[ARchicTECT Baking Adventure #05] My Attempt on making French Macarons

Guess what??!! I am officially a baker.. I recently bought this new baby..

Its the Moulinex Masterchef Gourmet. It comes with a meat grinder, blender, chopper, slicer,juicer..

cool right?
I was actually eyeing to get a Kitchenaid Mixer..

I was saving up for it since it costs a lot. It is an investment for kitchen gadgets to have. I told Chief that when we move to our final home where we want to finally settle (not in Dubai) I will get this little baby. 
As for now I am happy with my Moulinex mixer. It does the job and so much more. Chief is excited to make his burgers from scratch using the meat grinder..lol!

Well, this then inspired me to make French Macarons. 

Since I wanted to make it more special, I decided to make a special pistachio butter cream frosting which deserves it's own blog entry. 

Here are the ingredients to make French Macarons:

- 4 large egg whites in room temperature
- 1/3 cup (70g) caster sugar
- 1.5 cups (230g) icing sugar
- 1 cup (120g) almond meal or ground almonds
- 2g (pinch) of salt
- gel food coloring

1. Preheat oven at 150C
2. Sieve ground almonds and icing sugar three times
3. Whisk egg whites with a stand mixer and gradually add sugar. Repeat this step until stiff peaks are achieved. Add the pinch of salt.

4. Once stiff peaks are formed. Add food gel coloring. I opted for green since Im putting pistachio buttercream frosting.

5. Fold 1/3 at a time of egg white mixture onto the dry mixture

6. Continue to fold gently until a lava like consistency is achieve. Stop immediately because you don't want to over-mix your batter.

7. Prepare a piping bag with a round nozzle

8. Line your baking trays with parchment or silicon mat
9. Since  I have not yet perfected my piping skill I downloaded a macaron pattern on the internet to guide me with the sizes of my macaron. This is very helpful specially on your first try. 

10. Tap the tray to release air or bubbles from your macarons. 

11. Let the macarons sit for 30-60mins depending on the temperature and humidity of your kitchen to forms a shell around the macarons. This is very important because it will give your macarons the feet.

12. Once they're ready, bake for 10 minutes then turn you pan and bake again for another 10 minutes.
13. Let your macarons cool down before removing from the parchment. This is also very important because you dont want to break them apart.
14. Pipe in your filling. i made this pistachio buttercream frosting in advance so that i can use them immediately since it requires being refrigerated. 

Viola!! French Macarons with Pistachio Buttercream Filling!! 

Best served after overnight refrigerating. 

Macarons are very delicate to make. Environment temperature and humidity plays a big factor when making them. First time might not  be a success but this should not discourage you from trying again. This is actually my second try and I have learned my mistakes from the first time. It requires a lot of patience because there is no short-cut in making them. Don't be afraid to make mistakes, in the end even if they dont look so appealing, the taste will always be good.

I've enjoyed making these macarons and Im looking forward to the next time I make them. My next project is malt chocolate flavored ones since i love malt chocolate. 

I hope you guys enjoyed reading about my baking adventure. Try it yourself and let me know how it goes!

CIAO!

-CARMI