Macarons - A love hate relationship

Nutells Macarons

Macarons oh macarons... I have my fair share of the temperamental macarons... It is so complicated to make them. First you need to be exact in your measurements. Then you need to grind the almond meal and icing sugar to make them finer. After which you need to sieve them to prevent any lumps. Any big pieces are also not allowed: the macarons will look grainy... That is not all, when you fold the egg whites, you must fold till an exact consistency; too little folds and the batter will be too thick to work with, too many folds and the batter will be too watery and will spread too much giving a flat macaron shells.

My macaron journey started last year when I thought my baking skills was good enough to try something more complex and tested my baking skills to another level. Gosh. I think I exhausted like a few kg of almond meal and icing sugar, at least 100 eggs wasted. And the results: my confirmation that this macarons are really a pain in a ass that is as temperamental as a woman’s emotion.. Seriously, the number of times I succeeded can be counted using my fingers. But I made like 50+ times.. You could imagine how many times I failed badly.

Anyway, enough of me ranting. I must say the moment I succeeded a few times consequitively, it was when I felt such great achievement! I must warn you that there is no gain without pain... You need determination and patience when making macarons.. You really need to "sayang" these temperamental pastries. For this round, I made Red Velvet Macarons with Cream Cheese. For those who love red velvet cupcakes/cakes, you will love this recipe.


For the ingredients (for 30 macarons)

To make the macarons shells

• 120g almond meal
• 200g icing sugar
• 50g sugar (as fine as you can find)
• 100g egg whites
• Red food colouring paste

To make the cream cheese filling:

• 1 pkt Philadelphia cream cheese, room temperature
• 115g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 210g icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

For the macaron shells

The batter should spread after piping an inch.

1. Lay 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside
2. Combine the icing sugar and the almond meal together and place the dry mixture into the food processor to grind the mixture finer. Use the pulse setting for a good minute of so. Shift the dry mixture and grind further for those that cannot be shifted. Set aside
3. Using the whisk attachment, at low speed, whisk the egg whites till foamy. Add in the granulated sugar. Start whisking at medium to medium high speed. When the egg whites are whisked till stiff peaks, add in the red food colouring. 
4. Fold in the dry mixture into the egg whites. Mix well and until the mixture becomes shiny and a magma consistency. 
5. With a piping bag and a 0.5inch piping tip, transfer the batter into the prepared piping tip. Pipe the batter onto the baking sheet an inch wide. Keep each macaron shell an inch apart. After piping, tap the baking sheet onto the table until the 'nipples' on the macaron shells disappear. You will see the batter spreading a bit. This is normal. Set aside the batter to dry for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile pre-heat the oven to 150C.
6. Once the surface of the batter has dried up, place the batter into the oven and bake for 15-17min depending on size of the macaron shells.
7. Wait for the shells to cool slightly before removing them from the parchment paper.
8. Pair up the macaron shells according to their sizes.

For the filling:

1. In a mixing bowl, mixed the butter and cream cheese until pale and smooth, Add in the vanilla extract. Mix well
2. Slowly add in the icing sugar and mix till the correct consistency.
3. Bag the filling into a piping bag with a 0.5inch piping tip.

Finale:

1. Pipe in the filling into the macaron shells and sandwich it like a hamburger.
2. Place the macarons in an airtight container and refrigerate it for 24h before serving.

Mini hamburger  😍

Note:

1. You need to use a metal or glass bowl when whisking the egg whites and the bowl must be oil free. Any oil residue will compromise the whisking of the egg whites. That is why you cannot use plastic bowl as there is always a layer of oil residue no matter how u clean it.
2. Food colouring paste is preferred to liquid version as too much liquid can affect the outcome of the macaron shells. Also. Macarons do not really work well with light colouring. You need to use more colouring as the colour will become lighter after you bake.
3. To know whether you macaron shell batter is dry, using your finger and gently touch the side of the batter. A dry batter will not stick onto your finger. If the surface of the batter is not dried up sufficiently, the macaron shells will crack and be footless when baked.
4. Macarons taste best after 24h of making. This is supposedly coz the macaron shells will absorb the moisture from the filling and becomes soft inside while the exterior portion is still relatively hard.

Must have some photos of people eating the macarons.