馬卡龍（Macarons）這來自法國的甜點，不论颜色，口感 都是那么的让人深深的吸引着。 它也又稱作杏仁小圓餅，少女的酥胸又或是性感小圓餅。我想这些又名也形容得贴切。每次看到橱窗里排卖形形色色颜色鲜豔的馬卡龍，都有冲动要多看两眼然后买来吃。上个礼拜，买了一本secret of macarons 食谱，自己动手做吧， 这里的 馬卡龍卖得挺贵的。但是我想，要搁些日子才要再做了，因为我共做了几十个，要吃到什么时候啊？
200g ground almonds
200g icing sugar
75ml water
200g caster sugar2x80g egg whites
Red & Green colouring
Strawberry Ganache (make the day before)
150g fresh or frozen strawberries
10g caster sugar
100g white chocolate
50g milk chocolate
Method
1.) Sift ground almonds and icing sugar.
2.) In a sauce pan, bring the water and caster sugar to the boil without stirring. Make sure the temperature of the resulting syrup doesn't go above 115 C.
3.) Gently beat 80g egg whites to soft peaks, then increase the beater speed once the temperature of the syrup passes 105 C. When syrup reaches 115C, remove the saucepan from the heat and pour the syrup into the beaten egg whites in a thin stream. Continue to beat the meringue for 10 minutes, so that it cool down a little.
4.) Combine the sifted icing sugar and almond with the remaining egg whites (80g), making a smooth almond paste.
5.) Using a smooth spatula, incorporate about 1/3 of the meringue into the almond paste in order to loosen the mixture a little, then add the rest of the meringue.
6.) Mix well with colour paste. ( I divide the meringue into two batch and add in preferred colours).
7.)Fill a piping bag with an 8mm nozzle with batter, pipe out small (3-4cm) well spaced rounds.
8.) Lightly tap the bottom of the trays and allow them to form a crust at room temperature for about 30 minutes. ( I left mine for about 1 hour).
9.) Preheat the oven to 150 C.
10.) Bake in the oven for 14 minutes.
11.) Assemble the macaroons with strawberry ganache and lemon curd.
The strawberry ganache
1.) Wash then hull the strawberries. Process them with the caster sugar to make a coulis.
2.) Heat the coulis in saucepan, over a medium heat.
3.) Once the coulis is hot, strain it through a fine sieve over the chocolate.
4.) Gently combine to dissolve the chocolate and make the ganache smooth.
6.) Decant into a container and refrigerate for a least an hour.
Lemon Curd
I used store bought lemon curd.
Reference : Secrets of Macarons, pg 78
