Baking with Claudio: Macarons
Welcome to the first installment of Baking with Claudio. I look forward to sharing my experience of learning these delicacies in my home city of Rome. Today we will be doing a more advanced recipe and I hope I can be part of your success in making delicious macarons in your own kitchen.
Scroll down for step-by-step instructions for two types of Macarons, salted caramel buttercream and milk chocolate and cookies. This is one of the basic ways to make macarons. Once you have mastered this you can easily move on to multiple variations of colors and flavors.
Dry Ingredients
1st batch: Salted caramel
150gr Almond flour
150gr Powdered sugar
55gr Egg whites
yellow, orange and brown food coloring
2nd batch:
Milk chocolate & cookies.
150gr Almond flour
150gr Powdered sugar
35gr Cacao powder
55gr Egg whites
Red food coloring
After sifting the dry ingredients, leave a space in the center and add the egg whites
For the salted caramel:
Add three drops of yellow and red food coloring and two drops of brown food coloring
For the chocolate:
Add six/seven drops of red food coloring
Swirl the egg whites and food coloring together
Check on a while item, such as a bowl scraper, that the color is correct. You can add more coloring here, if needed.
IMPORTANT: Do not mix the dry ingredients with the egg whites until you add the Italian meringue.
Italian Meringue
This mix is for both batches
110gr Egg whites
75gr Water
300gr Granulated sugar
Start mixing the egg whites at high speed until they become soft peaks. Stop mixing until syrup is ready.
Bring the water and sugar to a boil at 118°C
Restart mixing at high speed and add syrup slowly. After adding all the syrup, reduce to medium speed until the temperature of the mixture reaches 50°C.
Split mixture into two batches
Should be around 190gr in each bowl
Mix together vigorously the dry ingredients and colored egg whites with the Italian meringue
Once mixture is smooth, place immediately into pastry bag to avoid it becoming dry
Pipe rounds of about 1.25 inches onto silicone or parchment paper leaving space in between. You can do 5 x 5 but it’s safer to do 5 x 4.
It’s important to remove all air bubbles from the rounds to avoid cracking in the shells so bang the bottom of the tray firmly with your hand
Test your shells for moisture before baking. If the batter is left on your finger it is too soon to bake.
5 x 4 seems to work best
Sprinkle brown sugar over the shells.
No batter on your finger after testing them.…it’s time to bake.
Notice how 5 x 5 doesn’t always work out.
In the first attempt to bake macarons, it’s important to determine the correct temperature with your oven. In my experience, the temperature could range from 220°F to 350°F so it’s good to test one cookie before baking the whole batch.
Bake for 15-18 minutes at 320°F to start. If the shell changes color then the temperature is too high. If the shell is too soft then the temperature is too low.
Fillings
Milk chocolate & cookies
150gr Milk chocolate (or mixed with dark chocolate)
130gr Heavy cream
100gr Crushed cookies (of your choice - we used graham crackers)
Salted caramel butter cream
120gr Soft butter
50gr Powdered sugar
80gr Caramel or dulce de leche
3gr Salt
Whip buttercream until fluffy
Boil the heavy cream with half of the crushed cookies then pour over the chocolate and mix vigorously. Once smooth, pour in the other half of crushed cookies and mix. Leave in the refrigerator until cold.
Place the ganache in a pastry bag and pipe over chocolate shell
Cover with the other cookie shells
Do the same with the buttercream
Macarons can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 7 days or 30 days in the freezer
