0 MACARONS - THE DARING BAKERS

The end of the month is once again on our doorstep and time has come for all of us lovers of flour, eggs and sugar to post our Daring Bakers latest creations to date...

Can you believe that this is the 25th consecutive challenge that I complete as A Daring Baker (2 years and one month as a member)? Incredible! Sometimes, I amaze myself with my voluntarism and capacity to never call it a day even if I'd love to do so. It is a real miracle that such a pessimistic fraidy-cat like me like me is able to gather enough strenghth in order not to throw the towel when my baking skills are being put to the test. I am able to prove that I can surpass myself, jump over my shadow and confront my fears with much perseverance and determination...

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. who chose "Macarons" from Claudia Fleming’s "The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern" as the challenge recipe.

Some of you might remember that in December 2008, I had made my very first "Macarons" with my friend Jessica from Maryland (USA) and wrote about how that French speciality always filled me with apprehension and how scared I was at the idea of trying to compare with people who mastered the art of making "Macarons" to the perfection, yet how, at the end, we found them not as daunting as we imagined...

Well, to tell you the truth, this time around, I wasn't as relaxed as I wished to be considering the fact that it would not be my very first time with that speciality. Unfortunately I was as scared of getting started as if it had been when I made my inaugural batch of "Macarons" batch. What made me uncomfortable was the fact that "Macarons" are notoriously tricky to make and testing an unknown recipe made me even feel more edgier. Silly girl! Sometimes I can be really stupid, but nevermind.

Anyway, no matter how uneasy I felt about going through the whole process of making "Macarons" again, I promised myself that they were going to look better than the first time around and that I would forever put an end to my "Macarons" angst. The result was surprinsingly very exciting and with my fears put aside, I instantly understood why people can't stop carrying on about those cute little sugar gems-

As we were free to use the flavorings of our choice for our "Macarons", I decided to add some vanilla sugar to the delightfully almond-tasting macaron shells and make an "Orange, Cinnamon & Cubeb Pepper Buttercream" as filling. Heavenly!

Apart from having the most luscious aroma, my "Macarons" also had the most perfect texture I had ever come across. They weren't shallow, were crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. A macaron-lover's dream!

I wish to thank Amy S. at "Baking Without Fear" (USA) for choosing this awesome recipe! I really enjoyed making "Macarons" and was so happy to get a little training in order to perfect my skills.

~ Vanilla Macarons With Orange, Cinnamon & Cubeb Pepper Buttercream ~ Recipe taken from Claudia Fleming’s "The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern".

Macaron Shells

Yields 10 dozen macarons

Preparation time:
Not taking into account the amount of time it takes for you to bring your egg whites to room temperature, the whole baking process, including making the batter, piping and baking will probably take you about an hour to an hour and a half.

Actual baking time:
17-20 minutes in total.

Equipment required:
• Electric mixer, preferably a stand mixer with a whisk attachment
• Rubber spatula
• Baking sheets
• Parchment paper or nonstick liners
• Pastry bag (can be disposable)
• Plain half-inch pastry bag tip
• Sifter or sieve
• If you don’t have a pastry bag and/or tips, you can use a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off
• Oven
• Cooling rack
• Thin-bladed spatula for removing the macaroons from the baking sheets
• Food processor or nut grinder, if grinding your own nuts (ouch!)

Ingredients:
225g (2 1/4 Cups) Confectioners’/Icing sugar
190g (2 Cups) Almond flour
25g (2Tbs) Granulated sugar
5 Egg whites, at room temperature

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.

3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Let the macaron rest for 30-60 minutes.
7. Bake the macaron for 17-20 minutes at 150° C (302° F)
8. Cool on a rack before filling.

***************

Orange, Cinnamon & Cubeb Pepper Buttercream Filling

Makes about 1 cup buttercream.

Ingredients:
120g (1 stick) Unsalted butter, at room temperature
(1 Cup) Confectioners'/icing sugar
1/2 Tsp Orange essence
1/2 Tsp Ground cinnamon
1/4 Tsp Freshly ground cubeb pepper

Method:
1. Cream the butter until pale and smooth.
2. Add the sugar and spices. Incorporate.
3. Beat the mixture until light and fluffy.
4. Fill the macarons.

Remarks:
This buttercream melts, so keep your macarons in the fridge.
The macarons will be better the next day, so don't eat them straight away!

Additional information:
David Lebovitz breaks it down.
More macaroon 411.
Get inspired by our own Tartlette!
Go behind the scenes of Paulette.
Watch a pro pipe macaroons.
Beating egg whites.

***************

Etant donné la longueur du texte original, je n'ai malheureusement pas pu faire une traduction française de ce billet et je m'en excuse auprès de tous mes amis lecteur s et blogueurs francophones!

C'est pourquoi je vous suggère de vous rendre sur les blogs mentionnés ci-dessous. Vous y trouverez cette recette en version française.

Chez Jasmine de "Jasmine Cuisine" (Canada)
Chez Isa de "Les Gourmandises d'Isa" (Canada)