French Macaron Journey Take Three!

I have been in the kitchen again obsessing over macarons.  Armed with more knowledge from my last trials, I felt a huge amount of confidents.

I can happily report back that there were no tears or tantrums this time around and I found them rather quick to make!! I spent a total of about 2 1/2 hours and managed to bake 3 batches of macaron shells that I was pretty happy with. {insert HUGE smile & happy dance}

I have used the french meringue technique and really find this method enjoyable to make ... well that is once you have gotten a handle on how to make them that is!!  It is least time consuming.  No need to make sugar syrup {Yippee} and my personal opinion is they taste so much more delicious.

This is one of the flavors that I made this week.  Chocolate orange and OOooo these are so good! They have such a wonderful orange flavor with the lovely sweetness of the chocolate!! Yumo!

Now! Lets got down to what I've learnt!! But before I do this I have to recommend the absolutely BEST macaron blog around!! You may already know her blog but if you haven't you MUST go over and have a good read!! She is my macaron idol and she is a wealth of knowledge!!  Introducing Ms Humble from Not so humble pie.  I have used her recipe and read up on all her tips and techniques and adjusted accordingly to what works for me.

Ms Humbles Basic macaron shell recipe:

120g Almond flour

200g Icing sugar

100g Egg whites

35 g sugar

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Food colouring gel

Technique:

Line your baking trays with baking paper.

In your food processor place your grounded almonds and icing sugar and blend well.  Now sieve and place aside.

Weigh out your egg whites {I don't age my egg whites} and place into a large stainless steel mixing bowl.  I use my kitchenaid mixing bowl for this.  Please remember you must have an extremely clean and dry bowl to have success with your meringue.  Put your cream of tartar and sugar into your egg whites.  I use my Kitchenaid to make my meringue using my whisk attachment.  Whisk your egg whites at speed 1 for a few seconds just to loosen your egg whites then increase to speed 4 and whisk for 3 minutes.  Once the 3 minutes is up increase to speed 6 and whisk for another 3 minutes.  Your meringue is know ready to add color.  Add food coloring gel to deserved tint and whisk at speed 6 for 1 minute.  Your meringue is now ready.

 Add 1/4 of almond/sugar mixure into your meringue and carefully mix using a silicone spatula.  Keep adding the almond/sugar mixture 1/4 at a time until your meringue and almond/sugar mixture is well combined and you have a lava like consistency.  Remember you don't want to overwork your batter!!! So just take your time with this step.  

Once your batter is at the right consistency spoon batter into your pipping bag.  You are now ready to pipe  your shells.  I pipe my shells to approx 3 cm.

Pick up your tray of piped macarons and tap the tray quite hard { I pick up my tray and then drop it onto the table a couple of times } to remove any air bubbles in the mixture.  Use a toothpick to pop any remaining air bubbles.

 Now let your macrons chillax {or rest} for 30 minutes or until they are no longer sticky when you lightly touch them.

While your macarons are resting pre-heat your oven.

Ok now this is where it gets tricky! Oven temperatures.  I bake my macarons at 140 degrees for 16 minutes and I find this works really well for me BUT this may or may not work well for you.  My oven is an industrial oven which has a fan.  If you are using your home oven I would suggest trying them at 150 degrees.  My best suggestion is to trial a range of temperatures from 140 to 160 degree and time ranging from 15-20 minutes to see which works best for your oven.  I found it very usefully to write down the time and temperature you are trialling  with each batch and the finished outcome.  You will eventually find a temperature and cooking time that works perfectly for your oven.

Once they are baked leave them on the trays till cooled.  They are now ready to be filled.

Usefully tips: 

• Buy yourself an oven thermometer - this will be one of the best things you will buy and will make a huge difference to learning about your oven.  They are not at all expensive.  You can pick one up for bout $10

• If when removing them from the tray and they are a little sticky place the tray of macarons into the freezer for about 5 minutes and they will come away from the baking paper very easily.

There are so many different types of fillings you can make!! 

Here is my recipe for my chocolate orange ganache filling:

180g Lindt's chocolate orange chocolate {finely chopped}

180mls Cream

Zest of 4 oranges

In a small saucepan add your cream and orange zest.  Place on a stove and gently bring to a boil.  Now set aside for 15-20 minutes for the orange zest to infuse the cream.

Meanwhile place chocolate in a bowl.  Place bowl over a pot of simmer water {making sure that no water is touching the bowl and gently stir until the chocolate is melted.

Strain your cream, making sure to get all the cream out from the orange zest.  Place cream back onto the stove and bring back to a gentle boil.  Add to the chocolate and stir until well combined.

Place your ganache mixture into your fridge until it is at the right pipping consistency.  This should take about 20 minutes.

Now pipe onto your macaron shells.  Place your macarons into an airtight container and put into the fridge for 24 hours and let the maturing beginning.  Your macarons are now ready to be enjoyed.

Here are the other 2 batches that I trialled this week:

Introducing My Lemon & Blueberry Jelly Macarons

Lemon zest infused shells with a lovely lemon ganache

with a lovely homemade blueberry jelly center!

The homemade jelly was so fun to make!!

And now introducing my Green tea and passion fruit macarons

Ooooo these are so so so so yummy!! A green tea infused shell with a sweet and tangy passion fruit swiss meringue buttercream.  When you bite into these little morsels you first get hit with the lovely tanginess of the passionfruit and towards the end you get the soft flavor of the green tea!! They are pure dreaminess!

Please Please Please! remember that I am by no means a macaron maker!!  I am just obsessed with these little beauties and really love the challenge of making them.  My best advice is to keep at it! Like me I have been through lots of tears and tantrums to get to a place that I am happy with.  

Please go and read Ms Humble's Macaron 101 : French Meringue post.  I have learnt so much from her and I'm sure you will too.

Happy Macaron baking!!