Macarons with Raspberry Filling

Happy New Year! I hope one can wish new year anytime in January ;) 

I know I'm always late. These celebrations bring in holidays with them and so it's really hard to find a gap for blogging. It was winter vacation for kids and Jab has got to finish off his pending leaves this year. So this holiday was completely packed with many stuffs. First week in AbuDhabi with parents, second week at home with guests' stayover.

I just wanted to go nowhere this new year, but had to,for the kids sake. The laser show and fireworks at Burj Khalifah are one of the major events happening here on new years since past few years. So we decided to go there and reached there by 5 pm. As there were 7 more hours to 12, we had to spend our time somewhere else. It was too crowded that we decided to have our dinner so early by 6 and did so; watched a movie after that 'Life of the Pi'. When left the theatre, we were shocked to see the rush outside. The exit door to the fountain area was closed and we were directed towards the Mall Exit. It was so conjusted there that we could hardly breathe in. The footpath outside the mall was full, the roads were closed. We sat there on the path with many others. Thank God that Burj Khalifah is visible from almost all parts of Dubai. :)

Warning : This is not for those who witnessed Trissur Pooram before ;)

 

DSF has arrived . The UAE people are not so excited about shopping festival these days other than a compulsory visit to the global village. I hardly remember those days when we got struck in traffic for hours and hours. But this time, as my sis-in law was here with her family, we took them to creek side park for the inaugural ceremony and yea, the function has changed for good by the passage of time. The programme, especially the musical fireworks and the dancing angels were awesome.

MY MAC STORY:

I've always been fascinated with macarons. I've been wanting to make macarons since I saw them in  Finla's but was afraid when I went through the failure attempts of many bloggers. Thats when  Shabs baked these small mouthful of heaven and it's she who motivated me to try it. She keeps on experimenting different flavours and has given a detailed article on Mac baking on her first post on Macarons.Her pictures are so captivating that tempts me always to try those recipes as soon as I could. Her macs are now famous and we friends call her 'The Mac Queen'. My Mac journey started here.

The ingredients are just four. If you see any youtube video, you won't see any easier recipe than this.. BUT to get it correct or perfect , is as tough as that. These have a smooth rounded outer shell and flat ruffled bottom with what’s called “feet". If you see the 'feet' in your macs, you are 80% nearer to perfection. But the best part is, however flop it comes out, it tastes awesome.

My first try on macarons.used my microwave convection oven for this. The base was sticky and not done perfectly, as the oven had inverter technology and so the macs was overbaked ontop. But I could see the Feet.. HURRAY!! And texture was good too..

Second try-coffee macs,when I used homemade almond flour. The flour was not finely ground. It did come out nicely, but my son  played with it when kept for cooling :(. He liked the crack sound .o. Third try-strawberry macs. Tried in my gas oven.Almond skin is seen :( Now, here is my Macarons Topped Cake

Recipe:

Adapted from Ottolenghi – The Cookbook

Eggwhites 60g

Almond Flour 60g

Icing sugar 110g

Caster Sugar 40g

Raspberry Jam for the filling

Method:

1. Line a baking tray with silicon sheet or baking sheet.

2. Age your egg-whites for atleast 24 hours at room temperature or upto 2 days in refrigerator, loosely covered. ie; to cover egg-whites in a clean bowl using cling film, prick that film with knife,just twice and then, keep them on your kitchen counter for a day or in refrigerator for 2 days.

3.Place icing sugar and almond powder together in a bowl and set aside. If almond flour is not finely ground, then blend it in a food processor together with icing sugar.

4.Beat castor sugar and egg white on a bowl in medium-high speed until soft peaks form and then add the color. Continue to beat until egg white looks smooth and shiny. (and not dry)

5. Fold in the dry ingredients into this meringue in 3-4 batches . Do not overmix the batter. Just take a spoon of the mixture and drop on a plate and if no peaks are formed on top, the mixture is rightly folded. If peaks are formed, fold again. Folding should not exceed 50 strokes.

6. Spoon the batter into the piping bag and then pipe it onto the baking sheets in round shapes. You can use macaron templates for that. Check this link for pictures of using templates.

7. Let the macarons rest for 15-30 mts or until a dry layer is formed on top of macarons. When you touch them, u can feel the dry layer. Switching on the a/c at high will help them dry fast.

8. Preheat your oven at 140C. Bake a tray at a time for 15-20 mts.

9. Cool the tray on a wire rack and remove the macarons. If you find difficuilty in removing them, spray a little water on the sheet and then remove it. Don't leave it for so long after spraying water as it may turn macarons soggy.

7. Fill them with raspberry jam or any other jam or chocolate ganache and sandwich them. Keep in the fridge for atleast 3 days for better & chewy macarons. Serve at room temperature.

Linking this to Bookmarked Recipes Event

Bake fest originally hosted by Vardhini