Monday, October 26, 2009

Macarons? MACAROONS?

October’09 Daring Bakers Challenge: French macaroon

The October challenge for Daring Bakers was French Macarons, when I saw that I was like oohh boy! Since I’ve made them before and It’s not that I don’t like macarons or like eating them it’s just that they are very moody with me, one day they’ll true out perfect and the next try no feet’s but still amazingly delicious and would finish as soon as out of the oven and no one wants to wait for me to fill them or take photos for the challenge…that’s what happened with the second batch with 3 days aged eggs which I wanted to try after Helen suggested…sorry guys no pic’s but they did turn out perfect and im going to try to make another batch just for a photo-shot. =)
I did use the recipe that was given for the challenge for the ones in the photo but I usually use Helens recipe and the tips. Thanks for the challenge guys, my family really enjoyed this month’s challenge.

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.


Preparation time:
Not taking into account the amount of time it takes for you to bring your egg whites to room temperature, the whole baking process, including making the batter, piping and baking will probably take you about an hour to an hour and a half. How long it takes to make your filling is dependent on what you choose to make.
Actual baking time:
12 minutes total, plus a few minutes to get your oven from 200°F to 375°F.
Equipment required:•
Electric mixer, preferably a stand mixer with a whisk attachment• Rubber spatula• Baking sheets• Parchment paper or nonstick liners• Pastry bag (can be disposable)• Plain half-inch pastry bag tip• Sifter or sieve• If you don’t have a pastry bag and/or tips, you can use a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off• Oven• Cooling rack• Thin-bladed spatula for removing the macaroons from the baking sheets• Food processor or nut grinder, if grinding your own nuts (ouch!)

Ingredients:
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.
Yield: 10 dozen or depends on the size your making.

Additional Information:
Go behind the scenes of Paulette: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXIvX0-CEu0

11 comments:

Wic said...

oh they are pretty, love the color. Great job.

Lauren said...

I think macarons are moody with everyone - Yours look flawless though =D.

Audax said...

Love the shape and colour and flavour of these and great you got a perfect macaron under your belt. Cheers from Audax in Australia.

Simon said...

Nice work with the post.

What's with the white marks on some of the macarons and what did you use as fillings for these?

Nadia said...

wow, v nice and more excited to see a karachiite in food blogging, i am a food blogger (http://bakefresh.blogspot.com) and wanna be food photographer. nice to meet you :)

Jill @ Jillicious Discoveries said...

Love the color and the swirl in the middle is awesome! Well done! :)

Barbara Bakes said...

What a beautiful color and swirl! I need to try Helen's recipe!

Anonymous said...

So awesome that you got those results using the challenge recipe! Mine with the challenge recipe didn't sprout any feet :( Oh well! Great job!

Anonymous said...

Lovely macarons!! very nicely done.

Anita said...

They look great! Glad you got the given recipe to work.

Dharm said...

I kept coming back to check on your post and i'm glad I did! These macs are simply awesome my dear friend and the colour is just so lovely!