Hazelnut macarons

So I decided to be brave and try and figure out how on earth to make macarons in the oven in my new flat. A daunting experience as I had only just worked my old oven out! As it turns out the ovens are total opposites, the first was a bit cold and the one now is a bit hot.

Having decided to make macarons my next issue was what flavour to make. I was reading Ros's, from the more than occasional baker, blog and happened upon alpha bakes. This is a monthly blog event hosted, in turn, by Ros and Caroline, of Carolinemakes, wherein a letter is chosen at random and people submit entries with ingredients or bakes themed around that letter.  

This months alpha bake is hosted by Caroline and the letter for this month is H and so I decided to make my macarons flavoured with one of my favourite nuts, the hazelnut and enter alpha bakes for the first time.

Hazelnut Macarons 

2 large egg whites (80g of egg whites)

pinch cream of tarter

30g caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste

33g ground almonds

33g ground hazelnuts

132g icing sugar

chopped hazelnuts

nutella 

First of all I prepared my baking sheets, I lined them with baking parchment and then used a round pastry cutter to draw little templates. This makes a huge difference look at my neat same sized macarons!

I could not find ground hazelnuts so I simply pounded my chopped hazelnuts in a pestle and mortar. They grind up in no time at all. 


Mix the icing sugar and ground nuts together and set aside.


In a spotlessly clean bowl whisk the egg whites with the cream of tarter until stiff peaks are just beginning to form. At this point keep whisking and add in the caster sugar, a teaspoon at a time, until the mix is stiff and glossy. Add in the vanilla paste and whisk until incorporated. 


Add the icing sugar and nut  mix to the bowl of egg whites and fold in with a spatula. You need to mix enough so that the macaron batter can flow from the spatula 'like lava' BUT be careful not to over mix or your macarons will spread too much when they are piped.


Put the macaron batter into a piping bag fitted with a round tip. I stand my piping bag in a glass for easy filling. I would have taken a photo but piping batter is sticky and has a life of its own, to take a photo I would need at least 3 hands!


Pipe macarons ~5cm in diameter on your prepared baking sheets, making sure to leave room between them.  Give the baking sheets a sharp tap on the work surface to eliminate air bubbles. The macarons must be left, preferably in a warm place, until they have formed a skin. That is, when you lightly touch them, they should not be tacky. Allowing your macarons to form a skin is very important as when your macarons bake it will allow them to have the elusive feet! A skin can take anything from 15 minutes to an hour to form. Be patient!

Look feet!

In a recipe I have I am told to bake my macarons at 170C/150 FAN for ten minutes. This does not work for me. At 150 in my fan oven the tops of my macarons are a little too brown after 10 minutes and the inside is not fully cooked so they fall apart. I have found that I need my oven at 140 and I need to cook my macarons for 13-14 minutes. I am afraid its trial and error. Basically if they are burnt your oven is too hot and of they fall apart when you try and assemble them they needed longer in the oven.   


Leave them to cool completely on the baking sheet. Removing them too early could result in them falling apart.


When they are totally cool sandwich together with nutella. 

Keep your macarons in the fridge, though it is nice to let them get up to room temp for a few minutes before eating them. Macarons will last a few days in the fridge and actually get more lovely a day after making.

So these are my first ever entry for alpha bakes. If you wish to join in check out either Ros or Caroline's site for the instructions and get creative!

Basic macaron tips

I have a confession. My name is Fiona and I am addicted to macarons.

Its true Iam absolutely and completely in love with these little French delights. The crisp outer shell, the chewy inner and soft centre, whats not to like?

It is, admittedly, an expensive addiction, delve deeper however and you will find you are paying for the effort that goes into them rather than the core ingredients. So it seemed very obvious to me to put the effort in myself and get more of these treats at less of a cost, simple mathematics!

Macarons are known to be notoriously difficult, fact. So armed with the beautiful macaron recipe book I got for Christmas I delved deep into the blog world hoping to find out some tips and what pitfalls I could avoid!

I compiled a list of tips that I thought made sense, and first attempted some plain shells. I figured there was no point getting fancy until I had cracked the technique; as they say, do not run before you can walk.

What I have learnt:

1) Age your egg whites, I must admit I could not bring myself to leave them uncovered but I did put them on the work top for 24 hours.

2) Mix your mixture until it flows off the spatula. Admittedly this can be a little tricky, my book says fold in for 50 turns. However 50 turns for me gives me lumpy shells with little peaks, if I fold for closer to 60 I get a mixture that pipes much better and do not get peaks. Nb You can mix TOO much though and then your macarons will spread too much.

3) Tap the sheet sharply to release any air.

Macarons with no peaks

4) Allow your piped macarons to dry, and form a skin. My book says that this can take 15-60 minutes. However if you live in Scotland in winter you could leave them out forever without a skin forming and so popping them near a radiator for 20-30 minutes is crucial. The macaron should not be tacky if you lighly touch it, and should have formed a dry skin. This is the most crucial of all my tips, without this skin your macaron WILL NOT have FEET.

Baked macarons with feet

5) Line your baking sheet with baking parchment NOT greaseproof paper.

6) Allow to cool completely on the baking sheet and then they should just slide off.

When I follow all these tips I get lovely macaron shells, they have feet and hold together well, do not have lumps or air pockets and most importantly they have a lovely texture, crisp outer shell and soft, oh so slightly chewy centre.

Too be honest I was not expecting them to work so well and so was rather unprepared for the filling! I just sandwiched them together with whatever was in the fridge (jam, caramel, peanut butter, lemon cream cheese).

I will post the actual recipes, in the very near future, once I have made macarons with actual flavours. 

ps. I know the pictures are not the best, I have a kitchen with no window, I could take pictures at 12 noon or midnight and they would all look the same. Thankfully I am soon to move to a kitchen with a window and hopefully picture quality will improve...