Sunday, February 13, 2011

Chocolate macarons


With all the CNY baking, I've got so many egg whites left. For the past few years, these egg whites will be thrown away (*heart-ache*) cos I don't how else I can do with them. This time, I've put them in good use, in fact, I'm very happy with the outcome!! Macarons!! However, I did failed on the first attempt using another recipe and I was like, "...well, these egg whites would have gone to waste anyway ;( " I've read of many failed stories, and that macarons are not the easiest to bake. I agree and disagree. Why? Depends on the recipe, I would say.


My first failed attempt! No feet & the macarons cannot be
removed from the parchment paper. Only "empty" shells left.


Through my sis's close buddy, whom we got closer because of our baking interest, she recommended me an almost fail-proof chocolate macaron recipe by David Lebovitz. I would recommend to anyone who wants to try out macarons! When the macarons came out from the oven, I can see the nice little feets, shiny & firm dome! Happy!


Whilst filling up the macarons, Zakris took one and said it's nice. Returned to the kitchen and took another 2 more, followed by saying it's very nice! Even T commented that it's nice too! Very happy! I've to add that Zakris has tried more macarons than us, but I think he's basically attracted to the arrays of colour and these super-sweet biscuits. I'm not as sweet-toothed though.

Chocolate Macarons
Ingredients/ Method:
100g icing sugar
50g almond powder
25g unsweetend Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 large egg whites, room temperature (about 36g each)
65g caster sugar
1) Preheat oven to 180 deg C.
2) Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and have a pastry bag with a plain tip (about 1/2 inch - 2cm) ready.
3) Grind together icing sugar with almond powder and cocoa power so there are no lumps, using blender or food processor.
4) In a bowl of standing electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they are foamy. Add sugar in 4 batches and whip egg whites until very stiff and firm.
5) Carefully fold in the dry ingredients in two batches into the egg whites mixture with a rubber spatula. When the mixture is just smooth and there are no streaks of egg white, stop folding and scrape the batter into the pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps if you’re alone).
6) Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1-inch (3 cm) circles (about 1 tablespoon each of batter), evenly spaced one-inch (3 cm) apart.
7) Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons, then bake them for 15-18 minutes. Let cool completely then remove from baking sheet.

Filling
1 portion of Nutella
1/3rd portion of cranberry sauce

1) Mix well and spread on the macarons.


Note:
1) I use Van Houten cocoa powder instead as this is what I had in my kitchen.
2) I bake the macarons at 150 deg C.
3) There's no need to rest the macarons before baking. I put them straight into the oven after they are being piped.
4) As I have problem using the spatula, I used my electric mixer - balloon whisk - to mix the dry ingredients with the egg whites. This takes about 5 seconds on low-medium speed.
5) So far I use Glad's baking paper for most of my baking and these macarons can be easily removed using them too.
6) My piping tip is rather small (less than 0.5cm) and they works well.
7) I piped the batter about 1.5cm as I think small macarons are more cute.

27 comments:

Victor said...

I love macaroons. Look delicious and chocolate-y!

CaThY said...

Wow! Great job! Pretty macarons! I do get those empty shells in my early attempts in baking macarons too, I think is due to the oven tempt. Oh well, I am going to bake another batch of macarons soon~ ;)

j3ss kitch3n said...

woah! very beautifully done quiz!! i'm baking some tonight wish me luck! btw, Happy Valentine's Day!

Joyce @ Chunky Cooky said...

Wow beautiful macaroons. I will attempt them soon too. Hope to do as well as you.

quizzine said...

Hi Victor,
Thanks for dropping by! Try this out and you won't regret!

Hi Cathy,
Oh, we are in the same boat! Really look forward to seeing your new batch of macarons!!

Hi j3ss,
Very best of luck to your macarons making!! I'm gonna keep a look-out in your blog soon ;-))
Happy V-Day to you & your loved ones too!

Spear said...

Great-looking macarons! This recipe really didn't disappoint. Hope to see more pretty macarons on your blog!

NEL, the batter baker said...

These can't get any more perfect!!
I'd given up on macs, but seeing how beautiful yours are, I'm tempted to try again...

Edith said...

Lovely Macaroons.

Janine said...

urs look lovely :) and yes, david's recipe is almost foolproof! I succeeded on my first try with his recipe too!

Wen said...

Thanks for sharing this recipe and I have bookmarked. Your chocolate maracon looks as good as store bought! Great job!

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Yippee! Can't wait to try this out! Thanks for sharing this recipe Esther! ;)

quizzine said...

Hi Chunky Cooky,
Tks & I look forward to seeing your beautiful macarons soon ;-))

Hi Spear,
Yes, this recipe is great! I tried to modify it to a non-chocolate one, but hasn't been very successful :((

Hi NEL,
Go ahead to try it out! I'm sure you will succeed with this recipe (**)

Hi edith,
Tks :))

Hi Janine,
It really give me the confident to try out other variations of macarons, but unfortunately it has not been that easy!

Hi Wen,
Tks but you're making me blushed (--")

Hi BeeBee,
Don't mention and does it mean that I'll see these macarons in your blog soon?

Eileen said...

Wow! Nice macarons. Impressive too! May I know where do you get your glad's baking sheet? Thanks.

quizzine said...

Hi Eileen,
I usually buy Glad's baking paper from ntuc fairprice, they are placed together with the cling wrap and aluminum foil.

Eileen said...

Hi quizzine,
Thank you! I will bake these soon...this is my daughter's favourite.....

Eileen said...

Hi quizzine,
I hope you can help me with the questions below. Thank you and have a wonderful weekend ahead.

1) Do we start beating the egg white on low speed before they become foamy?

2) Do we need to increase speed after adding sugar? Medium or high speed?

3) How much time in total do we beat egg white to achieve stiff N firm effect? Is it glossy or dry looking?

Thank you once again.

quizzine said...

Hi Eileen,
I'm not an expert in macarons but would share with you based on what I've experienced ok :))
1) Beat on low-med speed till foamy.
2) After adding sugar, I did increase to med speed and then increase to med-high speed.
3) The egg white mixture will look glossy and I usually test by holding up the whisk and the foam will be firm and standing (not drooping). It takes me about 5-8 mins. When the mixture looks dry, means it is over-beaten.
Hope this helps and you'll be successful in making pretty macarons! Have a great weekend to you too (",)

Blessed Homemaker said...

Looks good! I've tried making macs but they failed miserably. 1st and 3rd attempt totally feetless, 2nd attempt with feet but shell was flat. However, my kids enjoyed eating them as it's so sweet. Have bookmarked your recipe.

quizzine said...

Hi Blessed Homemaker,
This recipe is quite fool-proof and I hope you'll get tall tall feet!! Look forward to seeing your Mac :))

Eileen said...

Hi Quizzine,
Haha, managed to get only 5 better looking macaroons. The rest are either top cracked, bottom stuck to the 'Glad' baking sheet..I'm not sure what has gone and I hope you can help me. I will email you the photos and see if you can guide me. Thank you!

quizzine said...

Hi Eileen,
So sorry to hear that some of the macarons has top cracked and some stuck to the parchment paper...but at least there are 5 good ones :-))
Are they baked in the same batch? If so, is it because the oven temperature is not evenly distributed which resulted in different outcome?
I chanced upon this blog which give quite a good write-up on macarons, maybe you want to see whether you can get the answer there? http://notsohumblepie.blogspot.com/2010/04/macarons-101-french-meringue.html
Hope this helps!

Eileen said...

Hi quizzine,
Thanks for the info. The top cracked and good ones were baked in 1 batch while the ones stuck to the parchment paper were baked in a different batch. I will take a look at the blog later. We still finished eating the whole lot though they were ugly looking.. hahaha. They are simply too good!

ken bakes said...

Your macarons turned out pretty well using Lebovitz's recipe. Mine don't look like yours at all and I thought I followed step by step. The photo is on my blog - ken bakes. Great job, Quizzine!

Anonymous said...

Hi there,

U make macarons look so easy! I've tried twice...both failed! :(

Anyway, was wondering if the egg whites need to be aged for 3 days or so? I read it somewhere it says, it must rest for 3 days in fridge or leave 24hours room temperature?

:)

Elly

quizzine said...

Hi Elly,
Tks for dropping by. I do use aged egg whites as I always have extras baking other stuff. Hope you'll great macarons too!

Simonne said...

Your chocolate macaron look great! I wish I can do that..haiz
Can I know the egg white is it to be whip as in chiffon cake ?

Thanks

quizzine said...

Hi Simone,
Yes, almost like chiffon cake or slightly less stiff. Anyway, when mixing the almond meals, you can make the air in egg white deflate so that you get a 'lava' batter for easy piping.