Macarons au chocolat et à la crème de Marrons {chocolate macarons + chestnut cream}

Oh look at me being all fancehhh. Who am I kidding? I learned French for 7 years and I still can't speak a lick of it, so I guess that makes me kind of useless :(. Although, I can say "I would like some fries" so I will be able to navigate at least in McDonald's in Paris ("ze fries, plz").  But!! I do make mean macarons and this super freaking deliciously creamy chestnut puree.  If this doesn't scream christmas, I don't know what does.

Bahhh, I can't wait for winter break already. My body is currently in lecture, but my mind has checked out a long time ago. Probably since thanksgiving, which is no bueno because I have 3 exams and a paper to look forward to until the sweet escape of Christmas and.. GIFTS!! The only thing that is worth getting this year is this Individual ice cream maker. It is almost like having ice cream on demand. Unless you can train your bf to do this, although this never happens, but I'm working on it (and he's not going to be happy reading this hahahaha).

Chocolate Macarons with Chestnut Cream

Chocolate Macarons
1/2 cup almond flour
1 cup powdered sugar
4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 egg whites (aged 2 days in room temperature)
5 tbsp granulated sugar
pinch of cream of tartar

Chestnut Cream
1 cup heavy cream
200g roasted chestnut (I buy these in Asian supermarkets, roasted, shelled and ready to eat)
1.5 tbsp packed brown sugar
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tbsp vanilla
pinch of salt
1/2 tbsp cornstarch (if necessary)

Chestnut filling

1. In a small pot, add all the ingredients except cornstarch and simmer on low for about 30 minutes, while stirring it from time to time to prevent burning. The cream will become quite thick and a layer will form on the top, but you can just stir that back in.
2. Using an immersion blender, blend the paste until smooth, keep heating and stirring vigorously now until you reach desired consistency. It should be very thick, almost like the consistency of mashed potatoes (but not quite there). If not, add cornstarch.
3. Let it cool and then transfer into a pastry bag and refrigerate. It will become more thick as it cools too. You will only need about 1/2 of the cream but this is SO delicious on toast

Detailed macaron making here
Chocolate Macaron Shells

1. Prepare at least 2 baking trays lined with parchment paper or silicone and a pastry bag with a 1/2" tip 
2. Pulse almond flour, powdered sugar and cocoa powder in a food processor until mixed and airy. Set aside.
3. Whip egg whites on low speed until frothy looking and gradually add the granulated sugar on medium until soft peaks form. Add a pinch of cream of tartar and continue to whip on high speed just until the peaks are stiff and does not deflate/wilt under gravity when you hold it upright
4. Add half of the dry mix and gently fold into the egg whites with a spatula. Once half incorporated, dump the rest of the dry ingredients and fold. Start to squish the batter on the sides of the bowl to squeeze out the air. You can be very rough with the batter now. Mix for about 50 turns or until a drizzle from your spatula disappears into the batter 
5. Transfer batter into pastry bag and pipe out circles to your desired size. Rap the baking trays onto the counter to allow bubbles to pop from the batter. You can use a toothpick to pop the ones that didn't rise to the surface. Allow to dry for at least 1 hour or until the batter is dry to touch (timing depends on the weather)
6. Preheat oven to 310F. Bake dried shell batter for 15-17 mins. I usually er to 16-17mins so that I don't get soggy shells. 
7. Pipe filling onto cooled shells, sandwich and PUT IT IN THE FRIDGE in an airtight container. Literally, don't eat them on the first day. They don't taste as marvelous. These chocolate macarons especially taste so so so amazing when the chestnut cream has softened the macaron shells and imparted some flavor onto the shells.

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Red Velvet Blueberry Cheesecake Macarons

Happy 4th! I am still so excited about Brazil's win over Columbia. Oh my gosh, that was an exciting game!! Woooo. Never seen so many grown men cry. Also, James Rodríguez **swoon**. I am betting Argentina and Brazil will go into the finals. That would be so awesommmeee. 

My mum is on a macaron fever with me ha. She loves them and makes me bake them every week. Here's a patriotic macaron for today! Happy nomming!

Red Velvet Blueberry Cheesecake Macarons

makes about 25 macarons

Red Velvet Macaron Shells
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup almond powder
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 egg whites (aged 1 day in fridge and 1-2 days at room temp)
1/2 tsp vanilla
red dye (gel) 1 tsp

Blueberry Cheesecake Filling
1/4 cup blueberries
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick butter, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar

• Blueberry Cheesecake: whisk all blueberries, water, sugar in a small pot. Heat on medium and stir from time to time until blueberries start bursting. Add cornstarch and stir until pretty thick. Remove from heat and cool. Whip cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in powdered sugar. Add the cooled blueberry jam and whirl only 3 times. You don't just want purple goo! Fill up a piping bag to chill in the fridge.
• Macarons: 
1. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon mat and get a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch plain tip prepared
2. In a food processor pulse almond flour, powdered sugar, cocoa powder until mixed and fluffy
3. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat egg whites with the whisk attachment on medium low for 2 mins, gradually adding in the sugar.
4. Increase speed to 7 to whip for another 3 minutes and then at 8-10 for another 4 minutes. You should be getting a stiff meringue that you can make soft peaks with.
5. Fold the dry ingredients in 2 batches with a rubber spatula and make smooth sweeps to the botto
6. Fold the dry ingredients in 2 batches with a rubber spatula and make smooth sweeps to the bottom of the bowl. Add vanilla extract and dye and continue deflating the meringue. After about 40-50 foldings it should look glossy and when you drop some from your spatula to the batter, it takes about 10-20 secs for it to mold back into the mix
7. Fill your pastry bag and pipe batter onto the prepared baking sheets in 3.5cm circles, spaced 1" apart. 
8. Rap the baking sheet a few times about 1 inch above the counter top to flatten the macarons and to get rid of bubbles. I also use a toothpick to pop the stray ones. Let them rest at room temp for 45-60mins. The tops should be REALLY dry and nothing should stick to your finger if you poke them. 
9. Preheat your oven to 300 F in the last 2 minutes of the drying wait. Bake for 15 mins each pan separately, rotate pans and then bake for another 3-5 minutes. You can check they are done by lifting one macaron you can sacrifice. If the feet comes off, leave it in longer. You always want to overbake than underbake.
10. Let cool completely before removing them from the paper. Line up similar sized ones and pipe the chilled curd filling onto 1 shell. Sandwich together.
11. Let them sit in the fridge in a sealed container for at least 1 day before serving. Seriously!! They taste 100x better when the insides of the macaron shells soften a bit and the filling flavors come together.

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Lemon Mango Macarons

Summer holiday is almost coming to an end! I feel like I haven't had much time to really do what I want before going to school again. Like traveling to Iceland, going on the Lord of the Rings Trail in New Zealand... I wouldn't even mind Hawaii! But, I guess that's what happens when you don't plan and then you're stuck in a lab for your whole summer dissecting mice. Hmm... At least I should get my butt over to the beach while I'm in LA. I bet I'm the only person who lives in LA, who goes to the beach only once a year :\

But, I am going on a cross-country road trip soon... ONE WHOLE week with my mother. Hopefully we'll both survive. Because, mothers. Ya know?!

In the heat of the summer, I made these light and bright lemon-y macarons. Don't they just look like sunshine? ;)

Lemon Mango Macarons

makes about 25 macarons

Lemon Macaron Shells
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup finely ground almonds
2 tsp lemon zest, dried overnight
2 large egg whites (aged 2 day in fridge and 1 day at room temp)
5 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp lemon extract
yellow food coloring (optional)

Mango Curd
1/3 cup mango, pureed and strained (1-2 medium sized mangoes)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp tsp salt
2 egg yolks
2-3 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp butter (remove from heat and add)

• Mango Curd: whisk all the ingredients except the butter in a small pot. Heat on medium and keep whisking it from time to time until it starts to simmer. Keep whisking until its pretty thick and starts spitting large bubbles from the top. You want it pretty thick so you don't get your macarons soggy. Whisk and whisk! Don't let it burn on the bottom! Remove from heat and stir in butter. Let it cool and then fill up a piping bag to chill in the fridge.
• Macarons: 
1. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon mat and get a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch plain tip prepared
2. In a food processor pulse almond flour, powdered sugar, dried lemon zest until mixed and fluffy
3. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat egg whites with the whisk attachment on medium low for 2 mins, gradually adding in the sugar.
4. Increase speed to 7 to whip for another 3 minutes and then at 8-10 for another 4 minutes. You should be getting a stiff meringue that you can make soft peaks with.
5. Fold the dry ingredients in 2 batches with a rubber spatula and make smooth sweeps to the bottom of the bowl. Add the lemon extract and continue deflating the meringue. After about 40-50 foldings it should look glossy and when you drop some from your spatula to the batter, it takes about 10-20 secs for it to mold back into the mix
6. Fill your pastry bag and pipe batter onto the prepared baking sheets in 3.5cm circles, spaced 1" apart. 
7. Rap the baking sheet a few times about 1 inch above the counter top to flatten the macarons and to get rid of bubbles. I also use a toothpick to pop the stray ones. Let them rest at room temp for 45-60mins. The tops should be REALLY dry and nothing should stick to your finger if you poke them. 
8. Preheat your oven to 300 F in the last 2 minutes of the drying wait. Bake for 15 mins each pan separately, rotate pans and then bake for another 3-5 minutes. You can check they are done by lifting one macaron you can sacrifice. If the feet comes off, leave it in longer. You always want to overbake than underbake.
9. Let cool completely before removing them from the paper. Line up similar sized ones and pipe the chilled curd filling onto 1 shell. Sandwich together.
10. Let them sit in the fridge in a sealed container for at least 1 day before serving. Seriously!! They taste 100x better when the insides of the macaron shells soften a bit and the filling flavors come together.

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Piña Colada Macarons

I am taking a well deserved study break (I swear I was studying!!). Complete with ooey gooey pizza, buzzfeed and blogging. I have been stuck at school for too long and the off white walls and neutrality of this place makes me feel like I'm in a mental asylum. Haha kidding. Love this school (?) :/  I would study someplace else, except we're in the middle of Embryology and Reproduction and let me tell ya...those lecture pictures cannot be seen in public.  Anyhoo, only 5 more days until our last exam and then SUMMER! I am super super excited yay!

Now that I can make macarons.... can't stop, won't stop making 'em! Dreaming about summer, fun in the sun with cocktails...and piña colada in macaron form :)

Piña Colada Macarons

makes about 25 macarons

Macaron Shells
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup finely ground almonds
2 large egg whites, ages 1 day in fridge and 1 day at room temp
5 tbsp granulated sugar
handful of unsweetened shredded coconut

Details on making shells Boston Cream Pie Macarons

Pineapple curd filling
2 egg yolks
1 cup pineapple juice, canned
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp butter

• Pineapple Curd: whisk all the ingredients other than the butter in a small pot. Heat on medium and keep whisking it from time to time until it starts to simmer. Keep whisking until its pretty thick and starts spitting large bubbles from the top. You want it pretty thick so you don't get your macarons soggy. Also, I forgot I was making it and it burned really quickly in the bottom. So keep whisking! Remove from heat and stir in butter. Let it cool and then fill up a piping bag to chill in the fridge.
• Macarons:

1. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon mat and get a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch plain tip prepared
2. In a food processor pulse almond flour and powdered sugar until mixed and fluffy
3. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat egg whites with the whisk attachment on medium low for 2 mins, gradually adding in the sugar.
4. Increase speed to 7 to whip for another 3 minutes and then at 8-10 for another 4 minutes. You should be getting a stiff meringue that you can make soft peaks with. Try not to over beat.
5. Fold the dry ingredients in 2 batches with a rubber spatula and make smooth sweeps to the bottom of the bowl. You do want to deflate the meringue and after about 40-50 foldings it should look glossy and when you drop some from your spatula to the batter, it takes about 20 secs for it to mold back into the mix. Don't over mix or it will a runny and watery mess!
6. Fill your pastry bag and pipe batter onto the prepared baking sheets in 3.5cm circles, spaced 1" apart. 
7. Rap the baking sheet a few times about 1 inch above the counter top to flatten the macarons and to get rid of bubbles. Let them rest at room temp for 45-60mins. The tops should be dry and nothing should stick to your finger if you poke them. 
8. Preheat your oven to 325 F in the last 2 minutes. Bake for 15 mins each pan separately, rotate pans and then bake for another 3-5 minutes. You can check they are done by lifting one macaron you can sacrifice. If the feet comes off, leave it in longer. You always want to overbake than underbake.
9. Let cool completely before removing them from the paper. Line up similar sized ones and pipe the chilled curd filling onto 1 shell. Sandwich together.
10. Let them sit in the fridge in a sealed container for at least 1 day before serving. Seriously!! They taste 100x better when the insides of the macaron shells soften a bit and the filling flavors come together.

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Boston Cream Pie Macarons

Yay It's the weekend! And the weather is perfect and I'm slightly less stressed than usual :P I've been baking all morning and finally tackled making macarons. This was my first time baking them too. I know I'm a little behind the macaron blogging game, but the price of almond flour and everything else can quickly add up. Food and feeding my ever hangry state has turned my pockets inside out. I'm going to seriously live on carrot sticks next. Although, I did do that once and turned yellow-orange. True story. That's how the bf met me. He thought I was normally orange in color. I don't really know how anyone can be attracted to an oompa loompa. But hey! Everyone for everybody ;)

Since this was my first time making macarons, I was surprised at how easy they were to make! And when I saw feet. I was like YEESSSS!! It does take a little bit of prep because you used aged egg whites but otherwise they are pretty simple... as long as you follow a good recipe.

Some notes...I did one batch with a silicon mat and one with just parchment paper with a template I printed off the internet (3.5cm diameter). I thought it was easier using parchment paper and the shells weren't as hollow. Although, the shells slide right off the silicon mat whereas the paper stuck a little.  If you ever wanted to make macarons, you really should. Nothing to be intimidated by. Heck, if I can, I'm sure you can too :)

Boston Cream Pie Macarons

Makes about 20 macarons
adapted from shopsucre
Macaron Batter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup finely ground almonds
2 large egg whites, ages 1 day in fridge and 1 day at room temp
5 tbsp granulated sugar

Custard filling
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup flour (or 1.5 tbsp cornstarch for gf)
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla
5 tbsp butter
1 cup powdered sugar

**or the lazy man's custard: 1 box instant vanilla pudding powder, 3/4 cup whole milk, 1/2 cup powdered sugar mixed into 3 tbsp whipped butter (I used this recipe for my pictures)

Chocolate drizzle
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate

• Custard: whisk all the ingredients other than the butter and powdered sugar in a small pot. Heat on medium and keep whisking it from time to time until it starts to simmer. Keep whisking until its pretty thick and starts spitting large bubbles from the top. Remove from heat and let it cool. In another bowl, cream butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Fold together custard and butter mix. Chill in a piping bag.
• Macarons:

1. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon mat and get a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch plain tip prepared
2. In a food processor pulse almond flour and powdered sugar until mixed and fluffy
3. In the bowl of your stand mixer (if you have one, or just an egg beater bowl... I really don't recommend whisking by hand!), beat egg whites with the whisk attachment on medium low for 2 mins, gradually adding in the sugar.
4. Increase speed to 7 to whip for another 3 minutes and then at 8-10 for another 4 minutes. You should be getting a stiff meringue that you can make soft peaks with. Don't over beat it or bad things will happen (apparently...)
5. Fold the dry ingredients in 2 batches with a rubber spatula and make smooth sweeps to the bottom of the bowl. You do want to deflate the meringue a bit so squishing to mix to knock out some air is okay! After about 30-50 foldings (I didn't count but everyone talks about that magic number). I just did it until the batter looked glossy and when you drop some from your spatula to the batter, it takes about 20 secs for it to mold back into the mix. Don't over mix or it will a runny and watery mess!
6. Fill your pastry bag (hold it up in a tall glass..makes life so easy) and pipe batter onto the prepared baking sheets in 3.5cm circles, spaced 1" apart. 
7. Rap the baking sheet a few times about 1 inch above the counter top to flatten the macarons and to get rid of bubbles. Let them rest at room temp for 45-60mins. The tops should be dry and nothing should stick to your finger if you poke them. 
8. Preheat your oven to 325 F in the last 2 minutes. Bake for 15 mins, rotate pans and then bake for another 3-5 minutes. You can check they are done by lifting one macaron you can sacrifice. If the feet comes off, leave it in longer. You always want to overbake than underbake.
9. Let cool completely before removing them from the paper. Line up similar sized ones and pipe the chilled custard filling onto 1 shell. Sandwich together. Heat milk in the microwave or small sauce pot, remove and stir in chocolate until it melts into a thick sauce. Drizzle onto assembled macaron tops. Let them sit in the fridge in a sealed container for at least 1 day before serving. They don't taste as good fresh out because the inside of the macaron shells need some time to soften and for the filling flavors to come together.

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