Good Morning Everyone! I want to apologize as it has been more than one month since I posted anything. Excuses Excuses right! Well lets just settle on one thing....My laptop has been undergoing surgery.
Anyway are you ready for the French Macarons!!!
French Macarons: Try One
First you must have almond flour. This is one of the main reasons purchasing French Macarons are so expensive, the flour is $13.00 lb. You can chose to hand make your own almond flour if you wish, same with any other nut flour.
Then grab your confectioners sugar in the blender along with your almond flour and until combined. Be sure to use a large enough blender or food processor that will fit your mixture accordingly. Sift your mixture afterward. I like the old fashion hand sifter but if your muscles are weaker (okay I have super wimpy muscles) or if you don't have one use a metal strainer as it will do the job just fine.
While preheating oven work on the egg white & sugar mixture to create stiff peaks. Must whisk and a high speed at to do this. Unfortunately this is the step that my French Macarons failed!!! I tried to whisk by hand for almost 1.5 hours. It became so horribly monotonous that I even spoke on the phone to my Gramma while whisking. I really don't know how the old Parisian Chefs used to do this by hand? I could never get a good peak to form. My word of advice...Do not attempt this unless you have a stand mixer.
Because I had already made my almond flour mixture I wanted to see what the result was going to be when I would combine it with the barely peaked white mixture. A huge gloppy sticky mess. Oops!! Lesson learned.
Since the mixture was way to sticky and thick then there was no hope to put it in a pastry bag so that it would pour out. Lets bake, taste and toss! A big no-no to bakers out there who spend a fortune on the ingredients. In fact I should say lets stick ice cream in the middle and make ice cream sandwiches.
French Macarons: Try Two
Tips for the second try:
-Measure in grams
-Use a stand mixer to whisk or have a some sort of electric powered whisk
-Don't waste any mistakes, depending on what step you may be able to correct before it goes to far
-Go Angry Baker on it!!!
-Use only a clean glass or stainless steel bowl to whisk eggs. Never plastic because of lingering oils
-Always bake macarons on a double baking sheet
Making sure the macaron batter was a glistening smooth consistency that was slightly thick I piped one inch circles onto parchment paper.
Of course the purple was my super favorite color. Only use gel or powdered food coloring. Add color after the stiff peaks form in the egg white mixture. After piping on the tray let skin form over for about 20 minutes.
Bake at 275 degrees for approximately 18 to 20 minutes. Be sure of how your oven cooks. Never remove the macarons from oven prior to being done, but you may open your oven door to turn the tray without pulling it out. It is always better to bake at a lower temperature for a longer time than to have overdone macarons.
Let cool completely before removing from pan or you'll end up with them sticking!
Fillings used: Bavarian Buttercream, Espresso, Pistachio, Chocolate Ganache, and White Chocolate Ganache. Be sure to represent the flavor of the macaron by the color of the shell. These were rolled in chocolate vermicelli.
Anyway are you ready for the French Macarons!!!
French Macarons: Try One
First you must have almond flour. This is one of the main reasons purchasing French Macarons are so expensive, the flour is $13.00 lb. You can chose to hand make your own almond flour if you wish, same with any other nut flour.
Then grab your confectioners sugar in the blender along with your almond flour and until combined. Be sure to use a large enough blender or food processor that will fit your mixture accordingly. Sift your mixture afterward. I like the old fashion hand sifter but if your muscles are weaker (okay I have super wimpy muscles) or if you don't have one use a metal strainer as it will do the job just fine.
While preheating oven work on the egg white & sugar mixture to create stiff peaks. Must whisk and a high speed at to do this. Unfortunately this is the step that my French Macarons failed!!! I tried to whisk by hand for almost 1.5 hours. It became so horribly monotonous that I even spoke on the phone to my Gramma while whisking. I really don't know how the old Parisian Chefs used to do this by hand? I could never get a good peak to form. My word of advice...Do not attempt this unless you have a stand mixer.
Because I had already made my almond flour mixture I wanted to see what the result was going to be when I would combine it with the barely peaked white mixture. A huge gloppy sticky mess. Oops!! Lesson learned.
Since the mixture was way to sticky and thick then there was no hope to put it in a pastry bag so that it would pour out. Lets bake, taste and toss! A big no-no to bakers out there who spend a fortune on the ingredients. In fact I should say lets stick ice cream in the middle and make ice cream sandwiches.
FRENCH MACARONS: TRY ONE - BUST!!!!
French Macarons: Try Two
Tips for the second try:
-Measure in grams
-Use a stand mixer to whisk or have a some sort of electric powered whisk
-Don't waste any mistakes, depending on what step you may be able to correct before it goes to far
-Go Angry Baker on it!!!
-Use only a clean glass or stainless steel bowl to whisk eggs. Never plastic because of lingering oils
-Always bake macarons on a double baking sheet
Of course the purple was my super favorite color. Only use gel or powdered food coloring. Add color after the stiff peaks form in the egg white mixture. After piping on the tray let skin form over for about 20 minutes.
Bake at 275 degrees for approximately 18 to 20 minutes. Be sure of how your oven cooks. Never remove the macarons from oven prior to being done, but you may open your oven door to turn the tray without pulling it out. It is always better to bake at a lower temperature for a longer time than to have overdone macarons.
DELISH!
Determine how you will package them!
Present to your friends :-)
YUM-O!!
P.S. - American Macaroons are completely different from French Macarons and Parisian Macarons.
Update 8-9-12
So apparently I made the cover page of Envy Pastries June Macaron class facebook photos!! Who cares that it was after 8 hours of work and 3 hours of play and my hair and face was melted from the Texas heat. I have beautiful pastries made by me :-) Thanks Heidi!!
Update 8-9-12
So apparently I made the cover page of Envy Pastries June Macaron class facebook photos!! Who cares that it was after 8 hours of work and 3 hours of play and my hair and face was melted from the Texas heat. I have beautiful pastries made by me :-) Thanks Heidi!!