Very Strawberry Macarons

Who doesn't love a good strawberry mac? these little beauties turned out really well - possibly due to the secret ingredient: Freeze dried strawberries!
I blitzed them in the food processor into a fine powder and this gave the shells a great strawberry hit.
For my guinea pigs - sorry taste testers, the response was an overwhelming "OMG these are frickin awesome!! you have to give me the recipe"
Ask and you shall find it after the jump...

Asparagus, Cheese and Smoked Salmon Tart

To celebrate the arrival of spring, last Sunday one of our neighbourhood friends invited all the local parents of small kids to join them for a brunch BBQ on their amazing Potts Point roof garden.

I was tempted to make some macarons, but the young'uns there would have scoffed the lot withing minutes of being displayed on the table. So (slightly selfishly) I made something they would probably hate because it has green stuff all over it.

The Asparagus, Cheese and Smoked Salmon Tart ( makes 2 tarts) - Recipe after the jump.

Cheats banoffee pie courtesy of Jamie Oliver

mmmm...Pie

I have been wanting to make this for some time, but every time I have been to a supermarket, picking up some pre-made pastry cases has always fallen off the list. After reading the bible from the good folks at Bourke St Bakery, I'm feeling a little guilty at not making my own pastry from scratch, but that's why it's called a cheat's banoffee pie. Find out how to cheat to impress after the jump.

Salted Caramel macarons - a tricky centre, but well worth it.

So - after the strawberry mcaron beginning, I wanted to try something a little more advanced. Making your own caramel and making macarons is a bit of a double challenge, but it was great fun and the final macs looked awesome and were a hit with friends and family.

A big thanks to ladymacaron20ten for her salted caramel inspiration!

The first attempt - Strawberry Macarons

These strawberry macarons were my first attempt at macarons back in May 2012, so go easy on me...

I didn't really have all the equipment for this, so I improvised:

• No macaron template - I pretty much guessed it, some were a little egg shaped
• No candy thermometer - I used a milk frothing thermometer that only went to 100 degrees and guesstimated when it hit 115
• No piping bag - I used a zip-lock bag with a corner cut off.

Here's the result:

Get the full diagnostics after the jump:

Ladurée Sydney opens...

I've been keeping my eye on the progress of this store in Sydney's Westfield city centre.
Ladurée Paris is the birthplace of macarons, so I can't wait to try their french macs out. Roll on lunchtime!

LVB

 

Update from lunchtime - I couldn't even get near the place - the queue was about 40 deep.

Looks like Mr Zumbo has some stiff competition...   

LVB

Bacic Macaron Recipe - the Vanderbilt way

I hunted around many blogs and books to gain an insight into the science behind making macarons before I had my first crack at it. I soon found out that they are fickle little creatures and no amount of science can create the perfect recipe.
The following blogs have been very useful and have solved many of my mac-mares

ladymacaron20ten
not quite nigella
you can do it at home
not so humble pie

Before you make your shells, make the filling - usually a ganache
you can even do this a day before. For a dark choc ganache use a 1:1 ratio of couverture 53% bittersweet chocolate and cream. If using white chocolate, double it to a 2:1 ratio of chocolate to cream; for example, 200g white chocolate and 100g pouring cream (don't use light). If you want to get fancy, this is where you can add some fruit puree, jam, flavouring or essence. Stick it in the fridge then remember to bring it back to room temperature before you start piping otherwise it just gets way too difficult.
You can also make buttercream fillings, (salted) caramel, mousses and fruit purees.

Making your shells:

This is made up of two parts - making the Tant Pour Tant (blended almond meal and icing sugar - also known as TPT) and making the meringue. I use the Italian Meringue (IM) method as it is more forgiving of any rookie errors.

Making the TPT

• 150g almond meal - try to buy this in bulk - i.e up to 1kg for better value, the small 1-200g bags end up working out at about $30-$40 per kilo, whereas a kilo can be found for $15-20. This can make about 200 complete macarons!
• 150g icing sugar - I find its good to pulse the two in a food processor or flour mill to make a nice fine powder
• approx 3 large (free range) eggs to yield 110g egg white . Use 55g for the TPT and 55 for the meringue

Making the IM

• 150g caster sugar you can probably use regular sugar, but I find this melts better in the pan
• 
37g water - I use a syringe or the digital scales to measure this (1ml=1g), if you're planning to use colourings and you don't have gel colourings, subtract a few ml of the water and replace it with the liquid colouring - 1-2ml/g for light colouring, 5-6g for a deep colour
• 55g egg whites. There is plenty of debate about using old egg whites aged 12-24 hours in a bowl on the kitchen bench or even longer in a container in the fridge. I have experimented with both, you can still make great macarons with fresh egg whites, but the aged egg whites do create better "feet". You can "fake" age the eggs by adding 1g of powdered egg white

1 - Make your TPT

Mix the Tant Pour Tant (TPT) with the fresh egg white in a bowl with a spatula until it forms a thick paste, cover with cling wrap and set aside. You can add extra food colouring here if you're going for  a really intense colour as colours can tend to fade on baking.

Pillar box red TPT mixture

2 - Make the Italian Meringue

Pour your (aged) egg whites into a stand mixer bowl (make sure it is very clean) and insert the whisk attachment.

Bring the caster sugar, water and food colouring to the boil in a small saucepan. While this is heating up, get your thermometer into the pan and keep an eye on the temperature.
When the sugar syrup reaches 115°C start whisking your aged egg whites at high speed into soft peaks. As soon as the syrup reaches 118°C slowly pour the syrup into the beaten egg whites in a thin stream. Don't let it hit the whisk or you'll end up with a load of spun sugar. Continue whisking the IM in the stand mixer until it reaches a temperature between 50-55°C.

mmmm... peaky!

3 - Bringing the two together - a fragile union ;)

With a spatula, fold roughly one-third of the IM into the paste you made earlier. This process is known as "Macaronnage", where you "sacrifice this third of the IM and knock out some of the air in the batter. Don't be shy at this point - you can be pretty rough here.

sorry for the rotation - bad blogger!

Gently fold in the remaining IM into the TPT and combine until you have the right texture (it should be glossy and flow like lava). Try not to over-mix the batter at this point or it will get too runny and your shells could crack in the oven.

4 - Fill 'er up

Pegs and bag clips are your friend

Get a friend to help or use a tall vase to fill a piping bag fitted with a size 11 round nozzle or a 10m hole, with the macaron batter and place some baking paper over a baking sheet. Slide your macaron template underneath and either secure the baking paper by placing four small dabs of macaron mix underneath the parchment paper in each corner or use small magnets or weights.

Following your template, pipe out 3.5 - 4cm diameter circles onto the baking paper, give it a good whack from underneath to remove air bubbles and leave to dry for about 15-20 minutes to form a crust and are dry to touch. Don't get impatient like I did and stick them straight in the oven or they could easily crack.

nice sizing

5 - now we're cooking!

Cook each tray for 10-15 mins at 150°C (fan forced oven) - you'll soon get a feel for your oven and will know when to pull them out. To release steam, leave the oven door open slightly. I use the kitchen timer to go off every 5 mins and rotate the tray each time.

Happy feet!

Once they are cooked, slide the baking paper onto a damp work surface - this helps you remove them from the baking sheet then leave them to cool on a wire rack.

6 - playing matchmaker

Arrange them on the rack and pair like sizes together. Using the piping back and a smaller nozzle, pipe a decent sized blob of your ganache onto the shell, put it's other half on top and twist slightly so that the ganache flows out towards the edge. When you pipe the ganache onto the shell always leave a little clearance around the edge.

got a bit fancy here... salted caramel centre inside dark choc ganache!

7 - sample then store

Try out one of your creations as a reward - go on - you've earned it over the past few hours. Then store your completed macarons in the fridge at least overnight prior to eating so that the humidity helps the ganache to soak into the shell and allow the flavours to develop. I find egg cartons are great for storage and transport.

8 - enjoy the little buggers

Take some photos, instagram them, let people know that you conquered the fickle macaron. Then share them with friends and family and watch the enjoyment. Repeat as often as required.

Extreme strawberry

mmmm - cherry ripe

Macaron equipment - basics, essentials & luxuries

The basics and the essentials

• Bowls - You'll need some for mixing and quite a few for holding all the various ingredients. I find the Kalas bowls from Ikea very useful and cheap ($2 for 6).

• Spatulas - make sure they are silicone and preferably one piece. You'll need at least 2 of these
• Scales - analogue old school scales are good, as  long as you can adjust them to tare the weight.
• Sifter - very important for combining the almond meal with the icing sugar
• Mill - similar to the sifter, but better for breaking up the lumps in the icing sugar
• Small saucepans - you'll need these for making all those fancy fillings, caramels, ganaches, buttercreams. You'll probably need two as you'll also need one for cooking the sugar for the meringue
• Electric whisk - this is absolutely essential for whipping up the egg whites into meringues. You can try by hand with a traditional hand whisk, but you'll be there for a long time. A basic hand whisk can be picked up for A$10-20 from most major supermarkets.
• Cling wrap - you'll need this for covering your almond paste mixture while you get on with the meringue. I also use it to wrap the spatula as there is usually a great deal of almond paste stuck to it.

• Baking trays - you'll need at least 2 of these, buy them as big as your oven will allow. The more shells you can pipe onto a sheet, the less batches you'll need to bake.

• Baking paper - This is necessary for piping the shells onto, some people use double sheets for a bit of insulation. Some people use double trays

• Thermometer - If you are going to be making your meringues using the Italian/cooked sugar/sucre cuit method, you'll need to be able to keep an eye on the temperature. Candy thermometers can be bought for around $10 in most department stores

• Piping bags - don't bother with those cheap kits from the variety stores as the bags are a little small and have a tendency to burst. You can use a zip loc bag with a corner cut out, but this is harder to pipe accurately with. You can pick up good quality disposable piping bags on ebay, which make cleaning up a breeze

• Good quality saucepans - copper or aluminium pans are ideal for cooking your sugar

Not essential, but very helpful

• Stand mixer - I use a Kitchenaid Artisan mixer and it definitely makes whipping up the egg whites and pouring boiling sugar much easier
• Food processor - for blending the icing sugar and almond flour to make a smooth Tant Pour Tant
• Digital scales - especially one with tare function as ingredients need to be precisely weighed out and being able to tare the scales and pour directly into bowls or pans
• Kitchen timer - ideal for keeping track of the baking - e.g for letting steam out of the oven, turning trays etc.
• Oven thermometer - because no ovens are perfect
• Digital thermometer - makes finding the sweet spot between 118 and 121 degrees celsius a little easier when boiling the sugar. These can be bought cheaply enough on ebay
• Piping nozzles - sizes 7-20. These are awesome! you'll need the size 11 for piping the shells and all the othersizes are great for piping and decorating
• Bag clips - these help to prevent the batter/fillings pouring out while you fill the piping bag. I also use one on the top and twist it to keep the bag taut. The Ikea clips are great for this
• Tall vase to hold piping bags open - if you're working alone, you'll need one of these to help you when you spoon the batter into the piping bag - it's practically impossible to fill it yourself. 
• Macaron piping template - unless you have the piping skills of Adriano Zumbo you'll need to put one of these macaron templates under the baking paper. (don't forget to remove it before baking though).

Luxuries - used by professionals

• Aluminium baking sheets - these are more resistant to kinking in the oven like steel trays can, which can create an angled foot on your macarons
• Silpat silicone baking mats - these are much better than baking paper, but pretty expensive
• Steel/copper mixing bowls

Carrot cake à la Bourke Street Bakery

I saw this recently at the Potts Point Bourke Street Bakery and had to try it. I opted for a Harissa lamb sausage roll, but ended up getting the carrot cake at it's little sister Central Baking Depot in Sydney city. It was pretty damn good. I had to have a crack at recreating it. Luckily my wife bought me their cookbook for fathers day.
Well, it turned out very well. There is not much left. So that's a great sign.

 

If you want to have a go at this yourself, I won't post their recipe, as I recommend anybody who loves baking should definitely buy this baking bible.