After much contemplations and a lot of £££ spent buying Paul bakery's macarons, I decided to take the plunge and do the macaron experiment myself! A lot of chefs extraordinaire have written about the tedious making of this little sweet French treat. Luckily those warnings diddn't put me off. Either my timing was right, or my patience was paid off- as the macarons turned out perfect! It truly made a difference to our otherwise mundane Sunday with hubby munching away those little nibbles, as good as the ones we normally buy from Paul.
A heartfelt gratitute to where it's due, Helene from Tartlette for the beautiful, guaranteed macaron recipe which works every time. The only hassle is the egg whites needs to be 'aged' by keeping it in the fridge for 2-5 days to get the exquisite taste of crunchy mac shell. Nowadays, I always make sure we have some supply of egg whites in the fridge as you never know when the yearning for macarons is going to strike the house!
Ingredients
For the macarons:
- 110 gm blanched almonds
- 200 gm minus 2 tbsp. confectioners’ sugar
- 2 tbsp. cocoa powder
- 90 gm egg whites (from about 3 eggs), aged in the fridge for 4 days
- 20 gm granulated sugar
For the espresso ganache:
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 tbsp. unsalted butter
- 100g bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1½ tsp. espresso powder
Method
1. Pulse the almond with cocoa and confectioner's sugar until they become fine powder. Sift and put aside.
2. Beat the egg whites with 20gm sugar until soft peak meringue is formed. When the bowl is turned upside down, the meringue should not fall. Add the meringue into the almond powder and using a metal spoon, fold it altogether in less than 50 strokes.
3. Fill the batter in the pastry bag and pipe approx 1.5 inch batter onto a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. (I personally prefer the silicone mat as the macs turned out with nicer bottom).
4. Leave the macs at room temperature for about 30 minutes to an hour prior to baking.
5. Bake the macs at 140C for 15 minutes. In the mean time, form the ganache:
6. Whisk the cream and butter on medium heat until they simmer. Add in the chocolate and espresso powder, whisk until it forms slightly thick consistency and refrigerate for couple of hours.
7. When the macarons are ready, cool them on the rack and pair 2 macarons of same size together. Sandwich them with the cold ganache jsut before serving. If macarons are not to be served immediately, store them in airtight container.
Post by JEHANNE
Food
