Macaron-athon

French Desserts are my weakness, talking about L'opera, Souffle, Mousse, Charlotte..Pate a Choux, Cannele makes my mouth water. French Macarons, I'm dead. There's something, really something about this cute pastry that makes me attached to it. Yes it's cute, yes the colors are so girly.. the flavors are flexible and fun to play with. The sweetness is consistent, but paired with the right bitterness or right tang is exceptional.

I was asked by Chef Trisha to call for a 100 pieces Macaron order for a special event. 100 pieces is a good avenue to practice, to try, to avoid rejects, to play new flavors and to kill my frustrations so I said "Yes". wahahaha! Crazy!

I was overwhelmed with the idea of killing my frustrations; I made Macarons before, made Plated Desserts with Macarons and always win.. but I never had the Macaron ego ever! Because I feel bad for lots of rejects. The process is very tedious and delicate. As each pieces is delicate, one mistake can waste a batch of almonds and sugar mixture. That is why each Macaron costs from 45 to 75 pesos each. 

My little children

I started my Macaron-athon with a warm up; prepare the trays, bowls, mixer, and spatula. I also drew circles on parchment papers to set as a stencil. I have to make 100 pieces with 1.2 inches in diameter, so I used a 1.2 inches round cookie cutter to patter each parchment.

The day before, I weighed all my ingredients except for the egg whites. You may separate the egg whites from the yolks but keep the egg whites at room temperature.

My beautiful children

French Macaron
1200g Powdered Sugar
600g Almond Powder
520g Egg Whites
720g Sugar
40ml essence
1 tsp food color

Blueberry Cheesecake

Lemon&Earl Grey Ganache

Dark Chocolate&Pistachio

Raspberries&Cream

Today I discovered/testify for the following;

1. The recipes may be doubled, unlike what I used to believe in. I have tried several times before to quantify the recipe and failed, but today I was according to Chef Anne "Matapang" and "Victorious" :)
2. The speed may go up to number 8 or 10 in the Kitchen Aid. I actually find my number 6 rule too slow for the process
3. The smoothness will depend on the quality of the Almond flour
4. If you are running for consistent sizes, draw circles on a parchment paper with your desired size. Use a pencil and mark "this side down".. use a good brand (Glad) so it will slide easily after baking. Silpat will do, but master your sizes first as you cant draw on Silpat.
5. Bake at 325F for 10 mins. be consistent and be on time.
6. Let the macarons rest well.. otherwise the shells will crack up or slide.
7. Cool down before removing from parchment
8. Make sure to cut the Pastry bag with straight edge, with or without a Piping tip.
9. You may use a Piping tip, just use the right size.. not the Wilton 1,2, or 3. number 4 and above will do.

boxing up..

aren't they so lovely?

Reserved for Nani <3