It has been a good 3-4 years?? Since I last made macarons. Did about 50 batches before I decided that it was indeed too much. Macarons have loads of sugar in them. But the good thing is you’re probably only going to eat 1-2 ( or perhaps 3-4 or maybe 5-6 ) macarons at a go before you find yourself reaching for something savory to counteract the sweetness in your mouth.
Sweetness aside, this “cookie” is actually very attractive for door gifts, wedding / birthday parties. They can be baked in an assortment of colors, shapes and sizes. After a long hiatus and probably a few failed attempts at French macarons, I got pretty upset and decided it was time to take a break from them. That explains the good 3 yrs.
I guess whatever goes down must eventually come up again. My interest for macarons is back! Today, I churned my 1st 2 batches of Italian Meringue macarons. Macarons made by the Italian method involves boiling a sugar syrup to reach a certain temperature before mixing with the meringue. You have to multi task on this one. But if you have a stand mixer, it will make your job much easier. After doing both the French and Italian macaron methods, I find that the Italian method gives more room for error. And the best thing is you don’t have to age the eggs. ( Defo a plus point considering it rains pretty often in Singapore and the weather can sometimes be really humid – enemy for macarons).
The 1st batch of macarons came out with protruding feet ( OMG) a disaster. I couldn’t blame anyone but myself as I was too lazy to throw away the batch of meringue that was contaminated with a little egg yolk. Sometimes shortcuts bring you to dead ends so try to minimize them if your instincts tells you that you are heading in the direction of disaster.
My second batch of macarons turned out perfect. Smooth tops, nice feet and pretty colors. Pink sweet pink. How not to resist. Many more batches to come.. Watch this space 😉 If you have any flavors to recommend please do so in the comment box.
Italian Meringue Macarons ( Makes about 60 macaron shell or 30 completed Macarons)
Ingredients:
-150g superfine ground almonds ( I use Phoon Huat’s superfine almonds)
-150g powdered sugar
-50g egg whites
-Gel food coloring (optional)
Italian Meringue:
-110g granulated sugar ( For boiling) + 10g (For beating with egg whites first)
-55g egg whites
-40g water
1. Sift together ground almonds, powdered sugar into a bowl. If your almonds are not fine enough, you can pulse it in a food processor for a few seconds.
2. Add in 50g of egg whites and mix until well combined. Add in gel coloring of your choice.
3. Place water and 110g sugar into a small saucepan over medium heat and attach a thermometer to it. Boil the sugar mixture.
4. Halfway through boiling the mixture, place 55g of egg whites into the bowl of your stand mixer and beat till frothy. Add in 10g of sugar and continue to beat on low until soft peaks form. If it reaches soft peaks before the sugar mixture reaches 240F, switch off the mixer.
5. When the sugar mixture reaches 240F, take the sugar syrup off the heat and slowly pour it into the egg whites. Continue to beat on medium high for 5-7 mins until the meringue is not hot to touch and the meringue is shiny with stiff peaks.
6. Add in 1/3 of the meringue to the ground almond mixture and mix it to lighten the mixture up.
7. Add in the rest of the meringue and fold until batter falls from spatula and forms a ribbon like pattern. Consistency should be like lava.
8. Pipe circles onto a non stick baking sheet of Silpat. Tap baking pan on the table top to get rid of air bubbles and flatten the peaks on the macarons. Use a toothpick to burst air bubbles that might form on the piped circle.
9. Let macarons rest and dry for 20-30mins until the macarons are dry to the touch.
10. Preheat oven to 150deg celcius or 300F. Bake for 12-13 minutes.
11. Let macarons cool completely before removing them from the baking paper.
12. If not piping immediately, store macarons in an airtight container at RT until ready to pipe. If you are piping the filling, pipe a portion of ganache (or your fav frosting) into the centre of the macarons. Sandwich the macarons and let the flavors age in the fridge overnight. Macarons taste best the very next day.
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