Ispahan Macaron with Pineapple & Raspberry(Valentines Special)

It has been long time again to post but finally i am able to put something here for the Big Fat Valentines Day.Forgive me for being this late.

What Am I Doing lately for those who worrying for me?

Same old same old: recuperating from  my health issue, spending more time with God and yeah trying to learn how to enjoy the simplicity of life apart from blogging days,food photography.

Okay, hope you enjoy this simple V-day dessert.

Happy Valentine’s Day 

To anyone who deserve to be pampered

Yes anyone deserves good dessert

 

 

There are 2 ways to create macarons shells:

1)French macaron : French method is much simpler just by folding french meringue into almond mixture

2)Italian meringue macaron: Italian meringue method is created by cooking sugar syrup(to 112C) then added into meringue and continued beating to firm peaks formed , finally folded into almond mixture.

It is such romantic season for some sweet desserts.Pink, roses, pineapple, raspberry and some sweet desserts are here to celebrate this romantic season.

Hope you like this recipe.

Few components you need:

• Basic french macaron shells
• Creme mousseline
• Raspberries and pineapple

 Basic French Macaron ( Love shape)

• 1 cup almond powder
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 2 egg whites (leave in room temperature for  few hours or a day )
• 3 tbsp castor sugar
• pink food colouring

1)Draw out two love shapes on a parchment paper as your template, estimated 18cm in diameter. Invert the sheet and place onto a baking tray.

2)Sift twice of the  almond powder and icing sugar together in a mixing bowl.

3)In a clean bowl: Beat egg whites until foamy, slowly add in castor sugar in  and continued beating to soft peak. Add in pink food colouring and continued beating to a stiff peaks formed.

4)Fold in the meringue into the almond mixture in 2 additions until a thick lava-like batter is achieved.

5)Fill a pastry bag, fitted with 1/2 inch (1 cm) tip. Pipe out  love shapes onto the parchment paper, using the template as a guide. Then gently tap the baking sheet on the counter to break any air bubbles

6)Rest macarons at room temperature for about 30-60 minutes or until the top of the macarons are no longer sticky to your finger when you touch.

7)Bake the macarons in a preheated oven of 160-170C for 30-40 minutes, depending on your individual oven and the size of the macarons. About half way  through baking, rotate your baking tray, front to back.(I baked my macaron on middle oven rack)

8)Once baked, remove from oven, and allow to cool completely.

1)sift almond powder and icing sugar together

2)Crack egg whites into a grease-free and dry mixing bowl

3)Get ready with your pink food colouring

4)Beat egg whites and sugar to soft peak, and add in food colouring

5)Beat meringue till “stiff peaks” formed

6)Fold in meringue into almond mixture

7)Fold into a lava-like batter

8)Pour into a piping bag fitted with round nozzle

9)Pipe onto prepared template

Note:

a)Remember to sift your almond powder and icing sugar.If you make your own almond powder, remember to process to super fine and give it few sifts.

b) The correct consistency of the batter is: the batter falls back in the bowl in a visible ribbon and the ribbon disappears within 10 seconds.Remember under-mix or over-mix batter will not able to create nice macaron at the end.

c) Release the air bubbles on the unbaked macarons with the end of a toothpick.

d) Sometimes you might have to rest the macarons longer than the time required due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen.

Cream Patissiere: Also known as Pastry cream

( Kindly refer on HOW TO MAKE CREME PATISSIERE  at : http://wp.me/p3PiK3-8d .    Remove the butter for this recipe )

Ingredients:

• 125ml  Liddells Lactose free milk ( or any milk)
• 25g  sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla paste
• 30g egg yolks
• 13g  cornstarch

1. STEP 1

   In a medium saucepan, combine milk and vanilla paste. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a simmer.

2. STEP 2

   In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch. Whisking constantly, slowly pour about 1/2 cup of the hot-milk mixture into the egg-yolk mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, until it has been incorporated. Pour mixture back into saucepan, and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until it thickens ,about 2 minutes.

3. STEP 3

   Transfer into a clean bowl.

Creme Moussseline:

• 1 quantity of creme patissierre
• 100g Western Star unsalted butter, cubed and in room temperature

1)Prepare creme patissiere , remove from heat, transfer into a bowl of an electric mixer.

2)Beat on low speed until reaches room temperature.

3)Increase speed to high, slowly add in butter cubes, one by one, until fully incorporated.

4)Pour cream into a piping bag fitted with round nozzle.

Note:

a)What is creme mousseline?

It is also known as German buttercream which is the combination of creme patissiere/pastry cream with  softened butter. It can be used as filling for macarons and also good for frosting in any desserts or cakes.

Assemble:

• some fresh raspberries
• some pineapple, cut into small cubes

1)Pipe out creme mousseline onto one of the macaron shells.

2)Layer with pineapple, then with raspberries, and finally with pineapple again.

3)Sandwich with another macaron shell.

4)Decorate with fresh rose petals and some raspberry or go wild with your imagination.

5)Refrigerate. Best serve after chill for a day.

Note:

a)Process the almond powder until become powder form because you might find store bought almond powder, the granules are not powdery enough, some might be hard to sift through. Use processor to blitz almond and icing mixture for few seconds and then sift few times.

b) The correct consistency of the batter is: the batter falls back in the bowl in a visible ribbon and the ribbon disappears within 10 seconds.Remember under-mix or over-mix batter will not able to create nice macaron at the end.

c) Release the air bubbles on the unbaked macarons with the end of a toothpick.

d) Sometimes you might have to rest the macarons longer than the time required due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen.Macaron tends to crack on the surface while baking if not rest enough.When heat is applied, egg whites coagulates and forces the surface to crack due to insufficient dry top shells.

e)What is Double trays?Place the tray with macaron batter onto another empty tray.Reason to prevent excessive high heat from the bottom of the batter(egg whites coagulates and expands too quickly) to crack your surface of your macarons.

e)To see if macaron is baked properly:Once baked, try lifting the macaron slowly, if easily lift off clean without sticking to pan, showing it is baked properly.If not, continue baking for few more minutes.

 

 Important tips:

• Ensure almond powder and icing sugar have to be sifted for few times to get smooth macaron shells.
• Ensure eggs are in room temperature, uncovered for few 2 hours or more.
• If you are in hurry, take your cold eggs from refrigerator,crack into a bowl and cover with lid, and warm it up by placing into a bowl of warm water(not too hot otherwise cook your egg whites). Allow to sit for 30 minutes.
• Cold eggs tend to create more air pockets in the meringue while beating, we do not want this for macaron as we try to deflate the air pockets while folding with almond mixture. Too much air pockets in the meringue can somehow crack your macaron shells when heat is applied due to coagulation of protein from the egg whites.Sometimes too much air pockets create excessive “feets” that are not appealing.
• Do not open your oven door too early otherwise the  macaron shells might collapse when drastic change of heat . You are allowed to open the oven door once while you rotate your baking tray half way baking macarons.
• The aim for this macaron has to be rustic and not smooth, yes smooth surface is not what I want to see here. Ensure the final batter not to be over-folded otherwise cannot reach this rustic texture. The aim for this macaron has to be little rustic as I have tried the first time,ended up the entire macaron become overly smooth, and the distinctive shape is not what I am aiming for.

Reference:

Different sizes of your macaron with different temperature and baking time

Macaron Diameter	Oven Temperature	Baking Time
Medium size 4-6cm ( 1.5” – 2.5”)	140-150C	14 mins
Dessert size 6 – 8cm (2.5” – 3.25”)	160C	15 mins
Cake base 16cm or more(6.25”) or more	170C	17 mins or more

 

Problem in forming skin for macaron?

There are time when your macaron just cannot form the skin even  how long you have waited. Due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen play an important rule on this issue. Winter or rainy day is definitely the weather you are trying to avoid. Of course there are cases that macarons are still manage to form the desire skin in these undesirable weather, depending on your luck perhaps?

If your macarons are having trouble in forming skin, you can try this method:

1. Preheat your oven to 200C for 10 minutes.
2. Put the unbaked macarons into oven, switch off the heat immediately.
3. Leave the door ajar(put  glove in between your oven door to create a gap for hot air to release) , for 6 minutes.
4. Touch the macaron if the skin is formed.
5. Once skin is formed, turn on the heat to the right temperature,let say 150C, and start baking your macaron.

 

 

 

Thank you for visiting, and your comments are very much appreciated.

 

Lots of love,

hellosweetdessert

French Cacao Macaron(Simple and Easy steps)

Merry Christmas everyone~

There are 2 ways to create macarons shells:

1)French macaron : French method is much simpler just by folding french meringue into almond mixture

2)Italian meringue macaron: Italian meringue method is created by cooking sugar syrup(to 112C) then added into meringue and continued beating to firm peaks formed , finally folded into almond mixture.

This macaron is easy to make with few little steps that I think it is easier to master.

Love the raw cacao powder is  incorporated in the macaron as well as the buttercream that easy to make.To me, chocolate is my all time  favourite flavour in  all desserts.

Hope you like this sharing too.

Components you need:

• French Cacao macaron shells
• Cacao buttercream

French Cacao macaron shells:

• 60g almond powder
• 60g egg whites ( leave in room temperature for few hours or a day )
• 1 tsp egg white powder
• 120g/1 cup icing sugar
• 60g castor sugar
• 1 tbsp cacao powder ( or cocoa powder )

1)Take a piece of parchment paper and draw 1.5 inch (3.5 cm) circles, spacing the circles about 1 inch apart. Invert the baking sheet and place on a baking tray.

2)Process almond powder and icing sugar together.Sift twice of the almond powder ,cacao powder and icing sugar together in a mixing bowl.

3)In a clean bowl: Beat egg whites with egg white powder until foamy, slowly add in castor sugar in 2 additions  and continued beating to soft peak, continued beating to a Stiff peaks formed.

4)Fold in the meringue into the almond mixture in 2 additions until a thick lava-like batter is achieved.

5)Fill a pastry bag, fitted with 1/2 inch (1 cm) tip.  Pipe about 3.5cm circle  1 inch apart onto the parchment paper, using the template as a guide(usually pipe slightly smaller than the actual template size as batter will slightly expand in size after you tap the baking tray on the counter).Then gently tap the baking sheet on the counter to break any air bubbles.

6)Rest macarons at room temperature for about 30-60 minuges or until the top of the macarons are no longer sticky to your finger when you touch.

7)Bake the macarons in a preheated oven of 160C for 16 minutes, depending on your individual oven,in the middle rack of your oven . About half way  through baking, rotate your baking tray, front to back.

or

If your oven is a way too hot like a  furnace:Try bake your macaron on double trays(e) and bake your macaron at 160C until you begin to see your “feets” are formed on your macarons, remove the empty bottom tray immediately and reduce heat to 140C to finish off your baking.

8)Once baked, remove from oven, and allow to cool completely.

Process almond powder with icing sugar

Give  few sifts for almond mixture

Sift in 1 tbsp of cacao powder into almond mixture

Add in egg white powder into egg whites in a grease-free and dry mixing bowl

Beat egg whites and sugar till stiff peak(Firm peak)

Fold in meringue into almond mixture in 2 additions

Remember to fold and press down the mixture to reduce the air pockets

Final batter should be thick and lava-like

Pour in batter into piping bag fitted with round nozzle

Pipe in batter into prepared pan. Rest. Bake

The macaron is done when you can lift up macaron easily without sticking to parchment paper

Note:

a)Process the almond powder until become powder form because you might find store bought almond powder, the granules are not powdery enough, some might be hard to sift through. Use processor to blitz almond and icing mixture for few seconds and then sift few times.

b) The correct consistency of the batter is: the batter falls back in the bowl in a visible ribbon and the ribbon disappears within 10 seconds.Remember under-mix or over-mix batter will not able to create nice macaron at the end.

c) Release the air bubbles on the unbaked macarons with the end of a toothpick.

d) Sometimes you might have to rest the macarons longer than the time required due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen.Macaron tends to crack on the surface while baking if not rest enough.When heat is applied, egg whites coagulates and forces the surface to crack due to insufficient dry top shells.

e)What is Double trays?Place the tray with macaron batter onto another empty tray.Reason to prevent excessive high heat from the bottom of the batter(egg whites coagulates and expands too quickly) to crack your surface of your macarons.

e)To see if macaron is baked properly:Once baked, try lifting the macaron slowly, if easily lift off clean without sticking to pan, showing it is baked properly.If not, continue baking for few more minutes.

 Important tips:

• Ensure almond powder and icing sugar have to be sifted for few times to get smooth macaron shells.
• Ensure eggs are in room temperature, uncovered for few 2 hours or more.
• If you are in hurry, take your cold eggs from refrigerator,crack into a bowl and cover with lid, and warm it up by placing into a bowl of warm water(not too hot otherwise cook your egg whites). Allow to sit for 30 minutes or more.
• Cold eggs tend to create more air pockets in the meringue while beating, we do not want this for macaron as we try to deflate the air pockets while folding with almond mixture. Too much air pockets in the meringue can somehow crack your macaron shells when heat is applied due to coagulation of protein from the egg whites.Sometimes too much air pockets create excessive “feets” that are not appealing.
• Do not open your oven door too early otherwise the  macaron shells might collapse when drastic change of heat . You are allowed to open the oven door once while you rotate your baking tray half way baking macarons.
• The reason to rotate your pan half way baking to ensure the macaron creates even “feets”.

Easy Cacao Buttercream

• 60g Western Star, unsalted butter (Or any unsalted butter)
• 90g  icing sugar
• 1 tbsp cacao powder( can replaced with cocoa powder if can’t find cacao)
• 2 tbsp Lactose free milk ( or any milk)

1)Beat butter and icing sugar till pale and creamy. Beat in cacao powder to well combined.Pour buttercream into piping bag.

3)Fill up the macaron shells with cacao buttercream. Sandwich with other macaron shells.

4)It is best to serve  after sit in the fridge inside air tight container for a day until the macarons turn slightly moist by the buttercream.

Tips:

If you’re not going to consume your macarons immediately, you can store them:

•  Unfilled macarons: can be stored in an airtight container for 3-5 days.Empty macaron shells can be stored in the air tight container in the freezer up to 3 months.

•  Filled macarons: keep them in an airtight container inside the fridge and they taste the best up to 3 days and after that taste little crumbly. Bring to room temperature before eating them.  They are even tastier 1-2 days after having been made!It is also possible to freeze them once they are filled.Filled macaron can be kept in the air tight container in the freezer also up to a month.Remember to defrose about 20-30 minutes before serving.

Reference:

Different sizes of your macaron with different temperature and baking time

Macaron Diameter	Oven Temperature	Baking Time
Medium size 4 -6cm ( 1.5” – 2.5”)	140-150C	14 mins
Dessert size 6 –8cm (2.5” – 3.25”)	160C	15 mins
Cake base 16cm or more (6.25”) or more	170C	17 mins or more

Problem in forming skin for macaron?

There are time when your macaron just cannot form the skin even  how long you have waited. Due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen play an important rule on this issue. Winter or rainy day is definitely the weather you are trying to avoid. Of course there are cases that macarons are still manage to form the desire skin in these undesirable weather, depending on your luck perhaps?

If your macarons are having trouble in forming skin, you can try this method:

1. Preheat your oven to 200C for 10 minutes.
2. Put the unbaked macarons into oven, switch off the heat immediately.
3. Leave the door ajar(put  glove in between your oven door to create a gap for hot air to release) , for 6 minutes.
4. Touch the macaron if the skin is formed.
5. Once skin is formed, turn on the heat to the right temperature,let say 160C, and start baking your macaron.

Thanks for visiting and welcome to drop your comments here. ^_^

French Vanilla Macaron (Simple and Easy steps)

Merry Christmas Everyone~

There are 2 ways to create macarons shells:

1)French macaron : French method is much simpler just by folding french meringue into almond mixture

2)Italian meringue macaron: Italian meringue method is created by cooking sugar syrup(to 112C) then added into meringue and continued beating to firm peaks formed , finally folded into almond mixture.

This macaron is easy to make with few little steps that I think it is easier to master.

Love vanilla bean paste is incorporated in the macaron shells, as well as in the buttercream.It makes me feel like so vanilla-like.

Hope you like this recipe.

Components you need:

• French Vanilla macaron shells
• Vanilla buttercream

French Vanilla macaron shells:

• 60g almond powder
• 60g egg whites ( leave in room temperature for few hours or a day )
• 1 tsp egg white powder
• 120g/1 cup icing sugar
• 60g castor sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla paste

1)Take a piece of parchment paper and draw 1.5 inch (3.5 cm) circles, spacing the circles about 1 inch apart. Invert the baking sheet and place on a baking tray.

2)Process almond powder and icing sugar together.Sift twice of the almond powder and icing sugar together in a mixing bowl.

3)In a clean bowl: Beat egg whites with egg white powder until foamy, slowly add in castor sugar in 2 additions  and continued beating to soft peak, continued beating to a Stiff peaks formed.Beat in vanilla paste.

4)Fold in the meringue into the almond mixture in 2 additions until a thick lava-like batter is achieved.

5)Fill a pastry bag, fitted with 1/2 inch (1 cm) tip.  Pipe about 3.5cm circle  1 inch apart onto the parchment paper, using the template as a guide(usually pipe slightly smaller than the actual template size as batter will slightly expand in size after you tap the baking tray on the counter).Then gently tap the baking sheet on the counter to break any air bubbles.

6)Rest macarons at room temperature for about 30-60 minuges or until the top of the macarons are no longer sticky to your finger when you touch.

7)Bake the macarons in a preheated oven of 160C for 16 minutes, depending on your individual oven,in the middle rack of your oven . About half way  through baking, rotate your baking tray, front to back.

or

If your oven is way too hot like a  furnace:Try bake your macaron on double trays(e) and bake your macaron at 160C until you begin to see your “feets” are formed on your macarons, remove the empty bottom tray immediately and reduce heat to 140C to finish off your baking.

8)Once baked, remove from oven, and allow to cool completely.

Process almond powder with icing sugar

Give  few sifts for almond mixture

Add in egg white powder into egg whites in a grease-free and dry mixing bowl

Beat egg whites and sugar till stiff peak(Firm peak)

Beat in vanilla paste in meringue

Fold in meringue into almond mixture in 2 additions

Remember to fold and press down the mixture to reduce the air pockets

Final batter should be thick and lava-like

Pipe in batter into prepared pan. Rest.Bake

The macaron is done when you can lift up macaron easily without sticking to parchment paper

Note:

a)Process the almond powder until become powder form because you might find store bought almond powder, the granules are not powdery enough, some might be hard to sift through. Use processor to blitz almond and icing mixture for few seconds and then sift few times.

b) The correct consistency of the batter is: the batter falls back in the bowl in a visible ribbon and the ribbon disappears within 10 seconds.Remember under-mix or over-mix batter will not able to create nice macaron at the end.

c) Release the air bubbles on the unbaked macarons with the end of a toothpick.

d) Sometimes you might have to rest the macarons longer than the time required due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen.Macaron tends to crack on the surface while baking if not rest enough.When heat is applied, egg whites coagulates and forces the surface to crack due to insufficient dry top shells.

e)What is Double trays?Place the tray with macaron batter onto another empty tray.Reason to prevent excessive high heat from the bottom of the batter(egg whites coagulates and expands too quickly) to crack your surface of your macarons.

e)To see if macaron is baked properly:Once baked, try lifting the macaron slowly, if easily lift off clean without sticking to pan, showing it is baked properly.If not, continue baking for few more minutes.

 Important tips:

• Ensure almond powder and icing sugar have to be sifted for few times to get smooth macaron shells.
• Ensure eggs are in room temperature, uncovered for few 2 hours or more.
• If you are in hurry, take your cold eggs from refrigerator,crack into a bowl and cover with lid, and warm it up by placing into a bowl of warm water(not too hot otherwise cook your egg whites). Allow to sit for 30 minutes or more.
• Cold eggs tend to create more air pockets in the meringue while beating, we do not want this for macaron as we try to deflate the air pockets while folding with almond mixture. Too much air pockets in the meringue can somehow crack your macaron shells when heat is applied due to coagulation of protein from the egg whites.Sometimes too much air pockets create excessive “feets” that are not appealing.
• Do not open your oven door too early otherwise the  macaron shells might collapse when drastic change of heat . You are allowed to open the oven door once while you rotate your baking tray half way baking macarons.
• The reason to rotate your pan half way baking to ensure the macaron creates even “feets”.

Vanilla Buttercream:

• 60g Western Star, unsalted butter (Or any unsalted butter)
• 90g  icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 1/2 tbsp Lactose Free full cream milk ( or any milk)

1)Beat butter and icing sugar till pale and creamy. Beat in vanilla paste and milk to well combined.Pour buttercream into piping bag.

2)Fill up the macaron shells with buttercream. Sandwich with other macaron shells.

4)It is best to serve  after sit in the fridge inside air tight container for a day until the macarons turn slightly moist by the buttercream.

Tips:

If you’re not going to consume your macarons immediately, you can store them:

•  Unfilled macarons: can be stored in an airtight container for 3-5 days.Empty macaron shells can be stored in the air tight container in the freezer up to 3 months.

•  Filled macarons: keep them in an airtight container inside the fridge and they taste the best up to 3 days and after that taste little crumbly. Bring to room temperature before eating them.  They are even tastier 1-2 days after having been made!It is also possible to freeze them once they are filled.Filled macaron can be kept in the air tight container in the freezer also up to a month.Remember to defrose about 20-30 minutes before serving.

Reference:

Different sizes of your macaron with different temperature and baking time

Macaron Diameter	Oven Temperature	Baking Time
Medium size 4 -6cm ( 1.5” – 2.5”)	140-150C	14 mins
Dessert size 6 –8cm (2.5” – 3.25”)	160C	15 mins
Cake base 16cm or more (6.25”) or more	170C	17 mins or more

Problem in forming skin for macaron?

There are time when your macaron just cannot form the skin even  how long you have waited. Due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen play an important rule on this issue. Winter or rainy day is definitely the weather you are trying to avoid. Of course there are cases that macarons are still manage to form the desire skin in these undesirable weather, depending on your luck perhaps?

If your macarons are having trouble in forming skin, you can try this method:

1. Preheat your oven to 200C for 10 minutes.
2. Put the unbaked macarons into oven, switch off the heat immediately.
3. Leave the door ajar(put  glove in between your oven door to create a gap for hot air to release) , for 6 minutes.
4. Touch the macaron if the skin is formed.
5. Once skin is formed, turn on the heat to the right temperature,let say 160C, and start baking your macaron.

Thanks for visiting and welcome to drop your comments here. ^_^

French Blueberry Macaron(Simple and Easy steps)

 Merry Christmas everyone~

There are 2 ways to create macarons shells:

1)French macaron : French method is much simpler just by folding french meringue into almond mixture

2)Italian meringue macaron: Italian meringue method is created by cooking sugar syrup(to 112C) then added into meringue and continued beating to firm peaks formed , finally folded into almond mixture.

This macaron is easy to make with few little steps that I think it is easier to master.

Love blueberry puree is incorporated in the buttercream that so easy to make.

Hope you like this sharing too.

Components you need:

• French macaron shells
• Blueberry buttercream

French macaron shells:

• 60g almond powder
• 60g egg whites ( leave in room temperature for few hours or a day )
• 1 tsp egg white powder
• 120g/1 cup icing sugar
• 60g castor sugar
• some purple food gel colouring

1)Take a piece of parchment paper and draw 1.5 inch (3.5 cm) circles, spacing the circles about 1 inch apart. Invert the baking sheet and place on a baking tray.

2)Process almond powder and icing sugar together.Sift twice of the almond powder and icing sugar together in a mixing bowl.

3)In a clean bowl: Beat egg whites with egg white powder until foamy, slowly add in castor sugar in 2 additions  and continued beating to soft peak, continued beating to a Stiff peaks formed.

4)Add in purple food colouring into meringue.Fold in the meringue into the almond mixture in 2 additions until a thick lava-like batter is achieved.

5)Fill a pastry bag, fitted with 1/2 inch (1 cm) tip.  Pipe about 3.5cm circle  1 inch apart onto the parchment paper, using the template as a guide(usually pipe slightly smaller than the actual template size as batter will slightly expand in size after you tap the baking tray on the counter).Then gently tap the baking sheet on the counter to break any air bubbles.

6)Rest macarons at room temperature for about 30-60 minuges or until the top of the macarons are no longer sticky to your finger when you touch.

7)Bake the macarons in a preheated oven of 160C for 16 minutes, depending on your individual oven,in the middle rack of your oven . About half way  through baking, rotate your baking tray, front to back.

or

If your oven is a way too hot like a  furnace:Try bake your macaron on double trays(e) and bake your macaron at 160C until you begin to see your “feets” are formed on your macarons, remove the empty bottom tray immediately and reduce heat to 140C to finish off your baking.

8)Once baked, remove from oven, and allow to cool completely.

Process almond powder with icing sugar

Give  few sifts for almond mixture

Add in egg white powder into egg whites in a grease-free and dry mixing bowl

Beat egg whites and sugar till stiff peak(Firm peak)

Remember to fold and press down the mixture to reduce the air pockets

Final batter should be thick and lava-like

Pour in batter into piping bag fitted with round nozzle

Pipe in batter into prepared pan. Rest. Bake

The macaron is done when you can lift up macaron easily without sticking to parchment paper

Note:

a)Process the almond powder until become powder form because you might find store bought almond powder, the granules are not powdery enough, some might be hard to sift through. Use processor to blitz almond and icing mixture for few seconds and then sift few times.

b) The correct consistency of the batter is: the batter falls back in the bowl in a visible ribbon and the ribbon disappears within 10 seconds.Remember under-mix or over-mix batter will not able to create nice macaron at the end.

c) Release the air bubbles on the unbaked macarons with the end of a toothpick.

d) Sometimes you might have to rest the macarons longer than the time required due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen.Macaron tends to crack on the surface while baking if not rest enough.When heat is applied, egg whites coagulates and forces the surface to crack due to insufficient dry top shells.

e)What is Double trays?Place the tray with macaron batter onto another empty tray.Reason to prevent excessive high heat from the bottom of the batter(egg whites coagulates and expands too quickly) to crack your surface of your macarons.

e)To see if macaron is baked properly:Once baked, try lifting the macaron slowly, if easily lift off clean without sticking to pan, showing it is baked properly.If not, continue baking for few more minutes.

 Important tips:

• Ensure almond powder and icing sugar have to be sifted for few times to get smooth macaron shells.
• Ensure eggs are in room temperature, uncovered for few 2 hours or more.
• If you are in hurry, take your cold eggs from refrigerator,crack into a bowl and cover with lid, and warm it up by placing into a bowl of warm water(not too hot otherwise cook your egg whites). Allow to sit for 30 minutes or more.
• Cold eggs tend to create more air pockets in the meringue while beating, we do not want this for macaron as we try to deflate the air pockets while folding with almond mixture. Too much air pockets in the meringue can somehow crack your macaron shells when heat is applied due to coagulation of protein from the egg whites.Sometimes too much air pockets create excessive “feets” that are not appealing.
• Do not open your oven door too early otherwise the  macaron shells might collapse when drastic change of heat . You are allowed to open the oven door once while you rotate your baking tray half way baking macarons.
• The reason to rotate your pan half way baking to ensure the macaron creates even “feets”.

Blueberry Buttercream:

• 40g blueberry puree
• 1 tsp of lemon juice
• 60g Western Star, unsalted butter (Or any unsalted butter)
• 90g icing sugar

1)Process the blueberry into puree, then bring blueberry, lemon juice and 1/2 tbsp water to boil, cook till slightly thicker.Set aside to cool down.

2)Beat butter and icing sugar till pale and creamy. Beat in blueberry puree to well combined.Pour buttercream into piping bag.

3)Fill up the macaron shells with blueberry buttercream. Sandwich with other macaron shells.

4)It is best to serve  after sit in the fridge inside air tight container for a day until the macarons turn slightly moist by the buttercream.

Tips:

If you’re not going to consume your macarons immediately, you can store them:

•  Unfilled macarons: can be stored in an airtight container for 3-5 days.Empty macaron shells can be stored in the air tight container in the freezer up to 3 months.

•  Filled macarons: keep them in an airtight container inside the fridge and they taste the best up to 3 days and after that taste little crumbly. Bring to room temperature before eating them.  They are even tastier 1-2 days after having been made!It is also possible to freeze them once they are filled.Filled macaron can be kept in the air tight container in the freezer also up to a month.Remember to defrose about 20-30 minutes before serving.

Reference:

Different sizes of your macaron with different temperature and baking time

Macaron Diameter	Oven Temperature	Baking Time
Medium size 4 -6cm ( 1.5” – 2.5”)	140-150C	14 mins
Dessert size 6 –8cm (2.5” – 3.25”)	160C	15 mins
Cake base 16cm or more(6.25”) or more	170C	17 mins or more

Problem in forming skin for macaron?

There are time when your macaron just cannot form the skin even  how long you have waited. Due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen play an important rule on this issue. Winter or rainy day is definitely the weather you are trying to avoid. Of course there are cases that macarons are still manage to form the desire skin in these undesirable weather, depending on your luck perhaps?

If your macarons are having trouble in forming skin, you can try this method:

1. Preheat your oven to 200C for 10 minutes.
2. Put the unbaked macarons into oven, switch off the heat immediately.
3. Leave the door ajar(put  glove in between your oven door to create a gap for hot air to release) , for 6 minutes.
4. Touch the macaron if the skin is formed.
5. Once skin is formed, turn on the heat to the right temperature,let say 160C, and start baking your macaron.

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