Macaron

Raspberry ganache + Passion Fruit/Mango compote macarons

I love macarons! 

It illustrates the reasons why I decided to study French pastry: a precise technique, beautiful colored aesthetic, delicious and varied flavors, creative. It's sophisticated and infantile at a time. 

The Pierre Hermé ones are the reference to look up at in my opinion: mogador (passion fruit and milk chocolate), mandarine, jasmin, among other yummy blends. Each one of them is a special taste experience.

Since I've tried to make them for the first time, I bought Hermé's books (I recommend the 'Macarons'), researched about the ingredients and started baking my own flavors: caipirinha, guava, green tea. 

Besides the standard sized macarons (the ones you can find in pastry stores), we can use it as a decoration element, as a base cake composed with other preparations, and even as a savory appetizer. 
Also, the 'coques' (biscuit) are a pretty good canvas to let your imagination flow.

"Painted" macarons as a decoration element for a pie

At the pastry school I've learned the chemicals behind the recipe. Why sometimes the dough cracks in the oven, why the 'collerettte" (macaron base) is sometimes too large and sometimes inexistent, how to precisely use the egg whites to get the right dough texture. So interesting.

Check out the tutorial video for more details:

And the recipe some of my top 'howtomake' tips below:

Passion Fruit chocolate macaron

Ingredients:

For the coques (biscuit) - 30 macarons

150 g almond flour/powder (ground almonds)
150 g sugar
150 g icing sugar
110 g (split in two portions) egg whites
40 g water

food coloring

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For the ganache

200 g chocolate (white, milk or dark)
150 g fruits pulp
25 g butter

Instructions:

Start with the ganache:

1. Pre-melt the chocolate in the microwave
2. Bring the fruit pulp to a boil and pour it in 3 times on the chocolate
3. When the chocolate is completely melted, add the butter in little pieces and mix it with a hand blender

Now the coques (check out the tutorial video for the visual support)

1. Sieve the flour and icing sugar together (if needed mix them in a food processor)
2. Bring the water + sugar to 118°C/120°C
3. When the water reaches 110°C start beating half of egg whites (55g) 
4. Pour the sugar syrup (at 118°C/120°C) into the whites
5. Beat it for about 3 minutes (until the meringue gets a nice texture and its temperature reaches 50°C) - you got an italian meringue!
6. In a bowl, put the almonds, icing sugar, the rest of egg whites and the food coloring
7. Add the meringue and do the 'macaronage' (Video demo at 2:50 min)
8. Put it into a piping bag with a tip of 10 mm and make the macarons (about 4 cm)
9. Bake them at 150°C to 180°C (it depends on your oven so you'll need to test it) for 12 minutes opening the door at 8 and 10 minutes.
10. Garnish with the ganache

Leave it in the fridge for 24 hours (sealed with aluminium foil) before serving.

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And here are some of the my top tips:

- Old egg whites: the best egg whites are the old ones: separate your whites from the yolks and leave the whites for some days (a week ideally) in the fridge before using them. 
Simpler option: at the school we've tried the pasteurized egg whites and they work really well. I've also tried the dehydrated egg whites: they are ok.

- Italian meringue: don't beat the egg whites too long before adding the sugar syrup. We want a shiny 'bec d'oiseau' texture and not a stiff thing (check out the video at 2 min)

- Really sift the almonds with the icing sugar to get a smooth 'coque' (biscuit)

- Avoid making peaks on the macarons when you shape them (check out the video at 4:30 min)

- The second half of egg whites are here to hydrate the dough, add some of it in case the dough is too stiff

- Test your oven to get the right temperature: the macarons colors shouldn't change (darken) while baking

- For humid places: try to add some glucose: will try that one next time I go to Brazil.