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.
Imagine my joy when I read those words.
As many of you know, I adore French macarons. I have experimented with countless flavours and tweaked my own recipe to the point of almost being foolproof. As I am promoting caramel month, there was no question what flavour I would make. The challenge for me, however, was trialing a new French macaron recipe.
I hesitated for a while. Then quickly decided it was ‘acceptable’, as Gramercy Tavern was the location of the first dinner Mr Mélanger and I enjoyed during our visit to New York last year.
I am sentimental like that.
{ French Macarons } from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern
* 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 flavourings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t over fold, 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 coloured.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.
{ Caramel Fleur de sel }
* Ingredients *
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup water
1 vanilla pod
200g cream
Big pinch fleur de sel
125g or 1 stick unsalted butter, cubed
* Directions *
Place the sugar in a saucepan with the water. Without stirring, cook the sugar to 160C or 320F until it takes on a light, golden colour. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Add in the cream being careful as you poor into the hot sugar. Add in the Fleur de sel. Allow the mixture to cool to around 40C or 105F then add the butter. Blend until you have a glossy paste. Chill until required.
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Mélanger :: to mix 