Macaroon Perfection

I did it. I finally did it. I finally got my macaroons to work - just as I wanted them to!

I was determined not to do another post until I had some macaroons worth posting - in the last month I've done salted chocolate, chocolate and peanut butter, choc-chai and cinnamon - and every time until today, I've ended up with those cracked little hemispheres. But these, the second shot at the salted caramel, were absolutely perfect - crispy shell, a melt in the mouth centre and that lovely little 'pop' on the sides.

There are a couple of secrets that I have discovered:

1. You MUST keep mixing even after it is combined if the mixture is too thick. This will loosen up the egg whites and give you that lovely crispy shell. Keep mixing until small peaks in the mixture relax and settle out.
2. Preheat your oven to 220 C. Then as soon as the macaroons go in, turn it down to 180 C.
3. When the macaroons come out of the oven, lift up the corner of the baking paper and pour some water underneath and tilt the tray to spread the water. This will let you lift off the macaroons easily.
   

The recipe is exactly the same as this post - the only difference is the baking technique - start the oven at 220 C, then turn it down to 180 C for 10 minutes.

Chilli Chocolate Macaroons

I can't say I was too thrilled with how the last batch of chocolate macaroons turned out - the batter was just too thick and they didn't rise particularly effectively. So I decided to try another recipe - one my mother had cut out of an old magazine (I can't find the reference unfortunately!). The batter looked like it would be way too thick and gloopy to rise at all - in fact, it looked like dogs doings on the baking parchment - but it actually rose! The tops cracked a bit, so the side didn't 'pop' like the professional ones do - but it kinda worked!

Instead of doing a plain old ganache, I decided to mix things up a little by putting a cocoa SMBC to work - and, since it's winter, warming things up a little with some chilli. NOTE: do NOT overdo the chilli powder - it will turn things from delicious to deadly if you're not careful! The filling was absolutely awesome - my boy ended up eating it out of the bowl.

Will definitely be using this recipe for all future chocolate macaroons. And FYI- the water trick is brilliant. I've always ended up with half the macaroons losing their middles to the baking paper - this trick really works.

Chilli Chocolate Macaroons
For the macaroons:
250 g icing sugar
140 g almond meal
25 g cocoa powder
100 g egg whites

For the filling:
2 egg whites
1/2 C sugar
125 g butter
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder (hot)

For the macaroons:

1. Preheat the oven to 220 C.
   
2. Sift the sugar, almond meal and cocoa powder into a bowl. (The original recipe says to use a food processor to combine and get out the lumps but I don't have one!)
3. Whip the egg whites until just firm but still glossy - to the soft peak stage.
4. Fold the egg whites, 1/3 at a time, into the dry mixture. It will seem really stiff - but don't worry, it rises well!
5. Pipe the mix into 2.5 cm diameter circles onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.
6. Put the macaroons in the oven and immediately turn down to 180 C.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
8. When the macaroons are done, lift up the baking paper and pour a little water (about 1/4 C) under the paper and tilt the tray to distribute. If you wait 20 seconds, the macaroons will lift off easily!
9. Place macaroons on a wire rack to cool.

For the filling:

1. Heat egg whites and sugar in a heat proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, whisking all the while. Allow the temperature to reach 76 C.
   
2. Once the mix is frothy and is at 76 C, remove from heat. Using an electric mixer, beat until firm peaks form.
3. Cut the butter up into 9 or so pieces. One piece at a time, beat in the butter (if it goes runny, just keep beating - it will eventually get to the consistancy of well whipped cream).
4. Once the mixture is firm, beat in the cocoa powder and half the chilli powder.
5. Taste - if you think it needs more chilli, add the rest - but it's supposed to be a tiny warming kick at the end - and some people are more sensitive than others!

Chocolate Macaroons with White Chocolate Ganache

After last week's relatively successful Salted Caramel Macaroons, I decided to try making my all time favourites - chocolate macaroons.

I simply substituted 40 g of icing sugar for cocoa powder. However, I forgot that cocoa powder is less soluble in hydrophillic solutions than sugar - the result of which was that my mixture was WAY too thick and therefore couldn't rise as much as the last batch. (Next time, I'd up the egg whites by 10 g or decrease the almond meal by 20 g).

They had the right crunchy shell and chewy centre - so it's not all bad. Kinda like a soft, chewy oreo when the ganache is set.

Chocolate Macaroons

For the macaroons:

3 'aged' egg whites from 59 g eggs (90 g eggwhites - to age - leave them loosely covered overnight)
2 Tbsp caster sugar
160 g icing sugar
40 g cocoa powder
110 g almond meal

For the filling:
60 g white chocolate
10 g unsalted butter

1. Whisk egg whites until frothy and fluffy - allow it to form soft peaks.
   
2. Gradually add 2 tablespoons granulated sugar until you have a glossy meringue, whisking all the while. Don’t overbeat.
3. Sift almond meal, cocoa powder and icing sugar in a large bowl.
4. Add your whipped egg whites and fold. You don’t have to fold too gently, but you don’t want to over fold either.
5. Pipe the mixture onto greased baking paper. Make sure you space them well, or they will expand and stick together when they bake. Wet your finger and pat them into shape - they'll start to look like they should!
   
6. Allow to sit for 1 hour. This will stop them from cracking when they bake.
7. Bake for 20 minutes at 150 C.
8. Once cooked, allow to cool on a wire rack.
9. For the filling, heat the chocolate and butter in a double boiler and stir until melted and combined.
10. Sandwich the filling between the macaroons.

Salted Caramel Macaroons

After 3 weeks, numerous visits from tradies, a great deal of stress and about $10,000 - I finally have my kitchen back!

To celebrate, I decided to attempt macaroons again. Not wanting to repeat the absolute rock-hard debacle of the lime macaroons, I decided to have another go at the recipe. But this time, I actually weighed my ingredients! (Turns out, this was a good idea - it's very hard to accurately measure almond meal by volume!) This time they really worked well - they had that lovely thin crispy shell with a very soft, chewy centre. (Look at the side - you can see they have the nice 'pop'!)

Salted Caramel Macaroons (Makes 15)

You will need:

For the macaroons:

3 'aged' egg whites from 59 g eggs (90 g eggwhites - to age - leave them loosely covered overnight)
2 Tbsp caster sugar
200 g icing sugar
110 g almond meal

For the filling:

125 g salted butter
2 egg whites
1/2 C brown sugar

1. Whisk egg whites until frothy and fluffy - allow it to form soft peaks.
   
2. Gradually add 2 tablespoons granulated sugar until you have a glossy meringue, whisking all the while. Don’t overbeat.
3. Sift almond meal and icing sugar in a large bowl.
4. Add your whipped egg whites and fold. You don’t have to fold too gently, but you don’t want to over fold either. Add in the food colouring when about half the egg whites have been added.
5. Pipe the mixture onto greased baking paper. Make sure you space them well, or they will expand and stick together when they bake (like mine did - see photo below!). Wet your finger and pat them into shape - they'll start to look like they should!
   
6. Allow to sit for 1 hour. This will stop them from cracking when they bake.
7. Bake for 20 minutes at 150 C.
8. Once cooked, allow to cool on a wire rack.
9. For the filling, heat the egg whites and brown sugar to 76 C by putting them in a bowl over a pot of simmering water, whisking continuously.
10. Beat with an electric mixer until soft peaks form.
11. Cut the room temperature butter into 1 Tbsp cubes. One cube at a time, add the butter to the meringue, beating continuously. If the mixture goes runny, keep beating until the mixture thickens up again.
12. Sandwich the filling between the macaroons.
    

Sad... No more Iron Cupcake...

Iron Cupcake:Earth is closing its doors for good in June... Sad!

The competition that inspired my cupcakery madness is no more... but at least I heart cuppycakes is still bringing us the always fun Cupcake Hero!
I'll be back with more cupcakes and cupcakery soon - once I have my kitchen back *sigh*

oh and a new electric beater - mine got destroyed by electricians...

A not-so-Lazy hiatus...

Unfortunately, as you may have gathered from my ranting in earlier posts, my house is not in a good state at the moment. Earlier this week, it went from bad to worse, and I am totally without power or hot water - and have had to move in with my sister. (The power surge also killed my much loved electric mixer!) So there will be no cupcakes for a while - however, I will be back with dessert-y goodness once my house is back in some semblance of working order.

Food as Fashion

I'm not normally too fussed with the presentation of food - but I'm always blown away by those who can weave magic with a camera and food. Fulvio Bonavia really takes it to a whole new level. In case you haven't already seen their amazing work, you can check it out here.