Aspiring Bakers #17: March Macaron Madness!!! (March 2012) [ROUND-UP]

First and foremost, a big Thank You to all our fellow sisters from the Aspiring Bakers’ family who had participated in “March Macaron Madness!!!” All this would only be possible because of you! So give yourselves a big pat on the back yeah?! Some of you could not make it in time for the event due to personal commitments but still made it a point to drop me a note over facebook,  emails or comments on the blog to show your encouragement and support. I’m truly touched and overwhelmed by all the kind words. Seemingly a trivial gesture, but it really meant loads to me! What a fun and funky month it had been!!! Macaron madness all over town!

Macarons have a nastry reputation of being “fiendishly temperamental” with “super-duper high failure rate”. Yes, I agree that it is not the easiest thing to pick up. Thus it was very very uplifting to see some of our fellow bakers taking up this month’s theme as a personal challenge and made macarons for the first time. Honorable mentions to folks like Hody, Ann, Alice and Lena who managed to make their first macs this month! Boy am I glad to have witnessed their timely “births”. 🙂 And I quote Wendy’s words of encouragement when we first corresponded at the beginning of the month over FB,  that with this theme, we see the true meaning of the intentions behind the conceptualisation of the Aspiring Bakers event by Small Small Baker many months ago, that is to be ASPIRING. And I’m glad it had been for some of you. For those who are still hesitating, take the succesfful of these wonderful ladies as personal encouragement and get started with your first macs too! I’m pretty sure it was frustrating for some as it was fun at the same time! But hey, what’s life without a challenge or two eh?

This month also saw many of our members catching the “castella flu”! It seemed to have spread like wild fire over the blogosphere, with some bloggers churning them so seemingly effortlessly in quick sucessions, all in a matter of a few days! Truth be told, I was also smittened by how beautiful some of the castellas made by fellow bloggers turned out to be. But at the same time,  I couldn’t help but felt a bit worried about the number of entries which I’d received. Alas, the numbers were a lil’ more positive than what I had anticipated. And some of you have been most encouraging, especially to Wendy and Swee San, better to have quality than quantity yeah?

And of course, hosting the event allowed me to get to know more members from the Aspiring Bakers’ family and make many new friends along the way and its always good to know like-minded folks who are interested in baking, especially making macarons! That’s what Aspiring Bakers is all about isn’t it? 🙂

Enough of my ranting! Without further ado, I bring to you the round up of this month’s Aspiring Bakers #17: March Macaron Madness!!!

(1) Earl Gray Macarons with Passion Fruit Buttercream by BeeBee from HoneyBeeSweets

(2) Pistachio Macaron with Avocado Cream Cheese Filling by WendyinKK from Table for 2….. or More

(3) Black Sesame Macaron with Cranberry Compote Eggyolk Buttercream by Hody from Cook 4 you & me

(4) Chocolate Macarons with French Buttercream by Peng from Peng’s Kitchen

(5) 黑芝麻马卡龙 (Black Sesame Macarons) by Esther from 爱丝特の烘焙记录

(6) 柃檬罂粟子马卡龙 by Cathy from Cathy’s Joy

(7) Chocolate and Cranberry Macarons by Cathy from Cathy’s Joy

(8) Macarons by Cathy from Cathy’s Joy

(9) 72% cacao dark chocolate macarons by Quizzine from Baking on Cloud 9

(10) I SAW FEET! ~ Matcha Macarons by Ann from Anncoo Journal

(11) Vanilla Macaron with Lemon Curd by Edith of pReCiouS MoMentS

(12) Rosewater Macarons With Vanilla Buttercream by Li Shuan from Helena’s Kitchen

(13) Strawberry Macarons with White Chocolate Ganache by Peng from Peng’s Kitchen

(14) Osmanthus Macarons by Peng from Peng’s Kitchen

(15) Hazelnut Opera Cake with Chocolate Hazelnut Macarons by BeeBee from HoneyBeeSweets

(16) Chocolate Macarons by Jasline from Food Is My Life

(17) Strawberry Milk Macarons from Janine from Not the Kitchen Sink!

(18) Ferrero Macarons from Janine from Not the Kitchen Sink!

(19) My Very First Macarons – Chocolate Macarons by Alice from I Love.I Cook.I Bake

(20) Pandaron by Tray from Baking Tray

(21) Wasabi  & Candied Grapefruit macarons by Matina from delicio8

(22) Macaron à la Fraise et Crème Chantilly by Samantha from Sweet Samsations

(23) Adriano Zumbo’s Pandan Coconut Macarons by Li Shuan from Helena’s Kitchen

(24) Adriano Zumbo’s Vegemite Macarons by Li Shuan from Helena’s Kitchen

(25) Vanilla Bean Macaron with Passionfruit Curd by Lena of Frozen Wings (with Wendy of WendyinKK from Table for 2….. or More)

(26) Vanilla Bean Macaron with Passionfruit curd by Wendy of WendyinKK from Table for 2….. or More (with Lena of Frozen Wings)

(27) French Pistachio Macarons with Passionfruit cream by Hankerie of Hankerie

(28) Pierre Hermé’s Macaron Jardin Enchanté – a reconstruction by Alan of Travellingfoodies

(29) Vanilla Macarons with Kumquat Dark Chocolate and Cointreau Filling by Veronica of Quay Po Cooks

(30) Green Tea and Chocolate Macarons by Jodi of Biscuits and Bobbins

(31) Macaron Sanguine -Two-tone Macarons with Blood Orange & Dark Chocolate Ganache with Blood Orange Confiture by by Alan of Travellingfoodies

(32) Rapberries Avocado Macarons by Hankerie of Hankerie

(33) Espresso and Cocoa Macarons with a Dash of Green Tea by Jessica (facebook link) for recipe reference please refer below

(34) Vanilla Fleur De Sel Macarons with Nutella Filling by Getrude of My Kitchen Snippets

(35) Lavender Macarons with Mango Curd Buttercream by BeeBee from HoneyBeeSweets

(36) Chocolate Macaron by Swee San of the Sweet Spot

(37) Bacon Macaron with Maple Buttercream by Swee San of the Sweet Spot

(38) Love Shaped Macarons by Hankerie of Hankerie

(39) Lemon Macaron from Jasline of Food Is My Life

(40) 处女之作～原味巧克力马卡龙·Macaron by Petra of Pet猫猫

(41) My Maiden Macaron Attempt – Matcha Macaron by Angel of Cook.Bake.Love

(42) Vanilla Macarons with Lemon Curd Durian Fillings by Veronica of Quay Po Cooks

(43) Green Tea and Vanilla Bean Macarons by Lina of Crustabakes

(44) Chocolate Macarons by Jane Chew of Jane’s Corner

(45) Blueberry and Buttercream Macaron by Samantha of Sweet Samsations

(46) Mini French Chocolate Macarons with Fresh Raspberries cream by Hankerie of Hankerie

(47) Dressing up Macarons by Hankerie of Hankerie

(48) Durian Macaron with Durian Cream Cheese by Eileen from I Love Indulgence (facebook link) for recipe, please refer below

So here you go! 48 beautiful entries from Aspiring Bakers from all around the world! Hope you guys had as much fun with the macarons as I did! I don’t know about you guys, but I sure learnt lots from going through the entries, some of which used techniques and baking tips which are new to me! So be sure to hop over to their blogs with the links provided and view their recipes.

With this, we’d come to the end of this month’s March Macaron Madness!!! Or have we? well, not quite yet! Stay tuned for another upcoming post on the results of the two recipients of the book giveaway! Til then, happy macaroning!

End Note: Kindly email me at travellingfoodies.sg@gmail.com if your submissions did not appear up here, or have been inappropriately presented, i.e. broken website link, wrong photo, wrong information etc. I wold have it amended or rectified immediately. We also welcome any comments and feedback on the Aspiring Bakers’ event. Do let us know how we can make it better for you!

And now if you would please, hop over to Samantha of Sweet Samsations who would be hosting Aspiring Bakers #18: Layers of Love (April 2012). Show some love by baking and making a layered cake and participating in this month’s Aspiring Bakers’ event!

 

 

Recipes from non-blogging Aspiring Bakers

(33) Jessica referred to Helene Dujardin’s recipe for Lemon Verbena Macarons as a base and modified for her Espresso and Cocoa Macarons with a Dash of Green Tea. How clever isn’t it? 🙂

(47) Durian Macarons with durian cream cheese by I love Indulgence (Eileen)

Main Ingredients (makes about 2 dozens if the circle is big and if it is small it makes about 3 dozens if you used Tandy Sinclair’s macaron template)

1. 2/3 cup (3 ounces / 85 grams) almond meal (also known as ground almonds)
2. 1 ½ cups (5.25 ounces / 150 grams) pure (100%) icing sugar (also known as powdered sugar)
3. 3 large eggs white at room temperature
4. 4 tablespoons white sugar or granulated sugar
5. 1 teaspoon durian essence

Steps

1. Go to this website and print the template for macarons piping      http://tandysinclair.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/macaron-template.pdf
2. Line the above template into a baking tray and then line another baking paper on top of the template. You might need to adjust the template size according to your baking tray.
3. In a food processor grind almond meal and icing sugar. Then sift the mixture through a medium mesh sieve twice. Set aside.
4. Pour the 3 large eggs white that at room temperature into a stainless steel mixing bowl. Beat egg whites on high speed until they are foamy, gradually add white sugar or granulated sugar to the egg whites. Continue beat it for the egg white at least 8 minutes, max 10 minutes as that depend on the beater speed.
5. Add durian essence and stir lightly.
6. Add half of the sifted dry ingredients (almond meal and icing) mixture. Fold the mixture with a plastic spactula or a metal spoon in a motion of scooping it up from the bottom of the bowl and fold it in. You need to fold in thoroughly the sifted flour mixture. Fold approximately 20 to 25 times.
7. Then add the rest of the flour and fold it lightly approximately 18 to 20 times. When you fold the flour make sure you rotate the bowl. No more than 20 times in      folding as that is suffice that all the flour will incorporate with the meringue batter. This process is called Macaronnage.
8. Macaronner i when the batter becomes nicely firm and drips slowly as you scoop it with a spatulas, that is when your batter is ready to pipe.
9. Attach a 0.4 inches (1.01 cm) tip to the pastry bag. Or if you can used a disposable piping bag and cut the end of the bag approximately 0.5 cm from the end of the bag after you have the batter in the bag.
10. Twist the bag to hold the tip tightly. This prevents the batter from leaking out. If you are using the disposable piping bag you need not to do so.
11. Place the pastry bag, tip down, inside a deep container or glass and pour the batter into the piping bag.
12.  After pouring the batter into the bag, clip the bag top or use rubber band to prevent the batter from coming out.
13. Used the line-baking tray as from Step 2 and squeeze out the batter onto the center of the circles.
14. Tap the tray against a flat surface for at least 3 to 5 times. This helps the macarons hold their rounded shape and helps the pied or little foot to form.
15. Dry the batter – if you have a dry room and you are sure about that then dry it for 30 minutes or so as you will find a slight crust form on top of the macarons.
16. If you could not dry in the normal room temperature then used oven to dry it. Put in oven to 50 Celsius for macarons inside the oven to dry for 15 minutes or so till it is dry. Every 5 minute I will check to make sure it is dry. If the batter circles do not stick to your finger when you touch them, the  drying process is complete. Once it is dry, off the oven and let the batter cool down in the oven itself. Reason for so as you do not want it to crack due to the temperature difference instantly from the oven to the room temperature. Once cool down, remove it from the oven.
17. Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius for fan forced oven for at least 10 minutes or so. If you oven is a very hot fan forced oven bake it at 160 Celsius.
18. Once the oven is pre heated place the macarons in center of the oven and bake for the first 7 minutes at that temperature, then after that turn the temperature to 140 Celsius but if the oven is very hot one then to 130 Celsius for further 15 minutes.
19. The macarons are done remove from the oven. Cool for 10 minutes or so on the tray. When the macarons are completely cool, remove them from the baking tray.
20. Let it completely cool then you can start the gluing (filling) process.

Durian Creamcheese filling (mMakes enough to fill the macarons)

250g cream cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

Flesh of durian from 9 to 12 seeds of fresh durian

Beat the cream cheese and durian flesh in an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar until combined . Pipe a dollop onto one macaron and top with another.

The other important after gluing or filling the macarons for best result you need to make a day in advance as the filling will infuse into the macarons and also to soften the meringue.

“Best consume of macarons within four days from the bake date and need to be stored in the lower part of the fridge in an airtight container. Remove from fridge 30 minutes before serving at room temperature for best taste,