Thursday, August 28, 2008

Vanilla Bean Macarons with Raspberry Buttercream Filling

I have a long week, or I feel it's longer than usual. Because I try to make this macaron, I heard about it before but someone told me that it's easier to make than using French meringue, and I believed (when there are new recipes or new way of making something, I just can't wait to try it). I made three batch of this recipe in a week and the two of them are disaster, the macarons cracked in front of my eyes (yes, I was there in front of the oven after 3 minutes all my lovely little macarons turned into nightmare, oh). But I never give up, and I didn't want to so the next day I just baked another batch and my life ruined again.


Why this always happen at that time I's confused, and a little mad (even the cracked top macarons are edible but just looking at them make me feel bad). As I made two batch of the macarons so I test everything that I can, rest or not (it's not necessary to rest for Italian Meringue Macarons) , the consistency after the macaronage or the temperature of the sugar syrup. So, this is the time to start reading, and it's so funny that I have a lot of books but I can't find more than one of the Italian Meringue Macarons recipe in my collection (I use the recipe from ............... this is the only recipe that I have, do I have to buy more ?, haha). All I had to do was typing "Italian Meringue Macaron" into Google, and the results are long and long. But I found my answer in this blog ; serious eats
And this is what I saw "propping the oven door open with a wooden spoon for the entire baking period or halfway through the baking period". How can I forgot this simple trick ? May be because all the time I can bake my macarons (French Meringue Method) without doing anything to my oven. So, I had to find more information to get me out of the blue and I saw the light from Fanny at foodbeam, the Italian Meringue Macarons, which I'd been looking for, and I have to admit that the only problem is my oven temperature.
All the time I followed the instruction from the book, without reconsidering the fact that my oven couldn't act the same, so when the book said that I should lower my temperature I did it but the heat still there. When open the oven door a little, the heat in the oven is lower faster and the drying process is better.
So, today this is my first Italian Meringue Macaron, which I want to share the recipe with you.


Vanilla Bean Macarons with Raspberry Buttercream Filling
Makes about 20

Vanilla Bean Italian Meringue Macaron

For the macaron base

65 g
almond powder
65 g
icing sugar
25 g
egg whites

Bean form ½ of the vanilla pod

Yellow food coloring (you can skip this but it will give the macaron a lovely color)


For Italian Meringue

120 g
caster sugar
30 g
water
60 g
egg whites

* You will use 90 g for the macaron and the rest will use for the buttercream
Preheat the oven to 160°C.
Mix the macaron base:


Sift together almond powder and icing sugar into a bowl, put the color, vanilla bean and egg white into the bowl. Use a pastry scrap to bring everything together. Set aside.
Make the Italian meringue:


In a sauce pan, put the sugar and water and bring to boil over medium low heat.
When the syrup reaches 114°C, start whisking the egg whites.
The syrup is ready when it reaches 120°C; pour it over the egg whites and continue whisking until cold.

Make the macaron:


Mix together the base and 90g of Italian meringue.
The mixture should be softer and very glossy, a little stiffer then cake batter..
Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 5mm nozzle. Pipe or spoon mixture into 2.5cm rounds onto baking paper-lined (or Silpat) oven trays. When you’ve pipe out all the macarons lift each baking sheet with both hands and then bang it down on the counter (you need to get the air out of the batter).

Bake for 9 minutes to 15 minutes depend on your oven (oven door maintained open with a wooden spoon). Remove from oven and cool on trays. Slide a knife under each macaron to release.


Make the Raspberry Butter cream
First make the sweeten raspberry puree
(if you don’t want to make it, you can use seedless raspberry jam).
150 g
Frozen raspberry
30-35 g
Granulated sugar
1. Thaw frozen raspberry in a bowl. Do not strain the juice.
2. Put the raspberry in the blender and blend until smooth and strain through a fine-mesh sieve set over a large bowl (you will get about 100g of the puree).
3. Place the raspberry purees in a small saucepan, add the sugar and bring to a boil over medium-high heat (add more or less sugar according to your taste) until all the sugar dissolves.

Make the raspberry buttercream

Italian meringue the rest from making the macaron
100 g
Unsalted butter
50g
Sweeten raspberry puree




Add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time into the meringue. Increase the mixer speed to high for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the butter is fully incorporated. Then add the puree and mix to combine.


Sandwich macarons with filling.
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour for filling to firm.


Vanilla Bean Macaron with Raspberry Buttercream Filling

8 comments:

  1. I stumbled upon your blog by chance and I couldn't resist not finishing reading up ALL your 2008 write ups. In fact, I wanted to go into the 2007 but it linked me to your recipe archives.

    I love your views on the recipes and briliant pictures that you took.

    You make baking looks simple and easy. Like you, I enjoyed desserts greatly minus some of the sweetness.

    I wish someday, we can meet up and you be my mentor.

    BTW, I tried macaroons twice and yield no satisfactory results. In your opinion which method you prefers?

    I am also crazy over mochi bread but not too sure whether you have heard about this. So far, I couldn't find any recipe that bake these from scratch.

    Great job and I will keep coming back. Thanks so much for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just have a chance to use the computer today (I'm not home for 3 days now).
    I think French is easier than Italian, if the weather is not humid, and you egg whites are quite old (just break the shell, seperate the yolks and whites, then put the whites in the clean box inthe fridge for 2-3 days).
    When you finish piping the macarons, let them dry and the result are preditable ^ ^.
    But for the Italian, sometimes, I still have the problem and they are really sensitive to the heat. But the good point is they don't need a lot of the resting time, and the humidity is not the problem.

    Oh, I write a long letter about macarons haha.
    About the mochi bread, I didn't know about it before, but I hope you can send me some recipe (even the one that didn't make from the scratch). I really want to know and learn about it.

    Ps. Thank you for your compliment, I'm so happy.
    Pook

    ReplyDelete
  3. I tried making macaroons today and they tend to stick to the baking sheet (even greased) - do you have the same issue?

    Joe

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi, Joe.
    I rarely have that problem ^ ^.
    I always use siliconised baking paper, or you can use silpat.
    My friend's trick is to take the paper out of the pan and place directly on the table. The heat will form the steam and the macaron will release easily.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi :) I love how your macarons are ... they're so elegant
    i would like 2 try your recipe but i don't have a candy thermometer .... can i do it without one ? if i can then how ?

    hope 2 hear from you soon - Amber -

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Amber
    Actually you can make it without the sugar thermometer.
    You have to take a good look at your syrup as it thicken (about 2-3 minutes), you can browse the internet for the photo of the sugar cooking stage ^^.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks
    erm ... can i just use golden syrup that you could buy in stores ?

    - Amber -

    ReplyDelete
  8. No, because you need the heat from the syrup to cook the meringue too.

    ReplyDelete

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