Wow it's been so much more than a month! Sorry blog :( I told myself I would post as soon as I finished my summer homework, but that obviously didn't turn out too well... Nevertheless, I had an amazing summer surrounded by people just like me who love baking and science! (I'm especially excited about this post.. there's so much science it's kharezy!)
I accomplished one of my baking goals (YAY!) I made macarons with my friends this week and they were absolutely delicious. Macarons are French delicacies with two "cookies" with hard outer shell, but moist insides frosted in between with a frosting.
We made red velvet macarons with cream cheese buttercream filling and while we experienced our ups and downs with not enough ingredients or screaming over the screeching hand-mixer trying to hear each other, we were rewarded with DELICIOUS macarons :)
Red Velvet Macarons
(adapted from An Edible Mosaic)
2.5 oz egg whites (2 large eggs)
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup almond flour
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp red food color (this can easily be replaced with another color, but make sure that color "mixes" with the brown of the cocoa powder!)
3 tbsp superfine (castor) sugar
1. Preheat oven to 300degrees. Line 2 pans with parchment paper. Outline circle shapes to "mold" the shape of your macarons and flip over the sheets. (That way you don't get pencil lead in your macarons but you can still see the outlines!)
2. Separate egg whites from yolks while they're cold. Wait for the egg whites to come to room temperature and then begin whisking.
*This is done because the eggs easier to whip at room temperature but easier to separate when they're cold.
3. Begin whisking. The eggs should reach a frothy state within a few seconds but keep whisking, and gradually add superfine sugar. I say this because we were about to start over when we didn't see the egg whites form peaks after 3-4 minutes!
*Egg whites have a protein called albumen, which is denatured when eggs are beaten. The denatured protein surrounds the air bubbles and holds in the water causing stiff peaks to form! (ift.org)
4. In a medium bowl, sift powdered sugar, almond flour, cocoa poswer, and salt.
5. Use a spatula to fold in the dry ingredients to the egg white peaks.
(Do this slowly. Excess folding causes a lot of air bubbles to enter the mixture which eventually leads to cracked macarons!)
6. Spoon the batter into a pastry bag and begin piping the batter onto the parchment paper.
7. Wait for the macarons to cool so they are dry to touch aka no batter on your hands.
8. Bake macarons in the oven for ~15 minutes (or until they feel hollow when you tap them). Macarons should be able to slide off the parchment paper.
9. Wait for them to cool and frost with buttercream:
Cream Cheese Buttercream
4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
8 oz powdered sugar
*It's important that the butter and cream cheese are at room temperature and NOT melted because melting it causes the buttercream to be too runny.
1. Beat butter, cream cheese, vanilla extract.
2. Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
I accomplished one of my baking goals (YAY!) I made macarons with my friends this week and they were absolutely delicious. Macarons are French delicacies with two "cookies" with hard outer shell, but moist insides frosted in between with a frosting.
We made red velvet macarons with cream cheese buttercream filling and while we experienced our ups and downs with not enough ingredients or screaming over the screeching hand-mixer trying to hear each other, we were rewarded with DELICIOUS macarons :)
Red Velvet Macarons
(adapted from An Edible Mosaic)
2.5 oz egg whites (2 large eggs)
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup almond flour
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp red food color (this can easily be replaced with another color, but make sure that color "mixes" with the brown of the cocoa powder!)
3 tbsp superfine (castor) sugar
1. Preheat oven to 300degrees. Line 2 pans with parchment paper. Outline circle shapes to "mold" the shape of your macarons and flip over the sheets. (That way you don't get pencil lead in your macarons but you can still see the outlines!)
2. Separate egg whites from yolks while they're cold. Wait for the egg whites to come to room temperature and then begin whisking.
*This is done because the eggs easier to whip at room temperature but easier to separate when they're cold.
3. Begin whisking. The eggs should reach a frothy state within a few seconds but keep whisking, and gradually add superfine sugar. I say this because we were about to start over when we didn't see the egg whites form peaks after 3-4 minutes!
*Egg whites have a protein called albumen, which is denatured when eggs are beaten. The denatured protein surrounds the air bubbles and holds in the water causing stiff peaks to form! (ift.org)
4. In a medium bowl, sift powdered sugar, almond flour, cocoa poswer, and salt.
5. Use a spatula to fold in the dry ingredients to the egg white peaks.
(Do this slowly. Excess folding causes a lot of air bubbles to enter the mixture which eventually leads to cracked macarons!)
6. Spoon the batter into a pastry bag and begin piping the batter onto the parchment paper.
7. Wait for the macarons to cool so they are dry to touch aka no batter on your hands.
8. Bake macarons in the oven for ~15 minutes (or until they feel hollow when you tap them). Macarons should be able to slide off the parchment paper.
9. Wait for them to cool and frost with buttercream:
Cream Cheese Buttercream
4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
8 oz powdered sugar
*It's important that the butter and cream cheese are at room temperature and NOT melted because melting it causes the buttercream to be too runny.
1. Beat butter, cream cheese, vanilla extract.
2. Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
Thanks for reading and happy baking! All picture creds to Joce, baking creds to Shirley and Rach!
