Friday, May 24, 2013

Nutella Macarons


Macarons.. my nemesis which made me fail twice. Today, we did another attempt at Sharron's place and I'm thrilled to present these Nutella Macarons to you. I'll be doing another blog posts on the possible reasons why macarons fail based on what I've experienced so far. In any case, these are by far the toughest things to bake due to the many technicality issues to combat when baking them. Every step requires somewhat some precision. 

I'm not gonna lie to you. They're not easy to bake. I've failed these French macarons twice myself and this method/recipe that I've used today is troublesome.. But, what's a little work for these precious gems that are sold at $3.80 a pop from Ladurée? Even a decent one from Bakerzin or Canelé costs $2.50! But! These methods and recipe that I've worked out after 2 times of failing should work real well. So.. click on and learn more! I did not photograph each step of the recipe but I will do so soon.. so do come back and check this page for a detailed image to image recipe!


The recipe is rated difficulty level 5 out of 5 and takes about 1 h 30 mins in all to complete. Recipe proportions were taken from a recipe that Sharron had but methods were assisted by some guidance advised by Jong (: 

Nutella Macarons Recipe
This recipe yields 16 cookies/8 macarons

55g fine almond meal
55g icing sugar
Yellow gel food colouring (I used Wilton)

11g castor sugar
A pinch of corn flour
40g egg white (from about 1 60g egg) [This MUST be of room temperature]

2 tbsp Nutella

Method

1) Combine almond meal and icing sugar.

2) Pass the almond meal and icing sugar through a fine sieve.

3) Discard all big almond bits.

4) Place the egg white in a clean and dry bowl. Add a small pinch of corn flour. Add in a small portion of yellow food colouring. (The egg whites should be really bright yellow as the macaron will brown a little when baked so the yellow won't show through as much).

5) Whisk the egg whites till stiff peaks.

6) Take 1/3 of the meringue and fold it into the almond mixture. It will look odd and clumpy but fret not.

7) Add in remaining meringue and fold it into the mixture. It will start to look clumpy. Tilt/scrape all contents onto one side of the bowl and smear it against the sides while folding it in. It should take about 40 -50 folds. This is just a gauge though.. It truly depends on how you fold the batter. Fold it till you get to a ribbon stage. The more you fold, the more ribbon-like it will become. Be careful not to over fold. Mixture will look glossy and be ribbon-like when it is ready. 

8) Scoop into piping bag fitted with a round tip. 

9) Pipe onto bake tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Your rounds should be about 2.5cm in diameter (or the size of a 50-cent Singapore coin) and should be spaced apart as they will spread. 

10) Tap the baking tray about 5 times on a hard surface to release air bubbles and spread the 'nipples' on the macaron. 
11) Repeat on all 3 other sides of the baking tray. Repeat if necessary or till there are no more nipples and air bubbles on the surface of the macaron. You may use a toothpick to gently 'burst' the bubbles on the surface. 

12) Preheat oven for 5 minutes at 200 degree Celsius. 

13) TURN OFF the oven and pop the baking tray into the oven. DO NOT close the oven door completely. Leave a small gap of about 5cm to allow some heat to escape. This will aid in the drying of the macarons. This is especially effective for humid climates like what I have in Singapore. Allow macaron to dry for 5 minutes. Check for drying of the macaron shell by gently touching the surface of the macaron. If it is not dry and 'shell-like' yet. Remove from oven and preheat oven for another 5 minutes.

14) Repeat drying process or till macaron shells are dry. 

These were my dry macaron shells.

15) When dry, remove from oven. Preheat oven to 160 degree Celsius for 15 minutes. 

16) START YOUR TIMER NOW. Pop baking tray into the oven and bake for 2 minutes. 

17) Adjust baking temperature to 180 degree Celsius after 2 minutes and allow 'feet' to form. 

18) This will take about less than a minute. 

19) When you are pleased with the 'feet', turn the heat back down to 160 degree Celsius and bake for another 3 minutes before bringing temperature down to 150 degree Celsius. Bake for a total of 14 minutes from the time you start your timer.

20) Remove baking tray and slide baking sheet off the baking tray and allow them to cool on a baking rack.


21) When cool, gently peel macarons off baking paper. Match macarons that are of the same size for assembly.

22) Have nutella in a piping bag.

23) Pipe nutella on the insides of one macaron. Cover with the other shell.


24) If possible, refrigerate in the fridge overnight to allow the flavours to meld together.

So there you have it.. Nutella Macarons! (: Enjoy these lovely treats! (: 



I'd love to see the bakes or stuff you've cooked using the blog's recipe! Do share photos of stuff you've baked or cooked using the blog's recipe with me either via FB message to http://facebook.com/limcynthia OR http://facebook.com/thebakingbiatch OR via email at cynthia.lim.hl@gmail.com! I look forward to hearing from you! (: 

55 comments:

  1. Wao.... you really put lots of effort baking them... nice !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. XF: hahaha! yes! in order to perfect these lil' treats!

      Delete
  2. Hi, where can i get almond meal? Thanks so much!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Baking shops like Phoon Huat & Sun Lik carries it. Some supermarkets carry it too.

      Regards,
      Cynthia

      Delete
  3. I failed mine :(
    Maybe I shall try out your recipe.
    The recipe i used is without any flour, maybe i ask your "A pinch of corn flour" is about how much? 1tsp or more?
    and the icing sugar you use is it pure icing sugar or those normal icing sugar which have starch premixed in?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The pinch of corn flour is just a tiny bit.. it helps stabalise the meringue..

      The icing sugar I used are from bags sold in NTUC/Cold Storage.. I'm not sure if there's starch premixed in it..

      Love,
      Cynthia

      Delete
  4. Hi, did u age the egg white?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I failed so many times until I tried ur recipe! And I have succeeded everytime since. :) thank you so much. The thing that worked for me was the drying part. Leaving them to dry in the oven worked miracles.
    But I prefer to mix the dry ingredients into the egg white. That worked better for me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's great to know! (: The drying tip really works isn't it? I love it very much too!
      I see! Do you do it in batches too?

      Delete
  6. May I know where you place the tray of macaroons in the oven? Middle tier? And what is "feet"? Can elaborate?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello! I placed the macs in the middle rack. Feet is that curly skirting thing at the bottom of the cookies that makes it a mac (:

      Delete
  7. Hi Cynthia! You mentioned 11g of castor sugar in your list of ingredients..but i can't seem to find where am i supposed to use it..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello!

      Thanks for spotting that out! The should be added into the egg whites when whisking.. or at the beginning before whisking ("

      Delete
  8. Hi, i find it very hard to sift the almond. What brand do you use? It's almond grounds right?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello!

      Different brands have different texture. If I didn't recall wrongly, I used the ones from Phoon Huat.
      Regards,
      Cynthia

      Delete
  9. Hello Cynthia!

    If I want to add chocolate powder to the almond meal & icing sugar mixture - instead of gel food colouring - how many gms of chocolate powder should I put? Thanks!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hello!

    My apologies but I wont be able to advise you on the quantity as the recipe calls for food colouring. Should you replace it with occoa powder, the flour quantity will change, affecting the outcome of the product especially since macarons are really sensitive.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hello Cynthia,

    Is it use the top & bottom heat when baking macarons?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi! Putting into the oven, the heat that you used is top/bottom or both?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Cynthia, I have tried but could not see the feet form!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. these are tricky cookies dear (:
      have you got the surfaces dry before you baked them?

      Delete
  14. Hi Cynthia. Thanks for the drying tip, it works.
    I wonder if there's an easier way, such as setting the oven to 80 degC with door open slightly and fan blowing for 5 min or more?
    Have you tried other ways? Thanks again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. that'd probably start cooking the oven...
      the fan doesnt really work.

      If one method works, you may wanna stick to it! XD

      Delete
  15. hi Cynthia, may i know it there anything to replace almond? due to i am sensitive to almond.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi sorry, there's no replacement.. it' a dessert made of almond meal.

      Delete
  16. hi cynthia, the almond meal and icing sugar must be exact 55g before and after sieving?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Debbie,

      baking is all about precision, especially for delicate bakes like macarons so YES. It must be exact.

      Delete
  17. can i use the drying method for any type of macron recipe? :D

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi I'm Dita. I have no oven. Can I cook it with Happycall?

    Thx ^^

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Dita,

      nope. it'll unlikely work. Macarons are very sensitive.

      Delete
  19. Hello Cynthia ,
    May I ask whether is my oven able to bake macaron ?
    I doesn't know what is fan force oven , mine is rowenta oc3838 .
    And sorry to ask , upper and lower element is it a must for baking ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello,

      it's your oven and you should know the specifications better than I do. A fan forced oven has a fan mode.
      And yes, upper and lower elements are essential for baking.

      Delete
    2. Ok well , I need to slowly explore my oven . Don't think mind have fan forced mode .

      Still very new to baking .
      Thank for advising me .

      Delete
  20. Hi!

    May i know the brand and model of your oven? is it an electric or a gas oven, convection or conventional oven?

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hello,

      i used Cornell for this back then but I've since changed my oven.

      Delete
  21. Hello Cynthia,

    May I know what oven are you using now? I have a Cornell oven which I guess same as your previous oven and considering to get a new one..

    Thanks!

    Regards,
    YY

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thanks for ur drying and temperature controllingb instructions. It really works even with a different recipe. Had failed multiple times due to crack shell or no feet till I read ur blog. Will try to bake different flavour next time :). Thanks once again.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hi Cynthia,

    May I know when whisking the egg whites must be high speed?

    My batter always have alot of small bubbles when piped. Even after tapping. Why is this so?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello,

      I usually whisk at high speeds. You may want to whisk at high/med speed and reduce the speed as it's nearing stiff peaks to allow the bubbles to be 'burst'.. or go med speed throughout the entire whisking.

      Delete
  24. Hi Cynthia,

    I follow your recipe and can't get the "feet" formed. Can please advise where the problem likely?

    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hello, your macarons were unlikely to be dried enough with a skin formed so there was no feet.

      Delete
  25. hi, is almond meal the same as almond flour? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Hi! Do you know how many days in advance can we put the shells in room temperature (air tight container)? I am planning for my daughter's birthday, and I can't bake so many things all at one go *sweats* haha thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hello, you may want to keep them in the freezer instead (: else, probably one or two days before in an air tight container.

      btw, macs should be allowed to rest for a day to taste good so you'd probably wanna bake it the day before.

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...