French Macarons :

This is My DB First Challenge : Macaroon
When Ever i used to see these Macaron Pics felt i should also give my hands on this to try for a macaron .Iam glad that i got an oppurtunity to try my Fav Macarons..But mine were not still Perfect Macarons
When i tried for the first time because of the Variance in Temp i could see crack on my Tops
but wanted to give a try Again for these Little Cuties..

Iam really Thankful To Deeba of Passionate baking and Parita who Helped me through their Suggestions ..Thanks Girls you made my day by Expressing your thoughts on this .......
Followed the recipe Of 1 Egg white from Parita.

Makes 8 macarons

Ingredients for Macarons:

1 egg white aged for 48 hours in fridge(Remove from fridge before 3 to 4 hours to bring the white to room temperature)

65 gms icing sugar

40 gms powdered almonds (sieved)

15 gms castor sugar (I used very fine)

Ingredients for Chocolate Ganache:

50 ml heavy cream

60 gms bittersweet/semisweet chocolate

sieve the almond powder and than measured 40gms.
Mix together powdered sugar and almonds (make sure you dont have any lumps).
Beat the egg white with a electric beater until frothy.
While beating add in the castor sugar (and 1 to 2 drops of color if desired) and beat at high for 2 mins until glossy stiff white meringue forms.
Fold the almond and sugar mixture with meringue in 4 to 5 turns. Donot over mix. Fold very gently in one direction only.

Scrape the batter in a pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps if you're alone).
Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1-inch (3 cm) circles (about 1 tablespoon each of batter), evenly spaced one-inch (3 cm) apart.
Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons, and let it sit for 40 mins.
After 30 mins preheat the oven to 160 degrees C.
Bake the macarons for 10 mins and then reduce the temperature to 140 degrees C and bake for another 4 to 5 mins.
Cool completely and store them in air tight containers. Procedure for Ganache:
Heat the cream in a pan, as soon as it stars boiling on the sides remove from heat and add the chocolate pieces in them.
Let it stand for a min.
Whisk gently until smooth paste.
Cool completely before using, after it has cooled ganache will become thicker in consistency and is easy to pipe. Sandwich the macarons together with a tsp of ganache and store them in air tight container. They will stay upto 5 days.

Its done .

For the batter, I used David Lebovitz?s recipe. For baking the macarons, I reduced the temperature of the oven from 180 deg, as it proved to be too much. The first batch cracked, but the second batch ( with the same batter and with some resting) produced great results. When i tried for the first time because of the Variance in Temp i could see crack on my Tops
but wanted to give a try Again for these Little Cuties..
I pre heated the oven at 170 deg C and lowered to 150 deg C . The tray with the piped shells was then baked in the centre of the oven for 10 minutes. I rotated the tray and baked for another 5 minutes.

Atleast This time i could See Feats showing up for the macarons when they were baking back in the oven . but i must admit that Taste is really Awesome it Justs melts in Your mouth .

Optional:
-Flavor variations and decoration
-If you have a nut allergy, find a good nutless meringue cookie recipe but you must make them into cookie sandwiches with some kind of filling

If you are vegan, I don?t know what you can use as an egg substitute. Suggestions are welcome.

Preparation time: Not taking into account the amount of time it takes for you to bring your egg whites to room temperature, the whole baking process,
including making the batter, piping and baking will probably take you about an hour to an hour and a half. How long it takes to
make your filling is dependent on what you choose to make.

Actual baking time: 12 minutes total, plus a few minutes to get your oven from 200°F to 375°F.

Equipment required:
? Electric mixer, preferably a stand mixer with a whisk attachment
? Rubber spatula
? Baking sheets
? Parchment paper or nonstick liners
? Pastry bag (can be disposable)
? Plain half-inch pastry bag tip
? Sifter or sieve
? If you don?t have a pastry bag and/or tips, you can use a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off
? Oven
? Cooling rack
? Thin-bladed spatula for removing the macaroons from the baking sheets
? Food processor or nut grinder, if grinding your own nuts (ouch!)

The 2009 October Daring Bakers? challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming?s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

The following is the recipe that we had to follow-

Ingredients
Confectioners? (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners? sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners? sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don?t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It?s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.