Vanilla bean macarons
Anyway, I've come to trust the Italian way of making macarons cos no matter what sort of unintended errors I make, the macaron shells still turn out fine. I doubt I'll be turning back to the French method anymore cos I'm just so used to the Italian meringue method and it's just a little more foolproof (in my opinion).
I was quite concerned cos the batter was liquid-ier than usual, I was afraid that it was the liquid white colouring I added to the shells that caused it, and so was really relived when I camped in front of the oven, and seeing the macaron feets forming around the 4-5 minutes mark. Yeps, that's the crucial time for me for making macarons. If I don't see feet forming by this time, I can then be sure that it's gonna be a fail batch for me. And when I do see those feet forming, I'll be secretly breathing sighs of relief that the macarons were a success. For me, that's the joy of making macarons - the will it or will it not rise?
Vanilla bean has always had a special place in my heart and I've always wanted to make a dessert that evolved around the taste of vanilla and nothing else. I made these for a family gathering at my place last week, and I'm glad to say that my little nieces and nephews polished off most of them. So glad that it was well received! :)
Can't wait to try making popcorn salted caramel flavoured macarons, or a strawberries and cream flavoured variation. I love making macarons!
I think they turned out more than okay - lovely feet and they're so nicely white!
ReplyDeleteBeautfiul! I'm curious about the Italian method but a bit scared of the syrup and also think it might be too sweet for me. Do you remember the French results enough to compare the sweetness level of each?
ReplyDeletethey look so sublime...... I need to master this macaron making myself. Thank you for the lovely recipe and inspiration.
ReplyDeleteThese look so pristine white and gorgeous! Lovely flavour indeed :). Can't wait for your popcorn salted caramel ones too. Macarons are just so fun to make aren't they? :)
ReplyDeleteThese look so pristine white and gorgeous! Lovely flavour indeed :). Can't wait for your popcorn salted caramel ones too. Macarons are just so fun to make aren't they? :)
ReplyDeletehey xialu, nt too sure bout the sugar lvls of the two cos it's been so long since i made french ones. why not u try and do a taste test! i'll be interested to know ur take on this! ;)
ReplyDeleteha yeps, u're right about the fun factor ^^ i saw ur earl grey ones. they look so tiny cute! i want smth intensely earl grey too!!! haha.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I will sometime :). I've heard different things on the topic. One of them being that Italian is not so sweet if you make sure to add the dry ingredients to the meringue while it is still warm from the hot syrup. Supposedly that melts more of the powdered sugar and makes the result less sweet?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, did you see my tweet to you that I'm currently visiting Singapore? Email or DM me please on Twitter if you want to meet. I'm here for another week.
beautiful work, michelle :)
ReplyDeletelike xiaolu, i'm concerned if the italian meringue method would be too "sugary" to most people's liking. one question though, do you use silicon baking mats or greaseproof baking paper for this batch of mac shells?
i think i read before about tt - italian being less sweet. but i think i also read tt if the sugar syrup is added at the wrong timing, the macarons will turn out to be v sweet instead? nt sure hw accurate is my memory lol.
ReplyDeletei totally missed your tweet! ure in sg? so what have u done so far here? sorry i cant babe, u caught me at a bad week. i hv tons of work to clear this wk cos im gg for a vacation myself the coming week! hope u enjoy the rest of ur stay here!!! hv u gone around eating all the local food alr? :)
thanks. hmmm so i take it u too have been using the french method? i dont own a silicon baking mat, so everything i bake is on baking paper! :) u? i cant seem to find silipats in sg tho except online...
ReplyDeleteEh? you havent been looking around hard enough! sunlik has silpat. and i bought a gigantic one recently from Lau Choy Seng at Temple Street. alternatively, there's always silkomat from phoon huat.
ReplyDeleteyeah i've been using the french meringue method.