French Macaron

Here is a sweet treat that tricks me every time I make it The ‘French Macaron’. It is at times sloppy, at times dry n develop cracks. So this dessert requires absolute perfection rite from step 1.

Let me brief few points before getting into recipe details.

• The bowls n spatula used should be squeaky clean.
• Use non-refrigerated eggs.
• If using home made Almond meal, use well dried blanched Almonds. I dry out my blanched almonds almost for a day on the counter top before using.
• Grind the well dried almonds along with Icing sugar thus avoiding the formation of Almond butter.
• The batter needs to reach that perfect flowing stage before filling into the piping bag. Nothing less or more. Do not fold beyond the free flowing stage.
• Pipe the Macarons with straight hands perpendicular to the surface. If piped at even a slight angle, the Macarons would turn out sloppy n not develop the feet.
• Finally it would be a good idea to go for a Macaron sheet as Macarons made on baking/parchment paper may not give the right result if you do not have perfect piping skills. I have not been successful with baking on Parchment paper. So would recommend investing in one.

French Macaron recipe

Ingredients:

( 1tsp.- 5ml )

1. Almond meal – 70 gms.
2. Icing sugar – 65 gms.
3. Egg white – 50 gms.
4. Granular sugar – 45 gms.
5. Cream of tartar – 1/8 tsp.
6. Salt – 1/8 tsp.
7. Almond essence – Few drops
8. Gel Colour – Pink few drops

Recipe steps:

1. Grind blanched almonds along with Icing sugar to a super fine powder in a mixer. Sift over a fine sieve.
2. 
3. Sieve for a couple of times more and discard all the particles that remain on the sieve.
4. 
5. After 3 sievings transfer the Almond meal-Icing sugar mix into a clean glass bowl.
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7. Weigh the required egg whites into a clean bowl and whip till frothy.
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9. Once the egg whites get frothy, add salt n cream of tartar and whip to get smooth peaks.
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11. At this point add  colour and granular sugar little by little and whip till very stiff peaks are formed. It took me almost 5 mins. of constant whipping to reach the required stiff consistency. Not just stiff very stiff.
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13. Add the Almond mix little by little n fold with lite folding movements.
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15. Fold till the Macaron batter flows freely without a break and you could form the shape of no.8 with the batter as in the pic.
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17. Do not mix beyond this stage. Transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle. Pipe the batter holding the piping tip perpendicular to the Macaron sheet.
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19. To even out the tip that is formed and to remove any air bubbles trapped inside, bang the board on a level surface till the surface appears smooth. Any more tiny bubbles that are trapped can be popped using a sharp pin as shown in the pic.
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21. Rest the Macarons to dry out completely till it looses it’s shine n becomes quite opaque, smooth n non-sticky to touch. Approx. 20-30 mins. depending on the humidity.
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23. Bake at 150C for 15 mins./till the Macarons develop feet n the surface feels hard to touch. Use your favourite filling on the Macaron shells and refrigerate. I have used Peanut butter filling in my Macarons. 
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