Main Ingredients

Almond flour 60g Powdered sugar 105g

Egg whites (for mixing in) 20g Sugar 20g

Egg whites (for whipping in) 30g Filling color

Accessories

Macarons with custard

100g Light butter 50g

Vanilla extract 1/4 tsp. Cream 50g

1/4 tsp vanilla extract (1.25ml) Rum 10g

Lemon juice 15g Egg yolks 2

Milk 1 tbsp (15ml) Honey 20g

Macaroons (French meringue method) Steps

1. Almond flour and powdered sugar (use pure powdered sugar, not cornstarch mixed) Commercially available powdered sugar. Mix the sugar with a food processor and beat on high speed for twenty seconds to half a minute, until it becomes a very fine powder. Rub the powdered marzipan with your hands to break up any lumps (I didn't sift it)

2. Pour the powdered marzipan into a bowl and pour in 20 grams of egg whites. Use a spatula to mix well, repeatedly stirring to make the marzipan and egg white completely mixed, if there are particles can be repeated with a spatula mixing pressure a few times, until thoroughly smooth (the amount of egg white is relatively small, the beginning of the mixing will be very dry, but when the powdered sugar absorbs the egg white melting, it will slowly become wet. Don't add more egg whites because you think it's dry at first, remember ha!) .

3. Mixed fine almond paste. At this point the almond paste is very thick.

4. Add a little coloring to the almond paste and mix well.

5. Take another clean bowl, pour 30 grams of egg whites and 20 grams of granulated sugar, and use a whisk to whip until you can pull out the upright tip of the dry foam state.

6. Split 1/3 of the egg whites into the almond paste.

7. Use a spatula to mix well, thoroughly, so that the original thick and difficult to mix the almond paste becomes thick and smooth.

8. Add 1/3 of the egg whites and continue to mix well. After mixing well, add the last 1/3 of the egg white and mix well. Each turn should be quickly, from the bottom to the top of the mix (similar to the chiffon cake production techniques), do not draw a circle mixing.

9. After mixing well, the macaron batter should present a very glossy and smooth texture. With a spatula to pick up the batter, the batter can be in the shape of a band floating down, dripping into the basin of the batter pattern will be very slow to disappear. (The state of the batter is very critical. If the batter doesn't fall in ribbons, it's too thick, so you can mix it a few more times to get it to the right state. If the batter drops and disappears very quickly, it means that it is too defoamed and the batter is too thin.)

10. Cover the baking sheet with a greaseproof cloth, put the batter into a piping bag, and squeeze out the batter with a round nozzle of 0.6cm in diameter. The batter will slowly spread out after extruding. The size of the batter is about 2.5-3cm in diameter, which is slightly bigger than a dollar coin. You can squeeze out at least 60 pieces according to the recipe (after baking, two pairs of clips are 1 piece, one **** can make 30 pieces). If there are bubbles on the surface of the extruded macarons, use a toothpick to gently pick through them (occasional bubbles on the surface of the macarons are normal, but if there are too many bubbles on the surface, it may be due to the fact that the batter is mixed too thin and the egg whites are defoamed).

11. Place the baking sheet in a ventilated area to dry for a few moments, until the surface of the batter is gently pressed, not sticky, and a soft shell is formed, then it can be baked in the oven. I used 140°C for 12 minutes with hot air on top and bottom. If your oven doesn't have hot air, just use top and bottom heat. Usually the macarons will start to show skirts around 3 minutes.

12. About drying the macaron batter after squeezing

The macaron batter needs to be dried for a few moments after squeezing before baking in the oven. Drying is an important step for the macarons to develop their skirts. If you don't dry the macarons and bake them right away, they may not develop their skirts. They are usually dried until a soft shell forms on the surface. Not enough drying, baking surface is easy to crack; too long to dry the surface crust is too thick, baking may have a side of the skirt does not appear on the side of the asymmetrical phenomenon.

13. About the drying time

In fact, the macaron batter is very high in sugar, so as long as the environment is not too humid, the surface crust is very easy. If it's hard to get a crust, in addition to checking whether the air humidity is too high, you should also think about whether the batter is too thin or the ingredients are not weighed correctly (in Beijing's August weather, my macaroon batter did not take more than half an hour to dry).

14. About the baking time

The texture of macarons is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, with a crunchy outer shell and a moist, slightly sticky texture on the inside. Bake for too short a time and the macarons may stick to the bottom and cannot be removed from the tarp without difficulty. Bake too long and the macaron becomes crispy inside and out and loses its characteristic texture. There is also a relationship between the degree of baking and the moisture content of the filling. If it is more moisture content is relatively large filling, you can bake the macarons properly dry some, after the filling, macarons will absorb the moisture of the filling and become moist (so it is recommended that the macarons after the filling in the refrigerator for a day before consumption, so that the macarons have time to fully absorb the moisture and flavor of the filling).

15. About storage

Macarons are recommended to be refrigerated and consumed within three days. The texture will be stiffened after a long time, and it will not be delicious. If you want to keep them for a long time, you can seal them and freeze them for several months. Thaw in the freezer before eating. Keep it sealed until thawed, otherwise the moisture in the air will easily condense on the surface of the cold macarons and make the skin of macarons become soggy and soft.

16. After making successful macarons, the filling of the macarons is very important. Without a good filling, even the best macaron is incomplete, or even not delicious (uh, too sweet ......), so a good filling should not only be healthy and tasty enough, but also be able to blend well with the macaron itself to make the overall taste of the macaron better.

There are a lot of fillings for macarons, and the one I prefer is the one with egg yolk cream frosting as the base, which is not only tasty, but also very varied, so you can change the flavors according to your own needs. I've described egg yolk buttercream frosting in a previous blog post, but for the egg yolk buttercream frosting used as a filling for macarons, I've slightly altered the recipe by omitting the granulated sugar and using only honey to bring out a softer sweetness and increase the acidity. This buttercream frosting is very suitable as a filling for macarons.

17. Pour the egg yolks and light cream into a saucepan, whisk to combine, and heat over low heat to about 80°C, whisking as it heats, until the mixture thickens like corn mush (do not bring to a boil). Immediately remove from the heat and sit the pan in cold water, whisking all the time until the custard has cooled to the point where it is not hot, stop whisking and set aside to cool completely.

18. After the butter is softened, beat with a whisk until fluffy in volume, pour the cooked egg yolk paste into the butter in 2 batches, stirring well with a whisk, and continue to beat until thick and fluffy.

19. Add rum, honey, milk, lemon juice and vanilla extract all at once and beat well.

20. This buttercream frosting is a basic buttercream frosting, you can add various ingredients to it according to your taste.

For example, for chocolate, add cocoa powder; for matcha, add matcha powder; for lemon, add a little more lemon juice and lemon zest shavings; for strawberry, add freeze-dried strawberry powder; and for vanilla, increase the amount of vanilla extract. ......

21. I didn't give a specific ratio of what to add. This is because it is completely adjustable to your own taste. For example, for my chocolate filling, I would add more cocoa powder to give the filling a slightly bitter taste and to better neutralize the sweetness of the macarons themselves. For the lemon flavor, I also add more lemon juice to make the filling a little more tart.

By constantly adjusting the flavor of the filling, you can make the best macarons to your liking!