Marble French Macarons

I’m supposed to make these Marble French Macarons couple of weeks ago for Home Bakers Challenge, host by Siri Nuggehalli. I do not know why I deferred so long. Somehow, I managed to make those “Fragile and Crispy” Macrons last week. 

Macarons are pretty close to biscuits but falls under Confectionery group. Because, its Sugar based. Though the macaron is a  French  origin, it’s quite popular in Swiss and Italian cuisine. 

The key Ingredient to make macarons is Egg White (Protein) and also the perfect formation (Consistency) of meringue. 

The Macarons are commonly filled with ganache, butter-cream or jam fillings. Here, I used  Nutella  Ganache. (Ganache is a French word, nothing but glaze or cream usually made of chocolate, to fill pastries)

Macaron Recipe sources from  joyofbaking  and nutella ganache Recipe sources from here.

The Ingredients’ required for macaron are :  100 grams ground blanched almonds  ;   180 grams confectioner (icing) sugar       ;       100 grams "aged" egg whites, at room temperature    ;     35 grams superfine  white sugar.   ;     Food Color of your choice, I used Blue (Option)

Ingredients’ required for Ganache filling  :    ½ cup of Cream    ;    1/4  cup of nutella hazel nut spread     ;  ¼ cup (≈30 grams) of  dark chocolate (chopped)

Macarons making process :  Process the ground almonds and confectioners’ sugar in a food processor until its blended very well without any lumps and set aside.

With the help of whisk attachment of the electric mixer, beat the aged egg whites on medium speed until foamy.

What are aged egg whites? It’s storing the egg whites (of course, after separating the yokes) in fridge for about 48 hrs in an airtight container. For what ? To make stiffer meringue.

Okay, now gradually add the sugar to the foamy egg white and continue to beat it, on medium speed, until the meringue just holds stiff peaks.  i.e. if you  slowly raise the whisk the meringue should stay straight up, should not droop. (This consistency level is known as 'beak').

Now, add the ground almond/sugar mixture into the meringue and do the folding, by cutting through the meringue and then fold up and over until the almond mixture is completely folded into the meringue. The batter should fall back into the bowl as a thick ribbon.  This is the right consistency for  perfect macarons.

Now the coloring part, in a pastries or a piping bag (fitted with 1 cm nozzle) just draw the strips (inside) using the food colour. (I used, blue) by kitchen brush. (used only for edible purposes)

Fill the piping bag with macarons mixture and pipe out small mounds of the mixture, as evenly sized onto a parchment covered cookie sheet. (You may place a parchment sheet on the paper, where desired size circles are drawn as a reference) the batter may not  spread much so leave a space between them.

Gently tap the cookie sheet firmly onto the counter top, this will flatten them slightly and will remove and ridges or peaks on them.

Allow Macarons to stay at room temperature for about 30-60 minutes  or until the tops of the Macarons are no longer tacky.

Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes, at 325°F (160°C) in the preheat oven. Don’t forget to flip Macarons, about halfway through baking. Remove from oven and allow it to cool.

Ganache filling  :   Boil the Cream in bowl and add nutella spread, dark chocolate into it. Stir until chocolate melts and blend with cream and spread.

Now, take one Macaron, spread the Ganache lavishly, but only in the middle. And place the another macaron on top of the ganache gently press. Make sure the ganache should remain in the macaron, should not spread out.

I am sure kids will love crispy and fragile macarons and luxurious Ganache filling.