French Macarons Using Pasteurized Egg Whites Or From A Carton =•.•=

Yes you can use egg whites from a carton, also known as pasteurized egg whites. You no longer have to separate the yolks from the whites. You no longer have to make flan or try to figure out what to do with those egg yolks. Check it out yo!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup almond flour

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup OR 60 grams of pasteurized egg whites @ room temperature (I have used Kirkland's, EggLands Best, & Trader Joe's Brand- they have not failed me yet)

2 pinches of salt

1 pinch cream of tartar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2-3 drops of gel food coloring- optional

Directions:

Important: make sure the measuring cup, mixing bowl & whisk are all oil free, clean, & dry. If not, you can compromise the meringue stage of the egg whites & the whites will NOT whip.

Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, add the egg whites, cream of tartar & salt & beat the egg whites until foamy; add the granulated sugar and continue beating until egg whites are glossy, fluffy, and hold stiff peaks. 

In a separate bowl, sift together the powdered sugar & almond flour. Next steps are crucial: 

In this step you may add your gel food coloring. Fold the almond mixture into the egg whites, about 30 folds- making sure no traces of egg whites are seen but do not over fold. Spoon a small amount onto the pan making a mound of batter. If the disk of batter holds a peak instead of flattening immediately, gently fold the batter 1 to 2 more times and retest. When batter is mixed enough to flatten immediately into an even disk but does not spread too much, it is ready. DO NOT OVER MIX.

Spoon the batter into a pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip (Wilton's #10). Pipe the batter onto the baking sheet with the tip angled 90 degrees from the silpat. Make sure to leave spaces between each mound of batter. Once you have piped all your macarons. Preheat oven to 310 degrees F. 

Let the trays stand out at room temperature until they form a hard skin and is no longer tacky about 30 minutes to an hour. 

Bake for about 12 minutes to 15 minutes until set, the tops should be matte like egg shells. You can test the doneness by touching the tops and seeing if you can wiggle it. If it does wiggle it is underdone and continue to bake for about 2 more minutes. Note: the bigger the disks the longer it takes to bake. Let the macarons sit on the tray and cool completely before removing.

Remember do not get frustrated. You may watch videos on YouTube so you can be familiar with the above steps or see my other posts about Macarons. 

Suggested fillings: Nutella, Ganache, Cream Cheese, Peanut Butter, Speculoos Cookie Butter, Strawberry Preserves, Melted Chocolate, Melted White Chocolate, Pastry Cream, Fruit, whatever your heart desires.

When filled, you can store them in an air tight container and place in the fridge to allow the filling to meld with the macaron shells (maturing stage for about 24 hours). Before eating, let them stand out at room temperature for the perfect macaron-mouth feel texture for about 5 minutes or so. The macarons should be crunchy, flaky, and chewy at the same time. 

See all my baking madness on Instagram, #MaedByMaggie, or under my ID: Maggie13Mae

 

You can also make Ice Cream Sandwiches... Sorry for the finger photo bomb. 

God Bless!!!   =•.•=

S'mores: Kraft marshmallow cream, chocolate ganache, Honey graham cracker crumbs (in the shell & sprinkled ontop), Hershey's bar. 

To make the S'mores' shell, I substituted 1 tablespoon almond flour with finely ground graham cracker crumbs. 

To see how I assembled the S'mores Macarons you can visit my Instagram and  watch the 15 second video. =•.•=

Hello Kitty Meringue Pops =•.•=

I stumbled upon http://www.make-fabulous-cakes.com/valentine-meringue-pops.html this site a few years ago and instantly fell in love with how easy and how beautiful the meringues came out. I decided that this year, I will experiment in making them into Hello Kitty shapes. I skipped a few steps by just piping the meringue directly onto the sticks. 

For HK's eyes and noses, I used royal icing shapes I made a while back for my niece's Hello Kitty Sugar Cookies. I drew on her whiskers with edible food writer or you can use a clean artist's paint brush, (dedicated for food only) and black gel food coloring. I also piped on her bow by adding some red food coloring to some of the meringue. 

Visit her blog http://www.make-fabulous-cakes.com/valentine-meringue-pops.html  for the recipe and video. 

I will need to figure out how to make the face smoother. Hastily, I just used a knife to smooth it out. These are pre-baked pictures:

Hope you enjoy making them... I will continue to experiment with different methods and post them when I can on Instagram.   =•.•=

God Bless! --- <3    Maggie13Mae 

Tutorial Chocolate French Macarons ='.'=

It's Monday Morning & this is a pictutorial (picture tutorial) for Chocolate Macarons. NOTE:  If you are using regular cocoa powder & not Bellagio Chocolate then you need to change the 1 tablespoon to 3 tablespoons of cocoa & use only 1/2 a cup of Almond Flour.

Ingredients:

Kitchen Tools: AND also need a stand or hand mixer (make sure all are grease free & clean)

PROCEDURE:

 

Time to PREHEAT THE OVEN to 375 Degrees Fahrenheit

Tap baking sheet to release trapped air bubbles.

LET THIS SIT FOR AT LEAST 15 MINUTES 

in room temp. or Until the tops are dry & have formed a skin.

Reduce the oven temp. to 325 & bake 1 sheet at a time for about 10 to 14 minutes, rotating halfway through. 

The tops of the cookies should resemble an "egg shell" quality. The macarons should be crisp and firm. Let it sit to cool about 2-3 minutes before removing.  

Make sure to increase the temp. to 375 to preheat & repeat the baking process for the rest of the macarons.

Sandwich 2 same size macaron with about 1 tsp. filling: Peanut butter, Nutella, Chocolate Butter Cream, Dobrova, or whatever you are craving.

As always, I just can't leave a plain 'ol Macaron alone... ALOHA KITTY!!! She's tanned & wearing a flower instead of a bow.  ='.'=

This post is dedicated to my dear friend, Ate CeCe, she loves Hello Kitty & one day she will get to taste one of my chocolate HK creations. 

Without Christ I am nothing. 

Easy Parisian FRENCH Macarons ='.'=

It's Friday- finally! How has everyone been? I missed you!

Let's bake some YUMMMMY French Macarons, but first, you should read what it is by clicking the link Definition of Macaron or check out the pictures after the recipe.

I tried baking chocolate macarons in 2008, they were yummy but not pretty (I don't want to scare you away so you'll have to read this first before you see those photos).

& if it weren't for my pastry guru, Ate Rianne AKA ArtOfDessert

I would be missing out. She bought me my very first box of rainbow delights from  Opera Patisserie San Diego. 

It was love at first bite. Ever since then I've been hooked and have been Internet studying on how to bake it. Imagine!!! I was able to transform Almond flour, egg whites, & sugar into confectionery bliss. WARNING! Learning how to bake these bite sized confectioneries is very BAD, gluttony I'd say, because, instead of enjoying just one, you might just eat them all & not want to share with anyone. So also add greed to one of those sins you have or will commit, not to mention vanity, since they are so very pretty- LOL.
Anyways, this time around I used Martha Stewart's recipe & tinted the basic batter pink (so cute) & added strawberry extract. There are other recipes that call for boiling sugar syrup and or letting them sit for 2 hours. Who has the time??? Now go shopping & start baking.

From Martha Stewart's Recipes:

Ingredients

• For the Macarons

  • 1 cup confectioners' sugar
  • 3/4 cup almond flour
  • 2 large egg whites, room temperature
  • Pinch of cream of tartar
  • 1/4 cup superfine sugar

Directions

1. Pulse confectioners' sugar and almond flour in a food processor until combined. Sift mixture 2 times.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk whites with a mixer on medium speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar, and whisk until soft peaks form. Reduce speed to low, then add superfine sugar. Increase speed to high, and whisk until stiff peaks form, about 8 minutes. Sift flour mixture over whites, and fold until mixture is smooth and shiny.
3. Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain round tip, and pipe 3/4-inch rounds 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets, dragging pastry tip to the side of rounds rather than forming peaks. Tap bottom of each sheet on work surface to release trapped air. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake 1 sheet at a time, rotating halfway through, until macarons are crisp and firm, about 10 minutes. After each batch, increase oven temperature to 375 degrees, heat for 5 minutes, then reduce to 325 degrees.
4. Let macarons cool on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. (If macarons stick, spray water underneath parchment on hot sheet. The steam will help release macarons.)
5. Sandwich 2 same-size macarons with 1 teaspoon filling. Serve immediately, or stack between layers of parchment, wrap in plastic, and freeze for up to 3 months.

Suggested Fillings for Macarons

• Chocolate: Chocolate Ganache
• Coconut: 1 cup Swiss Meringue Buttercream, mixed with 1/3 cup angel-flake coconut.
• Peanut: Chocolate Ganache, or store-bought dulce de leche, jam, or peanut butter.
• Pistachio: 1 cup Swiss Meringue Buttercream, mixed with 1/3 cup finely chopped pistachios.
• Raspberry: 3/4 cup seedless raspberry jam
• Swiss Meringue Buttercream

My very first attempt... I'm not a very patient person, and although I wanted them to be perfectly round, I did not know how to use a piping bag very well. Over time, I was able to acquire some decorating skills & can now properly handle piping bags & learned a few tricks along the way.

Baked these Strawberry ones on 09/13/11, the Strawberry preserves was great but too sweet for me & they oozed out of the macarons & made your hands pretty sticky.

Then I couldn't stop baking them... so for 3 days straight... I made some more... so many that I think my teeth hurts just by looking at them.

Flavors from top to bottom & left to right:
Buko-taro, Taro-taro, Bellagio chocolate-chocolate, Mango-mango, & Lychee-mango
I will continue to experiment with flavors and hopefully the little feet will form on those buns. Just like this batch:

& of course I couldn't resist... so I made Hello Kitty ones too <3

ALOHA KITTY (Bellagio Chocolate & Dobrova)

                                   Click & learn: Easy Chocolate Macarons

Photo credit: Rianne (Art Of Dessert)

 

& since my SIL, Annalou's birthday is on Sept. 18th, I decided to spruce up her cakes with them.


I will try to post a video, as soon as I learn how to do that. :D Have a great & safe weekend!  Good MorNight!