Today, I made some French Macarons along with my sister and her friend and my friend, both from high school. It even struck me that the aura in our home was like reminiscing the past or something.
Was planning to make some cupcakes with my friend, trying to improve the ones I made from the last post but out of nowhere my sister or was it me, thought of making French Macarons. I remembered making some when I was doing my on-the-job training at Shangri-La Mactan Resort and Spa and I also made some during my dish development course in our school. The recipe was a bit the same, basic recipe but it was different in just a small detail. The secret to it was the rose water, which smelled like a perfume meant for old people but i do love it though.
So back to the one I made, due to the fact that I have a limited memory like a goldfish, I searched for recipes online just to refresh my memory of it. I reviewed the recipe thoroughly just to see if we have all the ingredients ( as if it's really that difficult of a dish ). Then it hit me, almond flour. Kept thinking about what to substitute it knowing that with all our daily cooking, we would never keep any almond flour. So I searched the net on any substitute but none really said anything. Maybe I wasn't searching hard enough.
After some time, my sister called me and said we have raw almonds kept in the chiller. I was relieved to see it but still leaving me with thoughts about how to turn it into a flour. At first I thought I need to grind it then add cornstarch or something but that is a bit unusual as far as my knowledge is concerned. Then I remembered reading somewhere online that any kind of nuts that are ground are actually called flour. So I started grinding them, well my sister and her friend did. They were using the old mortar and pestle, kept on telling them to use the electric coffee mill, sort of but insisted that the mortar and pestle works best. It took them awhile to grind it so I started to chop some of the almonds for the sake of helping them do it much faster. After they've done all the almonds, I carefully reviewed their work ( finally, my turn to be the judge like a boss ). I saw some that aren't really crushed properly so I decided to use the "sort of" coffee mill to do all the work. I noticed, once the crushed almonds turned to powder, the oils were released and it made the whole thing moist. I didn't know what to do because I haven't done anything like this before.
Thinking that there must be something wrong with what I'm doing but i just followed my instincts. Seeing that my "almond flour" is a bit moist, I just added the confectioner's sugar to it hoping to loosen things up and maybe dry it a bit and put it through a sift which is what a normal recipe said.
The other problem that I had to battle is the beating of the egg whites. I've practiced before how to make meringues without an electric mixer and I must say it gives your right or left arm a bit of an exercise. Even making the foam of the egg whites without even reaching some soft peaks yet, huge sweats starts appearing in my face but luckily none of them dropped in the mixture. My sister and her friend tried and for a few minutes they felt their arms starting to burn but at least they had fun. So I continued whisking it until I reached the consistency that I needed, the real battle that I was talking about was the extreme heat and humidity in the kitchen, it wasn't the best condition for making it. The bubbles started popping and it started to lose its foams but I still continued and managed to make the the mixture properly as what the recipe said.
After 10 minutes, time for the baking to commence! Then I discovered that the baking tray wouldn't fit in the oven, it has an extra 2 inch that wouldn't fit. I panicked for a while inside my head and on the way to frustration but when I look to my right, i saw some dish cloth, big ones. I used it to cover the 2 inch opening and was a bit relieved but still the thought of not really cooking it well still lingers in my mind for 10 minutes, 10 agonizing minutes. Well, not really. HAHA.
Ten minutes has passed and another ten just to let it sit for a bit, judgement time begins. I noticed that the discs weren't really that hollow and there's no feet or whatever you call it. The texture was a bit moist and it sort of looked like cake discs due to it's foamy like built. We assembled igt by pairing the same size and added strawberry jam to it, viola! The not so perfect French Macarons were made. I'm not really that confident about my work but I'm happy with it. Never felt this happy before. The taste was like almond-ish and has a grainy texture to it which bothered me a bit. I know, I'm a bit hard on myself there but that's just the way it is. I just want to excel in this type of career which I chose and loved. After all, practice do makes perfect.
The whole afternoon was tiring and fun at the same time, there's nothing like cooking with friends whom you enjoyed doing it. It's also fun to share some of my knowledge to them and gaining some on the process. Soon I'll practice it more and hopefully, the next time I post about them French Macarons, they'd be perfect.
that's just the basic, I added some flavoring and coloring to it. The measurements of these just depends on whatever you're planning really, just try to be creative and stuff. Also, the filling depends on you, i used strawberry jam on mine cuz my sister loved it so much.
Cheers!
Was planning to make some cupcakes with my friend, trying to improve the ones I made from the last post but out of nowhere my sister or was it me, thought of making French Macarons. I remembered making some when I was doing my on-the-job training at Shangri-La Mactan Resort and Spa and I also made some during my dish development course in our school. The recipe was a bit the same, basic recipe but it was different in just a small detail. The secret to it was the rose water, which smelled like a perfume meant for old people but i do love it though.
So back to the one I made, due to the fact that I have a limited memory like a goldfish, I searched for recipes online just to refresh my memory of it. I reviewed the recipe thoroughly just to see if we have all the ingredients ( as if it's really that difficult of a dish ). Then it hit me, almond flour. Kept thinking about what to substitute it knowing that with all our daily cooking, we would never keep any almond flour. So I searched the net on any substitute but none really said anything. Maybe I wasn't searching hard enough.
After some time, my sister called me and said we have raw almonds kept in the chiller. I was relieved to see it but still leaving me with thoughts about how to turn it into a flour. At first I thought I need to grind it then add cornstarch or something but that is a bit unusual as far as my knowledge is concerned. Then I remembered reading somewhere online that any kind of nuts that are ground are actually called flour. So I started grinding them, well my sister and her friend did. They were using the old mortar and pestle, kept on telling them to use the electric coffee mill, sort of but insisted that the mortar and pestle works best. It took them awhile to grind it so I started to chop some of the almonds for the sake of helping them do it much faster. After they've done all the almonds, I carefully reviewed their work ( finally, my turn to be the judge like a boss ). I saw some that aren't really crushed properly so I decided to use the "sort of" coffee mill to do all the work. I noticed, once the crushed almonds turned to powder, the oils were released and it made the whole thing moist. I didn't know what to do because I haven't done anything like this before.
Thinking that there must be something wrong with what I'm doing but i just followed my instincts. Seeing that my "almond flour" is a bit moist, I just added the confectioner's sugar to it hoping to loosen things up and maybe dry it a bit and put it through a sift which is what a normal recipe said.
The other problem that I had to battle is the beating of the egg whites. I've practiced before how to make meringues without an electric mixer and I must say it gives your right or left arm a bit of an exercise. Even making the foam of the egg whites without even reaching some soft peaks yet, huge sweats starts appearing in my face but luckily none of them dropped in the mixture. My sister and her friend tried and for a few minutes they felt their arms starting to burn but at least they had fun. So I continued whisking it until I reached the consistency that I needed, the real battle that I was talking about was the extreme heat and humidity in the kitchen, it wasn't the best condition for making it. The bubbles started popping and it started to lose its foams but I still continued and managed to make the the mixture properly as what the recipe said.
Placed the mixture in a piping bag and started piping them in a baking tray lined with wax paper. That was a bit of a tricky part right there because the mixture was a bit rather liquidy so I may have some drippings. I kept on going until I made 26 small discs that was perfect for the baking tray.
Once finished piping them, turned the oven on which I clearly forgot to preheat but thankfully, in the recipe, it
said that after piping it has to sit for at least 10 minutes before baking which gave me time for the preheating
thing. I was very excited to bake it and eager to see the end result.
After 10 minutes, time for the baking to commence! Then I discovered that the baking tray wouldn't fit in the oven, it has an extra 2 inch that wouldn't fit. I panicked for a while inside my head and on the way to frustration but when I look to my right, i saw some dish cloth, big ones. I used it to cover the 2 inch opening and was a bit relieved but still the thought of not really cooking it well still lingers in my mind for 10 minutes, 10 agonizing minutes. Well, not really. HAHA.
Ten minutes has passed and another ten just to let it sit for a bit, judgement time begins. I noticed that the discs weren't really that hollow and there's no feet or whatever you call it. The texture was a bit moist and it sort of looked like cake discs due to it's foamy like built. We assembled igt by pairing the same size and added strawberry jam to it, viola! The not so perfect French Macarons were made. I'm not really that confident about my work but I'm happy with it. Never felt this happy before. The taste was like almond-ish and has a grainy texture to it which bothered me a bit. I know, I'm a bit hard on myself there but that's just the way it is. I just want to excel in this type of career which I chose and loved. After all, practice do makes perfect.
The discs, fresh out of the oven without "feet" or whatever you call them. Clear sign of an error in the preparation of the mixture or not properly cooked.
The whole afternoon was tiring and fun at the same time, there's nothing like cooking with friends whom you enjoyed doing it. It's also fun to share some of my knowledge to them and gaining some on the process. Soon I'll practice it more and hopefully, the next time I post about them French Macarons, they'd be perfect.
Ingredients:
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
- pinch of cream of tartar or baking soda
that's just the basic, I added some flavoring and coloring to it. The measurements of these just depends on whatever you're planning really, just try to be creative and stuff. Also, the filling depends on you, i used strawberry jam on mine cuz my sister loved it so much.
Cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment