Today I baked French Macarons. We've all seen them really expensive colourful fancy French gems all over social media. They're actually just colourful fancy meringues.
This isn't the first time I've made them but definitely the most successful. The other times they tasted good but just didn't look like them.
I followed a BBC Good Food recipe.
125g/4oz Ground Almonds
200g/7oz Icing Sugar
3 Egg whites
2tbsp Caster Sugar
1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Drop of food colouring (Optional)
Electric whisk
Food Processor
Silicon Spatula
2 bowls
Piping bag
Baking trays
Grease proof baking paper
Mix your icing sugar & ground almond until it's smooth.
The recipe does say use a food processor which I opted not to & used the electric whisk as it was less washing & messing around but I would recommend you use a food processor otherwise later on you'll have to sift it.
In a separate bowl using an electric whisk, slowly whisk the 3 egg whites. Make sure no yolk gets into it at all otherwise it just won't work. Gradually increase the speed until you get stiff peaks & can bravely put the bowl over your head!
Slowly whisk in the cream of tartar, caster sugar & vanilla extract until the mixture is smooth & glossy.
If you didn't use a food processor to mix your dry ingredients, sift it slowly into your meringue mixture. Folding it in using a silicon spatula. Don't go crazy mixing it in, go around the outside of the bowl trying to do it with as little turns as possible to avoid knocking all the air out.
You can add your food colouring now if you're using it. I chose not to.
Once the mixture is mixed & looks a bit like shaving foam you're ready to put it into a pipping bag.
You can draw some circles with a pencil on your baking paper to make sure they're all even but just pipe round circles that are about 5cm. Leaving space for your macarons to expand.
Ended up with a lot with this mixture! Was not expecting to have this many.
Make sure the tops are flat & there's no air bubbles by dropping your tray on the ground.
You need to leave them to stand for an hour until a "skin" is formed on the top of the them & the tops aren't sticky when you touch it. (I forgot to take a photo of the "skin" as I was too eager to get them in the over after leaving them for an hour!)
Preheat your oven to 160°C.
Place them in the over for 15-20 minutes. They'll be ready once the top feels firm & it's lifted with an edge around them.
Really happy with the outcome! They taste so good as well!
You can make a buttercream icing to sandwich them, custard, jam, lemon curd whatever you want. But they're just as good on their own plain! I'm going to try making pistachio flavoured ones next time & be a little more adventurous.
I actually messed up my first meringue as I got yolk in the egg whites so instead of wasting it I made them into fairy cakes. I added the yolks back into the bowl, 100g of self-raising flour & 100g margarine.
The meringue mixture already had caster sugar, cream of tartar & vanilla extra mixed into it. Mixed it all with a wooden spoon.
Once the mixture is all mixed pour them to cake cases.
Bake in oven at 180°C for around 20 minutes. Place a knife or skewer into the centre & if it comes out clean it's ready.
They came out really pale but I think that's because of the meringue mixture being separate from the yolks. They still tasted good though!
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