Macaroon madness - a breakthrough?
As you can imagine the new Kitchenaid (now known as KA) caused much elation in my house - i’d wanted it for so long and then wow, it was here. All shiny and gleaming (and contrasting perfectly with my kitchen tiles it turns out). I have to admit I spent a good hour or so just looking at it, admiring its retro brilliance, before I even put my pinny on and reached for the cook book. But anyway, enough of this descriptive-ness, I can do without sounding like Nigella.
As you’d expect I’ve made countless things over the last few weeks (a fab chocolate roulade and a pavlova to name but a few) the more successful of which will make it to the blog in good time, but I feel i should share ‘project macaroon’ first.
I decided that 2013 will be the year i perfect these little coloured treats, partly because they’re ridiculously more-ish and partly as I want to wow my friends with a new baking feat. Also, KA’s arrival meant I wouldn’t have to do the painstaking whipping of egg whites by hand which added to their appeal. You could say that mastering this seemingly innocouous but notoriously difficult treat is a new year’s resolution of sorts and I won’t stop until I reach perfection (fear not, this whole blog won’t be about this).
To get things started i bought a book - ‘Mad about French Macarons’ by Jill Colonna. Aside from the inspiring pics it also has great reviews so i thought it might be my best starting point. I also considered buying a silicone macaroon mat but the reviews were less then positive, so i’ve stuck with trusty parchment and a pen.
I have to say that the first three batches were far from a success (and not the cheapest exercise either) as i managed to use 20 egg whites and barely have a macaroon to show for it.
All my attempts have been captured below because, if you can learn something as a result of my mistakes that’s got to be a good thing. But first I’ll focus on attempt number 4 as this was the most fruitful. I should say that attempt number 4 used Lorraine Pascal’s recipe rather than Jill Colonna’s. That’s not to say I won’t persist with Jill’s, but after watching Lorraine make macaroons on the TV i thought her version seemed a little more simple and a more encouraging way to start. So – the recipe is:
- 125g ground almonds (seized to remove any big bits)
Step 1 – Mix the ground almonds, icing sugar and 40g of egg white into a paste ( I added my food colouring at this point – green and yellow to try and get a pistachio colour)
Step 2 – In another bowl put the other 40g of egg white and whisk to a medium peak.
Step 3 – Meanwhile add 110g caster sugar to a pan with 2 tbsp of water and boil together until it makes a syrup. Then add this to your whipped egg whites (with the beaters going) until they create stiff, glossy peaks.
Step 4 – Now add the beaten egg whites into your almond paste. Lorraine’s recipe said to fold this together (in no more than 50 turns I think).
Step 5 - Once done you can put the mixture into a large piping bag.
Step 6 – Draw small circles, with a good amount of space in between, onto greased parchment/baking parchment and then pipe the mixture onto the circles.
Step 7 – Smack the trays down on the worktop a few times to get the air bubbles out, then leave for 30 misn to create a touch-dry skin (apparently this helps the macaroon get its footing which gives it the right texture and structure).
Step 8 – Bake for 12-15 minutes in a 170C oven with the door left ajar (use a wooden spoon to keep it open). Leave to cool.
I was really surprised to see that each macaroon looked like it had risen and had a nice shiny surface (although they had cracked which is because my initial batter was too runny). Although they tasted great with a nice chew in the middle, they were quite hollow which I think is because they might have needed a little longer in the oven. So yes, I am perhaps a little premature in calling attempt 4 a success but compared to 1,2 and 3 it was an encouraging development.
Step 9 – Lorraine’s recipe then pipes cream onto one shell and sandwiches with another, however I deviated from this and opted for one of the fillings from Jill Colonna’s book as they’re more in keeping with the authentic macaroon. I opted for a pistachio and dark chocolate filling:
· 30g unsalted pistachios (whizz them up in a coffee grinder, bashing them with a
rolling pin just won’t get them small enough and it’s not nice to nearly break your
tooth on a large unexpected piece of pistachio)
· 1 tbsp pistachio paste (I didn’t have this so left it out)
· Few drops of vanilla extract
Step 1 – Break the chocolate and put it into a bowl. In a pan bring the cream to almost boiling then pour it over the chocolate and stir until it melts. Add the vanilla extract and whizzed up pistachios,
Step 2 – Once combined add the butter to make it glossy.
Step 3 – Leave to cool then put it in a piping bag. Pipe onto the shells, sandwich with another and then put them in the fridge (ideally 24-36 hours if you can resist that long)
I have to say that I found the ganache a bit too runny to work with, but suspect if I’d let it cool for a little longer it would have been more workable.
THE MACAROON HALL OF SHAME
Attempt 1: The bowl can’t have been clean enough as the egg whites wouldn’t stiffen (seems it proves that egg whites don’t like even the tiniest fleck of dirt, grease or water - lesson learned)
Attempt 2: I put the food-colouring into the egg whites too soon (they should have been at stiff peak stage before i did this) which seemed to make the egg whites deflate and becoming runny. Potentially not helped by my food colouring being in liquid form (think a gel would be best) which i’ve subsequently read is the case
Attempt 3: With this batch i actually got as far as using the ground almonds and icing sugar. I added the egg whites into the dry mixture and then took a scraper to the mix. The idea is that you have to work the mixture by pressing on the scraper (this is called macronnage and the book says you should do this for no more than 5 minutes - pay attention to this as it proved to be my downfall). The batter looked like the picture (quite smooth and leaving ribbons when you hold up the scraper) and i piped it into circles. I smacked the trays onto the worktop a few times, to let the air bubbles out, before leaving them for 30 mins so they develop a slight skin to the top. Then into the oven at 160C for 10-12 mins (don’t forget - this attempt used Jill’s recipe not Lorraines). However - when they came out of the oven, they’d spread too much, the colour had faded and they had grease spots all over them. i looked this up in my book and the grease spots appears to be the result of too much macronnage (the pressing the mixture with the scraper). It’s this which put me of trying Jill’s recipe for a while as there’s clearly a real technique to this.
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