Macarons, Black sesame & green tea
To say that I have a little bit of an obsessive nature is an understatement. I’m one those annoying people that if I don’t know how to do something, I’ll keep trying until I get it right. Once I get it right, I keep doing it until I get sick of it. Unfortunately for my family and friends, throughout the last couple of weeks, the subject of my obsession was macaron.
Since finally making succesful batches of macaron, I decided to test my luck to ensure that the results of my Daring Baker’s Challenge wasn’t a fluke. One saturday evening, I decided to put my macaron making skills to the test. With each perfect (in my opinion) looking macaron coming out of the oven, I got more confident and experimental, incorporating colours and substituting almond meal for sesame, green tea powder, cocoa powder and coconut. Before I knew it, my kitchen was covered with almond meal, powdered food colouring and sticky icing sugar. However the mess did yield 6 batches of macaron which I filled with vanilla buttercream.
Succesful batches of macaron
Recipe- Adapted from Tartelette’s (yields approximately 40 mini macarons)
- 110gm almond meal
- 200gm icing sugar
- 3 egg whites
- 30gm caster sugar
Method:
- 3 days prior to baking the macaron, separate the white from the egg yolk. Allow it to age in the regrigerator by covering it with a cloth or paper towel. On the day of baking, remove from the fridge and allow egg white to reach room temperature before whisking.
- Whisk egg whites till it reaches a soft peak, gradually incorporate the caster sugar while beating. Whisk till a stiff peak is achieved (about 3 minutes of medium speed).
- Add 1/3 of the previously sifted almond meal and icing sugar into the egg white. With a spatula, mix the mixture, adding the remaining 2/3 of the mixture as you go. Continue mixing until the mixture is well incorporated and is of magma consistency.
- Pipe the mixture onto baking paper, leaving a gap of 2.5cm between each circle. Allow the macaronage to sit for half an hour, this dries out the outer layer- thus when baked forms a crispy shell.
- Pre-heat fan forced oven to 120 degrees celsius.
- Upon lightly touching the top of the piped macronage, the mixture should not stick to your finger. Once this has been achieved, bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
For the black sesame and coconut shells, I susbtituted 55gms of almond meal for either ground lightly roasted sesame or coconut.
Howard’s attempt
Macaron with a bunion
Intrigued by my obsession, Howard decided to give macaron making a go for the first time. Pulling the tray out of the oven, we were in stitches with what he produced. With the help of Twitter, Helen aptly named it “Macaron with a bunion.”
Afetr all my trials and tribulations, my only advice would be to stick to the original recipe. A couple of lessons which I learned throughout my macaron making journey were:
- Pasteurised egg whites purchased in cartons from the supermarket cannot be beaten/whipped. I found this out after half an hour of beating.
- Making Italian meringue without a candy thermometer is plain asking for trouble.
- Squating with your nose stuck to the oven door during the baking process does not improve the outcome of your macaron.
Upon completion of my macaron exorcism, I’m left with 30 egg yolks in the freezer. Besides ice cream and creme brulee, what would you recommend I use the egg yolk for?
Author
By linda
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This article was written on 16 Nov 2009, and is filed under cookshowandtell, Dessert Recipes.
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I am gonna use your recipe! I’ve been having bad luck with macarons lately. and I have set myself to do 99 macarons for my friend’s wedding too!! Oh no the pressure…. and I havent even got it right! I am soooo gonna fail.
Woooo tiny macarons! are they from the other night? LOL
Looking awesome!
I’ve got to at least say “well, he tried” for Howard’s bunion macarons LOL
How about creme patissiere for profiteroles or tarts? Creme anglaise? Lemon tart?
Your macarons are stunning and LOL at Howard’s ‘bunions’!. But big kudos to him for trying!
Holy moly, more Macaronies!! No more macarons making for me. Not at least this month. Your macarons are perfect. Both black sesame seeds and green tea are my favourite flavours although I am yet to make the black sesame seeds. It takes a master to produce macaron with ‘bunion’! How did he do it?????
Thanks for the great tips. You are quite a macaron Master now! And I fell about laughing at Howard’s ‘macarons’. We can only dream to achieve such bunion-y greatness.
lol. A good effort by Howard even if they do seem rather, um, afflicted.
The quandary of leftover egg yolks always gets me. You could go for mayonnaise, hollandaise, custard or lemon curd? If you google “egg yolk recipes” you will find plenty of ideas on how to use them up.
ahhhh pretty macarons!! lol and nice try howard! ooh and i too vote for lemon curd mmm tastyness
I think the skidmarks really make those macarons of Howard’s. And, they might be poo like, but they’re consistent poos, which is an admirable thing (did I just say that!?). Linda’s macarons look lovely of course
Your macarons are lovely (no surprise there). However, how in hell did Howie’s macarons leave ahh… skid marks, for lack of a better term?
Potential yolk ideas – aioli, mayo, those little portuguese custard tarts.
Great minds think alike or is it just obsessive minds think alike?! Check out my site tomorrow and you’ll see what I am talking about! haha… Your macarons are beautiful – you’re perfected them and really great flavour ideas – I love the green tea idea.
Beautiful macarons as usual Linda! LOL at Howard’s bunion macarons – the one in the top right corner actually doesn’t look TOO bad….
I was going to suggest creme patissier too! Last time I made it, I had so many egg whites left over I didn’t know what to do…!
Macarons and profiteroles next time! Although I guess I need a candy thermometer…
Thank you everyone for your support. Who knows, you might see this in a Pierre Hermé shop one day. Just remember who came up with the idea first, the bunion macaron.
You might have to patent the design. And register the trademark them macarunions or buncarons
Macarons have both driven me up the wall and sent me jumping for joy these past weeks. They are so tricky to perfect! I’ve made sponge cake, creme brulee, custard tarts and fried rice with my leftover egg yolks so far
ROFL. A for effort Howie! Maybe u should be in the kitchen more often watching the expect.
I shall try this recipe. Hopefully I won’t become obsessive like you haha
you could make um – hollondaise sauce (a lot of it haha)
or some creamy pasta sauce i guess?
i can’t believe how many you made its amazing!
seriously though- i wish i had your patience. i tried it once, and failed, and hated to think of tthe wasted ingredients if i tried it again *sigh
LOL the bunion macarons have their charm, but Linda your macarons are absolute perfection. I am still a bit scarred from the DB challenge, haven’t made macarons since
.-= Steph´s last blog ..Totoya, Neutral Bay =-.
Oh! You made me so envious!
.-= Mrs Ergül´s last blog ..Oatmeal Cranberry & Raisin Cookies =-.
@billy- Good Luck with your macaron, e-mail me if you have any questions. Can’t wait to see what you come up with.
@Yas- No these were from a fortnight ago.. haha I know, I’m obsessed. The feet look like it’s running away from the shell lol.
@Karen- Thanks Karen. ooh creme patissiere, never made that before, i’ll give it ago.
@Ellie- Hmmm I’m looking to make a couple more batches before the year ends =D I’ll see how long my lucky streak goes on for. Re howard’s bunion macaron, absolutely no idea.
@Belle- thanks belle, i’m no where as good as Trissa. Every time I see the picture of his macaron, it still makes me laugh.
@Helen- yay! i’ll make mayonnaise.. you can never have too much mayo.
@chocolatesuze- ok ok you guys twisted my arm, i’ll make lemon curd too.
@Y- ROFL skidmarks & consistent poos.. Y, you’re one weird being =p
@Simon- thanks simon =D I should ask howard to give macaron making another go
@Trissa- I think it’s obsessive minds think alike. I love the christmas themes you have going on.
@Jacq- Thanks Jacq =D LOL Howard was proud that you found one that didn’t look too bad hahaha
@Tina- Wow I’d give anything for unused egg whites =p We should do a trade.
@Helen- I see where you’re going, and I like it =D
@Mr.Taste- I love the egg yolk for fried rice idea.. can’t believe I haven’t though of that. Thanks for the tip.
@Dungies- I gaurantee you’ll become obsessed, it’s part of the fun =p
@Betty- LOL oh Betty, if only you knew how many times I have failed before I finally got it right. Like you, I hated wasting ingredients, what you can do with wasted macarons is pulse it with some biscuits to make the base for a cake.
@Steph- LOL Steph, I think you’re just a perfectionist =D
@Mrs Ergul- It’s fun and exciting when it comes out right =)
.-= linda´s last blog ..Nin’s Bin, Kaikoura, New Zealand =-.
Leftover egg yolks?
Béarnaise sauce, with rib of beef!
They look great!
lemon curd & pate sucree pastry for sweets and hollandaise sauce for savory, will go some way to using up your egg yolks.
OMG I LOL-ed at Howard’s macarons.. Then I had to look around to see if anyone was around so that they didn’t think I was some kind of weird nutjob.. The macarons look fantastic! I’m going to give it a shot soon.. Hopefully this warm Sydney weather shouldn’t affect the final product… *fingers crossed*
@purpaboo- Ooh Bernaise sauce sounds good. i’ve been craving a nice juicy steak.
@alice- I’m giving lemon curd a go this weekend, possibly try passionfruit curd as well while i’m at it.
@Phuoc- I still laugh each time I see Howard’s macaron. You should definitely give macaron making a go, send us a picture of your result =)
.-= linda´s last blog ..The Bodhi Tree, Christchurch, New Zealand =-.
[...] On one of the hottest days ever recorded in November I gave the bacon Macaron a go. As Minh, Squishies and Howard looked on with sweat dripping down their face I felt a little pressured. Standing there in the heat are my 3 photographers/taste testers, if I screw this up I know I’d be hearing about my failures at all our future EST outings. Determined not to embarrass myself, I used the recipe that has so far worked for me each time, Black sesame and green tea macaron. [...]
i have the exact same obsession with doing it over and over again! i still haven’t perfected macarons, no feet!!! i think i’ll try again today. gorgeous macarons!
@ restaurantgroupie- Hope your macaron sessions are going well. These things are so hard to get right, I think it’s all about the oven.
.-= Linda´s last blog ..Daring Baker’s Challenge, Cannoli =-.
[...] Billy, I’ll give you as many tips I got from my 12 failures.” Yes, she was that obsessed. And yes, she is my sifoo of [...]
Linda, your macarons are beautiful! Practice makes perfect. Thanks for all the info. I keep on going back here and of course to Helen’s site.
.-= Annapet´s last blog ..Blueberry Macarons =-.
Would you mind typing up the recipe for the vanilla buttercream filling? TIA!
Hi Munchkinxx, the recipe for the vanilla buttercream was from Tartelette’s website: http://www.tarteletteblog.com/2009/03/recipe-violet-macarons-with-violet-and.html
Pasteurised egg tip: I can’t use eggs from the supermarket? What eggs should I be using? I’m a bit confused.