Ah, I’ve not done macarons for a pretty long time now. It’s something I don’t pretty enjoy doing it. Or maybe it’s really time to get a oven thermometer for this old bugger. Haha *opps.. sorry oven. sayang k* I’m very used to the oven with cake baking temperatures and stuffs, but not for sensitive cookies called macarons. In which I suspect it’s the unstable temperature that causes these macarons to be not what I expect them to be most of the time.

But another weird thing is (my oven is not fan operated) when I pipe them on Silpat, they are pretty (ahem, pretty good and acceptable la), but on parchment paper, they’re loop-sided and 1 side is higher than the other. Imagine, one side with proper feet, the other with NO feet at all!! *screams!!!!!* But anyways, these are those from Silpat.

Filling of choice was lemon curd, then I initially wanted to make a lemon macaron shell. But I don’t know how I ended up with a lavender shell. Oh wait, no. I remember now. I tasted a very very nice Citron Macaron from Natalie’s Gourmet Studio near my work place. Hence I wanted to sorta make it. But I kinda somehow ended up with a lavender shell and a lemon curd filling. Hrmm. *sign of aging*

This time I used an Italian meringue method, French method sends me to hell. I’ve yet to perfect any of the methods hence if you have any queries or problems, I cannot answer or help you as I’m still troubleshooting it myself . But you can check out these websites for troubleshooting if you need to.

Lavender Macaron with Lemon Curd Recipe

(adapted from previous recipe)

Part A

55g Egg Whites

150g Caster Sugar

39g Water

Part B

55g egg white

150g icing sugar

150g almond meal

2g dried lavender buds

drops of violet food colouring

Method

1. Part A. In a saucepan, boil water and sugar till 116 C to form a syrup. When the sugar syrup is at 112 ish Celcius, start whisking egg whites to a soft peak. When the sugar reaches 116 C, pour in in a consistent stream while beating egg whites in the mixer to form an italian meringue. Continue beating till glossy.

2. Part B. Pulverize icing sugar, lavender and almond meal till they’re fine, without lumps. Sift once or twice. Combine all ingredients into a paste. You may add flavours or colour into this paste.

3. Then lightly fold Italian Meringue into the almond paste in 3 portions.

4. Fill piping bag with a round nozzle and pipe 4cm dots of macaron paste, 2cm apart on silpat or wax paper.Let it rest for about 30 minutes. Sprinkle some lavender on top for some crunch.

5. Bake in preheated oven at 180 C for about 6 minutes. Bring down the temperature to 160 C for another 5-6 minutes.

6. It really depends on your oven. Some might be spot on in timing, but mine is rather old-fashioned. It takes a bit longer for it to cook. So keep an eye on it. When done, remove from oven and let it cool completely before removing from paper or silpat.

7. Pipe a dollop of lemon curd on 1 of the macaron, then sandwich with another.

*short macaron feet 🙁 *

Lemon Curd

4 yolks

50g sugar

50g lemon juice

45g cold butter, diced in small pieces

zest of 1 lemon or 2 if you want more zznngg

1 tsp corn flour, dissolve in 1 tbsp water

Method

1. Put everything except for butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir constantly till curd is thick and creamy.

2. Remove from heat and stir in butter. Stir till curd is silky and lump free.

3. Pour into a bowl, cover with a cling wrap right on the surface and let it chill in the fridge till harden.

4. When ready to use, stir a little with a spoon or spatula to loosen the texture. Put in a piping bag and pipe / or use as u wish.

Ok since today is the Hokkien New Year, “Geong Hi Huat Chai” again !! 🙂

I didn’t cook at all this whole Chinese New Year or do anything else except from visiting, hopping around, eating, binging, chit chatting and all. Well, sleep wasn’t included cause there wasn’t much sleep either. T__T nor even exercise. doomed -___-”’

But tomorrow (Saturday) we’re (finally) having a bloggers pot luck session!! woo hoo!! Just to make you jealous, we’re gonna have lotsa food like nasi kerabu, home made yee sang, vietnamese spring rolls,  assam ikan bakar… ok if I go on, I’ll might as well say out the entire menu but no! I’m not going to. But the entremet will be an Ispahan inspired one.

Don’t go too far!!

———-

PS : I found some nice blogs these couple of days and added them to my sidebar. Feel free to check them out too if u’re free!

The Pleasure Monger

Bisous A Toi

Egg Wan’s Food Odyssey

Ok bye!