Tuesday, November 27, 2012

French Macarons

Mommy in law got me a kitchen scale a few months back and I've been trying to find a reason to use it.  So here we are with my post for French macarons.  I'm a bit late on the macaron craze.

Macarons are very intimidating to make.  Many of the recipes I've looked at emphasize weighing the ingredients instead of using volume measurements.  Annie's Eats has her recipe for chocolate macarons and gives detailed instructions for making these bite size delights.  However, I opted with using David Lebovitz recipe instead.  He doesn't weigh them and I think my first batch turned out well...don't you?  

I did try making a another batch of macarons using weight measurements and tried Annie's recipe for pistachio macarons.  They came out just as nice but the flavor was a bit off to me (the cookies tasted a bit pepper-y?).  I was finally able to use the pistachio extract I was gifted and added about a 1/2 tsp of it to the cookie batter.  I forgot to take pictures so that will be another macaron post to look forward to.  

Happy baking and hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  


 

I tried my best to pipe the batter all about the same size. 


Tada! 



















Chocolate Macarons
Makes about 20-25 cookies
Adapted from The Sweet Life in Paris (Broadway) by David Lebovitz
Macaron Batter
1 cup (100 gr) powdered sugar
½ cup powdered almonds (about 2 ounces, 50 gr, sliced almonds, pulverized)
3 tablespoons (25 gr) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 large egg whites, at room temperature (I aged mine for 12+hours)
5 tablespoons (65 gr) granulated sugar


Chocolate Filling
½ cup (125 ml) heavy cream
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
4 ounces (120 gr) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 tablespoon (15 gr) butter, cut into small pieces


Preheat oven to 350º F (180º C). I baked mine at 300º F for only 8 min, rotating half way through.  

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and have a pastry bag with a plain tip (about 1/2-inch, 2 cm) ready.
 
Grind together the powdered sugar with the almond powder and cocoa so there are no lumps; use a blender or food processor since almond meal that you buy isn’t quite fine enough. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they begin to rise and hold their shape. While whipping, beat in the granulated sugar until very stiff and firm, about 2 minutes.
Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in two batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula. When the mixture is just smooth and there are no streaks of egg white, stop folding and scrape the batter into the pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps if you’re alone).

Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1-inch (3 cm) circles (about 1 tablespoon each of batter), evenly spaced one-inch (3 cm) apart.
Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons, **I let the piped batter sit out for an hour prior to baking...then bake them for 15-18 minutes. Let cool completely then remove from baking sheet.

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