Friday, October 15, 2010

Farewell macarons

It's the Sis's last day at work today, and we spent the weekend baking macarons for her to give to her colleagues as byebye presents. We made the shells over the weekend and stored them in containers. Then did the fillings over the past two days, and sandwiched them and packed them so she can bring them to work yesterday and today.

Lemon macs with lemon curd filling & Milo macs with Milo buttercream and Valrhona crunchy pearls

This is my second time (the first time post coming right up, I just decided to jump queue and post these first...) attempting the Italian method of making macarons and I must say that although they are a tad more troublesome to make, I kinda like the shells more than the French method ones cos they are much nicer.

It was also my first time making so many macarons at once. I normally don't bake so many but I must have piped like a hundred (or more) macaron shells! The batter for the milo ones were nicer and puffier than the lemon ones cos I added a few drops of yellow liquid colouring and lemon essence for the lemon ones, which made the batter runnier I guess. But the batter for both batches were really thick essentially, much thicker and glossier than my usual French batter. 

Macaron packages

The milo shells were really yums, and the milo buttercream (which I added a little kahlua too) made the macaron super milo-ish. I like the addition of the crunchy Valhrona pearls inside the buttercream, but the Sis didn't like 'em. Well, differing tastes I guess. As for the lemon ones, do I even really need to talk about them? It's lemons and I'm a lemonaholic! 'Nuff said.

I might stick to using the Italian method in future...if only I can figure out how to juggle boiling the sugar syrup and beating the egg whites concurrently. Sis and I, we split the chores. I'll make the sugar syrup, and I'll tell her when to start beating the egg whites. Then when the egg whites are done and the sugar syrup is done. I'll pour the sugar syrup over the whipped egg whites and continue beating while she mix the remaining egg whites into the dry almond/icing sugar mixture. 

Now...the only thing I need to do is to pipe multiple trays of similar sized macarons. I always end up piping a tray of medium sized ones, a tray of large ones, and a tray of small ones. Haha. ;)

7 comments:

  1. I use egg powder in mine, do you find it easier to work with? I allow the whites to get to room temp but I've never let them sit out for 24 hours though...

    thank goodness for sil pats though, eh?

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  2. ohhhh i love your macarons, especially the lemon one. HOW DID U GET THE SHELLS SO WHITE!!! its amazing and i can never do it. whether i bake them high heat, low heat, cover with foil, add titanium dioxide, all don't work! they'll just brown at the edges :( i think i'll like the milo one as well, so innovative lor u. u intend to come up with a horlicks version soon? HAHA

    i've not tried italian meringue before, i keep saying i'll try and then forget abt it. how are they different in taste compared to the french one? you're having prob juggling with whisking whites & pouring syrup? how come?

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  3. girl paraphernalia: ive never used egg white powder before. not sure if ive even seen it before in sg! i age my egg whites a few days beforehand and then use it at room temp. and i dont own a silipat either! haha. i bake my macs on gd ol' baking paper. :)

    evan: huh? lol. u want white like macarons? i even added colouring to this batch! too bad it didn't show haha. i must go get some yellow food powder colouring man...heh milo v inventive ah. i donno ley, cos i see like normal choc quite boring. so hello milo! it's like a singaporean thing no? haha. hmmm good idea...horlicks! but then we don drink horlicks at home one lor haha.

    well the italian produce much nicer shells i feel. the feet less frilly, but the shells are puffier (higher). the shells kinda last longer too cos it's drier? as in even when u feel the macs and stuck them in the fridge, it feels like it wont go soggy as fast? i nv try doing the italian myself ma so im thinking will i have trouble juggling the tasks anot :)

    chele: thanks!

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  4. I've got a pack of Valrhona crunchy pearls sitting in my pantry and they've been there for weeks and I still haven't decided on what to do with them. Adding them to buttercream = brilliant! And they would go so well with Milo too...

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  5. jess: well it was just a try of mine to combine the pearls with milo cos i also had a pack of those pearls lying around and i didnt want to keep them neglected for long. both milo and pearls are yums so it wont be wrong combining both! :)

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  6. jess: well it was just a try of mine to combine the pearls with milo cos i also had a pack of those pearls lying around and i didnt want to keep them neglected for long. both milo and pearls are yums so it wont be wrong combining both! :)

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