Hi Bold Bakers.
Ok, just be normal for a second.
Good start, this is…
Hi Bold Bakers, it’s almost Valentine’s Day so as you can see Kevin is making an appearance
in one of my videos, but this time it’s a little different.
So I’m here because Gemma is going to show me how to make, eh, kind of a difficult recipe.
So I’m going to guide Kevin through making Macarons, but I’m actually gonna be pretty
hands off, we’ve got a post on BiggerBolderBaking.com about some of the biggest mistakes when making
macaroons.
Kevin hasn’t read the recipe, Kevin hasn’t seen a video he’s going into this totally
blind and hopefully I guide him in the right direction.
Now, I want to guide Gemma in the right direction and I hate to start things off like this but,
you actually said Macarons and Macaroons.
Macarons.
And I actually want to make sure that we’re doing it right, so I brought a little bit
of help here, of the American pronunciation of what this should be so let’s see what
it says.
“Macaron”.
There you go, Macaron.
That’s the American translation, the Irish translation is the one that I said.
So the Irish translation would be Macaroon, that’s good.
That’s really good.
But we’re making macarons, macarons, macarons.
Where do we start?
So we’re gonna start out in a nice large bowl and you’re gonna sift together your
dry ingredients.
So here we have some almond flour also known as almond meal, we’ve made this before,
you know that.
And then powdered sugar, confectioners sugar, and you want to sieve these together because
you don’t want to get any lumps in your macarons.
So let me ask you Gemma, on the almond flour, you can make it at home?
Yeah, we have a recipe for it on the website.
Super easy.
I was answering my own question, but awesome.
So why don’t you do that Kevin, into the bowls.
Into the sieve.
So dry ingredients in here, and then I’m gonna add in my sugar.
Ok, so then you would do it here, yeah it helps if you do this with your hand, I’m
not supposed to… go like this, ok, and we’re gonna let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
Now this is really important because macarons are really delicate and they have a smooth
finish, and if you sieve it you’re gonna end up with these little lumps.
Look at that, already with all these lumps.
Well we can work those out with our hands.
Yeah I’m doing my best, still going.
So now the reason why I tell people it was kind of a difficult recipe is because I remember
5 years ago when you made French macarons for the first time.
So I’d never made them before and we got requests asking how to make them, well I actually
don’t know how to make them.
I had.
Never had to make them in my career, so I made a couple batches and they were an awful
failure, and I shared that with you guys.
And then once it came to doing the video I was much better, but now 5 years gone I think
my Macaron game is down.
Alright you’re showing me your best game then, that’s good to know.
Now I think if something happens to yours I don’t know how to make macarons then.
No, don’t, you give us the confidence to bake right?
There you go.
So sugar and almond flour, our dry ingredients, sieved.
Set them over to the side Kevin, now we’re going to use a hand mixer because it’s only
a small amount of eggs.
You can also use the stand mixer but I like the hand mixer.
Now Kevin I’ve said this a million times, what’s my note about eggwhites?
Make sure they’re clean, nothing touches them.
Yes, ok.
That’s part of it.
It kind of is, but there’s another one about egg whites.
Make sure it’s room temperature, there you go!
And always at room temperature, why?
Because they mix up much better, whip up much better.
Kevin I’m going to pour these in there.
Ok.
Actually you pour them in there I’m not supposed to be doing anything, ok.
So I want you to whip them up until they start to foam then we’ll add in our sugar.
Perfect, sounds good.
So we want to get the eggs at this stage at soft, soft peaks like really foamy.
So it’s nice and foamy now how are you feeling?
I think it’s looking good!
I’m gonna help you out here because you need a lot of hands, I have a little bit of
sugar in this bowl and I’m slowly going to start streaming it in, while you’re whipping.
And it just kind of stabilizes your egg whites and makes them nice and shiny and thick.
This is generally how you make merengue and you’ve made merengue right?
Yes and I know it’s like low and slow, like buttercream frosting as well, and it’s really
important to have patience.
Yep, it’s important to have patience… but this isn’t…
There you go , this is looking good Kevin so you can turn it off now.
As you can see they’ve formed stiff peaks you see how they’re standing right now?
Great.
So that’s great that’s good consistency, it’s also lovely and shiny.
That’s what we’re going for.
Awesome.
So right now, get a little bit of food coloring on the end of this tooth pick, ok, just to
get some color, and then just streak them through the thing.
Perfect, that should be good.
Now I know these are your macarons that you’re making for me but I thought it’d be a nice,
pinkey, red-y kind of bright color.
Yes, one of your favorite colors.
My favorite color is pinkey, red-y.
So this is what we’re gonna do, for one more time we’re gonna sieve these back into
our eggwhites, Why do you sieve them again?
Because we want them to be really lovely and fine, and we want to get those lumps out.
Also, sieving aerates your ingredients which will make our merengue nice and light, excellent.
Let’s trade this out, gorgeous.
And then we do some sieving.
Kevin, considering that you’re in this video, who is in charge of cleaning up after this.
Waffles, our dog waffles, yeah good luck with that.
So Gemma, we’re actually filming this video a long time before Valentine’s Day, do you
think the baby has arrived?
Well we are due February 11th.
I’m hoping, after all the conversations I’ve had with my stomach, that the baby
is gonna come on it’s due date and not in the middle of January like I fear.
We’ve been talking to him, we have a whole exit strategy planned out, so hopefully all
of that coaching works out.
Ok all of our dry ingredients are in there, what’s next.
So next, this is where the technique comes in which can be a little bit tricky but I
know you’ve got this.
I’m going to give you a metal spoon and we’re going to fold it.
Now it’ll take different stages and we’ll see how you go.
Go around in that motion that’s a good way to do it.
The first stage is it’s kind of thick and lumpy, then we keep on folding it like you’re
doing, nice and gently getting all the dry ingredients, and what we’re going for now
is more of like a lava consistency.
So when you drop it off your spoon it should drop off somewhat slowly, and then once it
lands it takes a couple seconds to disappear, maybe 15-20 seconds, but this is actually
looking really good.
I think Kevin, you might be there.
So we’re going to stop mixing our batter, resist the urge.
I’m gonna bring in our piping bag here, i have it fitted with a little round nozzle.
Now this is your piping bag trick, isn’t it?
Well this isn’t my trick this is everyone’s trick, I can’t claim that one.
You put your piping bag into a glass, like this, Kevin you should try this because I
know this trick.
Ok hold on, like a smaller glass?
Yeah like that.
Push the guy down the middle.
Ok Kevin, batter into the piping bag.
Ok, I’m going to make a mess.
No you’re not, you’ll be grand.
I’m holding it for you.
But here’s the thing it’s like lava.
You know that finesse is not my strong suit.
Yeah it is, it’s a recipe that you have to follow all the steps and stuff.
But you’re doing great, especially with my guidance.
OK perfect, there you go.
Ok so this next step, I’m not so sure about.
The whole, rolling it up.
That’s grand, ok.
You know what we’ll do though, we’ll bring in our baking tray.
So here I have a double baking tray, it’s one of my tips it stops the macarons from
burning.
It just keeps them insulated, you know they’re delicate, they’re only tiny little things.
You just wanna be careful, yep, we’ve got some parchment paper here.
What’s the parchment paper for?
To put the macarons on.
I’m just asking questions.
Gemma I made you something.
No you didn’t actually you did make this.
I made you an official Bigger Bolder Baking macaron stencil.
Gorgeous.
SO this is on the website with the recipe.
Great.
Ok now what do we do.
We’re gonna slide this under our parchment paper.
Ok so we’re gonna slide it under our own parchment paper.
Ok Kevin, we’re set up.
Now grab your piping bag and let’s get these puppies made.
We’re gonna unravel it.
Piping bags can be tricky, you see it just came into place.
That’s perfect.
Ok turn it upright so our batter doesn’t come out.
Perfect, ok here’s the thing.
With your macaroons.
This is where her patience really comes into play.
My patience is well gone out the window at this stage.
Now come here to me Kevin, you want to pipe it onto these circles but give it a little
space to move, you don’t want to fill the whole circle.
So do I pipe it in the middle?
Yeah pipe it in the middle, do that, just do a little bloop, like a blow like that.
Great.
So do a little squeeze, a little squeeze squeezy.
Like that?
You can do a little more than that?
A little bit more but you’re on the right track.
There you go, lovely.
Gorgeous.
Do that again, but a lot more times.
Perfect, Kevin.
Perfect.
Man you’re killing this.
Perfect, just make sure to do it in one dollop.
And as you’re squeezing Kevin, lift up the nozzle from the macaron.
Keep going keep going keep going stop.
It’s a labor of love, but then when you have a perfect one it’s like really worth
it.
These are looking good Kevin, Actually I have to say Kevin you’re pretty much killing
it right now.
They’re all unique and special all on their own.
Not too bad for the first time right?
I think you did great.
And you know what?
I can tell by looking at them that they’re nice and smooth on top, like I have a feeling
that you absolutely killed it.
Now here’s what i’m going to do Kevin, I’m going to bang these trays on the countertop
like so, and this just eliminates any air pockets that are in the macarons just so we
get a lovely smooth finish.
Now what you want to do is just set these over to the side, now this time varies.
Now you’re talking 30 minutes, 30-60 minutes depending on what kind of climate you live
in.
Now what we’re aiming for is for them to get nice and dry, the shells to get nice and
dry because do you know what that does?
I don’t.
It gives you your feet.
It gives the macarons their feet . Is that the height?
Exactly those little feet on the bottom that everyone is going for.
Great.
So what we do is we leave these out at room temperature, let the tops dry and once they
dry, we pop them into the oven.
Great.
We’ve got at least half an hour so let’s go get some lunch.
Let’s do it.
It’s been around 45 minutes or so and in my kitchen, if I touch the top of the shells,
see that Kevin they’re nice and dry.
So if you touch them, ok how am I doing so far?
These are great, they are perfect so far.
I can say safely now that they’re dry and I’m positive they’re going to get some
feet, we can get these guys into the oven.
Ok and I’ve got one shot to get these in right?
Right.
So now what you want to do is bake your macaroons off at 300°F or 150°C for roughly 15-20
minutes or so.
Ok it’s been 20 minutes, they took all that time in the oven now I’m going to call Kevin
in to see all the hard work that he did.
Come on in Kevin.
Alright, ok.
What do you mean?
These are gorgeous!
These are looking ok.
Really?
Yeah they’re gorgeous look.
Oh yeah those are looking really good.
I think I was reacting to the flat guy in front.
Look at those.
I think I was reacting to that guy there, but those are looking pretty good.
Look at the first done which is pretty good.
Didn’t I tell you that was gonna be the best?
So number one, nailed it.
Like in a good way not in the Netflix way.
And if you put your finger on top and they’re firm underneath that’s how you know they’re
done.
At 15 minutes we checked them and they were a little bit wobbly so we left it in another
5, that’s your tell tale sign.
But check out those feet.
I can honestly say that if anyone were to go back and check my 2 macaron videos, these
are way better.
Look at that, look at that.
You do not have to be afraid.
Look at those feet, they’re absolutely gorgeous.
Like I’m honestly, they’re perfect.
Wow because I was a little worried because you said don’t come in and then you can
come in.
I know I did that deliberately to worry you.
So what we’re gonna do now, these are still a little bit damp we want them a little bit
drier we want them to cool down, so let’s leave them on the tray for around 20 minutes
or so and then we’ll come back and fill them.
Great.
So our Macarons are cold, I got them off the tray and onto a cooling rack.
If you find that they’re a little bit sticky and they might be, turn off the oven, put
them back on the tray and put them in the oven for like 5 minutes so they can dry out
a little bit longer.
But what we’re gonna do is, I have some Buttercream here I like buttercream in mine,
you want it Kevin?
Yep.
So we’re gonna sandwich them so let’s pick these 2, you’re gonna match them up,
I’m gonna turn them over then…
Just do a doop in the middle, a drop, a dollop and then we push it down with the macaron.
There you go keep going, a little bit more pressure.
Little bit more pressure, pull it away now, gorgeous.
And then what you do is get your little hat, sandwich.
French macaron sandwich.
Ok look at that, gorgeous.
Ok we’ll finish these off.
Alright last one here.
Ok Gem, what do you think of the present that you helped me make for you.
I love it.
I’m really proud of you and they look absolutely gorgeous.
Are you gonna pop yours?
I’m gonna give it a try.
Might be a bit too much.
Oh yeah.
They’re perfect, honestly high five.
10 out of 10.
They’re just super smooth, sugary but not too sugary.
Like I said it’s chewy but it’s also crispy as well.
Thanks, and the butter cream is really nice too.
Yeah.
Gem, thank you for letting me bake with you and for teaching me, Thank you!
Happy Valentine’s Day, and you’ll come back soon?
Hope so, maybe I’ll bring the baby.
Maybe you’ll bring the baby.
Thank you so much for watching I hope you enjoyed this episode, and we’ll see you
back here really soon for more Bigger Bolder Baking.