Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Dark chocolate sea salt macarons

Final Semester starts tomorrow. What to do? Make macarons!

After reading Ms. Humble's blog about the French method of macaron-making, I started having doubts about my preference for the Italian method. Especially after the Italian way yielded a failed batch of macarons yesterday. And since it's almost always humid (Singapore is a mere degree North of the equator), it may be best to avoid introducing any water to the meringue (which is required by the Italian way).

So. Armed with my new stainless steel bowl, wilton gel colouring and parchment (only $3.90 for 20 metres woohoo!), I thought "Tres bien!" and set about the the French way.

The result?

Ce'sont tres bon!

I used the recipe on Ms. Humble's blog, dividing it into 4 to yield 6 macarons (12 shells). I baked them all at 150 degrees c, on the lowest oven rung.



Baking times from left to right: 21 minutes (burnt), 18 minutes (bottom slightly burnt but not tacky), and 21 minutes with wooden spoon wedged in the oven door when the fan came on (bottom too tacky). 

Conclusion: The best of the lot is Mr. middle- 18 minutes at 150 degrees c, with a closed door even when the fan came on (contrary to much internet macaron rhetoric). However, the bottoms were a bit burnt. I'll wait till tomorrow to see if this affects their taste.


Putting my babies to sleep


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The next day...

Good morning, my little ones!

These shells were the same kind as Mr. Middle (see above post).  The circumference at the centre of the mac was a darker colour due to the burnt bottoms. Looks slightly unappetising.

These shells were the same kind as Mr. Extreme Right (see above post). Evenly coloured but a tad too moist for my liking.

They were a little less sweet than macs made with Italian meringue, and as D puts it, more poppy. The shells were also less dense, with more crumb. I didn't observe a difference between the skin thickness of shells made with both methods- both yielded satisfyingly thin skins. I'll have to find a way to cook the inside like Mr. Middle and at the same time, not discolour the bottoms!

The salt really adds an excellent kick, drawing out those salivary juices and making them scream "more!, more!"

Next time, I'll use 85% chocolate because the 70% still proved too sweet, perhaps because salt has the ability to make bitter taste sweet- so says Heston Blumenthal. I belive him.

1 comment:

D said...

mmmm... that looks yummy!

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