Finally! I think I am al….most there …
I have been baking, rather trying to bake, macarons for a while now. I keep trying different recipes and so far none had really worked for me. Something so tiny, and with such simple ingredients, it is funny how tricky it is to make. The problem I face most is that I usually get no-feet macarons, or really hard cookie sort of macarons. I think, with macarons, the recipe has to just strike with you, what suits your ingredients quality and your oven. For me, this recipe has worked the best so far.
You will need:
60 gm almond flour
15 gm cocoa
115 gm icing sugar
2 egg whites
50 gm caster sugar
- In the food processor, using the blade attachment, whizz together the almond flour and icing sugar. Whizz for about 30 seconds, stop and scrap the sugar stuck to the sides and whizz again for another minute or so. You want to make the almond flour a little fine but do not over mix in the food processor as it will cause the oils from the almond flour to exude.
- Sift the almond and sugar mixture.
- In a clean grease free metal bowl, whip the egg whites till it form soft peaks. Now slowly add the caster sugar and whip till the egg white forms stiff peaks and the mixture is glossy.
- Now add the almond mixture to the egg white mixture in 3 parts. Fold the mixture till it falls of the spatula in ribbons.
- Line a baking tray with baking sheet. Put the mixture in a piping bag and pipe around an inch diameter macarons on the sheet. Now bang the tray on the table to get rid of air bubbles in the macarons. This recipe makes about 60-70 shells. Leave the macarons to dry for about an hour. To check if the macaron shells have dried, when touched, it should not stick to your finger.
- Pre-heat the oven at 150 ˚C, for fan oven, while the macaron shells are drying.
- Bake the macarons for about 10 minutes. Cool them on a wire rack.
- So the questions is, how do you know your macaron is right (I am not saying perfect because I have still not made a perfect macaron!): They should have feet which are not protruding, macarons should be smooth and shiny on the top, they should not be hollow, the base should be smooth and when you bite into them, they should be chewy and crunchy.
- Filled macarons need to be stored in fridge overnight for them to mature.
The base is smooth and flat.
Coffee buttercream filling:
50 gm butter at room temperature
1 cup icing sugar sifted
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp instant coffee
1 tbsp hot water
Add the hot water to coffee and dissolve. Let this cool.
Whip the butter for about 2-3 minutes. Add the icing sugar and whisk till the buttercream is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and coffee mixture and whisk it to mix all together.
Pipe the buttercream filling on the base of a macaron shell and sandwich it with another shell. Pair them up and store in fridge.
Pipe the buttercream filling on the base and sandwich with another macaron shell.
So this batch of macarons came out brilliantly. The slight fault that there was, was that some of them had bigger air gaps. I think I might need to bake them at a little lower temperature next time.
As you can see there are hollow bits in the foot.
Let me know your mac stories!
theflourmill 