MacaBooms!

It has been a little while since my last post. I was busy being a diligent Master's student and then I got sick. Influenza cupcakes anyone? I didn't think so.

I am happy to be back in the kitchen and just in time for St. Patrick's Day!

One of my favourite cupcake recipes are the chocolate Guinness cupcakes with whiskey ganache filling and Bailey's Irish Cream frosting that I made back in December as part of my holiday baking.

These cupcakes are based on the not-so-politically-correct beer cocktail - the Irish Car Bomb. This drink involves dropping a shot glass of Bailey's Irish Cream and Jameson Irish Whiskey into a glass of Guinness.

Since I have been on on a bit of a macaron kick, I decided to combine these glorious (but perhaps offensive) flavours into a macaron, but with a softer, less offensive name. I give to you....the MacaBoom! (patent pending).

Each time I think about making macarons, I go through a bit of an internal battle - French method - Italian method - French method - Italian method. In the world of macarons, I guess you could ask the question: What would Pierre Hermé do? Pierre Hermé is a French pastry chef well known for his macarons. He has a beautiful book that is worth a peruse the next time you're at the bookstore. Since I do not own this book and it's a bit of a financial commitment at about $50 (you better love the art of the macaron), I decided to search online to see if any of his recipes were available. It turns out that he uses the Italian meringue method. I decided to continue my research with a more hands-on approach. A few weekends ago I went to one of my favourite Toronto patisseries and picked up a few macarons. I also asked what method they used - French. The macarons were delicious - so once again, French it is! One day I may be convinced to try the Italian Meringue method - just to compare.

These macarons feature a chocolate macaron shell, a stout and whiskey chocolate ganache, and Bailey's frosting. I went with a frosting versus my usual swiss meringue buttercream simply because I did not have any leftover swiss meringue buttercream and it is easier to make a small quantity of frosting. This frosting is very sweet and so is the macaron shell, so I decided to use a dark chocolate for the ganache to offset some of the sweetness.

For the shell, once again I ground whole, unblanched almonds using my coffee/spice grinder and this time I used leftover egg whites that I had stored in the freezer vs pasteurized egg whites from a carton. My previous decisions to use pasteurized egg whites was simply because I had them leftover from making swiss meringue buttercream for a cake. If the eggs are not going to be cooked as when making buttercream, it is safer to use pasteurized egg whites. Some people believe that you don't get as good a volume as compared to freshly separated egg whites but I've never had a problem. If you plan on cooking your egg whites as is used in meringue based cookies/decorations, egg whites frozen from fresh are fine. Egg whites can be stored in the freezer for up to 4 months. I freeze them in mason jars and label them with the number of egg whites and the date. I thaw in the refrigerator overnight and then let them sit on the counter to come to room temperature before using for macarons.

I was trying to think of a way to incorporate the Guinness into the MacaBoom. Since the shells are so finicky that didn't seem like a successful option. Then I came across the show Sweet Genius while channel surfing one evening. One of the surprise ingredients was stout and one of the chefs mixed it with chocolate. This chocolate ganache filling is made with 3 oz dark chocolate, 3 tablespoons of heavy cream (35% M.F.), 1 teaspoon of butter, 1 teaspoon of Jameson Irish Whiskey (I may have added a little bit more as I had a spilling situation while pouring) and 2 teaspoons of Guinness. The taste of the alcohol in the ganache is not too prominent but it's the thought that counts!

The Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting is from here. I halved the recipe and put 2 generous (overflowing) tablespoons of liqueur in it.

To assemble, I piped a generous dollop of Irish Cream frosting on one half and spread a small amount of ganache with a dessert spoon on the other half (a little goes a long way with the ganache).

The macarons are decorated with little fondant shamrock decorations made with hearts.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Orange cream macarons

So once again I had leftover swiss meringue buttercream and leftover egg whites from making swiss meringue buttercream. The most logical and delicious solution to this problem is the macaron.

I am hardly an expert in macarons. This is only my third time making them. My two other macaron adventures were maple cocoa macarons from Delicious Delicious Delicious with the exception that I preferred the flavour of maple syrup to maple extract, and chocolate peppermint macarons (using the same cocoa shell as the previous ones). Before embarking on another macaron experiment, I decided to do a bit of research again. It amazes me how much variation exists in macaron recipes and techniques. I checked numerous websites, online videos and books (including my Larousse Gastronomique, which seemed significantly different from other recipes - bake at 400ºF??). I narrowed down my recipe choices using 2 criterion 1) I do not have powdered egg whites in my pantry, therefore I excluded all recipes requiring powdered egg whites, and 2) I did not want the fuss of using an Italian meringue technique. The Italian meringue technique involves heating up sugar and water to the soft ball stage (240ºF) and then carefully pouring the hot syrup in a steady stream, into medium peak meringue with your mixer on low speed. You want to stream the hot syrup down the side of your mixing bowl to firstly avoid pouring the hot mixture in too fast and scrambling your egg whites and secondly, to avoid pouring it over your moving beater and getting hot sugar syrup in your face.

I decided on the ingredient ratios from Ms. Humble's Scatter Plot Macarons, mainly because I love that there was a very scientific/analytical method to developing this recipe.

The original ingredient list is as follows:
120 g almond meal
200 g powdered/confectioner's sugar
100 g egg whites
30-35 g granulated sugar
food colouring gel

Before I start, I wipe all of my utensils down with lemon juice to ensure that everything is grease-free. This includes the prep bowl that I'm pouring my egg whites into, my mixing bowl (you don't need it dried off as the acid in the lemon helps to whip up your egg whites), my mixer beaters and my spatula.

I used pasteurized egg whites from a carton (leftover from making buttercream), weighed them out and let them sit at room temperature for several hours. If you are separating whole eggs, 1 egg white is equivalent to about 30 g.

For the almonds, rather than using almond meal, I used whole raw almonds (including the skin). If you do not want the rustic speckled nature from the almond skin colour, then you can use blanched almonds.

I weighed 120 g of whole almonds and processed them (about 30 g at a time) with about a tablespoon of the powdered sugar. I end up sifting this mixture several times with the remaining powdered sugar to ensure that I have a finely powdered mixture.

For the granulated sugar, I weighed out 35 g and then I also processed this using my mini food-processor to resemble caster sugar which has a finer texture. I let it settle for a minute before opening the food processor.

For mixing the egg whites, as much as I absolutely adore my stand mixer, I used my hand mixer since it is a small volume mixture. Beat the egg whites until they are foamy and begin to hold a shape, and then with the mixer on low-medium speed, add the granulated/caster sugar, about 1 tablespoon at a time. Once all of the sugar is added, I beat the meringue on high (number 5, the highest setting, on my KitchenAid handheld mixer is really not all that fast) until the meringue had stiff glossy peaks. At this point you can mix in your gel colour. I chose orange since I was making orange cream macarons.

I then folded in my sifted almond and powdered sugar mixture (about 1/4 at a time) until it was all mixed in nice and evenly.

Pipe the meringue mixture onto Silpat mat or parchment-lined baking sheets (if you're using parchment, tack down the corners with a dab of your meringue mixture) in little quarter to loonie-sized rounds (I like my macarons to be a bit on the larger size). Gently tap your sheet on the counter to get rid of any piping peaks and bubbles and allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.

I baked my macaron shells at 300ºF for 17 minutes on the middle oven rack. I had one baking sheet lined with my Silpat mat and one sheet lined with parchment. I did not find any appreciable difference between the two except that I found it much easier to remove the shells from the Silpat Mat. I placed my baking sheets on a cooling rack and allowed them to cool completely before I attempted to lift the shells.

For the filling, I used leftover vanilla swiss meringue buttercream flavoured with Whittington's Natural Orange Essence. To reconstitute leftover swiss meringue buttercream, heat about 1/3 of it for about 5-10 seconds in the microwave until warm (it may liquify slightly), add this to your cold buttercream and beat on high. You'll notice it becoming creamy fairly early on, but looking closely it may look slightly separated. Keep beating it on high until the texture is fluffy and the buttercream is smooth and shiny looking. I did not measure the amount of buttercream that I had left. I simply added a 1/4 teaspoon of flavouring at a time until I achieved the flavour intensity that I wanted.

I think this recipe will be a keeper. I look forward to trying many more flavour and colour combinations.

Mmmacarons...

Venturing outside my comfort zone of baking cakes and cupcakes, I decided to try to make French Macarons since I had a small amount of leftover swiss meringue buttercream and quite a few leftover frozen egg whites from making pate sucree tart shells and pastry cream.

I have wanted to try these for a while but after reading various recipes, blog posts and articles, I have to admit that I was feeling a little intimidated! 

French macarons are made with egg whites, icing sugar, granulated or caster sugar (superfine), and ground almonds. The ideal macaron has a smooth domed top, and a round base (also called the foot). The popularity of the macaron has soared in the last few years (although they have been around in France since 791) and you can find a number of books dedicated solely to these chewy, melt-in-your-mouth confections. 

There are so many possible macaron flavour combinations out there and they can be filled with buttercream, jam or ganache. 

I settled on a Maple-Cocoa recipe from a blog called Delicious Delicious Delicious. With a blog title like that, how can you go wrong? The yield of this recipe was also modest and perfect for a small amount of leftover buttercream.

For the ground almonds, I processed whole almonds (including skins) using a coffee grinder with a few almonds and a little of the powdered sugar at 5-second intervals to achieve a powdery texture. I then sifted each 'batch' of almonds and powdered sugar to catch any almond chunks that weren't sufficiently ground. I threw these back in the grinder and repeated the process until all the almonds were ground to a fine enough powder. 

I then sifted the ground almonds, remaining powdered sugar and cocoa powder into a small bowl. 

The recipe calls for caster sugar which is also known as 'superfine' in North America. I don't know if the Redpath 'Special Fine' granulated is 'fine' enough so for good measure, I ground it in my mini food processor. 

Now for the egg whites. There are some firm believers that you must used aged egg whites to make macarons. From a food safety perspective, I am really not a fan of leaving egg whites at room temperature for several days. I have several jars of egg whites in my freezer from various baking expeditions. They can be safely stored in the freezer for up to 4 months. I label each jar with the number of egg whites and the date. For this recipe I used 2 frozen egg whites that I thawed in my refrigerator overnight and let them come to room temperature prior to making the macarons. 

I piped the meringue mixture onto a Silpat liner instead of parchment paper for super easy removal! This recipe suggested leaving them to sit for 30 minutes prior to baking them. I have also read that you should leave them for at least 2 hours in order to get the right texture and adequate development of the 'foot'. I was in a hurry and let them sit for 30 minutes and the 'feet' developed just fine in the oven. I baked them for about 12 minutes but I think they could have used an extra minute or two. 

I was able to easily lift them off the liner with my hands - no need for a palette knife.

They have a little texture on the inside because I used the wrong side of the Silpat mat, ha ha!

For the filling, I had leftover vanilla swiss meringue buttercream. I beat the buttercream with a small amount of maple extract. I was not satisfied with the flavour - it tasted like an artificial extract. To remedy this, I added a little pure maple syrup at a time until I was satisfied with the taste. I also had my husband approve the flavour balance as he is a maple fanatic. 

I was extremely happy with the results of my first attempt. They are not perfectly smooth - I suppose I could have avoided the little piping 'knobs' on the top by gently tapping my pan before putting them in the oven. It is recommended that you refrigerate them for 24-48 hours to achieve the proper texture and then bring them to room temperature before enjoying them. We ate them almost right away and I had no problems with the texture! Now the only question is, what flavour do I try next?