J’aime le macaron – Earl Grey Macaron

I had made macaron many times before and at first I always use the French meringue method because I can make it in a smaller quantity. The other method of making macaron is using an Italian meringue. Both method are very similar, it just the matter of how we processed the sugar and eat white.

I used to be a fan of French meringue because it is very easy and less hassle compare to Italian meringue. However, using a French meringue has some disadvantage when the weather is bad such as rainy, gloomy or humid. It will become very hard for French meringue macaron since it very delicate and get fragile when the humidity is high in air.

Therefore I used an Italian meringue method to make this hazelnut chocolate macaron while it had been raining in Sydney 2 days in a row. When it comes to using Italian meringue, the only difference is we need to cook the sugar into sugar syrup and then mix with the egg white and the rest is exactly the same with French meringue. I have list some advantage and disadvantage I found when using both method.

Meringue	French	Italian
Advantage	-Less washing to do -Can do in small batch -Softer Macaron shell	-More stable meringue, less affected by weather or humidity -Macaron shell tend to be harder
Disadvantage	-Less stable due to humidity	-Need to minimum make 2 batch of macaron

Ingredients

Ear Grey Macaron Shell                                  

100g Almond Meal                                           

100g Icing sugar                                                           

80g Egg white                                                              

80g Sugar                                                                     

25ml Water                                                                   

1 Tablespoon loose Earl grey tealeaf (blended)

Earl Grey Buttercream
2 egg yolk
80g sugar
25ml Water
150g Butter, softened, cubed
1 Tablespoon loose ear grey tea leaf (blended)

1) Blend the earl grey tealeaf into fine powder.

2) Sift the almond meal, icing sugar and ear grey tea together and well combined.

3) Use half of egg white and mix with the dry ingredient until it become thick paste.

4) Put water and sugar into a pot and heat with medium heat. 

5) Use a thermometer; once the sugar syrup reaches 112C, start beat the egg white until it forms a soft peak.

 

6) Once the sugar syrup reach 118C, slowly pour the syrup from the side into egg white while keep beating at high speed until it forms glossy medium peak meringue. (Be careful for the hot syrup)

7) Fold in 1/3 meringue with the almond meal paste. Repeat until all the meringue mix in with the almond paste.

8) Keep Gently fold in the batter until the batter can slowly sink in and flatten in 30 seconds. (Be careful not to over mix the batter, as the mixing time is less need for Italian meringue) 

9) Transfer to pipping bag and pipe over stencil through baking paper.

10) Let the macaron air dry for at least 30-60 minutes.

11) Pre heat the oven to fan forced 150C, 20 minutes before baking.

12) Put macaron at the bottom rack and bake for 11 minutes. Turn the temperature down to 140C after 7 minutes. Transfer to rack to cool down. Pair the macaron with similar size.

13) For butter cream, beat the egg yolk until it turns to pale yellow colour.

14) Cook syrup until 118C, slowly pour from the side into egg yolk mixture.  Continue to beat in high speed until thick and creamy.

15) Once the egg yolk cool down to room temperature, slowly add in butter and beat at high speed.

16) Put in grounded ear grey tealeaf into butter cream and beat until it well combined.

17) Transfer the butter cream into pipping bag and pipe onto the macaron. Sandwich the macaron.

 Bon Appetite.