A 4 Tier of Blueberry macarons

Originally for these macaron shells, I was aiming for more of a pastel purple shell. Instead, they came out slightly on the dark purple side. Looks like I was a bit heavy handed on the purple gel food colouring. I had just bought it and was super excited to use it.

If you have been following along with me on my macaron journey, the recipe for these is pretty much the same one I have been using for the past 7 years! Wow, can you believe it? I have been baking macarons & blogging about them for so long already! Despite moving 3 times in the past 7 years, including across several provinces, the recipe has stood the test of finicky ovens and humidity! There are some tweaks here and there, but ultimately it is the same exact recipe. Oven baking times may differ slightly but that is because of aforementioned finicky oven.

almond meal and icing sugar mixed together.

Ingredients for Purple Murple Macaron Shells

225g icing sugar

125g almond meal

5g albumen

28g berry sugar (extra fine sugar)

100g aged egg whites

2 drops Wilton purple gel food colouring 

Notes:

• Make your own berry sugar by processing regular sugar in a food processor until the sugar crystals are super fine. Keep any extra sugar in an air tight container for future baking. 
• Keep almond meal in the fridge when you are not using it to prevent it from going rancid. A few hours before baking, take the almond meal out of the fridge and let it sit at room temperature. 
• Egg whites need to be aged for 2 days in an airtight container.  I place my egg whites in a draft free place on the kitchen counter. Keep the egg yolks in the fridge for the buttercream.
• Pre-measure all ingredients before starting. In fact, do this for ALL recipes!  
• Kitchen tools: 
• kitchen scale (approx. $20 on amazon or Canadian tire)
• food processor (helpful to grind the almond meal and icing sugar together)
• sifter
• spatula (at least 2)
• hand mixer or stand mixer
• piping bag and tip
• large upright cup (helps to hold up piping bag)
• silicon mats or parchment paper
• heavy duty baking sheets (or stack two baking sheets together; this prevents macarons from burning). 

Directions for Purple Murple Macaron Shells

1. Measure all ingredients. Set up the piping bag for the macarons with a round piping tip (I use a Wilton 2A or Ateco 804 piping tip). Line baking sheets with silicon mats or parchment paper. If you are worried about piping macarons too large, use a smaller piping tip. 
   

   ingredients for making the macaron shell

2. Process the almond meal and icing sugar in a food processor until it is well mixed together. Use a spoon to occasionally move the ingredients around before processing again. I have mine set on the finest setting. 
   

   processing of almond meal and icing sugar

3. Sift the icing sugar-almond meal mixture through a sifter to ensure there are no clumps. Place a bowl underneath.
   

   Sifting of the icing sugar and almond meal after processing.

4. Measure out 100g of egg whites and place in the bowl of the stand-up mixer with the whisk attachment.  Slowly whisk at low speed until little bubbles form. Once the bubbles form, add in the mixture of berry sugar and albumen. Then turn the mixer to medium speed (e.g. 4 on the Kitchen Aid).
   

   adding in the albumen and extra fine sugar to the whipping egg whites.

5. Continue to whisk the egg whites until “soft peaks” form. To check, stop and tilt the head of the Kitchen Aid back or stop and lift the tip of the whisk into the mixture to see if a small “bird’s peak forms”. If you see a peak form, then you are done whisking the egg whites. If it looks drippy/wet as you lift up, keep whisking until the “soft peaks” form – off the whisk.  Add in the two drops of Wilton Leaf purple food colouring with a toothpick.
6. Slowly incorporate the almond meal sugar mixture by sifting 2 tablespoons at a time into the meringue. Mix in a clockwise direction. This step is probably one of the most crucial steps in making macarons – also known as the macaronage process. Sift 2 tablespoons of the almond -sugar mixture into the whipped egg whites after each step. Mix in a clockwise direction.
   1st part= 16 turns
   2nd part = 11 turns
   3rd part = 14 turns
   4th part = 11 turns
   5th part = 11 turns
   6th part = 23 turns
7. Give a few more turns to the batter scooping through it with your spatula. Once the macaron batter feels and looks like magma (flows slowly) you are ready to transfer it to the prepared piping bag. When you transfer the macaron batter to the piping bag you are also “mixing it”.
8. Pipe out small circles. Hold the piping bag vertically. Pipe straight down and then do a quick circular movement to the right to finish piping one shell. I pipe across the length of my tray. I typically pipe 18-20 macaron shells per tray. How many shells you pipe on a tray will depend on how big you make each shell. Before piping the next sheet, firmly rap the tray on the counter to get rid of any air bubbles inside the shells. This is called “tamping”. Use a toothpick to gently poke any bubbles.
   
   here’s an example of me piping & tamping. These were for chocolate macarons but the idea is the same.  
   
   Continue to pipe the rest of the trays. 5 shells on the first row, then 4, then 5, then 4. For this particular video above, I ended up piping smaller macarons for each row.

   Let the piped macarons sit for at least 60 minutes until a skin forms and is dry to the touch (this is an important step).

9. Preheat the oven to 280-290F. Allow the oven to come to the correct temperature. This may take 30 minutes. Using an oven thermometer will be helpful. Depending on your oven you may be baking anywhere from 280F to 290F. Currently I am baking each tray of my macarons at 290F for 20 minutes. Once the macarons are done baking allow the shells to cool on their tray before you gently peel them off. Lift under the mat and then push up to gently release each macaron shell. The bottoms should be nice and smooth.
   
10. At this point you can choose to place the macaron shells in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer to be filled with buttercream for another day. Otherwise, continue on with matching shells together in order to fill them with the chocolate buttercream.

Blueberry Buttercream Recipe

• 80g castor (caster) sugar (superfine sugar)
• 25g water
• 1 whole egg (~60g)
• 1 egg yolk
• 180g soft unsalted butter (cut into cubes)
• 2 tablespoons of finely processed freeze dried blueberries

1. Bring sugar and water to a boil in a small pot.  Place candy thermometer on the side of the pot. Heat the sugar to 250F(120C. Do not touch the solution, but allow the sugar solution to slowly bubble on its own.
   
2. In another bowl or the bowl of your stand up mixer whisk the eggs and egg yolks until it lightens in colour.
   
3. Once the hot sugar mixture reaches 250F slow down the whisking speed of the eggs, and immediately pour the hot sugar mixture into the egg mixture. Increase to a higher whisking speed (8 on my KitchenAid). Continue whisking until the mixture has cooled down completely (approximately 10-15 minutes). It will look glossy, white and meringue like (see video below). 

   

4. Keep whisking the meringue until it has cooled (10-15 minutes). Meanwhile in a separate bowl, whisk the butter until it has thickened. It will lighten a bit in colour. Once the meringue has cooled, slowly add in the whisked butter a tablespoon at a time. Continue whisking until the buttercream is smooth. If it looks like it is curdling, that is okay! Keep whisking and the buttercream will come back together. 
5. Place the freeze dried blueberries into a food processor. Blitz until you have a fine powder. You can find freeze dried fruits in the snack aisle of most health food stores, in camping stores or online.
   
6. Add the freeze dried blueberries into the buttercream mixture. Whisk until combined. Using a spatula stir the blueberry buttercream a few times to deflate air pockets. Then, transfer the blueberry buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a tip.
   
7. Set up your macaron shells so each shell has a partner shell that matches it in size.
   
8. Pipe a small mound of blueberry buttercream onto each half macaron shell. Assemble the macarons by placing the tops on the macaron and gently push together until the buttercream mound flattens.
   
9. Store the macarons in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 days. 2 hours before serving, bring them out of the fridge as they are best enjoyed at room temperature.
   

Well, there you have it! My complete recipe for purple murple macarons filled with a blueberry buttercream. You can certainly use fruit jams instead of freeze dried blueberries but I find that this often results in a wet buttercream. So use caution and just had a touch. 

It seems to me that it has been a while since I have been able to blog about my macaron journey. The last macarons I blogged about for macaron mashup were my Apple Spice Caramel Macarons. Between packing up things in Edmonton for the move to Ottawa and everything in between, life got a tad busy! But here we are in March! Despite the crazy cold winter we happened to move in (each item arrived solidly iced), all of my kitchen equipment for making macarons thankfully arrived in one piece. I present to you the first batch of macarons that I made in our kitchen in Ottawa!

I was a tad nervous that the shells would not bake according to my expectations, as new ovens have a tendency to be finicky towards macaron shells. Happily, this was not the case. The macaron shells turned out better than expected. 

Interestingly enough, this is the first time I have blogged about chocolate macarons. When I first started making macarons nearly 8 years ago, I tried to make chocolate macarons and they failed miserably. The shells were awful, no feet to speak of and all around failure. I’ll have to dig up a photo from the archives to truly demonstrate how bad they were! 

With this recipe in hand, you will have success in the macaron making department! Think of this as me saving you from my initial short comings in the macaron baking area. I recognize that there are quite a few steps in this macaron process, but fear not as the step by step instructions (along with the accompanying visuals) will help you attain better macaron baking results. 

I’ve included notes and added some videos from my YouTube channel into this post to make it easier to reference. 

Ingredients for Chocolate Macaron Shells

225g icing sugar

125g almond meal

5g albumen

28g berry sugar (extra fine sugar)

100g aged egg whites

3 drops Wilton Leaf Brown gel food colouring 

Notes:

• You can make own berry sugar by processing regular sugar in a food processor until the sugar crystals are super fine. Keep any extra sugar in an air tight container for future baking. 
• Keep almond meal in the fridge when you are not using it. A few hours before baking, take the almond meal out of the fridge and let it sit at room temperature. 
• Egg whites need to be aged for 2 days in an airtight container.  I place my egg whites in a draft free place on the kitchen counter. Keep the egg yolks in the fridge for the buttercream.
• Pre-measure all ingredients before starting. In fact, do this for any recipe!  
• Kitchen tools needed: a kitchen scale, a food processor (helpful to grind the almond meal and icing sugar together), a sifter, spatula, hand mixer or stand mixer, piping bag and tip, silicon mats or parchment paper and heavy duty baking sheets. If you don’t have heavy duty baking sheets, stack two baking sheets together. 

Directions for Chocolate Macaron Shells

1. Measure all ingredients. Set up the piping bag for the macarons with the piping tip (I use a Wilton 2A or Ateco 804 piping tip). Line baking sheets with silicon mats or parchment paper.
   
2. Process the almond meal and icing sugar in a food processor until it is well mixed together. Use a spoon to occasionally move the ingredients around before processing again.
   
3. Sift the icing sugar-almond meal mixture through a sifter to ensure there are no clumps. Place a bowl underneath.
   
4. Measure out 100g of egg whites and place in the bowl of the stand-up mixer with the whisk attachment.  Slowly whisk at low speed until little bubbles form. Once the bubbles form, add in the mixture of berry sugar and albumen. Then turn the mixer to medium speed (e.g. 4 on the Kitchen Aid).
   
5. Continue to whisk the egg whites until “soft peaks” form. To check, stop and tilt the head of the Kitchen Aid back or stop and lift the tip of the whisk into the mixture to see if a small “bird’s peak forms”. If you see a peak form, then you are done whisking the egg whites. If it looks drippy/wet as you lift up, keep whisking until the “soft peaks” form.  Add in the two drops of Wilton Leaf Brown food colouring with a toothpick.
   
6. Slowly incorporate the almond meal sugar mixture by sifting 2 tablespoons at a time into the meringue. Mix in a clockwise direction. This step is probably one of the most crucial steps in making macarons – also known as the macaronage process. Mixing in a clockwise direction do the following while sifting 2 tablespoons of the almond meal-sugar mixture into the whipped egg whites.
   1st part= 16 turns
   2nd part = 11 turns
   3rd part = 14 turns
   4th part = 11 turns
   5th part = 11 turns
   6th part = 23 turns
   
7. Give a few more turns to the batter scooping through it with your spatula. Once the macaron batter feels and looks like magma (flows slowly) you are ready to transfer it to the prepared piping bag. When you transfer the macaron batter to the piping bag you are also “mixing it”.
8. Pipe out small circles. Hold the piping bag vertically. Pipe straight down and then do a quick circular movement to the right to finish piping one shell. I pipe across the length of my tray. I typically pipe 18-20 macaron shells per tray. How many shells you pipe on a tray will depend on how big you make each shell. Before piping the next sheet, firmly rap the tray on the counter to get rid of any air bubbles inside the shells. This is called “tamping”. Use a toothpick to gently poke any bubbles.
   

   Continue to pipe the rest of the trays. I typically pipe about 4 trays of macarons with 18-20 macarons on each one.  5 shells on the first row, then 4, then 5, then 4. For this particular video above, I ended up piping smaller macarons for each row.

   Let the piped macarons sit for at least 60 minutes until a skin forms and is dry to the touch (this is an important step).

9. Preheat the oven to 280-290F. Allow the oven to come to the correct temperature. This may take 30 minutes. Using an oven thermometer will be helpful. Depending on your oven you may be baking anywhere from 280F to 290F. Currently I am baking each tray of my macarons at 290F for 20 minutes. Once the macarons are done baking allow the shells to cool on their tray before you gently peel them off. Lift under the mat and then push up to gently release each macaron shell. The bottoms should be nice and smooth.

   At this point you can choose to place the macaron shells in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer to be filled with buttercream for another day. Otherwise, continue on with matching shells together in order to fill them with the chocolate buttercream.

Ingredients for Chocolate Buttercream

• 80g berry sugar/superfine sugar
• 25g water
• 1 whole egg (~60g)
• 1 egg yolk
• 160g soft unsalted butter (cut into cubes)
• 180g good quality dark chocolate – 64% Dark valrhona manjari

Thinking about it, in the past my chocolate macaron fillings never turned out as I always tried to make more of a chocolate ganache. While this is a good option for a filling, using a chocolate macaron buttercream filling seems to have been the best option yet! I have no idea why I didn’t think of this before. You just need to simply melt the chocolate, allow it to cool and then slowly incorporate into the buttercream!

Directions for Chocolate Buttercream

1. Bring sugar and water to a boil in a small pot. Heat the sugar to 250F(120C) using a candy thermometer. If it boils, clean the sides of the pan with a damp pastry brush. Try not to mix the solution, but allow the sugar solution to heat on its own.
   
2. In another bowl or the bowl of your stand up mixer whisk the eggs and egg yolks until it lightens in colour.
   
3. Once the hot sugar mixture reaches 250F slow down the whisking speed of the eggs, and immediately pour the hot sugar mixture into the egg mixture (do this part quickly). Increase to a higher whisking speed (8 on my KitchenAid). Continue whisking until the mixture has cooled down completely (approximately 15 minutes). It will look glossy, white and meringue like.
   
4. Keep whisking the meringue until it has cooled (10-15 minutes). While the buttercream is whisking away, melt the chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a pot of boiling water. The chocolate will slowly melt. Once melted, transfer to another heat proof bowl and allow to cool.
   
5. While the melted chocolate is cooling, in a separate bowl whisk the butter until it has thickened. It will lighten a bit in colour. Once the meringue has cooled (temperature drops down to 50F), slowly add in the whisked butter a tablespoon at a time. Continue whisking until the buttercream is smooth.
   
6. Once the melted chocolate has adequately cooled (test by putting a finger into the chocolate. If it isn’t too hot to the touch than it is good to use). You just don’t want the chocolate to be too hot, otherwise it will melt your buttercream.  While the buttercream is whisking slowly drizzle the cooled down melted chocolate into the buttercream.
   
7. Set up your macaron shells so that each shell has a partner shell that matches it in size. Pipe a small mound of chocolate buttercream onto the middle of each bottom shell. Assemble the macarons by placing the tops on the macaron and gently push together until the buttercream mound flattens. Store the macarons in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 days. 2 hours before serving, bring them out of the fridge as they are best enjoyed at room temperature.
   

First chocolate macaron batch on left, Second batch on left.

There are still some small imperfections in this first batch of Ottawa made macarons; namely a slight dip in the shells, feet splaying out a bit and the macarons shells appeared to be rougher looking (on left). Certainly, these are minor minor issues. 



For the pure interest of comparison and to see if I could make the macaron shells even smoother, I baked up another batch of macarons. To achieve this, I first processed the almond meal in the food processor to create a finer consistency. Then I followed everything as listed above to make the macaron shells and chocolate buttercream.
Here is a side by side profile of the macarons. As you can see, processing the almond meal to a finer consistency resulted in a better looking shell! Interestingly enough, the pied (the feet of the macaron) also appears to be more lifted and straighter. 

Certainly a good first at making macarons at home in Ottawa! I am looking forward to making more macarons here in Ottawa. I am also hoping to try my hand at making different and more creative types of macarons. If you have any ideas, let me know! Also if you plan on joining me in the macaron mashup initiative please do. I am thinking the next Macaron Mashup Challenge will be for Spring! Let’s do a pastel spring themed macaron for end of April! 

A Recipe for Apple Spiced Caramel Macarons

Ingredients for Apple Cinnamon Shells 

225g icing sugar

125g almond meal

5g albumen

28g berry sugar (extra fine sugar)

100g aged egg whites

2 drops Wilton Leaf Green gel food colouring 

Notes:

• Make your own berry sugar by processing regular sugar in the processor until the sugar crystals are super fine. 
• Keep almond meal in the fridge when you are not using it. A few hours before baking, take the almond meal out and let it come to room temperature. 
• Egg whites need to be aged for 2 days in an airtight container. Keep the egg yolks in the fridge for the buttercream.
• Pre-measure all ingredients before starting. 
• Kitchen tools needed: a kitchen scale, a food processor will be helpful to grind the almond meal and icing sugar together, a sifter, spatula, hand blender or stand-up blender, piping bag and tip, silicon mats or parchment paper and heavy duty baking sheets.

1. Measure all ingredients. Set up the piping bag for the macarons with the piping tip (I use a Wilton 2A or Ateco 804 piping tip). Line baking sheets with silicon mats or parchment paper.
   
2. Process the almond meal and icing sugar in a food processor until it is well mixed together. Use a spoon to occasionally move the ingredients around before processing again.
   
3. Sift the icing sugar-almond meal mixture through a sifter to ensure there are no clumps. Place a bowl underneath.
   
4. Measure out 100g of egg whites and place in the bowl of the stand-up mixer with the whisk attachment.  Slowly whisk at low speed until little bubbles form. Once the bubbles form, add in the mixture of berry sugar and albumen. Then turn the mixer to medium speed (e.g. 4 on the Kitchen Aid).
   
5. Continue to whisk the egg whites until “soft peaks” form. To check, stop and tilt the head of the Kitchen Aid back or stop and lift the tip of the whisk into the mixture to see if a small “bird’s peak forms”. If you see a peak form, then you are done whisking the egg whites. If it looks drippy/wet as you lift up, keep whisking until the “soft peaks” form.  Add in the two drops of Wilton Leaf Green food colouring with a toothpick.
   
   
6. Slowly incorporate the almond meal sugar mixture by sifting 2 tablespoons at a time into the meringue. Mix in a clockwise direction. This step is probably one of the most crucial steps in making macarons – also known as the macaronage process. Mixing in a clockwise direction do the following while sifting 2 tablespoons of the almond meal-sugar mixture into the whipped egg whites.
   1st part= 16 turns
   2nd part = 11 turns
   3rd part = 14 turns
   4th part = 11 turns
   5th part = 11 turns
   6th part = 23 turns
7. Give a few more turns to the batter scooping through it with your spatula. Once the macaron batter feels and looks like magma (flows slowly) you are ready to transfer it to the prepared piping bag. When you transfer the macaron batter to the piping bag you are also “mixing it”.
8. Pipe out small circles. Hold the piping bag vertically. Pipe straight down and then do a quick circular movement to the right to finish piping one shell. I pipe across the length of my tray. I typically pipe 18-20 macaron shells per tray. How many shells you pipe on a tray will depend on how big you make each shell. Before piping the next sheet, firmly rap the tray on the counter to get rid of any air bubbles inside the shells. This is called “tamping”. Use a toothpick to gently poke any bubbles. 
   
   Continue to pipe the rest of the trays. I typically pipe about 4 trays of macarons with 18-20 macarons on each one.  5 shells on the first row, then 4, then 5, then 4.

   Let macarons sit for at least 60 minutes until a skin forms and is dry to the touch (this is an important step).

9. Preheat the oven to 280-290F. Allow the oven to come to the correct temperature. This may take 30 minutes. Using an oven thermometer will be helpful. Depending on your oven you may be baking anywhere from 280F to 290F. Currently I am baking each tray of my macarons at 295F for 20 minutes. Once the macarons are done baking allow the shells to cool on their tray before you gently peel them off. Lift under the mat and then push up to gently release each macaron shell.
   
   
   At this point you can choose to place the macaron shells in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer to be filled with buttercream for another day. Otherwise, continue on with matching shells together in order to fill them with the apple spiced buttercream.

Ingredients for Apple Cinnamon Buttercream

• 80g berry sugar/superfine sugar
• 25g water
• 1 whole egg (~60g)
• 1 egg yolk
• 160g soft unsalted butter (cut into cubes)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 5 tablespoon of processed freeze dried apple slices
• Jar of store bought or homemade salted caramel (recipe here)

Directions for Apple Cinnamon Buttercream

1. Bring sugar and water to a boil in a small pot. Heat the sugar to 250F(120C) using a candy thermometer. If it boils, clean the sides of the pan with a damp pastry brush. Try not to mix the solution, but allow the sugar solution to heat on its own.
   
2. In another bowl or the bowl of your stand up mixer whisk the eggs and egg yolks until it lightens in colour.
   
3. Once the hot sugar mixture reaches 250F slow down the whisking speed of the eggs, and immediately pour the hot sugar mixture into the egg mixture (do this part quickly). Increase to a higher whisking speed (8 on my KitchenAid). Continue whisking until the mixture has cooled down completely (approximately 15 minutes). It will look glossy, white and meringue like.
   
4. Keep whisking the meringue until it has cooled (10-15 minutes). Meanwhile in a separate bowl, whisk the butter until it has thickened. It will lighten a bit in colour. Once the meringue has cooled (temperature drops down to 50F), slowly add in the whisked butter a tablespoon at a time. Continue whisking until the buttercream is smooth.
   
5. Process 1 cup of freeze dried apples until it is finely processed.
   
6. Slowly add by tablespoons into the buttercream. Add the cinnamon into the buttercream.
   
7. Set up your macaron shells so that each shell has a partner shell that matches it in size. Pipe a small mound of apple cinnamon buttercream into the middle of each bottom shell if you are just doing apple cinnamon macarons OR if making apple spiced caramel macarons, first place a dot of caramel into the middle of each shell, then pipe a small circle of buttercream around the rim of the shell.
   
   
8. Assemble the macarons by placing the tops on the macaron and gently push together until the buttercream mound flattens. Store the macarons in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 days. 2 hours before serving, bring them out of the fridge as they are best enjoyed at room temperature.
   

   

Sorry for the delay in getting the Aloha Macarons Round-Up onto the blog! These past few weeks have been slightly busy with appointments and the such. Don’t worry, it is nothing medically scary! I will most definitely take the next few weeks to take it easy.  My parents will also be in town so I really should start planning out places we should visit and eat at! 

Pina Colada Macarons by Michelle

Chai Tea Macarons by Annette. She was on a macaron baking storm as she is baking 320 macarons for a wedding this weekend!

Cream Cheese Icing & Lemon Curd Macarons by Annette

Birthday Macarons – Strawberry, Nutella & Salted Caramel Buttercream by Michelle

Pistachio & Strawberry Macarons filled with Pistachio Buttercream by Michelle

I made these Lilikoi (Passionfruit) Macarons inspired by a sunset we saw at the Mauna Kea Observatory.

Aloha Macaron Shell Recipe 

• Make your own berry sugar by processing regular sugar in the processor until the sugar crystals are super fine. 
• Keep almond meal in the fridge when you are not using it. A few hours before baking, take the almond meal out and let it come to room temperature. 
• Egg whites need to be aged for 2 days in an airtight container. Keep the egg yolks in the fridge for the buttercream.
• Pre-measure all ingredients before starting. 
• Kitchen tools needed: a kitchen scale, a food processor will be helpful to grind the almond meal and icing sugar together, a sifter, spatula, hand blender or stand-up blender, piping bag and tip, silicon mats or parchment paper and heavy duty baking sheets.

1. Measure all ingredients.
2. Set up the piping bag for the macarons with the piping tip (I use a Wilton 2A or Ateco 804 piping tip).
3. Line baking sheets with silicon mats or parchment paper. 
4. Process the almond meal and icing sugar in a food processor until it is well mixed together. Use a spoon to occasionally move the ingredients around before processing again.
5. Sift the icing sugar-almond meal mixture through a sifter to ensure there are no clumps. Place a bowl underneath.
6. Measure out 100g of egg whites and place in the bowl of the stand-up mixer with the whisk attachment.
7. Slowly whisk at low speed until little bubbles form. Once the bubbles form, add in the mixture of berry sugar and albumen. Then turn the mixer to medium speed (e.g. 4 on the Kitchen Aid). 
8. Continue to whisk the egg whites until “soft peaks” form. To check, stop and tilt the head of the Kitchen Aid back or stop and lift the tip of the whisk into the mixture to see if a small “bird’s peak forms”. If you see a peak form, then you are done whisking the egg whites. If it looks drippy/wet as you lift up, keep whisking until the “soft peaks” form. 
9. Slowly incorporate the almond meal sugar mixture by sifting 2 tablespoons at a time into the meringue. Mix in a clockwise direction. This step is probably one of the most crucial steps in making macarons – also known as the macaronage process.
10. Mixing in a clockwise direction do the following while sifting 2 tablespoons of the almond meal-sugar mixture into the whipped egg whites.
    1st part= 16 turns
    2nd part = 11 turns
    3rd part = 14 turns
    4th part = 11 turns
    5th part = 11 turns
    6th part = 23 turns.
11. Split the batter into two equal parts (225g each). Colour one batter pink and the other one teal (2 drops in each).
12. Mix each macaron batter a few more times by scooping through it with the spatula (use different spatulas for each batter). Once the macaron batter feels and looks like magma (flows slowly) you are ready to combine the two batters together into one bowl. 
13. In a wider bowl, gently scoop one of the batters to the side. Then slowly pour the other batter into the bowl. It should look like this:
    
14. Transfer the macaron batter into a prepared piping bag. 
15. Pipe out small circles. Hold the piping bag vertically. Pipe straight down and then do a quick circular movement to the right to finish piping one shell. I pipe across the length of the tray with 18-20 macaron shells per tray. How many shells you pipe on a tray will depend on how big you make each shell. Before piping the next sheet, firmly rap the tray on the counter to get rid of any air bubbles inside the shells. This is called “tamping”. Use a toothpick to gently poke any bubbles. 
16. Let macarons sit for at least 60 minutes until a skin forms and is dry to the touch (this is an important step).
17. Continue to pipe the rest of the trays. I usually am able to pipe 3 full trays of macarons with 18-20 macarons on each one and a few on the 4th tray. 5 shells on the first row, then 4, then 5, then 4. 
18. Preheat the oven to 280-290F. Allow the oven to come to the correct temperature. This may take 30 minutes. Using an oven thermometer will be helpful. Depending on your oven you may be baking anywhere from 280F to 290F. Bake each tray one at a time for 19-20 minutes. Take the macarons out of oven and allow the shells to cool on their tray before you gently peel them off. Lift under the mat and then push up to gently release each macaron shell.
19. At this point you can choose to place the macaron shells in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer. You can fill the macarons with buttercream another day. Otherwise, continue on with matching shells together in order to fill them with the buttercream.

• 80g berry sugar/superfine sugar
• 25g water
• 1 whole egg (~60g)
• 1 egg yolk
• 160g soft unsalted butter (cut into cubes)
• 2 tsp freeze dried passionfruit powder

  

Spring Fling Round-Up for Macaron Mashup

Can you believe that it is already the end of April! As you may recall, I put a call out back in March to encourage everyone to bake more Macarons. The idea for Macaron Mashup is to have a themed challenge every 2 months. It was so exciting to see macarons with the hashtag #macaronmashup periodically over the past few weeks. I am also so glad that I was able to help troubleshoot with Michelle over at (@Yumasteyeg) with her macarons – just using the Instagram direct messages and photos! It was so awesome that Kelli and her High School students from her Foods 20/30 also joined us in this challenge.

Super excited for how this all came together and I am looking forward to the next challenge! For those of you that weren’t able to join us this time, come join us for the next one! The next theme will be: ALOHA!

I got back from Hawaii in April and still have all things Hawaii on my mind! Pineapple flavoured macarons? Multi-color? Passionfruit? anything is possible! Just post your Aloha Macarons with the hashtag #MacaronMashup on your social media (twitter, instagram, facebook, blog) or email me your creation by the end of June!

And now, here are the Spring Fling Macarons from this time’s Macaron Mashup Challenge.

Denise from @Urbnspice made the purple macarons filled with vanilla bean buttercream with pure homemade seedless raspberry preserve centres for a little girl’s birthday party

Michelle created a trifecta of Strawberry, Nutella and Pistachio Macarons

The Foods class made Vanilla, Blackcurrant, Lemon and Raspberry Mascarpone Macarons

A colourful Vanilla Macaron from the Foods 20/30 class

Vanilla Macarons by the Foods Class

Coffee Macarons by the Foods Class

Blackcurrant Macarons by the Foods Class

Salted Caramel Macarons by the Foods Class

Strawberry and Cream Macarons by the Foods Class

Cookies & Cream Macarons by the Foods Class

Michelle (@yumasteyeg) made Raspberry, Blueberry and Lemon Macarons

Amanda (@eatmoreveg) created these Rainbow Macarons for a baby shower

Annette (@scriptoriumgirl) made these Cava Macarons with her cute cat posing in the background

I created these Lemon Macarons! Thanks again to everyone who joined us for this theme! The next theme is Aloha – Hawaiin theme! Remember to post your Aloha Macarons with the hashtag #MacaronMashup on your social media (twitter, instagram, facebook, blog) or email me your creation by the end of June! You can always email or message me if you need help troubleshooting or brainstorming flavour ideas! Again, there is no need to create a recipe or to have even baked macarons before! The idea is to try your hand at it and just give yourself practice. I can certainly say I made many a Macawrong when I first started!

Homemade Lemon Macarons for Macaron Mashup

Ingredients needed for Macaron Making

Ingredients for Lemon Macarons

• 225g icing sugar
• 125g almond meal
• 5g albumen
• 28g berry sugar (extra fine sugar)
• 100g aged egg whites
• 1/2 tsp yellow powder

To get started with macaron making, I highly recommend pre-measuring all of your ingredients first. This will make it easier for yourself as you move through all the steps. For equipment/items you will need: a kitchen scale, a food processor will be helpful to grind the almond meal and icing sugar together, a sifter, spatula, hand blender or stand-up blender, piping bag and tip, silicon mats or parchment paper and heavy duty baking sheets.

I use a kitchen scale as macarons are somewhat finicky and the ingredients need to be measured by weight. The proportions of each ingredient need to be just right in order to support you in making the best macarons.

Directions for Making Lemon Macarons

1. Process the almond meal and icing sugar in a food processor until it is well mixed together. Use a spoon to occasionally move the ingredients around before processing again.
   
2. Sift the icing sugar-almond meal mixture through a sifter to ensure there are no clumps. Place a bowl underneath.
   
3. Measure out 100g of egg whites and place in the bowl of the stand-up mixer with the whisk attachment.
   
4. Slowly whisk at low speed until little bubbles form. Once the bubbles form, add in the mixture of berry sugar and albumen. Then turn the mixer to medium speed (4 on the kitchen aid). Add in the yellow powder.
   
   
5. Continue to whisk the egg whites until “soft peaks” form. To check, stop and tilt the head of the Kitchen Aid back or stop and lift the tip of the whisk into the mixture to see if a small “bird’s peak forms”. If you see a peak form, then you are done whisking the egg whites. If it looks drippy/wet as you lift up, keep whisking for a touch longer.
   
6. Slowly incorporate the almond meal sugar mixture by sifting 2 tablespoons at a time into the meringue. Mix in a clockwise direction. This step is probably one of the most crucial steps in making macarons – also known as the macaronage process.
   
   
7. Mixing in a clockwise direction do the following:1st part= 16 turns
   2nd part = 11 turns
   3rd part = 14 turns
   4th part = 11 turns
   5th part = 11 turns
   6th part = 23 turns.
   
8. Give a few more turns to the batter scooping through it with your spatula. Once the macaron batter feels and looks like magma (flows slowly) you are ready to transfer it to the prepared piping bag. When you transfer the macaron batter to the piping bag you are also “mixing it”.
   
9. Pipe out small circles. Hold the piping bag vertically. Pipe straight down and then do a quick circular movement to the right to finish piping one shell. I pipe across the length of my tray. I typically pipe 18-20 macaron shells per tray. How many shells you pipe on a tray will depend on how big you make each shell. Before piping the next sheet, firmly rap the tray on the counter to get rid of any air bubbles inside the shells. This is called “tamping”. Use a toothpick to gently poke any bubbles. 

   Let macarons sit for at least 60 minutes until a skin forms and is dry to the touch (this is an important step).
   Continue to pipe the rest of the trays. I typically pipe about 4 trays of macarons with 18-20 macarons on each one.  5 shells on the first row, then 4, then 5, then 4. 

   
10. Preheat the oven to 280-290F. Allow the oven to come to the correct temperature. This may take 30 minutes. Using an oven thermometer will be helpful. Depending on your oven you may be baking anywhere from 280F to 290F. Bake each tray one at a time for 19-20 minutes. Take the macarons out of oven and allow the shells to cool on their tray before you gently peel them off. Lift under the mat and then push up to gently release each macaron shell.

    At this point you can choose to place the macaron shells in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer to be filled with buttercream for another day. Otherwise, continue on with matching shells together in order to fill them with the lemon buttercream.
    
    

Recipe for Lemon Buttercream 

• 80g berry sugar/superfine sugar
• 25g water
• 1 whole egg (~60g)
• 1 egg yolk
• 160g soft unsalted butter (cut into cubes)
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1.5 tablespoons lemon juice

1. Bring sugar and water to a boil in a small pot. Heat the sugar to 250F(120C) using a candy thermometer. If it boils, clean the sides of the pan with a damp pastry brush. Try not to mix the solution, but allow the sugar solution to heat on its own.
   
2. In another bowl or the bowl of your stand up mixer whisk the eggs and egg yolks until it lightens in colour.
   
3. Once the hot sugar mixture reaches 250F slow down the whisking speed of the eggs, and immediately pour the hot sugar mixture into the egg mixture (do this part quickly). Increase to a higher whisking speed (8 on my KitchenAid). Continue whisking until the mixture has cooled down completely (approximately 15 minutes). It will look glossy, white and meringue like.
   
4. Keep whisking the meringue until it has cooled (10-15 minutes). Meanwhile in a separate bowl, whisk the butter until it has thickened. It will lighten a bit in colour. Once the meringue has cooled (temperature drops down to 50F), slowly add in the whisked butter a tablespoon at a time. Continue whisking until the buttercream is smooth.
   
5. Add in the lemon juice and zest to the buttercream.
   
6. Once the lemon juice and zest has incorporated into the butter mixture, smooth out the buttercream with a turns of the spatula. Then transfer the lemon buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a tip.
   
7. Set up your macaron shells so that each shell has a partner shell that matches it in size. Pipe a a small mound of lemon buttercream into the middle of each bottom shell.
   
8. Assemble the macarons by placing the tops on the macaron and gently push together until the buttercream mound flattens. Store the macarons in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 days. 2 hours before serving, bring them out of the fridge as they are best enjoyed at room temperature.

I have been toying with an idea to get everyone more interested in not just eating macarons but to try their hand at baking them at home. Instead of us celebrating “Macaron Day” for only one day a year (March 20) why don’t we intentionally talk about Macarons every few months?


What I’m proposing is this: Let’s challenge each other to bake macarons at home. It is ok if they don’t turn out perfect the first time. When I first started, mine were less than stellar! To help give us some inspiration, we’ll have a theme for each “Macaron Mashup” then everyone will bake a macaron to match that theme.


The first theme will be “Spring Fling”. By the end of April 2018, post your Spring themed macaron(s) to your twitter, instagram or blog page using the hashtag #MacaronMashup. Comment below if you are thinking about participating and/or need macaron tips. You don’t need to create a new recipe, you could follow existing ones. The idea is to have fun!


I will include your macarons in a round up summary post at the end of each theme. After April, I’ll let you all know about the next theme.

Hello! Ended up taking the month of August off from blogging; though I was still active over on my Instagram and Facebook media accounts. At the beginning of August, I spent a few days making Dan’s birthday cake. I’ll certainly blog more about that later, but for now here is a photo of his epic chocolate cake that I made for him! Isn’t it awesome? This was my second time baking a cake!

Then, we spent about 2 weeks visiting family in Toronto, attending my cousin’s wedding (which happened to be the same venue that we got married in 6 years ago!), and visited Halifax for a few days. What a whirlwind trip! I’m having a wee bit of trouble adjusting back to a normal routine. So, lets start off my September post with my progress on macarons.

I have been on a journey of making macarons for about 5 years now. Until recently, I have always made plain coloured macarons. After seeing other marbled macarons being made I wanted to try making these macarons with contrasting colours swirled across the shells. I blogged about my first attempt of making marbled macarons with a raspberry matcha filling. I really liked the colour that came out of this batch and called them Cosmic Macarons since they remind me of the cosmos. I filled these macarons with an earl grey buttercream.

For this attempt of making marbled macarons, I used the single bag method. Last time, I separated each colour into its own bag, but this time I used only one bag for all the colours. For this method, I ended up making two separate batches of macaron batter. I split the egg whites evenly into two bowls after it was whipped. Then, I mixed each batter individually with the processed almond meal-icing sugar mixture and its respective gel food colouring. I then poured both batters into the same bowl before gently pouring the entire batter into the piping bag at the same time for a marbled look.

Ingredients for Cosmic Macarons

• 225g icing sugar
• 125g almond meal
• 100g egg whites (approx. egg whites from 3 large eggs)
• 5g albumen (dehydrated egg white powder)
• 28g extra fine/berry sugar (I process regular sugar in the food processor)
• Teal Wilton Gel colouring (2 drops)
• Delphinium Wilton Gel colouring (1 drop)

Equipment and Tools Needed

• Scale (one that measures to 5g minimum. The more accurate the better).
• Food processor
• Mesh sifter
• Stand up Mixer or hand held mixer
• Spatulas
• Piping bag fitted with a round piping tip. I use a wilton 2A.
• Silicon baking mats or parchment paper (I use 4 silicon mats)
• Heavy duty metal baking trays (I use four Commercial II baking trays that I got from Marshalls/Home Sense)

Directions:

1. 2 days before making macarons, measure and age the egg whites. About 3-4 large eggs will give you 100g of egg whites. Keep the egg whites in an air tight container and leave at room temperature. 
2. Measure out all your ingredients for making the macaron shells using the scale. This helps to keep ingredients organized and easily accessible. 
3. Mix the berry sugar and albumen together in a small bowl and set aside. 
4. Prep silicon mats/parchment paper and set onto the heavy duty baking trays. 
5. Using a food processor, process the almond meal and icing sugar together. It should resemble a fine consistency. The smoother the mixture is, the smoother the shells will be. 
6. Weigh and measure the almond meal-icing sugar mixture and split in half. Place each half in separate bowls and set aside. 
7. Place a mesh sifter on top of a bow. Sift the almond meal icing sugar mixture through the sifter. 
8. Pour 100g of egg white into the bowl of a stand up mixer. Beat the egg whites at low speed. 
9. Once the egg whites are foamy (mousse like and have many fine bubbles), slowly add in the albumen-sugar mixture. Then turn up the mixer to medium speed (4 on the kitchen aid). 
10. Continue to beat the egg whites until “soft peaks” form. To check, stop and tilt the head of the kitchen aid back or stop and lift the tip of the whisk into the mixture to see if a small bird’s beak forms. If you see a peak form, then you are done whisking the egg whites. Try not to whisk the egg whites until they are stiff or foamy. This is the “meringue” stage. 
11. Measure out half of the whipped egg whites into a separate bowl. Leave the other half in the mixer bowl. 
12. Take one of the separated bowls of almond meal-icing sugar mixture and sift it slowly into the whipped egg whites 1/4 cup at a time. Add two drops of teal gel colouring to the mixture. 
13. Mixing in a clockwise direction do the following:
14. 1st part= 16 turns
15. 2nd part = 11 turns
16. 3rd part = 14 turns
17. 4th part = 11 turns
18. 5th part = 11 turns
19. 6th part = 23 turns. 
20. Once the mixture feels and looks like magma (flows slowly), set aside. 
21. Do the same with the other half of the almond meal-icing sugar mixture and whipped egg whites. This time, add in the Delphinium gel food colouring. 
22. In a wide bowl, slowly transfer the teal batter to the bowl. Gently, push it to one side and add in the other batter. 
23. Slowly pour the entire batter (one half will be teal and the other side delphinium) into the piping bag. 
24. Pipe out small circles. Try to pipe down and then do a quick circular movement to the right to finish piping one shell. 
25. Pipe approximately 18-20 shells on each tray. How many shells you pipe on a tray will depend on how big you make each shell. Before piping the next sheet, firmly rap the tray on the counter to get rid of any air bubbles inside the shells. This is called “tamping”. 
26. Use a toothpick to pop air bubbles on shells (this part is essential otherwise you get volcanoes instead of smooth macaron shells). 
27. Let macarons sit for at least 60 minutes until a skin forms and is dry to the touch (this is an important step) 
28. Preheat the oven to 280 degrees Fahrenheit. Allow the oven to come to the correct temperature. This may take 30 minutes. Using an oven thermometer is helpful. 
29. Bake one tray at a time for 18 minutes . 
30. Take the macarons out of oven and allow the shells to cool
31. Once the shells cooled (about 15-20 minutes), gently peel the shells from the silicon mat (or parchment paper) and get them ready to fill with buttercream.

Earl Grey Buttercream Recipe

• 80g caster sugar (superfine sugar)
• 25g water
• 1 whole egg (~60g)
• 1 egg yolk
• 180g room temperature unsalted butter (cut into cubes)
• One tablespoon of double bergamot (Earl Grey) tea (finely processed)

Directions

1. Measure all ingredients with a scale. 
2. Bring sugar and water to a boil in a small pot.
3. Heat the sugar to 250F(120C). Allow the sugar to heat on its own.
4. In another bowl or the bowl of your Kitchen Aid whisk the eggs and egg yolks until it lightens in colour. 
5. Once the hot sugar mixture reaches 250F pour immediately into the whisking egg mixture. Turning down the whisking speed temporarily will help prevent hot sugar threads from flying everywhere. However, once all the hot sugar is in, immediately increase to a higher whisking speed. 
6. Continue whisking until the mixture has cooled down completely. It will start to look like a meringue and be glossy. This is called the meringue
7. Meanwhile in another bowl, cream then whisk the butter until it has thickened. It should also turn white in colour.
8. Once the whisking meringue has cooled (about 20 minutes or until it decreases in temperature to 150F), slowly add the butter. 
9. Continue whisking until the butter cream is smooth. 
10. Add in the earl grey tea to the buttercream and whisk until the buttercream is smooth. 
11. Transfer the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle.
12. Match all macaron shells by pairs (two shells that roughly the same in size).
13. Pipe a tablespoon of butter cream onto each half shell. 
14. Top with the matching shell to finish the macaron.

Thoughts on using this Method for Making Marbled Macarons

This method of making the macarons was certainly more complex. Even though I thought I had evenly split all ingredients in half one batter ended up being denser. Also, measuring everything twice/separately resulted in double the work and took more time. I also found that after I mixed the almond meal-icing sugar into the egg whites for Batch A, I had to let it sit while I mixed Batch B. Macaron batter is finicky and from what I have learned you shouldn’t be mixing the batter too much. Doing this method resulted in a lot of mixing. In the end, the macaron shells appeared to not rise as much as usual. Now, being even more particular, I am also convinced that each shell has a slight dip in it indicating that the batter was likely over-mixed or at least one of the batters was over mixed. I would also put more gel food colouring into the batter so that the shells will be brighter as they do lose a bit of their colour when they are baked in the oven. Overall, while the resulting macarons look great from a colour perspective, I won’t be using this method next time to make marbled macarons. I will continue to blog my progress on marbled macarons in an upcoming blogpost. 

My first attempt into making marbled macarons with a matcha and raspberry filling. The swirled pattern comes from mixing two different colours of French Macaron batter instead of dipping the tops into icing. 

• Multi-Bag Method: Split the batter into two different batches, colour them (with gel food colouring), and then fill into individual piping bags and then join them into one large piping bag.
• Single Bag Method: Split the batter, colour, and then pour both into the piping bag at the same time for a marbled look.
• Dipped Method: Make macaron shells as usual, then dip the macaron tops into a coloured marbled icing. 

Macarons Resting

Unfortunately, I didn’t take a video or a picture of how it the piping bags looked since it was very much all in the moment. I did however take a picture of what the piped marbled macarons looked while they were resting. As you can see, because they were in two different bags the batters stayed separate and did not really combine together. Also, despite trying to ensure that the dry ingredients were exactly the same amount, it appears that I had more green batter compared to the pink batter which is why the green batter seems to take over.   

Baked Macarons

I suspect that even though I had weighed and split the dry almond meal & icing sugar mixture, the resulting two batters were not exactly even. In the above picture if you look closely at the shell of the macarons, one side of the macaron rises higher than the other while one side seems more flat. There also appeared to be more green batter than pink batter. In some of the macaron shells they also started to wrinkle or cracked as the mixture was not 100% equal in both.

Making the Matcha Buttercream Filling

Matcha powder for making Matcha Buttercream

In previous posts, I have talked about making my Matcha Buttercream Recipe. I really like the matcha buttercream that I make as it is so versatile for not only icing a chocolate cake, but also as a buttercream filling. The Matcha buttercream is also not too sweet or bitter. The buttercream naturally becomes a green colour from the matcha itself; no added food colouring! 

Finished Buttercream

2 Tablespoons of Matcha Powder combined with 2 Tablespoons of Hot water

Finished Matcha Buttercream

Raspberry Matcha Macaron Assembly 

Assembly is done in four steps:

1. Pipe about 3/4 of the amount of matcha buttercream you would normally fill a macaron with.
2. Press a square of frozen raspberry jelly into the middle of the filling
3. Pipe a small amount of matcha buttercream on top of the jelly.
4. Close the macaron by putting the top shell back with a slight twist.

Thoughts on Using the Multi-Bag Method for Marbled Macarons 

In terms of flavours, I have made macarons with a raspberry jelly before (from my Ispahan Macarons) and matcha buttercream when I made Matcha Macarons. I am glad that the green tea flavour from the matcha worked well with the brightness of the tart raspberry jelly. The macaron shells are not too sweet and work well with the matcha buttercream and the slightly tart raspberry jelly.

So, would I use this method again?

Definitely not as it used up more piping bags (3 versus 1) and the resulting look of the Raspberry Matcha Macarons did not look like what I had envisioned.