Macaron Making Journey II

Since my first attempt on making macarons (started on 8 November 2012), I have been practising almost daily making macarons. I progressed from 250g packet of almond ground to 1 kg packet of almond ground . Sounds crazy I know but I still have more than 3/4 of the 1 kg almond ground left for your information. I am able to maximize my ingredients by downsizing the proportion for practice purposes.

For the first recipe that I've posted, somehow it didn't work the 2nd, third, and fourth rounds for me. I began to think that it was beginner's luck in my first and only successful attempt with that particular recipe. Having failed so many times, I knew that this recipe wasn't stable for me and my kitchen. I began searching for more recipes and thought why don't i try google for bloggers with successful experiences in making marcarons under Singapore's humid condition? Finally, I came across 2 blogs - Lady J who calls for the use of cream of tartar powder which I wasn't too keen, and Keropokman with his successful experiences! Hmmm, looks promising!

Keropokman indicated that he has used the recipe from David Lebonvtiz and David Lebonvtiz indicated himself have adapted from The Sweet Life in Paris (Broadway) by David Lebovitz. (sounds confusing yeah? Am just quoting what they had indicated.....)

Macaron Batter Recipe on David Lebonvitz's website (reproduced here for easy reference):
Makes about fifteen cookies

Macaron Batter

1 cup (100 gr) powdered sugar
½ cup powdered almonds (about 2 ounces, 50 gr, sliced almonds, pulverized)
3 tablespoons (25 gr) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
5 tablespoons (65 gr) granulated sugar

I've tried the batter recipe and was happy to find that I could achieve a relatively firm egg white batter that doesn't fall off even when i flipped the bowl upside down (yes, I've tested and meant it literally! You can't imagine how happy I was to be able to flip it over without dropping :P). In the other recipes that I have tried, though I could achieved a relatively firm batter (that didn't fall off from the beater) but it was still a little runny that I did not have the confidence to flip my bowl over. When I mixed in the rest of the ingredients (sifted icing sugar, extra fine grounded almond, and cocoa powder), i felt that the overall batter was a little dry in comparison to those from the other recipes I've tried. Nevermind that, since Keropokman has tested it, it should be "OK" I thought.

After piping the batter onto the baking tray, I banged it a couple times and prong it into my preheated oven of 160°C (as tested by Keropokman). After 2-3 minutes, I started seeing feet. You could not imagine how delighted I was, yet again! But some minutes later, i see cracks! Yes! Cracks! Failed once again. i tested the recipe again with more mixing and banging but it still didn't worked for me.

So i began reviewing what worked and what didn't worked in the various tried and tested recipes, and finally I came up with this "concoction" which I've adapted from Keropkman's, David Lebonvitz's and Ann Reardon's:

My Adapted Macaron Batter Recipe:
(adapted from Keropkman's, David Lebonvitz's and Ann Reardon's)

• 35g of egg white at room temperature (1 egg gives an average 35g of egg white)
• 30g of granulated /castor sugar
• 58g of icing sugar
• 30g of extra fine almond ground

Steps:

1. Sift the icing sugar and extra fine grounded almond.
   (I usually sift them separately once first, and then sift them together another time -total sifted twice).
2. Beat the egg white and add in the granulated sugar. Continue to beat till you get a stiff, firm batter.
   (I used the lowest setting on my electric mixer, and it took me between 8 - 11 minutes to achieved the desired firmness. You can try to move your bowl and see if the mixture is still runny or stay firmed. This would give you an idea if the batter is ready. When it's ready, flip over the bowl and the batter would not fall off! The lesson I've learnt after numerous attempts on this step is not to follow blindly with the "number of minutes". Instead try to identify when the batter is ready.)
3. Fold in the sifted icing sugar and extra fine almond ground till you achieved a  consistency such that the batter falls off in ribbons from your spatula.
   (Some people say 30 folds, some say 50 folds, some say as few folds as possible. Nevermind all that! You really need to fold, check, and stop when you the batter falls off in ribbons. I've tried all the x number of folds and after a while, i stopped  counting and try to identify the "ribbon" consistency instead. Also, you need not be too gently in folding as you really don't want to have too many air bubbles trapped in the batter.)
4. Now it's ready to put the batter into the piping bag. Once done, cut the tip of the piping bag no more than 1cm big. (unless you want to get very big macaroons).
   (Usually by this stage, I would start preheating my Bosch oven to 160°C)
5. Pipe them onto your baking tray which have been lined with 2 baking sheets and 1 parchment paper (the parchment paper goes on top of the 2 baking sheets). Once done, bang hard the baking tray of macaroons batter a couple of times. The macaroon batter will spread wider and any soft peaks arose during pipping should slowly disappear as the batter flattens.
   
6. Pop them into the pre-heated oven of 160°C, at mid level (or slightly below mid level), with time setting of 25 minutes.
   (Most recipes calls for the macaroons to be left for an hour or so to allow the top of the macaroon shell to dry up. However, given Singapore's humidity, I don't know how long it would take to achieve that. And you would be happy to know that my adapted recipe didn't require a resting under Singapore's weather.
7. Once you see that all the macaroons have developed feet, lower the temperature to 130°C. (Else you might get dark brown macaroons)
8. How to tell when the marcarons are ready? The feet holds firm when you touch/press down on the macaron shell lightly. And they should "pop" off from the parchment paper easily. if the underneath is still damp, pop them into the oven a couple minutes more, or as necessary.
9. Put them into an airtight container and keep them in the refrigerator. They are nicer after a night resting in the fridge.

I have tried my above adapted macaron recipe several times and it worked for me so far! Hope it works for you too! I'll be glad if you could share with me your experience on how my adapted recipe worked for you if you are using it ..... 


Lessons learnt from my practices:

1. Make sure that the equipment used in beating the egg white and sugar and grease free/oil free, and "egg yolk" free, and water free. If you don't achieve the firm egg white batter no matter how long you beat it, something must be wrong somewhere. Especially if you are using a plastic mixing bowl, ensure that it is cleaned properly. There could be traces of grease on the plastic bowl (even your hands) which are invisible to the naked eye. And any traces of egg yolk kills the batter too. You really don't want to transfer grease, water, egg yolk etc to the batter unknowingly. (you may think that I'm being paranoid but I've wasted enough ingredients and the "should be ok lah" thinking really kills everything in the end)
2. Almond ground may excrete oil. So after sifting the almond ground and icing sugar, make sure you clean your hands properly before handling/ breaking the egg. You don't want to transfer any oil from the almond to the egg white (Yes, you may say I am being paranoid again but I'm taking no chance.)
3. Use parchment paper if you want your macaroons to be able to "pop out". You need 2 layers of baking sheet/ greaseproof paper placed below the parchment paper.
   I had trouble finding parchment paper initially as even Phoon Huat sells only baking sheet (which is greaseproof paper as indicated on the packaging). And I found that the terms are used loosely/ interchangeably. But I researched on the internet that parchment paper isn't quite the same as baking sheet and greaseproof paper. I tried using 3 layers of greaseproof papers and my macarons often stuck to the paper. It didn't work for me. When I finally gotten hold of parchment paper (Waitrose baking parchment available from Cold Storage, S$4.40 for 10m long, 375mm wide) and use 1 sheet of parchment paper above 2 layers of greaseproof paper, my macarons pop out easily from the parchment paper. No more sticking!

Macaron Making Journey

This evening, I decided to make my first batch of macaron.

It all began with a google search on "easiest macaron recipe" and the first link that appeared was "http://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/easy-macaron-macaroon-recipe/".

From the instructions given on the website, it looked simple. 

As usual, I like to experiment in small quantity. So I halved all the ingredients stated on the website:

Ingredients (yields about 20 halves or more depending on macaron size pipped):

70g of egg white (2 eggs)
35g of caster sugar
115g of icing sugar
60g of extra fine ground almond (if you have almond meal/ almond flour by all means use it)
1g salt (tiny pinch)
gel food colouring (optional)


Steps (done under Singapore's humid condition):

1. Sift the icing sugar, extra fine ground almond, salt together at least twice. (Mixture A)
2. Beat the egg white and sugar together for 8-10 minutes with an electric mixer (I have used the lowest setting). Add in the gel food coloring (optional) in the last 1-2 minutes of beating. (Mixture B)
3. Fold Mixture A into Mixture B. Make sure that it is not over-mixed.
4. Put into piping bag and pipe onto baking tray lined with baking sheet.
5. Rap the baking tray several times, rotate it around and rap a few times.
6. Leave it to stand for a while (10-30 minutes), the peak will flatten and the top should be smooth (the macaroon will flatten/spread abit). Some say leave it till the top forms a crust. However, given Singapore's humidity, it is unlikely to form a crust (or probably it would after x hours?)
7. Anyhow I didn't wait for the crust to form. 
8. While leaving it to stand, I heat up the oven to 180 degree celsius.
9. When putting in the baking tray, I lowered the oven temperature to 150 degree Celsius, set for 20 minutes.  I put the tray on the 2nd highest level.
10. Now you can start clearing up your kitchen and wait for the macaroons to be ready.

After going through the entire process, I realized that over-mixing and/or over-folding would easily kill the entire macaroon mixture.  Being able to recognize when to stop mixing and folding are key skills that probably can only be developed after multiple practices. (Now I understood why the high retail price tag on macaroons.)

There are a few keys areas that you need take note of: you need to ensure that the mixture is not over-mixed, you need to remember to "bang" the tray enough times to prevent the macaroon from cracking, have a good control in pipping consistent size, ensure that the utensil is grease free, egg yolk free (any presence of grease/oil, egg yolk will kill the mixture!). 

Overall: The result wasn't too bad. It was better than I had expected. (I didn't expect to produce a "decent, see-able" macaroon.) Nevertheless there are still tons of room for improvement. I will continue to experiment and update this page from time to time.....

Above: result of beating the egg and caster sugar for 8-10 minutes

Above: mixing the icing sugar, almond meal, pinch of salt into the egg whip

Waiting patiently for the outcome

Note: I've kept the macaroons to rest in an airtight container and into the fridge. Found them to be chewier then when it was just baked! After going through several recipes, yes, all called for the macarons to be rested for at least a day so that it tastes better.

Update: Please refer to Macaron Making Journey II post for my adapted recipe.

Need macaron template? Found one on the Internet:

http://www.honeyandsoy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/hns-macaron-template.pdf