Macarons

Vanilla Macaron with Chocolate Ganache

Yesterday, my brother's friend J came over to the house and talked about the cookies i had made for my brother's birthday.. at first i thought he was talking about white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies but the description all pointed to the infamous Macaron. I had made choclate macarons the last time and he wondered if i could make some more. Sure i said.. no problem.. there has been heaps of ground almonds sitting in the frigde waiting for an excuse to become macarons. This was the time.

Topless beauty

They can be done really fast. I had the recipe in french and translated it. So there was the tant pour tant, and eggs and italian meringue. I love the smooth glossy voluptuos meringue. Oh so luscious. After incorporating all the ingredients, the so called magma like concoction was ready for some heat action. According to Piere Herme, the macarons should start at a hot temperature and then turned down. I didn't do such things and left them at the recomended temperature of 170 degree celcius.

Oops something went wrong

Some of them came out cracked on the top and some beautiful and exactly the way they should be. I think it might have been the temperature because i found the perfect ones amongst the cracked ones so it can't be the batter right ? I guess i'll just have to experiment a few more times before nailing this cookie.

Macarons from Paris

Rose Macaron with Raspberry Chips

Last Friday, i had called G out for grocery shopping. He told me R was in back in Singapore from Paris and that he had got me something. I knew they were Macarons. They just had to be! Me and Paris equals Macarons or other goodies i talk about but no one in my family understands.. sigh..

Once we got home, he gave me the box. Hmm this was new. I had never seen Macarons in a box. No i mean packaged this way. Inside were cute little macarons without the usual buttercream.
They were really good and all the time i was munching on them i kept thinking .. this is from France... it's crossed the seas just to get to me... gave some to G (reluctantly) but i think he didn't or should i say couldn't appreciate their value .. pft what does he know ?

For those who have tried to make macarons and cried in agony over no feet or no shape or too sweet would understand the delicate balance a macaron requires. I sadly have not achieved the delicate balance yet. My macarons look good (better than the ones you see in this package) shiny smooth top.. frilly feet but their too sweet. Sigh.. i shall continue this experiment and get it right sometime.

Eat me .. Eat me

These macarons were crisp on the outside and moist on the inside. They were not too sweet but still i couldn't have more that five or so. Their shells though were lumpy and so that didn't score points with me. But their taste made up for it.

Life is a box of Chocolates .. NOT !!!

Box from Canele at Raffles City

The beauties inside.. Macarons

Was thinking about macarons and remembered the time when i rushed to City Hall to get HS a box of macarons because she's never tried one before. My pants were one quarter wet by the time i reached the cold basement of Raffles City. Standing in front of the elegent boxy showcase at Canele, i just wanted all the macaron flavours they had.. so i just started picking one by one and after sometime the lady stopped me saying i needed just one more to fill a box.. oohh.. a box... nice !!! but i had to pay for the box.. what the heck i thought to myself.. next time i wouldn't buy the box cos the butter cream stains it and i had no choice but to discard ... sobz

By the time i reached the office, there was about 15 mins of lunch left. So HS prepared her coffee while i 'briefed' her of the flavours.. starting from the top coffe, pistachio, rose, coffee, orange, yam (i think), hazelnut, rose, salty caramel, vanilla and rasberry... my favourite has to be the salty caramel.. sweet and salty ... is there a better balance in the world... sigh but most of whom i offered the macarons to found it too sweet .. hmph amatuers i thought to myself.. i shall just keep spreading the love of macarons no matter what..

Les Macarons

Stack 'Em Up

It was one of those days when i decided to venture around Raffles City basement and what do i find ... Canele. It's a patisserie and they had a beautiful collection of macarons. I have been macaron crazy for the past week, trying to make them and reading about their history and dreaming about going to Laduree.. or Pierre Herme in France sigh.. so when i saw those colorful discs sitting in their glass thrones i just had to get them. I got one of everything they had, they must have had more in the morning but by the end of the day i think there were about seven or eight flavours left.

Quickly headed home carefully carrying my treasure and casting annoying glances at ignorant commuters that keep bumping my bag. Back home i put everything aside, took a large swig of water to prepare my mouth for the ecstasy that was beckoning.

Here are the flavours, i think...starting from the front moving into the background... Milk Chocolate, Violet, Rose, Coffee, Chocolate, Lemon, Salty Caramel ( MY FAVOURITE !!! )

Now put them in a row

The milk chocolate was good, it was delicious and it had ganache instead of the usual buttercream. Their macarons were not achingly sweet like mine, i really need to find an appropriate recipe. Anyhoo, i couldn't make out what the violet was .. it didn't taste much of lavender and i am pretty sure it is not yam .. probably came up with that because of the violet coloured yam ice cream sandwiched between wafers that we Singaporeans would have eaten during our youth.

The rose was nice with its raspberry jam filling. The coffee didn't really tickle my tongue because i don't drink coffee ... yes yes i am one of those proud wierdos' that don't drink coffee ... the chocolate .. well tasted like chocolate.. the lemon had lemon curd in it that my father did not enjoy.. or yes i shared the macarons with my family... then the beauty of them all.. the Salty Caramel... or my god it was SO SO SO GOOD ... i had never tasted them before and when i had them.. for some odd reason it brought back childhood memories.. i think food has never affected me like that before.. for those that watched the animated movie Ratatouille.. i felt exactly like the critique who was reminded of his childhood.. It was heaven... what a delight !

Macarons

Pink Shells

I have been wanting to do Macaroons eversince i tried a bag from Bakerzin. The smooth top, the crispy shell, the moist and and oh so heavenly almond centre... oooohhh.. indulgence to the max !

The other night .. late late night i was watching Joan Cusack's show on the TraveI and Living channel. This episode showed her touring France and visitng all the delighful culinary havens. Once such place was Laduree, the first house of gastronomy.And there was Chef Phillipe talking about making of all things MACAROONS.. and there were pistachio flavoured green ones, passionfruit favoured yellow ones and of course the chocolate flavoured brown ones !!! That was it .. i was making Macaroons ..

I had a recipe in one of my French recipe books My Vue. I also chanced upon another recipe from a friend that was in french. So it was time to seek the help of my trustful computer and soon i had deciphered the recipe.The french recipe called for 125g of icing sugar whilst the one in My Vue called for 225g. So naturally i went with the former.

I did the almond paste, and the italian meringue ( without a sugar thermometer i must add ) and voila there were sweet smelling strawberry flavoured pink macaroons neatly piped onto my baking tray simply because i had no other flavouring or colouring.

I watched them bake in the oven and i was really nervous. Because i was so afraid the shell would crinkle or collapse or just turn into something other than the smooth silky top that it was supposed to be. After ten minutes i peeked .. YEAH .. they were perfect ( well almost .. good enough for me ) smooth and shiny on the top and crinkly at the bottom edges.

I filled them with strawberry jam and oh ... well the plate says the rest....

The lone ranger