Pinkarons for Pinktober

Macarons were first introduced to me in my first DB challenge. They unlike Macaroons – American coconut cookies are either French or Italian are somewhat temperamental cookies which poses challenge for bakers. Usually after accomplishing a DB challenge, recipe can be considered successfully under your belt but not Macarons. They are difficult to produce specially if you are talking about perfection – a trait common to all fanatic bakers. 

Recently Laudree opened in Riyadh, KSA in a very posh mall. I haven’t visited it yet which I plan to very soon. That triggered the Macaron monster in me and I decided to give them a try. Moreover my left over egg whites from Tiramisu and Not So Humble Pie post on Macarons  added to the motivation. After all I have been baking for a long time and Macaron making should too come as a natural process. For more details on what are macarons and how perfect macarons should look and taste like, please refer to my earlier post I mentioned in the beginning. 

For now, if you want to master macaron making process, I highly recommend the Macarons 101 by Not So Humble Pie in which she explains every tiny detail. I am now of the view that baking is certainly not an art, it is definitely a science and once you attempt to understand it, it becomes much more fun. I think I have found the perfect recipe, it yields almost perfect macarons. Crisp outer, moist interior, no holes, chewy and they could stand on their feet, yes they had feet too. 

This post is dedicated to Breast Cancer awareness month which starts October 1st and is symbolized by pink ribbon. I lost my maternal aunt having this disease and have witnessed quite a few tragic deaths. Please help me spread the awareness of this since it is curable if detected early. A good resource is www.breastcancer.org. So my this time Mac Attack goes to Mactweets blog  for their Pinkarons for Pinktober. 

I have no special tips since I followed each and every tip in the above post so I am posting the recipe and wishing you best of luck. 

Pink Macarons with Dark Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients
Egg whites 100 grams
Sugar granulated 30-35 grams
Icing Sugar 200 grams
Almond meal/flour 120 grams
Pink color few drops
Cream of tartar 1/4 tsp or a pinch of salt

Method
1. Age egg whites, either on counter top covered loosely for 24 hours or in fridge for 5-6 days. 
2. Bring to room temperature. Add cream of tartar or salt. Using a hand whisk or electric beater, beat egg whites till fluffy. Make sure the whisk and bowl is impeccably clean with no moisture or grease.
3.  Sprinkle granulated sugar and beat till glossy stiff peaks are achieved. Don’t over beat else meringue (beaten stiff egg whites) will break and become grainy. Don’t proceed since you cannot achieve macarons through this. Add color. 
4. Pulse almond meal and icing sugar in a food processor and sift it.
5. Add in batches of 1/4 to meringue folding quickly. Don’t over or under mix. 
6. Fill the batter into a piping bag fitted with plain tip and pipe rounds on parchment lined baking sheets. There will be roughly 50-60 rounds.
7.Bake in a pre-heated oven for about 15-20 mins at gas mark 2.
8. Cool for 5 minutes and gently peel off the parchment and cool them upside down till ready to fill.

Dark Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients
Dark/bittersweet/semisweet chocolate 4 ounces
Heavy Cream 4 ounces

Method
1. Measure the ingredients by weight.
2. Melt chocolate cut into pieces in microwave for 1 minute.
3. Gently heat cream until it begins to bubble.
4. Pour over chocolate.
5. Let it stand for 5 minutes.
6. Stir well.
7. Leave at room temperature until ready to pipe or pop in fridge for a couple of hour. give a stir and pipe on half of the cookies. Don’t fill too much or on the sides since it will spread once sandwiched.
8. Sandwich and keep in fridge in a covered container for a couple of days to mature.
9. Bring to room temperature before serving.