Hola Blog Personas,
A frequent gift I get from most people is cookbooks, I can’t
even remember where I keep all of them. I have old ones, new ones, some
dedicated to just cookies, pies, or cakes. At some point you would think that I
would stop buying them or receiving them as gifts, but no I love them. I love
looking at their pictures reading the different techniques or even just how the
different people write the instructions. I feel as if I could smell the
delicious treats through the books. One book in particular I love to read over
and over again. My mom bought it for my birthday, and gave it to me days
afterwards because she forgot about it. It is the Thomas Keller Bouchon Bakery
book written by Sebastien Rouxel. This book is based on the Bouchon bakerys in
New York, California, and Las Vegas. I’m not sure what it is about this book
that I enjoy so much more than others, but I could look at it everyday and
never get bored. So I encourage everybody (if anybody) to buy this book if you
love baking.
This is
where I got the recipe for my Parisian Macarons. I first made macarons in my
Cookies & Petit Fours class at school, and immediately new I would master
these delectable cookies. I had lost the recipe that I received in class, and
felt forever lost without it, until I received this book and found they had an
equally as amazing recipe.
Macarons
are one of the well-known “difficult” cookies to make. Which is most likely the
reason I like to make them, because I love the challenge. If you can make an
Italian Meringue though you can make macarons. An Italian Meringue being
whipped egg whites with a unbearably syrup drizzled in. It is beautiful and
ridiculously delicious. The meringue cookie does not have very many ingredients
in it. It has almond meal, powdered sugar, egg whites, granulated sugar, and
water. The ingredients are the easiest part.
To start
off you must take the almond meal and pulse it in the food processor until it
is as fine as possible. After that mix the powdered sugar and sift them
together making sure to get the big pieces of almond meal left. That should be
nice and powdery, next add in part of the egg whites and some banana extract
mix everything together until it’s nicely combined (a spatula is the best way
to go). Set that aside and grab a small pot and add together water and
granulated sugar do not mix them together just let them sit and turn on the
stove to a high temperature. Grab some type of thermometer (I like the candy
glass ones to best) bring the water up to about 203 degrees. When it reaches
that temperature, letting it continue to cook, put the rest of the egg white is
a mixer and add a pinch of sugar. Start whipping it into soft peaks while the
water is cooking. The water should reach to about 248 degrees. When the syrup
is at the temperature and the whites are at soft peaks slowly pour the syrup
into the whites with the whisk on low speed. Make sure the syrup is drizzling
very slowly at first (otherwise it will turn into soup). Once all of the syrup
has been added turn the speed up to medium high and whip it until the bowl
feels cool to the tough and the egg whites are fluffy and shiny. This is also
the point where you add a coloring. I did pink for these, but you can do any
color you would like. Usually powdered coloring works best, and I like to add a
good amount to make the color vibrant. After the bowl is cool and you have a
nice color take a scoop of the meringue and mix it into the almond mixture to
soften it up a little. Slowly add a third of the meringue at a time folding it
gently into the almond. By the time all the meringue is mixed in it should be
fluid enough to stream off a spatula and leave a ribbon in the batter for a
little bit, but eventually fall back into the batter.
Piping the
macarons might be the trickiest part. You need a pastry bag and a round tip
medium size. You can buy macaron mats online to make piping a little easier I
have a couple but I also do some free hand. You need to pipe them as consistently
as possible seeing as you will sandwich them together they need to match (unless
you don’t care then go crazy). After you have piped a sheet tray give it a
couple good BANGS on the counter to get out the bubbles and make them smooth on
top. Now an important part of macarons is after they have been piped to let
them sit out until they have a skin the top (about an hour maybe shorter
depending on the air). It will be crucial to the look of the macarons.
Baking them
in convection ovens is the best way to go but it’s not crucial. They only need
to be baked a short amount of time. Convection ovens need to be preheated to
325 degrees standard 400. If using a standard place the cookies in the oven and
lower the heat to 325. They need to bake about 8-12 minutes depending on size.
Do not open the oven in between they will deflate.
Once they are done they let them
cool and let think about a filling! I decided to compliment my banana macarons
with a delicious nutella filling (cause lets be real you can’t go wrong with
banana and nutella). Now most macarons has a buttercream in the center, but you
can be creative and fill them with basically anything. I did not do anything
fancy with my nutella, just put it in a pastry bag and piped it into the
center. Smoosh two together that may or may not be the same size (depending on
how OCD you are). There you have a Parisian Macaron. That may or may not sound
simple (or I may just not be a very good instructor, but how detailed can you
get in a blog).
I find making macarons for gifts
are the best, it really impresses people and it makes a good amount, so you can
surprise many people with gifts(if you like that many people).
Adios Amigos,
Cassidy J
Parisian Macarons
Almond Flour 1 3/4 cups + 2 1/2 Tbsp
Powdered Sugar 1 3/4 + 1Tbsp + 2 tsp
Egg Whites 1/4 cup 1 1/2 Tbsp
Banana Extract 1/2 tsp
Egg Whites 1/4 cup 2 Tbsp
Granulated Sugar 1 cup + 3 Tbsp
Water 2/3 cup
Filling
Nutella 1 jar
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