Coffee Macarons using Italian Meringue

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After trying the various flavours, i thought to myself, i should give italian method a try. Since i am experimenting with macarons now, i should also try out the kind of macarons produced by different method.

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Actually i did consider using italian method before but the idea of the extra step puts me off. Because besides whipping the eggwhite, italian meringue requires adding boiling syrup into the eggwhite. And the syrup is supposed to reach about 120degree before i can pour into the eggwhite. There seems too many rules and guides to follow, which is something i don't like. However, for the love of macaron and the challenge, i finally gave it a try. But i did not use and thermometer to measure the temperature, i just boiled the syrup and pour into my eggwhite.

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To my surprised, the outcome was amazing! I had never have such nice and smooth macarons before. They looks beautiful! However, this could due to luck that i have succeeded, because i did not follow the instructions exactly. Besides not measuring the temperature, i did not mix the unbeaten eggwhite with the almond meal and powdered sugar, i just pour them into the beaten eggwhite separately and mixed them together.

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I made two flavours, one is original and the other is coffee. Both me and my DH loves the coffee ones. Not only the speckles are cute, they taste delicious too. But due to the sugar used is higher for italian meringue, resulted a very sweet shell.

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Italian meringue observation :

1) Requires longer baking time.

2) Uses more sugar, therefore sweeter shell.

3) The shell seems harder as compared to french meringue.

4) Produced a much smooth shell.

5) Not so sure for the resting time, because for the first batch, it has been rested for two hours (rainy day and humid), but all cracks. The second batch maybe 30min later, all came out beautiful with feet and only a few cracks.

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Will try to use this method again.

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Green Tea Macarons and Black Sesame Macarons

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Eversince i managed to bake macarons successfully, i am so obsessed into baking them. Because i wanted to try baking with different flavours and with different nuts. Today i tried out one new flavour, black sesame macarons and the green tea macarons again (because i didn't like the colour that i got the other day). Black sesame macarons are sandwiched with black sesame buttercream and green tea macarons are with green tea buttercream. I like both of them, the black sesame one reminds me of the chinese dessert, black sesame paste (芝麻糊) and the aroma of the green tea is very nice especially with green tea buttercream (this is better than pairing with chocolate gananche like what i did the other day).

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Chocolate macarons again

Chocolate macarons with mocha ganache

After my first success with chocolate macarons the other day, i tried to make it again a few days later. However, i didn't get the feet this time. I was so sad and depressed, as i thought i have loose it. But luckily when i tried again yesterday, i got it back again. Yes! I was so happy. But i am still quite bad in getting the right consistency in terms of the batter. I really need to practice and be able to produce consistent results all the time.

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Green Tea and Hazelnut Macarons

Tried to bake green tea macarons today, not sure is it due to the green tea powder or i added too much. The green colour is quite ugly. The bottom one is hazelnut macarons, trying to play with the colours too, but in the end some have feet some doesn't, not sure if that was caused by the hazelnut or colouring or eggwhite. Because i think i have overbeaten the eggwhite for the hazelnut ones.

So far i have tried original, chocolate, pistachio, hazelnut and green tea macarons. And my favourite are pistachio, hazelnut and green tea macarons. However, i think that the hazelnut does not goes very well with bitter chocolate ganache, because the taste of the bitter chocolate is too overwhelming that the hazelnut aroma was being masked. As for the green tea, it was still quite alright with bitter chocolate.

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Anyway, i only have bitter chocolate ganache. Because i am still in the beginning stage of baking macarons, therefore my success rate is still not 100%. So concentration is still on the shell rather than the filling.

Pistachio and Chocolate Macarons

Yes! I finally succeeded in making chocolate macarons! I was so happy, because this was known to be the most difficult to make of all flavours. When i first saw my chocolate macarons rising nicely with feet, i was jumping with joy! That's the power of chocolate macarons. Haha..

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After concurring chocolate macarons, i am also into making macarons with different nuts and different flavours. Those in green are pistachio macarons, I like the nutty flavour, it's more aromatic as compared to the 100% almond meal macarons.

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I only add in a quarter of the colouring, therefore didn't expect the colour to be so intense. But doesn't this colour reminds you of christmas? Perhaps this can be one of my christmas macarons too.

Making macarons can be very addictive because i like to see them in different colours and flavours. You will see more of my macarons in the next few weeks. I simply enjoy making them.

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Chocolate Macarons

After my two successful batches of macarons over the past two days, i wanted to try out chocolate macaron , which apparently to be known as the tougest. I don't know why, I did try to search for more information, but nobody explain why.

I was telling myself if i am successful with the chcolate macs, this shows that i might have got the technique right. Because to be frank, i am still not convinced that i can make macarons. I thought it may be due to luck.

When my chocolate macarons were out from oven, i told myself, "See! i told you! It was luck"... sigh... i was very sad and disappointed. But i am going to try again!

Macaroning Again

After yesterday's results, i wanted to see if that was luck or what. So i made macarons again today. And to my surprise ALL have feet! Yes, all! And out of the whole batch only about 10% cracks. It was really amazing!!! I was really happy with the results. After struggling to make them so many times, i finally made it!

I am very happy that this batch turns out so well. Despite that the feet were big, at least they have feet. So this is really a good start. However, i am still not quite convinced, so i tell myself i can only said that it's successful if i am able to make another 5 batches with the same results (as in with feet, but hopefully better looking ones **Grin**).

I am going to try chocolate macaron next. I heard that is the most difficult to make. I will post on my macaron making journey after i am really "successful" with them. Macaron battle continues...

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13 is an unlucky number? I don't think so.

After failing for 12 times, i finally see some results on my batch 13 macarons. Yes! I see feet!!!!! Yippee! Hurray!!! I was so happy and could not believe my eyes when i saw those feet. It was very unexpected. Because when i was folding in the ingredients, i found the batter was very dry, so i thought that's it, i am going to fail again. Nevertheless, i still continue with the whole process. After piping, i let them rest for 1 hour than send for baking. And 9 minutes later, when i opened the oven door, i was shocked and very surprised.

I wouldn't say that was successful. Because for this batch of macarons, only 25% with feet and almost 50% of the whole batch have cracks on top. But no matter how, i was very pleased with the outcome, because that was very unexpected and i had never seen any feet on my last 12 batches before. So these little feet were really some consolation to me. At least it gave me some hopes to continue with my macaron battle.. **Grin**

I will try again tomorrow and see if this was luck or i might have got the technique right.

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My 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th Macarons

After trying so many times, i noticed that most of my macs "looks" the same, No Feet, Matt top and Open pores. So i think the problem lies mainly on my whisking method and also my mixing method, whereby these are very important in macaron making. Being so new in baking, i am still learning the various types of egg white beating stages, there are soft peak, firm peak and stiff peak (and some more stages inbetween). Therefore I still cannot tell when is it consider a soft peak and when is a firm peak. And i think its pretty crucial to understand, since macarons is so temperamental, they will only grow nicely with the right stage of egg white.

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The way you fold the dry ingredients into the egg white is also very crucial. You cannot fold too lightly, because you will need to deflate some of the air bubble, but you also cannot fold too much as the batter will be too wet. So again, you need to know how to fold and when to stop. Enough of whisking and mixing method, i sound as if i can make macarons. But these are just some of the tips that i gather from reading various blogs on macaron making. Time to record down my macaron making experience.

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Macaron No.8

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Macaron No. 8 was being aborted before it has a chance to meet the world. Because after mixing the dry ingredients into the egg white, i sense that something was not right. I cooked the egg white!! Because PH said we can bring egg white to room temperature by warming it. But instead of warming it, i killed it! I killed it by placing my mixing bowl with egg white over a saucepan with boiling water.

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Macaron No. 9

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- 50g Ground Almond

- 90g icing Sugar

- 60g Egg White

- 30g Icing sugar (yes, not mistake. This recipe uses icing sugar with egg white)

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Method: Almost the same as the rest, except that this recipe adviced to deflate some of the air out of the whites. And mixing till mixture fall off the spatula - the right consistency.

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What i did: Stiff peak egg white + deflate batter slightly (Rest for 45-60min)

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Macaron No. 10

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same recipe as No. 9

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What i did: Soft peak egg white + deflate batter slightly (Rest for 45-60min)

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Macaron No.11

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- 50g Ground Almond

- 90g Icing Sugar

- 44g Egg White

- 12g Sugar

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What i did: Stiff peak egg white + deflate batter slightly (Rest for 45-60min)

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Macaron No. 12
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- 33g Ground Almond

- 50g icing sugar

- 1 egg white (i used 40g)

- 30g caster sugar

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What i did: Soft peak (egg white still moving -as the recipe described + mixing till no longer see white streaks) - (Rest for 45-60min)

I will try again....

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Macarons for the 6th and 7th time

sigh..... i failed again. Making macarons for the 7th time in 2 months. Yes, 7th time. I had never failed so many times in my entire life. This is the first time. It's really very depressing. I have been trying out different recipes but none works. The closest was my 5th macarons, almost have feet but didn't really came out. The 6th and 7th time was using the same recipe but with lesser icing sugar and the time of beating the egg white was also different. Resting two was up to 2 hrs, but makes no difference.. sigh... so sad....

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6th Macs Recipe (rest for over 1hr, below 2hr)

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- 50g Ground Almond

- 5g Cocoa powder

- 50g icing sugar

- 45g egg white

- 35g caster sugar

7th Macs Recipe (rest for over 1hr, below 2hr)

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- 50g Ground Almond

- 50g icing sugar

- 45g egg white

- 30g caster sugar

Macaroning for the 5th time

Sigh....i failed again... this time round the problem could be the eggwhite was too dry..

As compared to my previous few batches the "looks" and taste of this is one of the best. Except that, these macs don't have feet, cracks at the top. But it melts in the mouth (that's what PK commented).

I will try again today.

Macaron No 5

- 50g Ground Almond
- 65g Icing Sugar
- 45g Egg White
- 40g Caster sugar

The mac on the left was without resting. The one on the right had been rested for 60min.

My 3rd and 4th Macarons

Macaron No.3 (PH recipe - i omitted the cocoa powder with no replacement)

- 70g Ground Almond

- 125g Icing sugar

- 50g egg white

Baked at 160 degrees for 10min + 5min.

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Macaron No. 4 (also PH recipe with cocoa powder - the original recipe)

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- 70g Ground Almond
- 125g Icing sugar
- 50g egg white

- 12.5g Cocoa powder

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Baked at 170 degrees for 12min

Obervations with using "Aged egg whites" the consistency of the whites seems to be thicker, as compared to fresh egg whites. When beating, the whites formed peak faster.

My 2nd Macarons

After yesterday's failure, i am making my second batch of macarons again today. After doing some more reading and web search, i am going to try another recipe today by Garner ( from a forum).

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Garner's Macaron Recipe:

- 110g Grounf almond
- 85g Icing sugar
- 25g brown sugar
- 2 egg whites (aged for 24hr)

Method almost the same as yesterday, except for i am adding in some sugar to the egg white while whisking. By doing so, the egg white seems to look "better", more like a peak compared to yesterday's results. It was White like a snow mountain, but my hand aches like nobody's business (must get a mixer!).

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Today, i set the oven to baked the macs at 170degree for 10minutes (after resting them for 40min). But the macs starts to have nice aroma at 5min, so i turn down the oven to 150degree (in case they burn again). Sigh.... they didn't burn at the end of baking, but again no feet and not shiny surface.

Thinking that this could be due to not enough "rest", so i baked the 2nd batch about 1.5hr later at 150degree for 10min. But this time, same result, no feet! Not shiny! sigh.....



What Went Wrong?

???? really no idea. But maybe it's just me, the way i mixed the ingredient? But definitely not caused by "not enough rest" (of macarons) .

Will read more and try again....