As the holiday season approach, BLURB is giving up $10 OFF any book purchased on Blurb.com

Just enter GIVE10 during check out.

Tricolour Satsuma Mandarin White Chocolate Macaron

Hello all,

Sorry that I haven't been posting for a while. Have some great news to share with you guys.

After one year of preparing and doing my research, I am finally accepted and enrolled in a pastry course. I will be in school and working in a pastry shop to learn all the baking base. In 6 months I will be passing the exam and will have my own qualification to open a pastry shop or setting up a business should I decide to pursue the path. I guess for the next 6 months I will be super busy as it is intensive and there are a lot to learn. So I am apologising in advance if I wouldn't be able to post.

As autumn kicked in, I saw some wonderful, juicy Satsuma Mandarin in my organic grocer in the market. Always love fruity flavour in pastry so I thought to give it a try. Love how the flavour turns out, it is refreshing and the acid taste of the fruit balance out the sweetness of the white chocolate ganache.

I hope you enjoy this entry and Happy Baking


FOR THE MACARON SHELL
2 room temperatured egg white(80g total)
100g icing sugar
60g ground almond
60g castor sugar
1 tsp orange powder food colouring
1 tsp green powder food colouring

Tools:
1. Big piping bag with a noozle no.8 placed inside.
2. 3 small size freezer bags, fold the bottom up to a side, then staple, making a piping bag. Repeat for all 3 bags.
3. 2 extra mixing bowls
4. 2 extra rubber spatulas

Method:
1. Put ground almond and icing sugar in a food processor or a small blender. Blend them finely.

2. Sift the blended mixture and set aside

3. With an electric beater, Beat the egg white, start from low speed and increase slowly to maximum speed. Beat until frothy (you will see lots of fine bubbles)

4. Now it's the time to add in the castor sugar, add half of the sugar, continue to beat in maximum speed for around 2 minutes, add in the other half, continue until stiff peak is obtained.

5. Mix the dry ingredients into the egg whites. This process is called Macaronage. Start folding with a rubber spatula. Mix just until you roughly incorporate the mixture.

6. Divide the mixture into 3 parts. Add orange food colouring powder in one part, green food colouring in the second part. Leave the third part without colouring, continue folding until the batter flow like magma, do the same with other 2 parts.

7. For details and FAQ on folding please refer to this post http://macaron-fetish.blogspot.fr/2010/02/basic-macaron-recipe.html

8. I use 3 plastic freezing bags, fold the bottom side up to the right, so that I can fill up the bag via the opening.I get a triangular which will make a cone when open up. Staple along the side. You will fill the batter in the opening of the freezer bag

9. Fill up each freezing bag with each colours.

10. Cut the bottom of each freezing bags

11. Put those 3 bags carefully in the piping bag , pipe your macaron (about 2 cm diameter) it should spread a bit as it settles. The point should slowly disappear if the mixture is the right consistency. If not you could hit the bottom of the tray with your hand to smooth the point. The first few macarons piped might not have 3 colours, depending on how well those 3 bags are positioned. but don't worry they'll come eventually

12. For step by step guide with photos, please visit the following post http://macaron-fetish.blogspot.fr/2010/02/tri-colours-blueberry-white-chocolate.html

13. Let your macarons sit for about 30minutes. This will depend on the humidity in your house and the day. Try touching the macaron softly, after 30mins. it should not stick to your hand.
For the filling.

14. Heat your oven to 150 C on the (heating on the top only). When the oven is ready, put your macaron at the very bottom shelf. Bake for 12 minutes, check them in the mid time of 6 minutes, the feets should already start forming. Turn the baking tray to the opposite direction to allow even baking. When the 6 mins is up, change the heating setting of your oven to Bottom only. This will help cooking the macaron and rise the feet more. Bake for another 6 minutes. You can test if the macaron is cook, touch softly on the shell and when the macaron doesn't slide on the feet, it's cooked. if it's not add another 1 mins each time and check.

(This is the method i found the best that works for me after few trial and error. I baked with heating the oven top and bottom and i had crack macarons. Having said that, every oven is slightly different than another, so please adjust accordingly)



15. Let the macaron cool down before removing them. You could wet your working area and slide the baking sheet on it to speed up the cooling process, but do not let it sit there too long, if not the macarons will become soggy. Other wise you can leave them cool at room temperature and remove them.



For the Satsuma Mandarin White Chocolate Ganache


- 1 Organic Satsuma Mandarin (zest then peel and squeeze out the juice)
- 10g of the squeezed mandarin juice
- 30g full fat fresh cream (30% fat)
- 100g white chocolate

1. Chopped white chocolate finely, and place it in heat proof bowl.

2. In a pot, heat up the cream and satsuma mandarin zest. When the cream is warm pour it over the chocolate, mix well until a smooth consistency is obtained. Add in the juice, mix well.

3. Let cool and place a cling wrap over the surface of the ganache before placing it the refrigerator for it to set. It will take about 1 hour

4. When the ganache is set, pipe it over a shell and close it up with another. Enjoy your macaron!!

Apple Jelly White Chocolate and Walnut Macaron

Hey guys,

 

I AM BACK!!! First of all let me apologise for being absent the whole summer, I just realised that my last post was back in July, almost 3 months back. So it means I been missing the whole summer!!

This summer was kinda eventful for me. Shortly after the post in July, one of my elder bunny Nestor had fell critically ill and we almost lost him. Luckily with good vet and medication, he is still alive and kicking. He wanted to live and he is my little fighter and had never once given up even he was in lot of pain. I was exhausted after 4 days of providing him intensive care day and night.

During summer I have been getting myself more active in sports and had been going to swim with a friend. I feel so much better physically and mentally. August just flew by without even I realise it, my sister in law was visiting so we spent a lot of times in family and at the same time being so busy preparing for our trip to Asia. I just came back last week and the jetlag has finally gone away and life is back to routine.

I am glad that Mac Attack is back for autumn, theme : Fruit of the season... Autumn and winter are not really exciting for me in term of fruits and vege. I started to see oranges, apples, pears... (like them but just do not love them) All my favourite berries are coming to an end and I have to wait until next year. Oh well this is the nature.... I found some walnuts and some organic apples in the market yesterday, and was thinking using apple with Manzana liquor to give it a kick in my macarons. So for this entry, let me present you Apple Jelly White Chocolate and Walnut Macaron.

So let's start baking

For the shell (about 24 shells of 3 cm)
- 1 egg whites (40g) - Room temperature
- 30g castor sugar

- 50g icing sugar
- 25g almond meal
- 1/4 teaspoon of green powder /gel food colouring
- 1 - 2 walnut, skin removed and crushed

1. Mix almond meal food colouring (if use powder form) and icing sugar together and blend it up in the blender. Sift then set aside.

2. Using electric beater, beat egg white until foamy, then add in half of the castor sugar, continue until the egg white reaches soft peak then add in the rest and beat until stiff peak. if you use gel or paste food colouring, you can add it when the egg white reaches soft peak and continue to beat until stiff peak.

3. Add the dry ingredient to the meringue. Start folding each batter in each bowl until a smooth shiny batter is obtain. The batter should flow down smoothly and formed a ribbon when it's ready.

4. For details and FAQ on folding please refer to this post http://macaron-fetish.blogspot.fr/2010/02/basic-macaron-recipe.html

5. Prepare your piping bag and block the tip. Fill it up. Start piping the batter. Sprinkle some walnut over the shells.

6. Preheat oven to 150 C while the macaron is resting. Bake for 12-14 minutes and let the macaron shells cool down before removing them.

7. Match up the shells by size and get ready to prepare the filling.

For the filling

For the jelly
- 1/2 apple (skinned and juiced)
- 1/2 tsp Manzana Apple Liquor
- 1/2 tsp agar agar powder

For the ganache
- 50g good quality white chocolate (valrhona)- chopped
- 20g fresh cream / soya cream
- 1/2 tsp Manzana liquor

1. In a pot, put apple juice, Manzana liquor and agar agar powder together. Stir and bring it to boil for 2 minutes. Pour it over a flat bowl / plat and let cool before placing it to set in the fridge.

2. Heat up the cream and Manzana liquor in another pot so that it is warm.

3. Pour warm cream over chopped chocolate stir to mix well and until a smooth consistence ganache is obtained.

5. When the jelly is set, cut it into small cubes. Fill one of the macaron shell with chocolate ganache, place the jelly cube on top, place a tiny drop of chocolate on another shell before placing it over.

6. It is best eating the same evening or next day as the moisture from the jelly might soften the shells.

Holiday Macaron with Exotic Flavour

Wohooo summer is finally here (or not). The weather is really nothing to be excited about, we probably get 1 sunny day a week and it is grey, rain, wind and more rain. The fruits prices just went rocket high since most of the producer of cerise and mirabelle (local produce) are having bad harvest because of the rain.

Anyway, to kick the blues away and to participate in the MacAttack for this month. As the theme is Holiday Macaron, I just have to make myself feel better and imagine myself back on my tropical island home. Let me introduce you the exotic kick in macaron - Pomegranate, Kaffir Lime and Coconut Ganache. In case you have never heard of kaffir lime, it is variety of lime usually found and used in south and south east asia. It has rough and bumpy skin, the flavour is somehow sublime - a less acid taste than green lime with a light bitter note at the end.

The blend of the flavour is just lovely, the acid kick from the kaffir lime and pomegranate is soften up with the flavour of the coconut and the creamy texture of the ganache. Needlessness to say, it wasn't long until the plate was empty

Some photos down the memory lane, can't wait to get back again...

The Ferringhi Beach, Penang, Malaysia

 Georgetown, UNESCO Heritage area, Penang, Malaysia

 

Air Itam, market near where my parents' home

 Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion (aka the Blue Mansion), Penang

 

Best noodle for breakfast in town, Air Itam, Penang

 Exotic fruits in the market

So let's start baking

For the shell (about 24 shells of 3 cm)
- 1 egg whites (40g) - Room temperature
- 30g castor sugar

- 50g icing sugar
- 25g almond meal
- 5g dried coconut flakes, more to sprinkle
- 1/4 teaspoon of white powder food colouring
- some marigold flower petal (optional)




1. Mix almond meal, coconut flakes, food colouring and icing sugar together and blend it up in the blender. Sift then set aside.

2. Using electric beater, beat egg white until foamy, then add in half of the castor sugar, continue until the egg white reaches soft peak then add in the rest and beat until stiff peak.

3. Add the dry ingredient to the meringue. Start folding each batter in each bowl until a smooth shiny batter is obtain. The batter should flow down smoothly and formed a ribbon when it's ready.

4. For details and FAQ on folding please refer to this post http://macaron-fetish.blogspot.fr/2010/02/basic-macaron-recipe.html

5. Prepare your piping bag and block the tip. Fill it up. Start piping the batter. Sprinkle some coconut flakes or flower petals over the shells if you like.

6. Preheat oven to 150 C while the macaron is resting. Bake for 12-14 minutes and let the macaron shells cool down before removing them.

7. Match up the shells by size and get ready to prepare the filling.

 

For the filling


- 1/2 pomergrante (de pulp just keep the fruit in grains)
-  juice of 1 kaffir lime
- 1 tablespoon of coconut flakes
- 50g good quality white chocolate (valrhona)- chopped
- 25g fresh cream / soya cream

1. In a pot, fill it up with some water and place white chocolate in a heat proof bowl. Bring the water to boil and place the bowl of chocolate on top to melt it.

2. Mean while, heat up the cream in another pot so that it is warm.

3. When the chocolate is melted, pour the warm cream over, stir to mix well.

4. Add in kaffir lime juice and coconut flakes. Stir until a smooth consistence ganache is obtained.

5. Fill one of the macaron shell with chocolate ganache, place 3-4 pomegranate grains over, place a tiny drop of chocolate on another shell so that the shell is able to stick to the pomegranate grains.

6. It is best eating the same evening or next day as the moisture from fresh pomegranate might soften the shells.

Enjoy!!!