Tag: pastry school

We took a break from entremets to learn something all of us had been looking forward to for a long time – macarons. The recipes we used are apparently from Pierre Hermé, who has previously taught some classes at Ferrandi. There were a dozen flavors to choose from, and I set my heart on olive oil.

The first step is to make the macaron batter. Part one is a mixture of almond powder, icing sugar, and egg whites, which is quite tough to stir because the batter is very stiff, but it’s important to whisk until the mixture becomes homogenous. Do not forget to sift the almond powder and icing sugar before mixing, otherwise the result will not be as smooth. Part two is an Italian meringue, which is done by pouring cooked sugar (117°C) to whipped egg whites. Continue to whip the egg whites until it cools to about 50°C, and add food coloring to the meringue if desired.

Combine part 1 and part 2 delicately, and beat the mixture with a wooden spatula to remove some air from the batter. The result should be slightly liquidy, but not so liquidy that it spreads out too thinly when piped on the baking sheet. It’s a little hard to explain the exact texture – to perfectly judge if a batter is ready, you just need to do this a few times to accumulate experience. To pipe the macarons, we used these boards with pre-drawn circles to make sure that the sizes are correct – this is unnecessary course for those who already can pipe very regularly.