Coffee Macarons

Macarons! Oh macarons!

Lots of people had done macarons before and yet I have not attempted it till today. I have done many researches and readings of all the fabulous macarons that were done by many bloggers. They were all really kind to share their experiences. I had also read about the failures too! There was a comment by a blogger who commented that he/she had tried making macarons 15 times and still had not succeeded. I really admired her persistence.

This is my first attempt and I did 2 mini trays of it.

The first tray was a total disaster. I rested the piped macarons for 20 minutes and put it into a 175C oven in middle rack for 6 - 7 minutes, reduce the temperature to 110C and shift to lower rack for another 10 minutes. The macarons in this tray cracked and then shrank. I chuck them all out.

The second tray, I rested the piped macarons for about 50 - 60 minutes and make sure that they are dry and not sticky to touch before I pop them into the oven. For this tray I baked at 150C in the lower shelf for 10 minutes then reduce temperature to 120C for 6 minutes and finally 110C for 5 minutes. Wow! Frilly feet starts to appear at about 9 minutes and ?? seconds...bingo! (I actually did a vigil stand in front of the oven to see if the frilly little feet did appear ... the eager and vigilant first timer macaron baker).

This tray of macarons is what you see in the photo below. I sandwich them with mocha cream. Overall the macarons were delicious but a tad too sweet to my liking.

Guess you don't know, I actually rang up a baking studio this morning to enrol for a macaron class but they were full. I was thinking why don't I try it by myself first before going to class. Luckily they were full, that means a saving of HK$300 for the 20 macarons that you get to make during class.

Though the looks of my macarons weren't that fantastics but I am a happy woman today because my macarons got frilly feet!



This is what my egg white looks like.


This is the consistency of my macaron batter.


This is the tray of the bad and the ugly!


Ingredients:
(A)
50g almond meal
6g coffee powder
65g icing sugar

(B)
45g egg white
40g castor sugar

Method:
1. Sieve and mix all ingredient in (A) well.
2. Beat egg white till white and add in sugars by thirds and beat till glossy and stiff. See photo of my egg white. Fold in almond mixture by thirds till well combined.
3. Pipe batter on to a baking tray lined with parchment paper and leave enough room between each macaron for expansion.
4. Rest the piped macarons for at least 50 - 60 minutes or till dry and not sticky to touch.
5. Preheat oven at 180C for 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 150C and pop the tray into the oven on the lowest rack. Bake at 150C for 10 minutes. Frilly feet should appear here.
6. Reduce temperature to 120C and bake for 6 minutes. Finally reduce temperature to 110C and bake a further 5 minutes or till dry.
7. When out of the oven put the parchment paper with the macarons on top of a piece of very wet towel. Peel the macarons off the parchment paper and leave them on a cooling rack.
8. Sandwich the macarons with your favourite fillings.