For the Love of Macarons

A good church friend gave me the gift of a macaron cook book not too long ago. I have been reading through it ever since but haven't had the courage to explore new macaron flavour combinations until today, when my little cousin requested blue macarons for afternoon tea. I hesitated...

Blue macarons? How could you make a pleasing blue macaron? What flavour would it be? I didn't really want to attempt to make such a concoction, but seeing as she was working ever so hard doing her homework, I eventually agreed. 

These little concoctions turned out to be just gorgeous. With the vanilla custard cream, they were delightful. 

As you can see, there weren't just blue vanilla custard filled macarons. There were also matcha vanilla custard filled macarons too.

I had wondered why it was so quiet this afternoon and to my delight, my little sister was exercising her brain doing her homework from the first week of school back. So I took the liberty of making half the batch of macarons green using matcha green tea powder because she likes green. 

Something about macarons and motivation that just mesh together on days like this.


Recipe source: I Love Macarons by Hisako Ogita

Mocha Macarons

Another Sunday afternoon, another sunny day, and another lovely day to bake. I was planning to bake a cake today but then plans changed, and I ended up experimenting with another macaron recipe.

I improvised as I went, taking the ratios of another macaron recipe and tweaking the ingredients, but I know macarons are delicate and fragile creations so I dare not change too much. And I felt like a little chocolate and a little coffee today so on top, you see, is dried coffee granules while the shells are cocoa flavored which led to the idea of the mocha flavor combination.

The cocoa powder and coffee granules really worked together and you could taste the slight bitterness of the coffee granules though the whole macaron may be sweet. The coffee buttercream with some cream cheese and the chocolate button really added to the mocha flavour combination, so overall it was a mocha hit! 

Thank you to the kind volunteer photographer. You really made the effort to plate this up, and I think you did a wonderful job because it looks like a mouth-watering picture, don't you think?


Mocha Macarons
Makes 25-30

Ingredients:
shells
80 grams icing sugar
50 grams ground almond
5 grams unsweetened baking cocoa powder
50 grams egg white (2 egg whites), room temperature
25 grams caster sugar

coffee cream cheese buttercream
1/8 cup butter, at room temperature
1/8 cup cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon hot water
2 teaspoons of instant coffee (optional: extra coffee granules to add for a stronger coffee taste)
some chocolate buttons to decorate

Directions:
shells...

1. Sift icing sugar, almond, and cocoa powder together in a bowl.
2. Beat egg whites until foamy, then add caster sugar a little at a time while beating at medium speed. Continue to beat until the egg whites looks glossy and forms soft peaks.
3. Add a quarter of the almond mixture to the egg white mix and gently fold until just incorporated. Add the rest of the almond mixture to the egg white mix and gently fold until the mix looks ribbon-like and consistent.
4. Place the mixture into a piping bag and pipe 2.5 cm rounds onto a baking tray prepared with baking paper. Bang the tray gently on counter to rid any trapped air in the macaron shells.
5. Leave to rest about an hour or until the shells form a slight crust (when gently touched, the shells do not stick to your fingers). At about a half hour, sprinkle coffee granules to decorate the shells (I did half the batch with coffee and left the other half).
6. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the shells are hard.
7. Let cool before sandwiching fillings (Note: it's best served within the day, or else store the shells away in an airtight container).

coffee cream cheese buttercream...

1. Cream the butter and cream cheese together then whip in the icing sugar.
2. Dissolve the coffee in the hot water and add into the mixture. Beat until consistent. Add extra coffee granules if desired.
3. When assembling the macarons, using a piping bag or ziplock bag or even a spoon (I prefer disposable piping bags with fitted nozzles, easier to manage and great results), pipe the filling in between macarons then add a layer of chocolate button before piping a little more to attach the other macaron shell. Serve within the day or else refrigerate. It can keep up to a few days.

Time For Green Tea And Red Bean..

Exactly as the title says, time for some green tea and red bean macarons. These little treats were made on the behalf of a request from a church friend, and I felt like trying something different, out of my comfort zone. 

You see, I didn't know where to find matcha powder (green tea powder). I've only heard of it here and there so I had no idea what it looks like, smells like or taste like. This bake gave me an opportunity to test another macaron recipe, a different ratio of ingredients.

To be honest, this is not my best macaron bake. I've made macarons a total of five times now and only one has been successful-the second bake: second the best (cliche). But I know now that macarons are a very fragile creation; every little detail of the baking process must be followed as closely and precisely as possible.

Well, they're not that hard to make. Just follow instructions and you'll be fine. They really are pretty little cookie sandwiches...not the kind you can buy at your local supermarkets. 

So if you have the time and patience to bake for a friend or with a friend, this is definitely a worthwhile bake. I know me and my little cousin (a.k.a. sous chef) love to bake together, especially a macaron recipe. When they do turn out with their little feet and all, it just gets us all giddy and jittery because our hard efforts have finally paid off.

This batch turned out a half successful as you can see from some of the pictures, half of them were cracked. But I didn't give up. I just gave it my heart's effort to finish what I started. Everyone enjoyed it (;


Green Tea Macarons With Red Bean Paste Recipe is here. 
Next time I hope I can do more justice to the recipe and its baker.

Macaron or Marsh Mellow?

These things turned out a little more mutated than anything that resembled something like a macaron. Something did not go right during the making of it I believe.

 They almost look like marsh mellows sandwiched together.

Nevertheless the taste was there, still sweet, crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside.

 But I still wonder what went wrong...

Source of recipe...
(Note: I just changed the raspberries to strawberries, as they are in season)

Macaron Motivation

After I attempted this recipe and succeeded, I thought I could conquer the whole wide world. Now I'm just exaggerating, but I was really happy and inspired after this worked out. I know many have attempted this and many have succeeded. Actually my first attempt was a failure and after that I think I said I would never try making macarons again. 

I am the kind of person that gives up easily when met with failure. However, I am also the kind of person that forgets easily and tries again. Strange huh...nevertheless, I used this recipe to conquer my baking fears and victory is mine for today! It gives me motivation to venture into unexplored baking recipes for future bakes.

Coffee Buttercream Macarons
Makes about 30 macaroons 


Ingredients:
Shell
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
7/8 cup almond meal
1/2 cup egg whites
2 tablespoons caster sugar
2-3 drops of food colouring


Buttercream
1 cup (170g) butter, room temperature
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tablespoon hot water
1 teaspoon instant coffee
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract


Directions:
Shell...

1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius and line three baking trays with baking paper.
2. Stir icing sugar and almond meal together then sift it thoroughly (about 3-4 times).
3. Using an electric mixer, whip the egg whites on low speed gradually increasing the speed until the whites are frothy.
4. Add half the caster sugar in gradually while mixing at high speed and beat for 2 minutes before adding the other half and beating until the whites form stiff peaks. Do not over beat. You can tell it's ready when the whites look glossy and slightly curves when you hold it up.
5. Add 1/3 of the almond icing sugar mixture into the egg whites and fold gently. Continue to add 1/3 and fold in until the mixture is just mixed. Do not over mix. You can tell it's ready when the mixture look runny when you scoop it out.
6. Line a tray with grease proof baking paper and put mixture into a piping bag. Pipe 2cm diameter dots on the tray about 2cm apart from each other.
7. Bake about 17 minutes or until very light brown. Allow to cool and then peel shells gently off baking paper.

Buttercream...

1. With an electric mixer, beat the butter until it is light and fluffy.
2. Add the icing sugar and mix on low speed.
3. Dissolve the flavourings in the hot water and drizzle into the mixture.
4. Chill at least 2 hours before using. You will find it's easier to pipe when the buttercream is soft but not too soft. Pipe the macarons with buttercream and make little sandwiches.