A Massive Macarons Post: New Flavours and French Method Attempts

In a long struggling attempt to create small batches of macarons, as in, less than 50 at a time, to give people more choice in flavours in numbers, I've been attempting the French meringue method for quite some time, without success...that is until now.

Now, why does it have to be the French method for a small batch?  (For those of you who didn't notice, my macarons from all previous posts are done by Italian method)  The smallest number of eggs you can use in the French method is one egg, about 35 grams worth of egg whites.  If you were to use one egg in the Italian method, you will have to split that 35 grams into two, and trying to whip 17 grams of egg whites on the stand mixer or even with a hand mixer is challenging.  And when you can't get a nice, compact, evenly whipped meringue for your macarons, you're bound to fail.  Also, even for 35 grams of egg whites, it is difficult to whip on a stand mixer even when fitted with the 3 quart bowl and the smaller whisk attachment, so it must be whipped by hand mixer.  Previously, the issues I've hand with hand mixers and the Italian method is that it is not fast enough to incorporate the hot sugar syrup into the egg white before it solidifies, causing chucks of syrup in the meringue and generally not enough syrup in the meringue, hence, wrong ratios.  Third reason is that the French method is hands down, simpler and cleaner, no cooking syrup involved.

To sum it up, why French method:

1. Whisking issues (amount, syrup solidifying)
2. Simpler and cleaner

Mont Blanc Macarons et Cassis Macarons

Unfortunately, with the onset of the school year, my baking has to take a backseat T_T  I will try to post every Friday, if time and desserts permit.

This week features a different flavour of macarons, blackcurrant, or sometimes known as cassis in the European countries; as well as, Mont Blanc, which is chestnuts with whipped cream.

These were made in celebration of World Teacher Day that was on October 5th.  Meow being a teacher and being scheduled to work at the school where her desserts were most appreciated, made these for the teachers.  80 macarons, 40 cassis and 40 Mont Blanc, were placed in the staff room before the school day started at 8 o'clock.  By 11:30, at least 40 were gone already.  By 12:20, about 5 were remaining.  At 3:15, completely "sold out".

Another Tea Party

I swear I'm not running this as a business, but my friend twisted (ever so slightly) my rubber arm to supply her sister's bachelorette tea party, and this is the result.

Meow knocked her piping gun already fitted with an OPEN star tip
off the counter and it grazed my foot
Didn't even notice that it was bleeding until it started stinging

Further discussions led to the need to have the food be gluten-free.  Since I basically did gluten-free last time for my own tea party, no problem!

For recipes, see my post on "An Afternoon Tea Gathering".  Though recipes for some have links to another previous post as they did not appear in my Tea Gathering post.  There are also 2 recipes at the end that have not made its appearance before.

Macarons Showcase: Sesame Street Theme

Earlier in May, Meow received an order request* from a family friend for her son's 1st birthday party.  The order was for about 140 macarons and somehow coloured and decorated such that it fits into Elmo's colour scheme.  Oh, and also with flavours that are kid-friendly.

   *Note: Meow does not take orders.  My baking is not a business...yet.  (Any investors? :D)

Colours are easy, though they did require my whole 2oz jar of gel colouring just to make it that bright.  But kid-friendly flavours can be challenging.  Seeing so many of my friends are now of the spawning age, I had to read so many of their posts about various struggles including fussy eaters.  So, let's stick with plain-Jane flavours.  Orange, raspberry, lemon, and blueberry.

Lucky kid got THIS as his 1st birthday gift from Aunty Meow

Lemon was a risky one, but fortunately, our local Costco has been stocking Meyer Lemons.  I've always wanted to see just what the fuss was about.  Well, have you ever tasted a sweet lemon?  I was blown away.  And the nice thing was that using these lemons and making a lemon cream filling out of it, because it is quite moist, the macarons matured in a day!

Blueberry was another iffy one, but it was difficult trying to come up with a flavour that matches blue besides "bubblegum".  I just didn't want to use any artificial flavours because there are always those parents who are concerned about their kids eating clean.  -_-u  And it was convenient that Meow has bags of frozen blueberries in her freezer for her morning smoothies.  Win!

Yeah, so fruits are a safe bet with kids.  And for the average Albertan, white-bred adults ;)

I will leave you with the recipe for the fillings for your experimentation.

Macarons for Afternoon Tea

This is part of the "An Afternoon Tea Gathering" post.

Macarons always follow a certain formula.  Italian meringue method has its formula, or proportions; French meringue has its.  I've always used the Italian meringue method simply because it yields a consistent product.

For the Lavender-Violet and also the Salted Caramel macarons shells, I used the 1.35 factor for proportions:

80g of egg whites - evenly split into 2 portions.  One for the meringue, one for the almond flour paste
80g x 1.35 = 108g of almond flour and castor sugar paste
                = 108g of castor sugar for the syrup
80g x 0.33g = 26.4g of water for the syrup

Yield: approximately 30 sandwiched macarons

So, this formula always depends on the TOTAL amount of eggs whites you have and multiply each portion of the ingredients by a factor of 1.35, except for water, which is 0.33.  But to be honest, it really doesn't matter how much water goes into the syrup because the temperature of the syrup already indicates a specific level of sugar to water ratio.  In order for a syrup to reach a certain stage, e.g. soft ball or hard ball, it has to have a certain sugar to water ratio, and each particular ratio would yield a certain temperature.  The more water you add at the beginning, the longer it's going to take for it to reach the desired temperature.

More About Macarons

On Macarons Shells
I think it's been about a year since I've actually made macarons.  And quite honestly, when you don't  make that stuff for a while, you do lose your touch.  A test batch of this new green tea ones I've made didn't turn out that great - forgot about the proper oven temperature, bake time, what properly macaronaged batter looks like...  But I did also learned a few more things about making macarons this time.

Not only did my green tea ones did not turn out, my lavender ones were hollow inside too!

1. If you have a baking stone, set it on the lowest rack and warm up your oven for at least an hour before hand while setting the baking rack approximately the same distance from the baking stone as you would from the element (stone acting as element in this case).  You'll get a more stable oven temperature, minutely, if even, affected by your opening and closing the oven door.
2. An 80g to 100g egg white total batch size worked best for me in yielding perfectly formed shells.
3. Macaronage will happen in at least 40 folding strokes, may need more, but never more than 100 strokes if batch size is 80g to 100g.
4. Properly macaronaged batter do look and feel like fluffy marshmallow batter and fully blends back into itself within 30s.
5. If you must tap the piped shell nipples down, wait until it's dry so that you can just gently push it down with your dry finger (remember how wet fingers make the shells weak and burst?).  But again, if it's properly mixed, you wouldn't need to do that.
6. If you find your shell bottoms sticky, leaving bellies behind, don't be afraid to increase the bake time by 2 minutes until you get a dry shell when cooled.  Don't increase the temperature as it can greatly affect the rising of the shells.
7. Do let your macarons rest with a little bowl of boiling water in an air tight container, it will soften to a chewy but slightly crunchy consistency.  I learned that trick from Jocelyn at Kuidaore.

On Ganaches

I also had to make a ganache for some of the fillings too.  I noticed that nobody on the whole wide internets, nor my chocolate recipe bible had a proper, sturdy ganache recipe.  I had to derive my own.

1. A 1:1 ratio of white chocolate to whipping cream does not give you a sturdy pipable ganache.
2. A 4:1 ratio of white chocolate to whipping cream will set nicely even at a slightly warmer room temperature.
3. Add butter for a smoother texture.
4. Add corn syrup to help set the ganache.
5. Never warm the chocolate past 34C if you want it tempered.  If it happened by accident, cool it to 21C and warm it back up to 27C.

That's all for now, until I forget about all these and mess up my next batch...

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Parisian Macarons Research

I went to Paris for the very first time in my life with Mr. Meow.  And I've made it very clear that I NEED to try some macarons from the big players for "research purposes", Mr. Meow agrees surprisingly knowing how bloody expensive they are.  Macarons are everywhere in Paris from the obvious bakeries such as Pierre Herme and Laduree to smaller bakeries (almost all bakeries have them) to even McDonald's McCafe!  Their prices range too, from like 3 Euros a piece to 1 Euro and change for others, of course depending on where you buy them.

McDonald's McCafe selections.  They even have a proper expresso/coffee machine!

Pastry selection at a local artisan bakery, Eric Kayser

Christmas Macarons

I absolutely find Christmas colored treats nasty.  Probably because of the intensity of the colors to the point where it just seems unnatural.  Kind of like drinking that blue slushie.

So, how else can I bring the holiday flavours without the artificial nastiness?  Well, around that time, Meow's FIL brought back from France two macrons books...

Yes, you may hate me now for owning this

LEGEND...wait for it...ARY book.

Unfortunately, Monsieur Herme didn't have anything inspiring, or rather, easy to make in a home kitchen.  However, there was a recipe in the Macarons et Gourmandises book that seemed intriguing, and it involved this:

You've guessed right if you said "spiced wine"!  Though the recipe in the book lets you make a spiced wine jelly.  Well, jelly is kinda slippery and can't exactly be transported, so I figured if I can make it into a buttercream.  Meow's logic goes that if you can put fruit puree and other goopy stuff into a buttercream to flavour it, then this could work.  So, Mr. Meow got to decipher the French because he was about to clobber me over the head for reading it in an awful accent. 

Maca-lol Supreme

Easter weekend, I had my first paying order for macarons.  I wasn't even offering to sell them...just yet.  But a friend asked and I shall provide.  I made some extra ones and this is what I did with the extras because I had a crazy idea to dip them in chocolate and then roll them in sprinkles.  My friend's kids benefited.

Eeeeeaaaatttt meeeeeeeeeeeee

Maca-lol Supreme

White couverture Callebaut chocolate
Generic rainbow sprinkles

1. Chop up the white chocolate, place in a bowl and gently melt over a pot of simmering water.
Couverture chocolates are already tempered, so there is no need to overly heat/melt the chocolate.  Otherwise, the chocolate will pass its stable point and you will need to temper it yourself by doing a heat/cool cycle.  Pain in the butt.

2. Dip/roll/swirl the macaron into the melted chocolate.
I find it much easier to dip when it's on a stick.  But using your hands is fine because you can hope that some chocolate can get on your fingers and you can lick it off later.

3. Pour sprinkles into a tiny prep bowl, before the chocolate on the macarons has solidified, roll your dipped macarons in the sprinkles. Apply a little pressure when rolling to make it stick.

4. To set, I made a stand and stabbed the macalols on it.  Or you can use a mini cupcake liner to help prop it up too if you're not doing macalols.  Then shove them into the fridge.

 

My interpretation of a Macarons Tree

 

My favourite ribbon: the Meow ribbon

Go figure...

 

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I was pleasantly surprised that these have an excellent crispy texture and are not too sweet, considering all the chocolate and candy involved.  I've always complained that Callebaut chocolate tastes sweet, as it was when used as a ganache filling, but they were fabulous for dipping.

Oh yeah, the friend didn't like my macarons, she *lurved* them.  :D

General Italian Meringue Macarons How-To

General Italian Meringue Macarons How-To

Ratios from SyrupandTang.com

Part A

Egg whites

Castor sugar

Water

Part B

Egg whites

Castor sugar

Almond flour

Candy thermometer

Method

The amount of almond flour is determined by a 1.35 factor of the total amount of egg whites you have.

The amount of castor sugar is determined by a 1.35 factor of the total amount of egg whites you have.

The amount of water is determined by a 0.33 factor of the total amount of egg whites you have

 E.g. 

Egg Whites Part A + Part B	Factor	Amount
60 g	1.35	81 g Almond flour
60 g	1.35	81 g Castor sugar Part A 81 g Castor sugar Part B
60 g	0.33	19.8 mL water

60 grams of egg white gives you about 60 macarons shells, 30 filled macarons.

Apple Caramel Macarons

This was inspired by Marc Jacobs poster of their new Patissiere fragrance line.

 

The green ones in particular, caught my eye and for some reason, I immediately thought of apples.  I had whipping cream to use up in the fridge and didn't really want to make buttercream, so I tried the most sensible combination: apple caramel.

I didn't want a batch of apple flavoured caramels if I had leftovers so I flavoured the shells apple.

Also, this batch was where I experimented with using only egg white powder to make the shells.  Egg white powder would have a commercial advantage because it can be kept unspoiled for a long time and I wouldn't have egg yolks to deal with if I didn't want to make French buttercream with it.

Happy Macarons Day!

Apparently Saturday (March 20th) was Macarons Day (I didn't even know until I saw Humble's blog post).  And it just so happens that I made macarons on a Sunday.  I had planned the macarons for a week because there were mangoes sitting on the kitchen counter screaming "uuuuusssee meeeeee".

So I think Thursday night, I ask Mr. Meow,
       "Does mango go with coconut?" and just as I finished my question, "Nevermind!  Mangoes and coconut sticky rice!  DUH!"  and Mr. Meow pats me on the head *sigh*.

I couldn't just use mangoes, one flavour is boring when I'm on an adventure to put it all together like some Cantonese dish.  There are also strawberries that needed to be used up, courtesy of Meow MIL.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to add strawberries in, but mango-strawberries combo has been proven to be good and so is mango-coconut, though what about coconut-mango-strawberries??  Skeptical.  As I was browsing on how to add flavours to the macarons shells, I saw that mango-coconut combo has been done by somebody else already, now I feel that I have to one-up them.  Screw it, coconut-mango-strawberries it is!

Coconut-Mango-Strawberries Macarons


3 large eggs (I got 109g this time)
147g of confectioner's sugar
100g of almond flour
47g of coconut shreds

Following Duncan's 1.35 x egg whites formula at Syrup and Tang.

147g of confectioner's sugar
36g of water

Water is 0.33 x egg whites according to Duncan.

Method is essentially the same as all previous posts about making Italian Meringue macarons.
Key here is to decrease the amount of almond flour for each gram of dry flavouring you put it, while still achieving a tant-pour-tant (1:1) with the confectioner's sugar.  


Grind the coconut shreds in the food processor to as fine as you can get it.  I achieved dandruff flecks.
Watch out for the coconut turning into a paste because of the oils coming out.


Mango-Strawberry Buttercream


Same as previous buttercream recipe

2 egg whites
35g of sugar
30mL of water
15g of castor sugar
120g of softened unsalted butter (about 3/4 cups)
1/4tsp of salt
Mango puree
Strawberry puree

Macarons au Sucre Cuit & Maca-lols

Blue Maca-lols

I talk about macarons enough maybe I should stop being a tease and let you know technically how it's done.  I was fooled at first by the simplicity of the recipe and techniques, but making macarons is almost like you need to pick an auspicious day upon consulting the almanac, and then praying and performing some paganistic ritual beforehand just so that your macarons will turn out perfect (inline feet, non-sticky bottom, non-hollow body, leveled shells...)

So here it is.  As far as I know, use real eggs - none of that liquid egg whites please.  If you don't know what to do with leftover egg yolks, make a French buttercream filling out of it.

Macarons au Sucre Cuit (Italian method)
adapted from myfoodgeek.com

60g of egg white (about 2 large eggs)
Pinch of salt or dash of lemon juice (optional)

60g of egg white
150g of almond flour
150g of castor (confectioner's) sugar

150g of castor (confectioner's) sugar
50mL of water
Candy thermometer

See SyrupandTang.com for Duncan's ratios on egg whites : almond flour : sugar if you want to double or half the recipe, or if your egg whites amount aren't exactly this.

Macaron Obsessions - Baker's Notes

I won't get into how I started making these little fuckers, but all I can say is that I want to prove that I too can make pretty little edible trinkets.

After kilos upon kilos of almond flour that was sacrificed, I will tell you a few things about them.

1. Don't use liquid egg whites
       I started turning to boxed liquid egg whites because I don't want to deal with egg yolks.  I'm not entirely interested in using egg yolks as the base for my buttercream because the French thinks rich ingredients + more rich ingredients = scrumptious food.  Yes, they're right, I'll give them that.  But I don't think it crossed their minds that their foods have become so rich and scrumptious even a tiny bite into it will make you full and want to puke because of the richness.  No appetite for seconds.
        Liquid egg yolks have some funny things in there that will make your macaron batter unpredictable.  I've had bone dry batter that wouldn't incorporate back into itself, batter that seems fine but will decide to have hollow body no matter what temperature I bake them at, feet that will grow to Big Foot because the air bubbles in the batter JUST WON'T DIE, uneven rising because the air bubbles in the batter JUST WON'T DIE, feet that will protrude sideways because...you can guess why.

2. Folding...not really
       Many recipes says fold the batter to incorporate the shit.  Well, sorta not really.  I've read on Joe Pastry that you can stir and smear the shit out of it to kill the big air bubbles for about 30 seconds.  I've tried it on my last batch, and it does wonders.  If your mix doesn't produce a batter in 30 seconds, you're not aggressive enough with it.
       After the abuse, I've also taken the advice from some other blog that it should take no more than 50 folding strokes to get the batter to "flow like magma" and to "drizzle like a ribbon" and to "incorporate back into itself within 15-30 seconds".  If that doesn't happen in 50 strokes, you're babying it too much.  Apparently, the point of making stiff egg whites in the beginning is to obtain the tiny air bubbles in the end that will give you feet.  We don't want the large bubbles, so we kill it by being rougher than normal with a whipped batter.  Last batch worked like a charm.  I used to fold and fold and fold until kingdom come and the ribbons still wouldn't show itself.

3. Double up on the cookie sheets
       Just do it.  I have what it claims to be "professional grade", it's nice thick and heavy, but it's from Superstore (or for you Easterners "Loblaw") but I will still get maca-wrongs like so

Maca-wrong: too much heat on the bottom - not doubling my cookie sheets

4. Tapping the nipples with a wet finger
       It creates a weak spot in the skin/crust that you've wait so patiently to have it form.  Besides, if you have mixed your batter to the right consistency, you wouldn't need to do this because the nipples would've fallen back into the batter and become not noticeable.  Otherwise, your maca-wrongs will end up looking like this

Weak spot in the crust due to water = foot in mouth syndrome

I call this foot-in-mouth syndrome.  It's not great when it happens to people, not good when it happens to macarons either.


5.  Italian method don't require aged egg whites or crusting time
       It didn't make a darn difference if I aged my eggs or not, so why bother.  Crusting is optional too with this method unless you like a thicker crunchy shell and the line between shell and feet is better defined...if you're OCD like that.


6.  Get an oven thermometer and a candy thermometer
       At least if you failed, you can't blame your oven or your syrup.


For common macarons troubleshooting, see Joe Pastry

Happy macaroning!