trial one

lets make macarons!

so begins my official documentation of macaron making! i was definitely excited about making it (even though i've tried around six times by now)


before i got started with the ingredients, i went ahead and drew circles on my baking paper so the macarons are roughly the same size. i used my bourjois baked blush to do this (haha, am i incorporating makeup with baking or what)

perfect circles :)

anyhow, and then i prepared the ingredients. by now i know the exact amount of everything i need (although i think it's a good idea for me to change into a different macaron recipe... but here is the recipe if anyone's interested). i divided the egg yolk and the egg white the day before when i made the blueberry turnovers.

the ingredients are simple actually. ground almond, powdered sugar, granulated sugar and egg white. it was definitely easy to cleanup afterward.

then i started sifting the almond and the powdered sugar together to a bowl. look at all the calories...

little chunks leftover (which you don't want... ever..)

then i started to beat the egg until it's frothy and then added the granulated sugar inside. you can just tell from this recipe how much sugar goes inside... macaron lovers out there, stop reading before the perfect image of macaron gets ruined.

now now, it's time for some egg beating... this is honestly the most tiresome part especially because the egg beater i have is ridiculously heavy... like what exactly do they put in these machines?! dumbbells?! it was a workout to hold this mixer...

i beat the egg until it was nice and glossy with stiff peaks when i lifted it up. then i added two drops of food coloring. i was very inspired by green recently (today to be more exact... i went to the night market today and got myself green earrings and green iphone case... see? so inspired)

tada! mint green! doesn't it look so pretty....

time for the ultra crucial step that could ruin your macarons!!!!! known as "macaronage"(they even made a name for this specific step... ridiculous... but i like it... *possible blog name change alert*)

then i started folding it until i reach a consistency that isn't too thick or too runny... a very tricky step to be in... but practice makes permanence...

by the time i reached this consistency, i immediately stopped and got a plastic bag to pipe these little things... (you could use piping bags but they're too expensive where i live plus my replacement isn't any worse)

ignore the background...

then i piped these little things (turns out the circles i drew could by a touch too big... unless you want big macarons)

one way to get them nice and smooth instead of lumpy is to tap it on the ground when it's on the baking tray. tap it around five times or until the top is nice and smooth

keep in mind, ya macaron makers out there... if your macaron gets bubbly after you pipe them. you've failed to make a macaron (speaking from true experience). macarons that most likely will not fail are not bubbly. bubbly most likely means you've worked too much with the batter and the batter was runny when you put it in the pipping bag. YOU ARE WARNED!

i waited for the macarons to form a shell on top (when you touch the top, there shouldn't be any batter stuck on your hand). for this batch, i waited around 30 minutes. normally it doesn't take that long but the humidity here made it hard to form a shell.

afterwards i placed three (my testing batch) in the oven that's been preheated.

and then lo and behold, little foot started to peak out of each macaron (happy moment)

but what would i write about if i succeed macaron making on my very first blog post on macaron making... right?! (trying to think of the bright side here...)

the macarons, after baking for about 10 minutes, began to shrink their feet when i removed them from the oven... (wipes away the tears)

look at them... lifeless. crying for help. "eat me, eat me!" "i am a macaron!"(no they're not...)

even though i was sad, i had to put the remaining batters into the oven. and i prepared nutella and strawberry jam as the fillings inside these macarons.

they just looked so perfect BEFORE i baked them... so perfect... but regardless of the appearance, they tasted great.

chewy outside and soft inside with rich almond taste (which quite frankly i'm getting sick of).

i made a nice cup of peach tea and didn't add any sugar so i can drink this and eat the little green things (i'm afraid to call them macarons because they're not).

i also filled some with strawberry jam (which tastes better than with nutella... nutella makes them too sweet and doesn't complement the almond flavor nicely)

needless to say it was a failed macaron making attempt. i'm definitely going to try this again but with a different recipe. now that i've got the consistency of the batter mastered (i think), i need to alter the ingredients a little.

to end on a happier note: i tried to lower the temperature of the oven after seeing some of the macarons crack. then this little beauty popped out. (this and one other were the only two that had feet)

isn't it gorgeous?

so until next time!
-tiff.c