Macarons for beginners

Oh dear! Macarons....from all the reality kitchen tv shows I have watched Macarons seemed complicated, technical, temperamental a delicious biscuit sandwich that appears to be make and cooked to perfection(like Manu would say lol) only by professional or highly skilled pastry cooks. Even they might fail, my friend Kylie suggested maybe I should give it a go and I though why not! after all this is what my experimental kitchen is all about new challenges and do my best to cook beautiful yummy dishes.

I have never cooked Macarons before, actually I tried one for the first time not long ago influenced by my favourites tv shows, so I didn't have any idea how to make them or what I need it to prepare them. .

I asked my good friend Google about Macarons recipes and tips and apparently in a way a Macaron is a Meringue biscuit sandwich with a creamy filling so my experience with the Meringues will serve me well for this challenge.

One advice is to check you have all the materials and equipment you'll need for the Macarons preparation: Silicon spatula, big bowl, baking paper (you can draw a template so the Macarons are all the same size), piping bag with nozzle (I'll try with my squeeze bottle again) and a kitchen scale apparently accuracy is very important for this recipe. As well as the Meringues you'll need to make sure all the equipment is clean and free of grease, the lemon technique is also good because you will also need stabiliser for the Macarons.

Lemon curd filling: (http://www.themacaronmaster.com/macarons/superb-macaron-filling-recipe)

Ingredients:

- 3 egg yolks
- 75 grams of Caster sugar
- 50 grams of unsalted Butter, chopped
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon

Preparation:

1.- Place all the ingredients (except butter) over a saucepan of simmering water. Whisk constantly until it starts to thick and coats the back of a spoon. Use a wire whisk.

2.- Remove from heat and strain through a sieve into a small clean bowl.

3.- Now stir in butter, make sure it dissolves.

4.- Transfer the curd to a pan and cook on low heat until it looks thick. Retire from heat and keep whisking until room temperature.

4.- Cover and refrigerate until needed.

It is recommended to prepare the lemon curd first and then the shells.

Macarons shells:

Ingredients:

Macarons are basically a meringue based cookie so I am going to use my Meringues recipe and combine almond meal and Icing sugar to make the biscuit.

It is highly recommended to weight all the ingredients. I wrote approximate quantities to make your shopping easier.

For the Meringue:

- 2 -3 egg whites (80 grams)
- 1/2 cup of (175 grams) of caster sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar
- Lemon slice to rub the equipment

For the Almond mixture:

- 2 egg whites (80 grams)
- 212 grams of almond meal
- 212 grams of icing sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Preparation:

1.- Mix almond meal and icing sugar well together. If available, process them in a food processor and sift the mixture a couple of times. If you don't have a food processor like myself, mix them well together and sift three times. Then add 2 egg whites, mix until a soft paste is formed.

Almond and Icing sugar paste

2.- Place the 2 egg whites for the meringues in a big bowl and start beating with the electrical mixer in low-medium speed, once a soft foam is formed add one tablespoon of caster sugar, continue adding caster sugar until all is added, then add cream of tartar. Set aside.

Almond icing sugar paste and Meringue mixture

3.- Add 1/3 of the meringue mixture into the almond mixture and fold it together, treat this mixture with delicacy. Keep adding the meringue mixture until the is smooth and rub thick from the spatula. You might not need all the meringue mixture so add it slowly.

Macaron mixture.

4.- Place the mixture in a piping bag and start putting the mixture on the baking trays, you will need practice so don't feel dishearten if a few don't look pretty, you can use them as test macarons. Macarons don't rise so you can put them close together.

I used my squeeze bottle without nozzle

5.- This is the time to turn on your oven and pre heat at 150C for about 15 minutes, this time will allow the macarons to rest, also you can try to make them look prettier and with a perfect shape. Bake for 12-15 minutes, watch them closely, I would recommend to set the timer at 6 minutes, check and then 6 more minutes, I accidentally overcooked some of them.

6.- Once ready, let them cool down for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack, some people on the internet recommend to refrigerated them overnight before the filling.

7.- Make the sandwich and enjoy with a cuppa!

My friend Kylie and her husband Steve were the testers for this challenge and apparently the Macarons were not half bad!

Enjoy and until next time.