Back on the trails of the macaron craze!
This time I decided to try, after much trepidation (gulp!) the IM - Italian Meringue method. I've been apprehensive about using this method, as I do not have a candy thermometer and the thought of klutzy me messing up the sugar syrup for the egg whites just ain't such a bright picture. The method is supposed to yield macarons with smoother tops, give prettier (but lower) feet and provide the answer to the woes of hollow shells.
Since I was experimenting, might as well go all the way, having a mix of of almond and hazelnut meal to reduce the strong almond taste I had when using the FM - French Meringue method. Still candy-thermometer-less, I weighed out the sugar and water, waited out 3 mins after the sugar syrup boils before pouring it into the whipped egg whites. Instead of adding the tant- pour-tant (french atas reference to the layman almond meal, icing sugar mixture) into the egg whites, this method calls for the reverse! This part is way scary, as it seemed that the egg whites would make the macaronage very runny. I was keeping count on the nnumber of times of folding, wary about the overfolding scenario.
After pipping, and trying to create the kitty shells ala iheartbaking comes the dreaded moment of waiting for the shield/skin to form. This was 35 mins of pure agony. So instead of obessively looking over my shoulder at those shells every 3 mins, I went for a shower to kill the mounting anxiety. When I returned, the shells looked no different, BUT when I gently pressed them, they had formed the SHIELD. My little heart was yelping (like a little excited pups, yes) ... praise to whoever invented this method!!!!
A good 15 mins later, I was a proud convert of the IM method. The batch still had cracked tops (still think oven temperature is the culprit) but the ones that turned out well, looked really pretty with the smooth tops, delicate frilly feet and most worthy mention of all - they were not hollow!!
I am in MACARON HEAVEN!
Fast forward to the next day - made the dark chocolate and hazelnuts filling and slowly drawing on the Hello Kitty faces with edible colour marker pens ...geez, this was more difficult and took longer than I expected. The result - awesome-cuteness!
Next comes the foodtography. Here is a pic of the normal macs before the cam-whoring Hello Kitty ones...
I laid the cutey Hello Kitty macs on an aluminium reflective cake base as I was running out of a decent table top to take pics with; it created a nice reflection, giving the macs a somewhat 3D effect. You can see the Hello Kitty ears in the reflection and it looks like I've stackd two Hello Kitties together!
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| Freckled Hello Kitty Macarons.. LOL! |
What a wonderful weekend! And I wouldn't claim all these credit for my own, I had the Hello Kitty inspiration from a fellow blogger, whom I give special thanks to - iheartbaking.
Cheerz to a new week!
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