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 bags11. 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!!
