nothing in particular

Following last 2 weeks of failed attempts on making Macarons, I decided to google for more information and guess what? Searching for 'Macaroon' turned up more results actually!

Today I shall avenge myself *got sabo-ed last week by K*.
Two good websites to recommend:
1. Syrup and Tang
2. Almost foolproof Macaron Recipe

Today we shall pit ourselves against each other~ RAWR~!
YY using the 'French Meringue' method from Syrup and Tang.
K using the 'French Meringue' + 'Italian Meringue' method from 'Almost foolproof macaron recipe'.



Since grounded almond and egg whites were common ingredients, we prepared them together.
We ground the almond from 'Red Man' brand thrice and its still too large to pass the sift!

Morale of the story: Don't buy ground almond from 'Red Man'.



Since we had oven constraints, I started first. Measured the dry ingredients and I started whipping the egg whites using my trusty old hand beater *that made all my chiffon cakes*.


K and I were surprised that the egg whites were beaten till white and shiny after adding sugar.
I have never encountered this at home when I used this hand beater with the plastic container that came with it, so it MUST BE the aluminium bowl o.O


Mix finely ground almond, icing sugar and coco powder thoroughly. Remember to sift everything.


K says that I look damn serious. Well, I am serious AND NERVOUS. LOL~



Finally mixed everything in, phew! I was afraid that I will overmix.


My macarons, piped onto the baking sheet. It took about 30mins to "dry" with strong winds.
They have "nipples"! They are female =( *not good at piping yet*


Baking at 160 degrees for about 10mins *can be slightly shorter maybe*
They started forming feet at about 3-4mins which felt like eternity while I stood in front of the oven, peering in through the glass.


About 25 pairs of shells, I am glad that they didn't stick to the baking paper.
To remove the shells easily, spray water underneath the baking paper and let it soak for 1min or so.


After my shells were done, it is K's turn. He's using the SPAR mixer to beat his egg white.
Above pic is after adding castor sugar and sugar syrup to the egg whites.


Nice glossy stable French + Italian meringue *very sweet though*


Mistake! The instructions says to add half of the egg whites to the dry ingredients, however we felt that step could be omitted so K added the stiff egg whites to the dry ingredients directly.
The dry ingredients turned hard and sandy..into one big clump of mess -_-'' omg~



No choice, K continued to fold the clumps in until what seem like a bake-able mixture while "chopping" the clumps as he went along.



The final piped batter was still glossy but somewhat too watery which resulted in..


Siamese twins due to watery mixture but wtf?
These macarons have feet! And they are STILL GLOSSY!
This recipe is indeed FOOL-PROOF!


Introducing Double Mac-Macaron, for lovers only XDD

K's macarons stuck to the baking paper more than mine, we need to check up on this again.



Finally, we have a chance to pipe some fillings for our macarons.
Decided to use the simplest stuff, chocolate ganache since we have chocolate buttons and cream at home.


Pairing the macarons up first before piping ganache into them.


My finished product. =D


K's finished product *hehe*
YY vs K: 1 - 0


Time to share the joy *read calories* with others, dessert for reunion dinner.
Woot~ so what did we do with the leftover egg yolks?