Hi everyone, welcome to this episode of Amanda Tastes.
Today I am going to show you how to make Rose Macaroons.
I always hear people say about how hard it is to make Macaroons.
I think Macaroons are all about details.
Ingredients are very basic.
You’ll need ground almond, egg whites, caster sugar, icing sugar, food coloring and some rose water.
Let’s take a closer look at the rose water.
This rose water is used to flavor food.
You can see that it's a kind of clear liquid with a strong rose fragrant.
You may substitute the rose water with others to create different flavors.
Now let’s prepare the baking sheets.
We all know that Macaroons are like little cookies.
To make life much easier, I would like to draw some circles on the parchment paper beforehand.
Use a bottle cap or some objects of the same size to help you.
Draw along the cap to form little circles on the parchment paper.
The cap that I am using here is about 3 cm in diameter.
Remember to leave 2-3 cm between each circle.
When it's done, flip the parchment paper over, so that you can pipe the batter on this side.
Or, it's better to bake macaroons on a silicone baking mat.
So if you are going to use the silicone baking mat, place the circle draft paper underneath it.
So that you can see those circles.
Now let's separate the eggs.
Break an egg in a bowl, and then remove the egg yolk with a slotted spoon.
There's a rumor goes that leftover egg whites are good for making macaroons.
Well I think it's just a rumor.
As long as you have the perfect control over the meringue, you can nail macaroons.
I personally prefer using fresh eggs in baking.
Put icing sugar and ground almond in a food processor and beat them up.
Since the ground almond may still be a little coarse, so run them with icing sugar through the food processor to grind it fine.
So then you will have a glossy outside of your macaroons.
It's optional, but without this step, your macaroons will look kind of grainy and lumpy.
Sift the almond flour mixture.
You don’t want to use a sieve that is extra fine, since the ground almonds are not as fine as your flour.
So that your ground almonds won't sift through.
Once you are done, if there are still some ground almonds left, don’t add them in the mixture.
Now let's beat the egg whites.
Add the egg whites into the large bowl attached to your mixer.
Beat on medium to high speed.
Add in caster sugar when you see it becomes bubbly.
Add sugar into the meringue for 3-4 times separately.
Beat until it reaches the stiff peak stage.
Just like the meringue of a Chiffon cake.
That is when you lift the whisk, the tip holds up steadily.
Now add a few drops of red coloring.
There you have a beautiful pink meringue.
Next, prepare the batter.
Add in half of the almond mixture in to the meringue.
Fold it until the ingredients are just combined.
After that, pour the batter into the remaining almond mixture.
Fold the batter again.
Deal with it like a Chiffon cake batter.
Except that this macaroon batter is a bit thicker.
Remember not to stir clockwise.
And do not knock out the air bubbles in the meringue.
Mix in the rose water.
The longer you fold the batter, the lesser air bubbles remain in your meringue, and the thinner your batter becomes.
You need to pay close attention to the consistency of your batter.
Lift your spatula, if the batter cannot drop like this, your batter is still too thick, and you need more time.
Fold a few more times and lift again.
Let the batter run like a ribbon.
It's the right consistency where the batter run in ribbon but not extremely smoothly, but a little jerky.
But if you hold the spatula above and the batter runs down very smoothly, you have been folding for too long and the batter is running out of air bubbles.
So it's pretty tricky and it requires finesse.
Now fit the nozzle on a piping bag.
Here I am using a plain round nozzle that is about 1 cm in diameter.
I like to use a clip to seal the piping bag when I was filling, so that the batter won't leak out.
Place the piping bag in a container.
Pour the batter in the piping bag.
Then secure the top of this piping bag with another clip.
Let's get started piping the batter.
Squeeze the batter in those small circles we just draw underneath the baking sheet.
Quickly Lift the nozzle after you pipe each macaroon batter.
Keep the peaks straight.
They will hold this little peaks at first.
Don’t worry, they will soon flatten later.
Based on the amount of ingredients that I am using and their size, we will have about 50 macaroon halves in total.
Once done, lift the baking sheet and drop it on the counter twice to get rid of any large air bubbles.
Check those batters, and if you find these tiny pits, just use a toothpick to kind of patch the surface.
If you are going to bake on parchment paper, use a little batter on the corners as glue to help you stick the parchment paper on the pan.
Again, squeeze the batter in those circles.
Try to squeeze the exact amount of batter for each circle.
You may not bake those macaroons right now.
Instead, allow them to dry a little.
Turn on the fan and reduce the temperature to the lowest, and then leave them in the oven for about ten minutes or so.
Until they have formed a dry crust over their surfaces,
And not sticky to touch.
It takes about 30 mins to dry at room temperature.
Now they are ready to bake.
Preheat the oven to 160C/320F Fan.
Set them in the oven when the temperature reaches 160C/320F.
Reduce the temperature immediately to 140C/284F.
Bake for 15 mins.
[140C/284F Fan. Bake for about 15 mins.]Macaroons are pretty sensitive to temperature and time, so the temperature and time needed may various, and requires practice.
When they are done, transfer them to a wire rack to cool immediately.
If you have more than one tray to bake, don’t put them all together in the oven, bake them one at a time.
While waiting, prepare the filling.
Here I am referring to a Swiss buttercream recipe.
You will need egg whites, caster sugar, butter, rose water and food coloring.
Remember to use softened room temperature butter.
Heat water in a pot, and place a large bowl over the pot.
Pour egg whites in, followed by caster sugar and salt.
Whisk the egg whites mixture.
Keep the heat to low, and warm the egg whites over the hot steam.
It only takes about 1-2 mins.
You need to keep whisking to prevent unevenly distributed heat.
Whisk until it reaches 65C/149F.
If you don’t have a thermometer, you can use your hand instead.
It should be a little hot to touch.
Transfer the hot meringue into a mixing bowl.
Beat on high speed.
Beating the hot meringue is harder than beating a normal meringue.
So beat on high speed for a longer period of time.
It takes about 3 mins.
Beat until it becomes foamy and thick, and it holds up a peak on the whisk.
Now add in softened butter little by little into the meringue.
For 100g butter, I add in 4-5 times in total separately.
You need to beat until incorporated every time you add butter in before you add in more.
Then add in rose water and red coloring.
And beat again.
At this point they may not be able to combine thoroughly, but instead be a little lumpy.
Don’t worry about it, just beat it.
Beat on medium to high, be patient, and it will take about 2-3 mins.
The buttercream will be smooth again eventually.
Now you can change to another beater.
Switch to a flat beater and keep beating.
If you are using a hand mixer, beat on low speed.
Turn down the speed to medium.
Keep beating the buttercream.
It needs 2-3 more minutes.
Beat until it's very very smooth.
Taste it.
It's done when there's no lumps in it.
It should be very smooth and creamy.
You have to apply it right away, since it will become firm later.
Again, spoon them into the piping bag.
The nozzle is still the plain round one that is about 1 cm in diameter.
Now we are ready to assemble the macaroons.
Now the macaroon halves are cooled completely, and you can loosen them easily.
If you baked on parchment paper, it would be a little sticky.
Carefully lift them from the parchment paper. If they are still sticky in the middle, you need a couple more minutes.
Squeeze the whipped buttercream right in the middle of a macaroon half.
Cover the filling with another macaroon half, and it’s done.
You’d better store the assembled macaroons in a sealed and cool place overnight.
They taste better the next day.
The texture of macaroons are crunchy on the outside while a little gooey inside.
You have nailed macaroons if you have reached this texture.
At this point, you may feel that macaroons are not that scary.
But, you still need to remember these tips.
First off, do not change the recipe, especially the amount of sugar.
Here are two dreadful examples of macaroons when you cut down 1/3 of the sugar.
Sugar helps to shape. Without them, macaroons will become fatter and spongy like a cake, and it won't form the foot.
It will lose the right texture as well.
You also need to pay attention to the cooling process before baking.
It has to be dry on the surface, but do not let it cool for too long.
It will look like this if that happens.
And it will stick to the parchment paper and won't come off.
This is because that the outside skin firms up if cooled for too long, so that it won't be able to rise in the oven. And it cracks.
Lastly, many people may encounter another problem, that is, it looks normal from the outside, but if you break it, you will see the outside skin separated from the inside batter.
This may due to many reasons. It's most likely that you have folded the batter for too many times so that you have knocked out all the air bubbles.
As a result, the lower part couldn’t rise, but the outside skin has already formed. There you leave a little space in between.
If you pay close attention to those details, it's not that hard to make macaroons.
Personally I think it's unnecessary to be a perfectionist about the appearance.
As long as your macaroons have the right texture, they are perfect.
I hope that this video is helpful.
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