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Saturday, March 31, 2012

My Maiden Macaron Attempt ~ Matcha Macaron 抹茶马卡龙


To support this month’s Aspiring Bakers theme, I gathered all ingredients and baked maracon for the first time on 11th March 2012. Since I just bought a pack of matcha powder while shopping for the ground almond so naturally matcha macaron came into my mind.


I was lucky to get the signature “feet” on my first trial but my macarons were over baked. I should have baked at lower temperature instead of 175C as suggested in the recipe. Also, I got to blame myself for not monitoring closely (I was busy drawing on my Iphone actually; those who play the game should know what I am talking about).

The over-baked macarons were not wasted; they were very delicious in my opinion, tasted just like meringue cookies. I finished all by myself. Hehe.


This batch of macarons is from my second attempt. I learnt my lesson. I lowered the oven temperature and stayed close to the oven to observe throughout the process. I was so happy to see the macarons came out green (no more brown top) and in shape. After maturing, the crust is slight crunchy whereas the inside is slight chewy. Though I like it chewy I think it can be more tender.


Recipe adapted from here. I have actually made slight changes to the amount of ingredient in my two attempts. That’s why there are two sets of ingredient amount in the recipe below. The first set yields dryer batter (which is easier to pipe) and more intense matcha flavour whereas the batter from second set is slightly runnier and the match flavour is quite mild. Personally I prefer more intense matcha flavour so I will use 5g of matcha powder next time.


 Matcha Macaron

Ingredients: (make 24-26 individual macaron shells of 35mm diameter)

(A)
35g/37g ground almond (sifted weight)
5g/ 3g matcha (green tea) powder
40g/40g icing sugar
(B)
33g/35g Egg white
40g/40g icing sugar

Method:

1) Sieve ground almond (my ground almond is not fine enough, so I grind it again before sieving). Do not use the ground almond which does not pass through the sieve. Combine sifted ground almond with matcha powder and icing sugar in (A), sieve together into a large mixing bowl.

2) Beat egg white until foamy and add icing sugar in 3 batches, continue to beat till soft peak.

Picture credit to http://blog.yam.com/homeeconomics/article/33251341

3) Fold in egg white to ground almond mixture with a rubber spatula till a uniform and glossy batter is formed.

4) Fit piping bag with a 1cm plain nozzle tip (Wilton #2A) and fill in the batter. Pipe small circles on non-stick baking sheet (I get my template from here).

5) Prick any air bubbles with a toothpick. Let macarons rest on the baking sheet at room temperature for at least 20 mins till the shell is no longer as sticky (will still be a bit sticky when touched). This step will “dry” the caps and help them rise later when they cook. Meanwhile, preheat oven at 150C, upper heat only.

6) Bake macaron shells at centre rack with upper heat only until “feet” appear (it takes about 3-5 mins) then move the pan to lower rack, switch to lower heat only and place a cool empty tray on upper rack (this is to prevent remaining heat from the upper heating element to further brown the top of macaron shells), continue to bake for another 8-10 mins (depending on individual oven) (I tried using double tray when baking, it helps to prevent the bottom of the shells to turn brown before the shells are fully cooked).


7) Remove the baking paper with maracon shells from baking tray and cool on wire rack. Remove macaron shell from baking paper. Pair them according to size, pipe your preferred filling (I used Nutella here) on cooled shell and assemble. Keep in airtight container in fridge and let them rest for another 24 hours. The humidity of the icing will get into the crispy caps and that’s what will make them crisp on the outside and so tender on the inside. Take out macarons from fridge 20-25 mins to thaw before serving.

In pairs

My friends, Esther and Ann, also use the same recipe source for their macarons. Check up their beautiful macarons here and here.

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #17 - March Macaron Madness! (Mar 2012) hosted by Alan of Travelling Foodies.


Reference:
http://foodnouveau.com/macarons/
http://foodnouveau.com/2010/03/29/paris-france/how-to-make-macarons-a-detailed-illustrated-step-by-step-recipe/
http://foodnouveau.com/2011/12/16/france/a-macaron-troubleshooting-guide-useful-tips-and-advice-to-master-the-french-delicacy/
http://blog.yam.com/homeeconomics/article/33251341
http://blog.yam.com/homeeconomics/article/12709186

28 comments:

  1. like ur blog, like ur music...may i know who is the singer?

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  2. Beautiful maiden macs :)
    Love the green but too bad I don't eat Matcha bakes, but love drinking green tea :)

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  3. Very pretty mac! I don't know how to make mac but I know yours are very nicely baked! I like the bright green colour.

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  4. 很美,我还没勇气挑战这个 :P

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  5. Great job for making these pretty macarons! I have not tasted macarons, must be good since everyone is making them :)

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  6. Really looks good!! :) I love your macs! :)

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  7. beautiful maiden attempt! high feet too!

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  8. Very desirable result for first attempt. Mine was a disaster.

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  9. very pretty mac...i love the green tone...:)

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  10. really well done on your 1st attempted..look neat and pretty, important you can see feet, hehehe.. I was busy with Castella cake last month, too bad i did not bake any macarons..my daughter just asked me to bake some..

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  11. wen,
    Thanks. The singer is Lisa Ono, a popular Japanese-Brazilian bossa nova singer.

    ReplyDelete
  12. WendyinKK,

    Haha, I am vice versa. I think I love matcha bakes more than drinking matcha itself.

    The matcha flavour is very very mild in the macs, so you still can give it a try if you really like the green colour.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Vivian Pang,

    Thanks for your lovely comment.

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  14. HHB,

    Thanks. Macaron is like an eye candy. Pretty to look at but not necessarily nice to eat. :P I tasted some really good one but also tasted some horrible one.

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  15. hanishi/ j3ss kitch3n,

    Thank you for your compliment.

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  16. 鲸鱼,

    为什么不敢?你一定行的。

    ReplyDelete
  17. Quay Po,

    Thanks for dropping by my blog. Does not matter how your first mac turned out, you are already a mac master now (looking at your recent macs posts, can't help but drooling).

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  18. Sherleen T,

    Thanks. I love the green tone too.

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  19. Sonia,

    I am still trying hard to resist the Castella cake craze. Looking forward to reading your mac post soon.

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  20. Hi,would like to know when u bake did you measure the temperature

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  21. Anonymous,

    No. I don't own an oven thermometer.

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  22. I love your macarons! I attended the macaroons baking class and tried at home. But FAILed!!

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  23. I love ur macaroons!! I attended macaroon baking class and tried at home. FAILed still!! I think i should use your recipe instead!! Cheers :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Ameko,

    Thanks. I think macaron is something very "temperamental", I am just lucky to find a recipe that suit me. U may give this recipe a try I think by using the baling method the feet is "guaranteed".

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  25. Argggghh.. I failed again! I think I set the temp too high, the maracoons are cracked! Will try again! Haa

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ameko,

      Don't give up ok?

      Did you get the feet?

      If the feet came out this time, you are very close t sucesss, just need to adjust the temp.

      Delete

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