27. listopada 2009.

Daring Bakers Challenge, October 2009: Macaroons


The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

No matter how hard I try, I simply cannot see (or taste, for that matter) what all the fuss involving these little French cookies is about. I know I'm in danger of making the macaroon lovers around the globe
(and quite a crowd it is, apparently) really angry, but I just had to say it. I mean, they do taste good enough, don't get me wrong. But there are sooo many better and tastier desserts in this world I'd indulge rather than macaroons. It is a matter of taste, of course, and my tastes are apparently a bit different than the majority of people. I never did fancy any kind of meringue really, now that I think about it. It's just way too sweet for me. And although I knew that macaroons wouldn't be any different, I still felt I had to give them a chance and see for myself why the world has gone crazy about them.


This was the third time I made macaroons, each time hoping that I will somehow learn to like them more. Unfortunately, I just get disappointed every time. Their sweetness is just overwhelming, no matter how light, fruity or sour the filling is. I also must say that I was not very impressed with Claudia Flemming's recipe. I tried Pierre Herme's recipe twice and it worked really well. Those macaroons grew perfect little feet and had a really nice texture. And here's the evidence: Chocolate Ganache Macaroons and Lemon Cream Cheese Macaroons. Flemming's macaroons were, however, really fragile and had to be handled with an unusual amount of care or otherwise they would literally pulverize in your hand. It was just nerve wrecking! And the baking time was just too complicated for me: put them in, take them out, raise the temperature, wait a few minutes, put them in, wait some more... Oh boy, that lasted even longer than making them in the first place. And, for some strange reason, almost all of the macaroons from the last batch mysteriously cracked and generally looked terrible. The first two batches came out just fine. Go figure. One would think all my macaroon miseries came to an end there. However, the worst was yet to come. After I filled my little pink macaroons thinking that all is finally well, they just started melting after a while, believe it or not. So, as we speak they are slowly turning into a sticky, gooey pink...well, I don't know what to call it but it ain't a pretty sight. So right now I just about hate macaroons. However, I must admit that out of three different kinds that I've made so far, these macaroons look the worst but taste the best. Every cloud has a silver lining, I guess. :) Still, I don't think I'll be making macaroons again any time soon.


Oh yeah, in case you were wondering, I made hazelnut macaroons with an orange mousse filling. The base for the mousse was this orange curd recipe. I did everything by the book, from aging my egg whites to grinding the nuts (half almonds and half hazelnuts) with the icing sugar and letting the mixture dry up for 24h before using it. I used powdered food coloring and weighed all the ingredients precisely so I can't figure out what went wrong and why the macaroons are melting. Anyone?!


Claudia Flemming's Macaroons

Ingredients
225g confectioners’ (icing) sugar
190g almond flour
25g granulated sugar
5 egg whites (at room temperature)

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.
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31 komentar:

  1. joj ja sam ih isto pravila za kuvarijacije i crkla sam a nisam uspela...i divila sam se tvojima iz onog prethodnog posta jer su tako prokleto savrseni :)

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  2. Draga Monchi,
    Odličan ti je post i komentar o macarons. U Zagrebu, u Branimir Centru ima jedna slastičarnica koja pravi macarons vrlo inspirativnih okusa. Ja sam tamo probala klasične sa nugat kremom i meni su se baš jako dopali. Nisam neki super ljubitelj običnih puslica, ali meringa sa bademima mi baš odgovara, tako da su macarons moj izbor sitnih kolačića, radije nego razni "butter cookies"...

    OdgovoriIzbriši
  3. Predobro izgledaju,oba puta su savrseno izasla.Još ih nisam napravila,pripremam se!

    OdgovoriIzbriši
  4. he he, dobra si...meni se bas svidjaju, ali ipak mislim da su precjenjeni, fotke su ti predivne, predivne. ali ovaj recept od Claudie mi se bas cini cudan i kompliciran, vadjenje iz pecnice, pa stavljanje, pa vadjenje, pa temperatura...s obzirom koliko je inace jednostavan...

    OdgovoriIzbriši
  5. I ja se nikako nakaniti napraviti te famozne maccarons.
    Dijelim tvoje čuđenje globalnom pomamom za istima, jer mi se čini već pri samom čitanju recepta, da oni svi ljepše izgledaju, nego što doticaj s nepcem isti ugođaj potvrdi.
    Ja osobno nisam ljubitelj kolača od bjelanjaka, moji favoriti su čokoladni moussevi i parfei, tako da sam tu u startu subjektivna.
    Naš pandan ili varijanta macaroonsa, tzv. puslice ili pusrle nikad kod mene baš nisu prolazile.
    Priprema je toliko delikatna i toliko toga može poći krivo, da mi se čini da je to stvarno vrsta slatkiša koja se radi samo i jedino kad imaš jako puno vremena, potpuno si smirena i samo se njima baviš.
    Što se tiče topljenja, pretpostavljam da je, ako je recept za kremu identičan onom u Torta od čokolade i naranče, uprkos želatini u kremi, sok naranče i limuna odregirao sa šećerom i bjelanjcima u macaroonsima i doveo do topljenja......

    I can not force myself to make that famous macaroons.
    I also share your surprise at the global craze for them, because it seems to me, when I'm reading all the macaroon's recipes, they all look better than contact with the mouth the same experience confirm.
    Personally I am not a fan of egg whites cakes, my favorites are the chocolate mousse and parfe, and
    our version of macaroons, so-called puslice or pusrle, never had my attention, so I have admitted that I'm subjective.
    Preparation is so delicate and so many things can go wrong, that it seems to me it is really kind of candy that you should make , only when you have enough time, when you are totally calm and focused only on macaroons, and that all effort, just as you said, do not justify the final result.
    As for melting, I assume, if the recipe for the cream is identical to the one in Chocolate and orange layer cake, despite the gelatine in the cream, orange and lemon juice made some reaction with sugar and egg white in maccarons and led to the melting ......

    I slobodno ispravi ako sam u engleskom prijevodu nešto grdo sfušala :)

    OdgovoriIzbriši
  6. Muke po macarons! Opet su ti prelijepo ispali. :)
    Mene oni progone još od onog "slavnog" neuspjeha. Sad sam ih ponovno napravila po receptu od Ana-Marije za kuvarijacije. Relativno sam zadovoljna uspjehom.;)
    Što se okusa tiće meni su krasni, je da su preslatki ali pojedam samo jedan i to mi je dosta slatkog za cijeli dan. Ipak me više od svega veseli njihov izgled. :) Ko malo dijete sam po tom pitanju! :)
    Što se ovog recepta tiće nije ni meni jasno ovo fantaziranje s pećnicom?!

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  7. vidim da si imala festu s pecnicom kao i ja. poluluda sam bila na kraju od tog pustog vadenja i stavljanja u nju. jos nekako ako imas veliku pecnicu pa ti sve stane na 1 ili dva lima ali kad imas malu to ide u nedogled.
    ja sam radila kakao, pandan ekstrakt i malina ekstrakt verzije. ona s kakaom mi je uspjela savrseno (cak nisu bili ni preslatki. valjda zbog gorkog kakaa) a one druge dvije su bile totalna katastrofa. potpuno su popucali i rasvjetali se. moj je zakljucak da esencije ili tekuce boje im to naprave. mislim da dodatak kakaa je malo zgusnuo smjesu pa su ljepse ispali.
    ovo oko topljenja... zaista nemam pojma... mozda ti se secer nije otopio do kraja prilikom mijesanja... ne znam, nagadam...:)
    ovi na slici lijepo izgledaju.
    e, da, ja ih volim. u stvari volim taj okus badema i to sto su pomalo "chewy". priznajem da su dosta slatki ali su mi fini.

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  8. Zamislite i ja sam ih pravila! Mogu reći da sam zadovoljna. Ja sam ih pravila onako bijele bez ikakvih dodataka i jednu količinu s kakaom i jednu količinu s čokoladom u prahu. Ne volim nikakve boje u kolačima. To su lijepi i ukusni kolači. Pravila sam ih po receptu s bloga Da mi je nešto slatko. Ima jedno ali... Pogađate: puno truda za malo kolača! Pojedoše moji dečki to dok si rek´o keks! Stvarno su ukusni i lijepi al´ malo!
    Ovi tvoji su zbilja prekrasni a slike prelijepe!

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  9. meni oni izgledaju prelijepo, ali ni ja baš nisam sigurna u okus... puslice su mi ok, ali definitivno su preslatke... a da ovo isprobam, morala bih biti jako autodestruktivno raspoložena, što gotovo nikad nisam :)) fotke su mrak!

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  10. Your beautiful macarons are so perfect! I love your choice of filling!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  11. Ja moje tek treba da pravim sutra :) To ce mi biti prvo put da ih jedem, ali prilicno sam sigurna da cu se sloziti s tobom oko ukusa ;)

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  12. Lemon cream cheese frosting is the ideal filling for the macaron. I find that the shells are a little too sweet, so the tartness of the lemon would definitely balance it out. Nice macarons by the way

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  13. You may not be keen on them but they look perfect and such a pretty colour too! Maybe the filling reacted with the shell which is why they melted.

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  14. Izgleda po ostalim postovima Daring Bakers-a da je recept katastrofa jer nikome nisu uspjeli. Jedino Tartelette nije imala problema, ali iza nje je petnaestogodišnje iskustvo,avrlo vjerovatno i profesionalnu kuhinju.

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  15. I'm new to macaron making so no idea why yours started to melt, sounds like an interesting problem! I also didn't like the drying in the oven bit so I went with the usual method of letting them stand out for an hour or so. All that aside, your macarons look beautiful :)

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  16. Molim vas, moze li mi neko reci sta je ovo "almond flour"?
    Hvala!

    OdgovoriIzbriši
  17. Ja također mislim da su macarons precijenjeni što se okusa tiče, a izgledaju stvarno prelijepo, šareno i primaamljivo. Jednom sam ih probala raditi, naravno nisu mi uspjeli, nakon silnog truda samo te bace u očaj... A što se okusa tiče ne kažem da nisu fini, ali ljubiteljima puslica jer se nademi gotovo ni ne osjete, tako da je okus preslatka puslica sa u mom slučaju gorkastom kremom od čokolade, iskreno puno su mi bolji neki kolači koje doslovno smučkaš i izliješ u pleh... Tako da ne kužim po čemu su stekli toliku popularnost.
    Ovi tvoji savršeno izgledaju a kreme za punjenje zvuče jako fino :)
    Evo raspisala se i ja :-)
    Lili.

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  18. Administrator je uklonio komentar.

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  19. ...predivno izgleda, moram probati :) ...

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  20. Nadam se da samo zabušavaš, kao ja ljetos.....dugo te nema....

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  21. I love how honest you were in this post. It does seem that macarons are simply everywhere in food blogs these days, so I think you took a brave stand in telling the truth about not really caring for them. Bravo!

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  22. Središ blog i nestaneš :)
    Sve najbolje u Novoj tebi i obitelji želi T&T tim! :)

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