Petit fours

So, a delayed update of my personal baking challenge- that is to bake something from each of the GB Bake off series competition, I made the petit fours for round of patisserie recipes episode. Petit fours are small desserts, mostly bite sized, which are served with coffee at the end of the meal.

I decided to make mini chocolate éclairs, crème patissière filled shortcrust tartlets with raspberries and orange-caramel macarons.

I love making choux pastry, they are delightfully light to eat and fun to make. I toyed with the idea of make choux pastry swans but mini éclair seemed cuter idea to make. I decided to fill it with chantilly cream, which is basically vanilla flavoured whipped cream and topped it with chcocolate ganache. The recipe for chocolate ganache I used is one I found in Mary Berry’s book and it works wonderfully for the eclairs as it is not too runny, though I would not use it to top cakes. You will find the recipe for choux pastry here.

I thought shortcrust tart would be a more interesting tart idea to do than the conventional tart recipe plus I have wanted to make crème patissière for ages. So this was a good excuse to learn a new technique as well. I top the filling with raspberries- always a good idea to use fresh, I used frozen as I did not have fresh ones at the time I was making and they were so soggy! Just sift icing sugar on the top for a dramatic presentations ! You will find the recipe for the shortbread tartlets here.

As for macarons, I have been obsessed with them for months, to perfect them. I have finally found a recipe and technique that works for me. For the filling, I made caramel and added it to the buttercream icing with orange zest. And here is my macaron recipe.

So, finally my petit fours all together. They did not last very long, since they are small in size, that gives me an excuse to eat more of them!

Thanks for stopping by and I would love to hear from you.

Caramel orange macaron

After months and months of trying batches and batches of macaron recipes, I have finally found the one that works for me. After so many trials I have come to the conclusion, as do all who get obsessed with , not making, but perfecting their macarons is that everyone has their ‘own’ recipe, one that works with their ingredients and especially in their oven. I know for a fact that ovens play a big role in adjusting the macaron recipe. After the mocha macarons which did work beautifully, I had been struggling to get consistent results. Some batches would work fine one day and the same recipe would fail miserably the other.

What works for me and which might suit your fan oven too is:

35 g almond flour ( now the recipe would normally use 30 g but I use 35 because once you sift the flour you lose a few grams in the a large un-sifted leftover)
58 g icing sugar
1 egg white (about 35 g)
20 g caster sugar
pinch of cream of tarter
pinch salt

1. Put the almond flour and the icing sugar in the food processor and mix it for at least 2-3 minutes, this also makes the almond flour fine. 
2. Now sift the mixture, at the end you will be left with about a tablespoon of larger granules of the almond flour, do not sift that in. Keep aside the sifted almond flour mixture.
   

   Discard the unsifted granules

3. Whip the egg white , when the whites are foamy add a pinch of cream of tarter. Whip for another 30 seconds and then add the sugar and a pinch of salt. Now whip the egg whites till it forms almost stiff peaks, so that you can add whatever colour you want in your macarons before the final whip else you will end up over beating the egg whites. The egg whites are done when it forms stiff peaks and it clumps together in your whisk.
   

   When the egg whites are foamy, add the sugar in.

   

   Beat till the egg whites form stiff peaks.

4. Using a spatula, fold the almond flour mixture in 2 steps. Add half the mixture and fold in just till it is incorporated for about 8-10 strokes. Add the rest of the mix and fold it in. The strokes you use to fold in the mixture should be made as to deflate the egg white. It takes about 35 strokes in total to get the mixture such that it forms ribbons. This is the key step in macaron making- it is called macaronage. If you under beat the mixture, it will still be stiff and full of air that means your macarons will have large air pockets. If you over beat them, they will be too runny! It is perfect when it falls like a ribbon. When you put a dollop of mixture on the mixture itself it smooths out a little but does not incorporate back fully.
5. Put the mixture into the piping bag and pipe about 1″ circles on the baking sheet lined tray. Once piped, bang the tray onto the table 3 times, this is to get rid of any air in the macarons- you will see bubbles coming to the top. Leave it at room temperature for 15 minutes.
6. Pre heat the oven at 150 ˚C. I have a fan oven which I have found very tricky to bake macarons in as my oven does not maintain a consistent temperature. It is hottest at the back so my macarons towards the back always split! So you will have to play around with your oven settings. I have found that if I bake on the lowest shelf and turn the tray around half way through the baking then they are fine.
7. After 15 minutes of resting the macarons, bake them for 10-12 minutes.
8. Cool on a wire rack. When cooled peel the macarons off the baking sheet.
9. Pipe the filling on the base of a macaron and sandwich it with another shell.

This is the basic macaron recipe. Now this can be flavoured with a variety of fillings. For the petit fours I made an orange and caramel buttercream filling.

Mocha Macaron

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

1. 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.
2. Sift the almond and sugar mixture.
3. 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.
4. Now add the almond mixture to the egg white mixture in 3 parts. Fold the mixture till it falls of the spatula in ribbons.
5. 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.
6. Pre-heat the oven at 150 ˚C, for fan oven, while the macaron shells are drying.
7. Bake the macarons for about 10 minutes. Cool them on a wire rack.
8. 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.
9. 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!