Macarons Galore

Sorry for being away for so long,

but work has been crazyyy for the period of May.

Straight after the last lap of work in end May, I fell horribly sick.

2 weeks has passed, and I'm now much better (:

Thanks to all who asked.

In the month of May, I baked a lot of macarons.

Why so, since my work schedule is packed to the point of bursting? 

Well, when I'm stressed, I bake. 

haha, now that the toughest period has gone, I have slowed down the pace of baking too.

heh.

So here's a photologue of my mac bakes in the past month (:

18 May - Chocolate macs

19 May - Baileys Buttercream Macs

 They are supposed to be white, 

but oh well, my oven has the tendency to brown my macs :x

They turned out yummy all the same though. heh.

22 May - Oven test

I tried to bake small batches of macs using different oven functions,

and at different temperatures, at different timings. 

 The above look gorgeous, don't they?

Baked at 150 degrees, the color remained pretty, and they could be peeled off easily.

Alas, they have hollow middles ;(

Refer to image below

This is taken at midnight, after all 8 batches of macs have been tried and tested.

Sorry folks, but slight browning is still expected from my macs.

I rather have the correct texture and taste of macs, than to retain the color.

Flavor is more impt :)

24 May - Italian meringue

Awesome color and feet.

But, it's drier than my normal french meringue,

has a slightly cakey taste, 

and has way more sugar content. 

I prefer my french meringue where the shell is crisp, and the middle is fluffy.

It also has a nice almond taste to it, which this italian meringue is missing.

29 May - Salted Caramel & Choc macs for Char

These macs were baked during my event day,

but as it's for char whom I can't turn down, haha,

so yea.

Thankfully, the batch turned out gorgeous!

 1 Jun - Green tea macs for Stella

Yup, tried to sprinkle green tea powder on the macs.

It's a different look.

But I think i prefer not to sprinkle them again.

Looks cleaner. heh.

2 Jun - Passionfruit & Choc macs

 The hubs took this for me as I was piping away.

I love the color of the yellow macs.

Pink is still my fav, but I like yellow second! heh.

The ganache turned out a little too sweet.

So I guess I will finetune the ganache recipe further (:

It's going to be a crazy month ahead for macs.

I have more than 10 orders from friends,

and I'll be having my first stall at an upcoming bazaar!

Hope the response will be good (:

Still deciding on the flavors to be sold, and the number.

Alright. enough of macs.

I'll be sharing a chocolate cake recipe after this (:

Macaron Tips

Ok, I'm on a roll for blogging, 

with this being my 2nd post today.

Apologies that I'm unable to share my recipe for macarons,

but I'm happy to share tips for those who are trying out. :)

My advice is: stick to a recipe you're using till you get em right.

I've baked Hello Kitty macs for a colleague's niece last year,

so I'll use the tips I've given then. 

A few photos of the preparation phase,

to help those who are still grappling with getting the right consistency.

 The above photo shows properly beaten egg whites.

Egg whites play one of the most critical roles in determining the success or failure of baking macarons.

First, you need to "age" the egg whites, preferably for 24 hours - 36 hours.

Crack them carefully in a bowl, and leave it to stand in the fridge with a cling wrap over it.

Make sure that there is no oil in the bowl, and that non of the egg yolk got inside the whites.

Oil will prevent the egg whites from being whipped up properly.

Second,  when beating the egg whites, use a handmixer.

Using your own arm strength to beat takes a long time, and the results might not turn out as well.

Beat the egg whites to form stiff peaks (shown above).

The egg whites should look shiny. 

But be careful not to over-beat your eggs.

Once the stiff peaks and shiny sheen appear, stop beating.

You don't want to get meringue instead. 

 With macarons, you need to work fast.

Once the egg whites are done with the beating,

Add half of your dry ingredients, and mix with spatula.

With they are 80% incorporated, add the other half of the dry ingredients.

Press the mixture against side of the bowl to push out excess air.

When mixing, be careful not to overmix or undermix.

Keep pulling up the mixture on your spatula and let it fall.

See the consistency.

It shouldn't fall down in clumps (undermixed), and

it shouldn't flow quickly in a liquid-like manner (overmixed).

It should fall like drapes of ribbons.

They call it a texture that is "lava-like"

  

 As I've more or less gotten the steps of macaron-baking..

I decided to experiment. haha.

I made 3 different batches of macarons.

Earl-Grey macarons and chocolate macarons (for kids).

Couldn't figure out if I should do the sugar ribbons after piping or after baking.

So for one batch, I put the ribbons first.

 ta-dah!

Alas, the ear seemed to "eat" into the ribbons.

Not too pretty.

 These are the two batches I did without the ribbons first.

Beautifully formed ears. 

Close-up of the kitty.

The ink is from Wilton's.

Yes, I drew them one by one after baking. lol.

 Chocolate macarons for a colleague's nieces

Earl Grey Macarons for the adults!

Earl grey is a difficult taste to bring out.

I had tried baking earl grey cupcakes before, and the taste didn't come out.

Reading online doesnt help too.

Many people are complaining that the earl grey is too faint.

So what I did was to steep 3 packets of earl grey tea in cream overnight,

before using it for the chocolate-earl grey ganache.

It worked like a miracle.

The earl grey taste was strong.

In addition, I added one packet of the leaves when baking the shells.

The taste wasn't strong, but you could taste bits of the leaves (:

Hope this helps to all who're aspiring to bake macarons! 

Month of May

Sorry for the lack of updates :x

I've really lost track of stuff in the past few months,

So I'll try to pick up from what happened in May 13. heh.

Zee's wedding!

Finally got to wear my blue zara dress & Jeffrey Campbell inspired shoes!

With dearest Zee!

Her wedding has the most number of VIPS I've ever seen in my life.

Grandma's 80th Bday!

May she stay healthy, happy and blessed always (:

Dinner date with b - Sushi Bar

Totally love the aburi roll!

Managed to try the soft shell crab ones this time around 

 Katsu don for the hubs!

River Safari

Pstt - it's boring

 The only saving grace is Kaikai the panda.

Jiajia was sleeping.

I know this is kaikai cuz I asked the zookeeper. lol.

Half of the exhibits weren't open yet.

seriously. don't bother going now. haha.

Travelogue: Europe

Hello all :)

It's been really so long since I last blogged, and so much has happened.

Been procrastinating for the longest time to blog.

There's the wedding, the honeymoon, Chinese New year, and the many gatherings I've been to (:

I'm thankful for the wonderful whirlwind 6 months that have passed since Jan. 

This is indeed the beginning of a wonderful new chapter in my life (:

I miss Europe already, with its subzero temperatures in winter,

and of course, the snow.

Such a climate is addictive, at least to me. 

Europe is really a gorgeous place.

6 months down the road, I miss the cold, the food, the people, and the architecture.

Can't wait to be back one day (: