Macarons E-Book

Annie Rigg

• Herausgeber: Ryland Peters & Small
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Macarons are the new cupcakes! Stylish, picture-perfect and delicious, macarons are the ultimate in pretty sweet treats. Adaptable to any colour scheme or flavouring, these delicate little fancies make the perfect gift or centrepiece for a smart afternoon tea. This gorgeous book by baking queen, Annie Rigg, gives you step-by-step instructions on how to master the basic macaron recipe so that you always get a crisp exterior, chewy biscuit and flavoursome filling. Annie also supplies the most popular flavour combinations before providing recipes for both traditional, unexpected and mouthwatering options. Flavours include salted caramel, pistachio, lemon, cappuccino, cherry and chocolate, malted milk chocolate, and raspberry and passion fruit. Annie Rigg is an experienced freelance food stylist and writer. She has worked on numerous books and best-selling magazines, such as Sainsbury's Magazine, Olive, Delicious, Country Living and Good Food Magazine. She has worked with a number of top chefs, and used to cook for world-famous singers and bands on tour, including Tom Jones, Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd and The Rolling Stones.

Leseprobe

cooking notes

All spoon measurements are level unless otherwise specified.

Eggs used in this book are large, unless otherwise specified.

Ovens should be preheated to the specified temperatures. All ovens work slightly differently. We recommend using an oven thermometer and suggest you consult the maker’s handbook for any special instructions, particularly if you are cooking in a fan-assisted/ convection oven, as you will need to adjust temperatures according to manufacturer’s instructions.

basic macarons

Once you’ve mastered this basic recipe, you can create almost any colour and flavour combination you like. You should get 40 shells – i.e. 20 filled macarons – out of all the regular-sized macaron recipes in this book.

200 g/1½ cups icing/confectioners’ sugar

100 g/⅔ cup ground almonds

120–125 g/½ cup egg whites (about 3 eggs)

a pinch of salt

40 g/3 tablespoons caster/superfine sugar

a piping bag, fitted with a 1-cm/½-inch nozzle/tip

2 solid baking sheets, lined with non-stick baking parchment

1 Tip the icing/confectioners’ sugar and almonds into the bowl of a food processor and blend for 30 seconds until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

2 Tip the egg whites into a spotlessly clean and dry mixing bowl. Add the salt and, using an electric handheld whisk, beat until they will only just hold a stiff peak.

3 Continue to whisk at medium speed while adding the caster/ superfine sugar a teaspoonful at a time. Mix well between each addition to ensure that the sugar is thoroughly incorporated before adding the next spoonful. The mixture should be thick, white and glossy.

4 At this point you should add any food colouring paste you are using. Dip a cocktail stick into the paste and stir into the mixture, mixing thoroughly to ensure that the colour is evenly blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

5 Using a large metal spoon, fold the ground sugar and almond mixture into the egg whites.

6 The mixture should be thoroughly incorporated and smooth – this can take up to 1 minute. When it is ready, the mixture should drop from the spoon in a smooth molten mass.

7 Fill the piping bag with the mixture and pipe evenly sized rounds – about 5 cm/2 inches across – onto the prepared baking sheets.

(If a main recipe you are following elsewhere in this book uses this Basic Macarons method, you will probably need to resume the main recipe after this step.)

8 Tap the bottom of the baking sheets sharply, once, on the work surface to expel any large air bubbles.

9 You can scatter edible decorations, liquid food colouring etc. onto the unbaked macaron shells at this stage.

10 Leave the macarons for at least 15 minutes, and up to 1 hour, until they have “set” and formed a dry shell. They should not be sticky, tacky or wet when tested with your fingertip.

11 Preheat the oven to 170˚C (325˚F) Gas 3.

12 Bake the macarons on the middle shelf of the preheated oven, one sheet at a time, for 10 minutes. The tops should be crisp and the bottoms dry. Leave to cool on the baking sheet.

tips for success

Before starting, weigh all the ingredients carefully, have them at room temperature and get your equipment ready. Cover the baking sheets neatly with baking parchment. I find that dark, solid baking sheets work better than silver-coloured ones.

Fit your piping bag with the correct nozzle/tip. I find it easier to twist the bag just above the nozzle/tip, then put it in a bowl with the top open so that I can pour the mixture directly into the bag without using a spoon.

If you want to be sure that every macaron shell is exactly the same size, use a cookie cutter as a guide. Draw 20 circles around the cookie cutter on each sheet of baking parchment, turn it over and pipe the macaron mixture onto each circle.

When you have piped the rounds and tapped the baking sheets on the work surface, leave the unbaked macarons to set on a level surface for at least 15 minutes and anything up to 1 hour to dry – this is a crucial part of macaron making! It helps them to form a glossy, smooth surface and ensures that the macarons have their trademark crinkly “feet” when they come out of the oven.

No two ovens are the same, so do adjust your oven temperature by a few degrees, or turn the baking sheets around halfway through baking if your oven cooks hotter in places.

Once baked, cooled and filled, cover the macarons and leave in the fridge or a cool place for 30 minutes before serving.

If your macarons aren’t perfect the first time, don’t give up – practice makes perfect!

traditional flavours

Once you’ve mastered the art and technique of simple macarons, you can let your imagination run wild with flavours and colours.

The selection of food colouring pastes now available is vast, and food colouring powders are becoming more widely available through online suppliers. Natural liquid food colours are also available in a limited selection of colours – usually red, purple, green and yellow, but the depth of colour will not be quite as vibrant as the pastes.

Natural oils and extracts are a great way of flavouring your macaron shells, and you can now find online suppliers offering quite unusual liquid flavourings such as violet and toffee apple. As with all flavourings, it’s good to remember that less is more and macarons should be delicately flavoured rather than overwhelmingly so.

The flavoured macaron recipes in this section all take the Basic Macarons recipe as their starting point.

pistachio

50 g/½ cup shelled unsalted pistachios

200 g/1½ cups icing/confectioners’ sugar

75 g/½ cup ground almonds

120–125 g/½ cup egg whites (about 3 eggs)

a pinch of salt

40 g/3 tablespoons caster/superfine sugar

green food colouring paste

Use good-quality, unsalted shelled pistachios and grind them finely in a food processor along with the icing/confectioners’ sugar and ground almonds in Step 1 of the Basic Macarons recipe. Add the green food colouring paste in Step 4, then continue with the recipe.