My First Ever Macarons

I got these recipes from "Sweet Delights" Magazine. 

I never make any Macarons before, 
so I did not make full recipes for my Pink and Chocolate Macarons, 
I made them from 1 recipe and divide them into 2 separate batter.

I made Pink Macaron and Chocolate Macarons.  Instead of fill the Pink Macarons with White Chocolate and Rosewater Ganache, I filled them with Betty Crocker's Ready-to-Spread Chocolate, instead of Chocolate Buttercream Filling.  Recipe for both fillings are as below.

I made White Chocolate and Rosewater Ganache and it's in the fridge, I will make Pink Macarons again tomorrow and fill them with it.

 This is my Pink Macarons with Chocolate filling,

I think they look OK but not the same as the one in the Magazine.

this is my Chocolate Macarons with Chocolate filling, they are a bit small & not evenly coated with cocoa powder, I guess because I did not make it big enough.  I will try again :)

White Chocolate and Rosewater Macarons

Macarons - Ingredients:

65 gr almond meal

80 gr icing sugar

40 gr sugar

50 gr egg white

2 drops of food coloring (optional) --> change this to 15 gr of cocoa powder for Chocolate Macarons

Method:

Heat the oeven to 160C. Line the baking tray with parchment paper traced with circle about 3.5cm in diameter.

Blend the almond meal and icing sugar in a processor, making sure the mixture is well blended and fine.  Then pass this mixture through a fine sieve, making sure that there are no lumps left.

For the egg whites: make sure the bowl you use it extremely clean.  The egg whites ideally should be aged for 3-5 days or strengthened with a teaspoon of egg white powder.  The egg whites should be at room temperature before you start beating.  Beat on a medium speed for one minute until a soft peak.  Turn up the speed and slowly add the sugar, spoon by spoon, for 2-3 minutes or until strong peak formed.  Make sure that the eggs hold firm peaks, like a bird's beak!

Sprinkle the dry mixture spoon by spoon over the egg whites and add the food coloring.  Blend this mixture very slowly with a spatula, just bend and not beat, else the whites will flop over.

While mixing you should be gentle, making sure not to over-mix, as you'd rather have an under-mixed batter than a cakey over-mixed batter.  Normally, I turn the spatula in 30-40 circular motions depending on the quantity.

The best way to know whether the batter is ready is to look for these signs: When you started off, the batter was firm and was holding its shape.  After mixing for subsequent minutes, when you lift the batter it should fall in ribbons, and should be shiny and satiny.  You should not be able to see any of the egg white.

Fill in this mixture in a piping bag and use a 8-10mm round tip.  Pipe blobs of batter on the circled baking sheet, making sure you are holding the piping back perpendicular to the sheet.  Pipe in just about enough to cover the circles you made, or if you were lazy, pipe the size of macaron you want.  Remember that the batter usually spreads about 1 cm.

Leave the piped batter in a dry warm place for minimum 20 minutes so as to develop a thin cover.

In the oven, place the tray in the middle, keep another tray below the macaron tray.

Within 5 minutes the feet will start forming, and the 7th or 8th minute if the macarons start to brown unevenly, rotate the baking tray.  Bake for anotehr 3-4 minutes.  However, another trick to check if they are done is to softly push the macaron to see if the feet move a bit.  The total time should be 10-11 minutes at 150C-160C.

Remove the tray from the oven, take off the baking sheet and place on a wet surface for a couple of seconds to stop the baking process.  You can do so by placing the baking sheet on a wet piece of cloth flattened out.

After a couple of minutes, peel the macarons off the sheet and place them upside down on a wire rack.  If they do not peel or come off easily, pop them back into the oven for a couple of minutes.

Rosewater Chocolate and Rosewater Ganache

Ingredients:

75 gr white chocolate

50ml thick cream

2-3 drops of rosewater essence

Method:

Heat cream in a small sauce pan over medium heat.  When it's close to boiling point, remove from heat and let it rest for 30 seconds or so before pouring over white chocolate.

Mix well, making sure the chocolate is melted.  Add in the rosewater and stir well.

Place mixture in a piping bag, seal and leave it in the fridge for 10 minutes or so to thicken.

Pipe a 10 cent blob of ganache onto each macaron shell and sandwich together.

Chocolate Buttercream Filling

Ingredients:

125 gr butter, at room temperature

1 cup icing sugar

35 gr dark chocolate

Method:

Whip buter in a small mixing bowl until it is creamy.

Melt chocolate over a double boiler and let it cool for 2 minutes before adding to the butter mixture.  Add the icing sugar gradually, whipping as you go.

Pipe mixture into a piping bag and let it set in the fridge for 10-15 minutes until it is solid enough to pipe onto macarons shells.

Pipe a 10 cent blob of ganache onto each macaron shells and sandwich together

- - - Enjoy - - -