Macaron Second Attempt.

I won't give up till i have a almost perfect macaron. It might sound a little nutty but i just need to know i can do it. After the failed first attempt, I decided to look for another recipe. I found another thermomix recipe:
http://www.thermomix-recipes.com/2011/10/macaroons-thermomix-recipe-of-french.html
As usual, i have adapted it based on my current oven, temperature and utensils.

Ingredients

- 125 g Almond Meal
- 150 g Icing Sugar (not icing mixture) - I made my own icing sugar as i did not have time to run to the shops. I wasn't sure if the Thermomix icing sugar will be suitable but it turn out fine. Will be using Thermomix made icing sugar next time. Much easier.
- 100 g Caster Sugar
- 100 g Egg Whites (from around 3 eggs)- This time i did not aged the egg whites. I did this first thing in the morning, and it rested on the kitchen bench for a good hour.
 
How to prepare the Macaroons

Grind the almonds and the icing sugar (I am sure you can use caster instead). 10 Sec. Speed 10. -I might sieve this mixture next time as it is still grainy when mixing the batter.




Clean out TM bowl and attach the butterfly attachment.  Place the egg whites and whip. 4 Min. Speed 4.
Add the caster sugar after 2 minutes.  Whip the whites until stiff peaks. - I am not sure if the egg whites were done properly. From the picture below it looks a bit runny. But i tested it by tilting it and it stayed. I might look into beating this properly next time.




Add the almond/icing sugar into the TM bowl with the egg whites.  And mix. 10 Sec. Speed Soft. Reverse.  (add the colouring if using any - Trissalicious used green gel) - I added some colour but maybe too little. It was suppose to be yellow but there is no difference in the batter at all. I did not follow the recipe to mix the batter using the Thermomix, i did it but it did not look mixed correctly. In the end, i tilt the whole mixture out which is quite messy and fold the batter manually. The batter still look grainy by it was much more manageable compared to the first time i did it. I manage to get it to flow into a smooth ribbon.

Place the mixture in a piping bag and pipe on baking paper or a silicon mat. - I hate piping. Even in my second attempt my piping looks horrible. and that is after drawing circles on the baking paper. I need to work on getting better preparation for the batter. I was struggling to get the mixture in the piping bag quickly as the batter was slowly drying up.

Dry the macarons for around 30 to 45 minutes. 


I have a total of 3 trays in assorted sizes. I bang them on the table 3-4 times really hard and loud. The little piped macaron looks quite lumpy but it started to ease into a smooth top after 15 minutes. I waited 15 minutes, and then started heating the oven up. I bake my first tray after 20 minutes.
Bake at 150C° (fan forced) for 13 minutes.


As usual, i did not get the right number of macaron as stated. I am suppose to have around 50 but i only manage 40. I think alot of the batter were wasted when i tried to pipe them and maybe the batter was not runny enough. Will need to work on this next time.
This time the macaron turned up better. It does not have fat duck feet like the previous batch. I also cooked within 15 minutes. I did turn the trays around when it hit 7 minutes just to make sure it has an even cooking.

Remove from oven, cool and fill with piping



 Much better looking. It had the nice crunch when you bite into it. Like real! :)

That's it. My attempt in macaron baking. Hope my dear boy loves them.

Lemon Curd Filling

Another Thermomix Recipe. Adapted from Tenina's citrus curd recipe.

This recipe makes 2 jars of lemon curd. It is so easy and so tasty. No standing over the stove stirring and Thermomix cooks it so perfectly well.


Will be using this for Macaron filling.

NEED:
220g sugar
zest of 2 lemons, 1 lime and 1 orange
240g butter, cubed
200g mixed citrus juice of choice
4 eggs + 2yolks
DO:
Place sugar with zests into Thermo bowl and mill 10 sec/speed 10.
Add butter and chop 5 sec/speed 7.
Add remaining ingredients. Cook 10 min/80°C/speed 5.
Cook 2 min/90°C/speed 6.
Pour into sterilised jars and seal.

Thermomix Macaron- My first ever attempt

adapted from
http://www.superkitchenmachine.com/2012/15853/macarons-recipe-thermomix.html

Ingredients

• 75 gr. blanched almonds or almond meal
• 140 gr. icing sugar (to make your own see tip below recipe)
• 10 gr. granulated sugar (about 1 tbsp)
• 60 gr. egg whites (about 2)
• pinch of fine sea salt

Instructions based off the recipe from the link above.

1. I got ready my hardware. Drew little circles to pipe my macaron and also my disposable piping bag ready.
2. First, make your almond meal by grinding almonds for about 10 seconds/speed 10. Then add the icing sugar to the bowl and press the turbo button 4-5 times to “sift” the mixture. That’s what we’ll call a “tant pour tant”, set it aside. Get your bowl clean and dry and put the butterfly on. Add your tbsp. granulated sugar, salt, egg whites and whisk for 4 minutes/3½/MC off. Your meringue has to be really, really firm, slightly glossy and looking maybe a bit too dry. Actually, it should all be stuck to the sides of the bowl. - Follow this to the dot but i went and fire up the temperature to 50C cause i remembered a meringue recipe doing just that. sigh.. i think that made the batter abit weird. After looking into the other recipes, it did not require this temperature settings after all.

this is how my meringue look like

1. Pour the meringue into a big bowl and add the tant pour tant to it. Now, usually you’ll be told to do it in spoonful additions and to be gentle about the folding… but in one macaron class I attended we were told to put it all in at once and to be not-that-gentle, really. So, just be steady, going at it with the classical folding motion but don’t pamper the batter, it actually has to deflate and get a thinner consistency. It should make ribbons that disappear into the batter after some 20 seconds. For this amount of batter, I usually get to this stage after 20 folds, more or less. - i did not get that batter explained in the recipe. my batter was not as runny and i only manage to bake one tray of the wafer instead of 2 trays like the recipe said.
2. Pour the batter into the piping bag, cut the tip and pipe the cookies onto your sheets, spacing them about 5 cms apart. My recipe makes 50 wafers, or 25 filled macarons. - Only manage to get half. serious issue with the batter

 

1. Now, a crucial step: lift the trays straight up, holding level from both sides (parallel to your work surface) and then just let go of them so that they tap hard on the table as they land. Rotate 90 degrees and repeat until you do all 4 sides. You’re letting out all those air bubbles which would cause the surface to crack if they stayed inside the macaron, not pretty. - i did this and i also aged the egg white.
2. Preheat your oven at 120C/250F/, no fan. The macarons will develop a “skin” while the oven is getting hot, maybe they’ll take a bit longer than your oven, about 25-30 minutes, you really don’t need more than that. Bake one tray at a time in the middle rack for about 18 minutes, rotating mid-time to get even baking (well, my oven requires this). - macarons took forever to cook. i have to cook an additional 20 minutes, I suspect my batter was so thick that it took that extra time to finish off.
3. To check if they’re done, just lift the corner of the baking paper and try to peel it from the bottom of the cookie. If it sticks, it isn’t done. If it comes off, just take the tray out and put the 2nd one in. Cool on the rack and make the filling them with your favourite ganache, jam, lemon curd… - i fill it up with the Thermomix Lemon Curd. The Lemon curd is the life saver of this dish.

 super squeezed feet and uneven surface. I will work on this again.