Lately, about anywhere, macaron has been one among the yummy treats most in demand. I recently learned a recipe of Raspberry French Macaron from Amber Lee here, but instead, I gave it a twist. A cookies-and-cream twist, to be exact! (;
Macaron happens to be a yummy treat which has great chance of failure to make. However, thanks to Amber Lee, whose recipe is so detail, complete with her own commentary, I managed to bake my first own batch of macarons almost perfectly! :p I will also add my own commentary from my experience baking them! (;
To make Amber Lee's french macarons with my twist of cookies-and-cream you'll need...
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, 4.5 oz (= 128 g ~ 130 g)
3/4 cup almond flour, 2.5 oz. (= 71 g ~ 70 g)
2 large egg whites, room temperature (no farm fresh eggs! older eggs hold air better, and take them from the fridge the day before or the morning of and let them sit there happily on the counter and warm to room temp)
Pinch of cream of tartar
1/4 cup superfine sugar/baker's sugar, 1.5 oz. (= 43 g ~ 40 g)
For Amber Lee's raspberry macarons, you'll need 3/4 cup seedless raspberry jam for filling. But if you want my cookies-and-cream macarons, you'll need 20 g of finely crushed Oreo, and I used cookies-and-cream ice cream from Wall's for filling. (;
Now I'll give you Amber Lee's recipe below, paraphrased, accompanied with my twist and commentary. (; (If you find any difficulty understanding the cooking term, check my post on them here.)
1. Pulse confectioners’ sugar, almond flour, and the finely crushed Oreo in a food processor until combined. Sift mixture 2 times. (Amber found sifting with her usual flour sifter near impossible. Instead she sifted with a simple bowl-shaped sieve.)
Commentary: Since I don't have food processor, I used blender instead with low speed. It worked. (; I too sifted the mixture with bowl-shaped sieve, which is a sieve my mom always uses to dry boiled pasta.
2. Whisk whites with a mixer on medium speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar, and whisk until soft peaks form. Reduce speed to low, then add superfine sugar. Increase speed to high, and whisk until stiff peaks form, for me it took only 3 to 4 minutes, take care not to over-whip. (Towards the end of whipping the whites, Amber added food coloring - because hers were raspberry, so she added pink food coloring. But, mine is cookies-and-cream, and the Oreo in the mixture number 1 will already give the needed coloring.)
3. Sift flour mixture over whites, and fold until mixture is smooth and shiny. The amount of folding is crucial. For Amber, about 65 folds was just right. When spooned into the pastry bag, the perfect batter started to just ooze out of the tip once the bag was full. If it stayed stiff inside the bag it was too stiff, if it dripped out too fast the batter was too runny.
Commentary: For me, 65 folds wasn't enough, so I went with about 70 folds instead.
4. Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain round tip.
5. Pipe 3/4-inch rounds 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Put the tip right in the middle of where you want each macaron and let the batter billow up around it, then drag the tip to the side of the round. (You can pipe 1-inch to 2-inch rounds, but you will need to add cooking time). Tap bottom of each sheet on work surface to release trapped air. Let stand at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes (until the caps look more dull and have formed a slight skin, so that during baking the macaron could puff up beneath that skin and form that pretty “foot” at the bottom.) While they’re resting, preheat oven to 375 degrees (190 degrees in Celcius).
6. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees (about 160 degrees in Celcius). Bake 1 sheet at a time, rotating halfway through, until macarons are crisp and firm, about 10 minutes. After each batch, increase oven temperature to 375 degrees, heat for 5 minutes, then reduce to 325 degrees. Every oven is different, so you may need to play with your oven temperature. The tops of the macaron shells should not brown.
Commentary: For me and my old oven, 10 minutes wasn't enough to bake the macarons perfectly, they came up still kinda wet. So instead, I went with 15-20 minutes. I changed the temperature as well. Preheat in 210 degrees (in Celcius), bake in 190 degrees (in Celcius).
7. Let macarons cool on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
Commentary: If macarons stick, pour a little water underneath parchment on hot sheet until the parchment is slightly wet (but not the macarons). It will help soften the parchment and make it easier for the macarons to unstick.
Servings
For Amber's: Sandwich 2 same-size macarons with 1 teaspoon jam. Serve immediately, or stack between layers of parchment, wrap in plastic, and freeze for up to 3 months. It takes only 30 minutes out of the freezer for macarons to be ready to serve.
For mine: Cool the macarons down in the fridge. When cool enough, sandwich 2 same-size macarons with 1 tsp cookies-and-cream ice cream, serve cold. For savings, put the plain macarons on a plate, cover with plastic wrap, put inside the fridge.
Here's how Amber's perfect macarons (with feet) look like:
And here's mine (with no feet yet, huhuu - but still delicious):
Thanks, Amber Lee for the recipe! :D And for you readers, happy baking! Let me know the different fillings and flavors you come up with, or any error/difficulty you find along the way. (; Enjoy!
