Wish me luck.
Labels: macarons
posted by rebecca at 6:16 PM
4 Comments:
Very pretty macarons. I would say it's quite an experience to make them and just like you I do sit by the oven and watch them forming the feet :) The beating of egg white is really manageable cos I am one who try not to do manual work if I can find some other automated format.
Hi Elyn, thanks for your kind words. It sure is an experience baking macarons. I think I'm already hooked on it. Will give your recipe a try next time :)
Those are some gorgeously perfect macarons! They're such a great way to use up the leftover eggwhites aren't they? I have had much success with the Italian meringue method as well- i gave up using the other method after four attempts :)
Hi eatandbehappy, thanks for your comment :) My adventure with the macarons is still far from smooth sailing. Still have lots to learn.
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