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| Stand Mixer |
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| Food processor (to grind almonds/almond meal) |
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| Baking trays with a Macaron Template & parchment paper |
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| Precise digital scales |
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| Digital thermometer |
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| Piping bags with size 11 nozzles |
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| A large jug to hold your piping bag |
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| A large stainless steel bowl & sieve |
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| Small stainless steel bowls |
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| White rice paddle (for straining the TPT into the sieve/bowl), spatulas (for mixing) & a silicone brush (for the sugar syrup) |
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| Mixing bowl for your Kitchenaid (if you have one) & whisk attachment (for your Italian Meringue) |
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| A small saucepan for your sugar syrup |
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Cooling racks are a great place to rest those pretty feet! |
THE DAY BEFORE MAKE THE GANACHE: 1:1 ratio of 53% couverture chocolate and cream. If you want to be creative you can also add some fruit puree, tea or essence. Store it in the fridge then bring back to room temperature before you begin piping.
BASIC MACARONS
INGREDIENTS FOR THE TANT POUR TANT (TPT)
300g sifted TPT (150g almond meal with 150g icing sugar)
55g egg whites (fresh)
INGREDIENTS FOR THE ITALIAN MERINGUE (IM)
150g caster sugar
37g water
55g egg whites (old egg whites aged 12-24 hours in a bowl on the kitchen bench)
Wilton gel paste or powdered food colouring
STEP 1. MAKE THE TPT
Mix the Tant Pour Tant (equal quantities of icing sugar and almond meal) with the fresh egg white until it forms a thick paste, cover with cling wrap and set aside.
STEP 2. MAKE THE IM
Pour your aged egg whites into a Kitchen Aid mixer and insert the whisk attachment.
Bring the caster sugar, water and food colouring to the boil in a small saucepan. When the sugar syrup reaches 115°C start whisking your aged egg whites into soft peaks. As soon as the syrup reaches 118°C slowly pour the syrup into the beaten egg whites in a thin stream. Continue whisking the IM in the Kitchen Aid until it reaches a temperature between 50-55°C.
STEP 3. COMBINE THE TPT & IM
With a spatula, fold one-third of the IM into the TPT and egg white paste and knock out some of the air in the batter. At this stage of the process you can be quite rough when handling.
Gently fold in the rest of the IM into the TPT and combine until you have the right texture (should be glossy and look like cake mixture). Be careful not to over-mix the batter here or it will get too runny and your shells may crack in the oven.
STEP 4. PIPE YOUR MACARON SHELLS
Fill a piping bag with the macaron batter and place some parchment paper over a baking sheet. Put four small dabs of macaron mix underneath the parchment paper in each corner to secure the paper. Pipe 3.5 - 4cm diameter circles onto the parchment paper, tap the tray on the work surface to remove air bubbles and leave to dry for about 15-20 minutes to form a crust and are dry to touch.
STEP 5. COOK YOUR MACARON SHELLS
Cook the macaron for 17 mins at 150°C (fan forced oven). To release steam, leave the oven door open slightly. If this doesn't work for you, keep experimenting until you find the right temperature as every oven is different. Once cooked, remove from the baking sheet and leave to cool on the parchment paper over a wire rack.
STEP 6. ASSEMBLE YOUR MACARON
Remove the shells from the parchment paper and pair like sizes together. Pipe a decent blob of ganache onto the shell, then place the lid on top and twist slightly so that the ganache flows out towards the edge of the macaron. When piping the ganache onto the shell always leave a small rim.
STEP 7. STORE YOUR MACARON
Store your macaron in the fridge for 24 hours prior to eating so that the humidity helps the ganache to soak into the shell and allow the flavours to develop. Try not to eat your macaron the day they are made as they are too dry. Allow the macaron to return to room temperature prior to serving.
When starting out follow the recipe above but then after you master it double the quantities to make a larger batch.
To order equipment online check out:
Excellent information provided by this blog.
ReplyDeleteCooking Equipment
Hi!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE YOUR BLOFG. YOUR MACARONS ARE GORGEOUS,
I want to start makng macarons and will start with italian method, in your own experience do you think they are easier than the french method?
I also wanted to ask where you had purchased your digital thermometer and how much I would expect to pay for it..im in sydney
thanks
regards
Personally, I didn't have much luck with the French meringue method but there are lots of other bloggers out there making gorgeous macarons so I guess it's personal choice. Both Pierre Herme & Laduree use the Italian meringue method and my methodology is pretty much based on Pierre Herme. There are only really 2 main areas where you can go wrong i.e. oven and/or macaronage. If you follow the basic recipe to a "T" you should be right. You can get the digital thermometer from http://www.hospitalitydepot.com.au for about $70AUD. Hope this helps and if you need more advice let me know.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great feedback - BEAMING:)
So which do you prefer? Italian meringue or French? I'm using french.
ReplyDeleteSay, do you use gel paste food colouring or powdered?
Wish I could have that equipment but the thought of cost is always on my mind. sigh.
hi kaze - I use Italian Meringue and both gel paste and powdered food colouring depending on what colour I want to achieve. If you're using the French meringue method and it's working I wouldn't change a thing as you don't want to invest in equipment unnecessarily. I look forward to seeing pics of your macarons - good luck.
ReplyDeletehi there
ReplyDeletei am still drooling over your blog. i just want to ask the food chil thermometer that you have, Can it be used in candy liquid as well as in the oven or do i need to buy a different proble.
YUMMY MACARONS!!!
Thank you - yes, the thermometer can be used for candy liquid but not for the oven:)
ReplyDeleteVery nice and interesting blog. I like it and so much thanks for sharing this nice post with us and keep posting
ReplyDeleteCooking Equipment
Hi Lady awesome. Just broke my candy thermometer; I have to buy another one. which brand is yours; is it a good one? Thanks so much for the great job
ReplyDeleteOh I'm really sorry to hear about your candy thermometer:( The brand I have is HLP Cook-Chill. I ordered it online about a year ago but did a search and couldn't find the same one. I did find a similar one though on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004S4U0/ref%3Dnosim/themichaelupdate
ReplyDeleteDefinitely buy one with a probe that has an alarm. This means you can make yourself a cup of coffee whilst your sugar syrup is cooking and you don't have the stress of checking it all the time. Thanks for leaving a comment and let me know how you go;)
Dear LadyMacaron20ten,
ReplyDeleteI use the same recipe as you, but I am having trouble getting some consistency in my (collerette - base). Mine quite ofter comes out thick and bubbly, do you know what this is happening? I have had some successes but I can't pin point why things are good sometimes and why they are not satisfying most of the time. Merci!!!
Hi MacAronsCT, this could be a result of under mixing your macarons and not knocking out some of the air bubbles... without seeing pictures it's hard to say. Try mixing a bit more and see how you go:)
Delete