macarons – Coconut & Vanilla

[:de]Kokosmakronen mit Schokofüsschen[:]

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Kokosmakronen sind ein echter Klassiker unter den Weihnachtsplätzchen! Auch auf Weihnachtsmärkten sind sie ein gern gesehener Gast. Und jetzt in euren Keksdosen!

Diese Kokosmakronen stellen alle anderen in den Schatten: Sie sind super saftig und selbst ohne Schokolade könnte man sie wegnaschen. Mit Schokolade haben sie aber noch das gewisse Extra! Also auch wenn ihr sonst Abstand nehmt von Kokosmakronen – so wie ich übrigens auch – weil sie trocken und fad sind, gebt denen hier eine Chance! Sie haben es sich verdient und ihr werdet überrascht sein, dass ihr Kokosmakronen doch mögen könnt!

Und so schnell schaut ihr gar nicht sind sie alle weggefuttert…

Vor drei Jahren: Maccharoni & Cheese

Vor fünf Jahren: Lebkuchen mit Schokoladenüberzug

Vor sechs Jahren: Schokoladenkekse mit Fleur de Sel

Vor sieben Jahren: Weihnachtsplätzchen

Kokosmakronen mit Schokofüsschen

nach einem Rezept von David Lebovitz bzw. Zorra

2 Eiweiß
1 Prise Salz
125 g Zucker
1/2 EL Honig
125 g Kokosflocken
15 g Mehl
1 TL Vanilleextrakt
60 g Kuvertüre

Eiweiß, Salz, Zucker und Honig in einen weiten Topf oder eine unbeschichtete Pfanne geben und bei mittlerer Hitze leicht erwärmen. Kokosflocken, Mehl und Vanilleextrakt dazugeben und weiter erhitzen bis die Masse dick wird und langsam am Boden festklebt. Vom Herd nehmen.

Die Masse auf einem Teller ausbreiten und auskühlen lassen.

Aus dem Teig kleine Bällchen formen, das geht einfacher wenn die Hände feucht sind. Auf ein Blech mit Backpapier setzen und etwas andrücken.

Bei 180° C Ober-/Unterhitze 18-20 Minuten backen bis sie goldbraun sind.

Auskühlen lassen.

Die Kuvertüre schmelzen und die Unterseite der Makronen in die Schokolade tauchen. Wieder auf das Backpapier setzen und trocknen lassen.

Die Makronen am besten in Blechdosen aufbewahren.

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Wien und Macarons!Vienna and Macarons!

Yesterday I promised you, that I will tell you soon about Vienna and show you my photos of course. Never been so fast answering my own posts… well doesn’t happen so often either that I answer my own posts…

First Vienna was very restorative. Just what I needed. The city itself is nice – lots of old beautiful buildings – but for me it’s too crowdy, too smelly and unfortunately old buildings just don’t stand for themselves, they need to be maintained. What really pays off in that city is the food. What a relieve!

We had the famous biggest Schnitzel of town at Figlmüller.

They were outstanding big and so thin, they were delicious! Just a recommendation, if you will ever visiting Vienna.

Another night we ate at the restaurant “Holler”, which only serves vegetarian food. Don’t have pictures from our food, cause really I don’t like it to sit in a restaurant and take pictures of my food. I’m just feeling awkward then. I had some delicious homemade wild garlic (Bärlauch) gnocchi with paprika sauce and something else (sorry don’t remember at the moment), Frank had homemade saffron pasta with asparagus. As starters we had a hot Tibetan soup and wild garlic crepes with cream cheese filling.

So if you’re in Vienna you have to visit one of those Kaffeehäuser. I wanted to go to the Demel Café, which is famous for, well everything. But of course it was full and we wanted to sit outside (the weather was great), so we went to the Café Gerstner, which I already knew, because I bought there some macarons the day before! Yes, macarons! I just saw them by chance and bought two of every flavour. Couldn’t believe it. Below you see from the front to the back: lemon – coffee – raspberry – vanilla – pistachio and chocolate

At the Café Gerstner I ate a Dobos torte. Had to try it, because it was the challenge, before I joined the Daring Bakers (otherwise I wouldn’t have known it). I (almost) never make torte at home and that’s better so, because after half of the piece I was full. And that means a lot! But I liked it, mainly because of the many many layers of cake batter filled with crème.

If you’ll ever be in Vienna my recommendations, what you should visit and what I liked best are the Schloss Schönbrunn (castle Schönbrunn) and more important the associated park (picture below and that’s not the castle, just a part of the park), the Hundertwasser house and the Naschmarkt. The Naschmarkt is a huge market (2km long I guess), where you can buy every food you want. Unfortunately I couldn’t take home some fish…

We had the famous biggest Schnitzel of town at Figlmüller.

They were outstanding big and so thin, they were delicious! Just a recommendation, if you will ever visiting Vienna.

Schokoladen Macarons mit HimbeerfüllungChocolate Macarons with Raspberry Filling

Update: Für das deutsche Rezept nach unten scrollen!

Since on the 20. March was Macaron Day I decided to show you my latest accomplishment in macarons.

Yes, there exists a special day for macarons! In Paris are special shops, that sell macarons all day long and on macarons day you can get some free! Unfortunately I never had the chance to be there (on macarons day or sometime else). As macarons are not very popular in Germany, ok unknown would be the better word… I mean most people don’t even know what cupcakes are… so you couldn’t say macarons are the new cupcakes ;). Anyway what I wanted to say is, that there won’t be shops in Germany, that sell macarons.

But most often I think anyway it’s better and more fun to do it myself. I mean look at those little beauties. Just want to grab one immediately and stuff it into my mouth.

And in your mouth you have the rich chocolate flavour and now you think “yeah and in the middle even more boring chocolate”… haha no! In the middle is chocolate (and do use the good one!) with raspberry puree! It’s soo delicious.

So if you didn’t do it, celebrate macarons day with some lovely macarons. Even more if you have some egg whites sitting in your fridge and you don’t know what do to with them. So you have to make some macarons, because it would be a pity to throw all the egg whites away. And you will feel a lot better, when you use them up and they are not looking at you anymore out of the fridge, making you guilty, because you don’t know what to do with them. Believe me, what a relief to make macarons!

And it is not difficult. Ok my first try wasn’t what I expected. They tasted good, but they didn’t look like macarons. So for some tipps, you can look up my first post with macarons.

Don’t be worried, if my post is looking some what different, because I’m trying it the first time with Windows Live Writer, instead of that Google crap. Yeah, you read right. It’s just driven me into insanity some times. So maybe that here works better. I’m yet “astonished” by the amount of fonts and options to embed my pictures. You see, after Google I’m very easy to impress.

But don’t want to bore you with that theoretical things.

Schokoladen Macarons mit Himbeerfüllung

Zutaten:

100 g Eiweiß (raumwarm; mind. 24h vorher getrennt)
25 g Zucker
1/2 TL Zitronensaft
225 g Puderzucker
125 g Mandelmehl (oder gemahlene Mandeln, die ich nochmal mit einem Aufsatz für den Pürierstab mahle)
15 g Kakaopulver
1 Prise Salz
Kakaosplitter zum Bestreuen

für die Füllung:

100 g Vollmilchschokolade oder-kuvertüre
50 g Himbeerpüree
einen Schuss Schlagsahne
ein Stückchen Butter

Wichtig: Die Eier müssen mindestens 24 h (oder länger) vor dem Backen getrennt worden sein. Dadurch verlieren die Eiweiße an Feuchtigkeit und formen so einen stabileren Meringue. Sie müssen Raumtemperatur haben.

Die Eiweiße mit dem Zitronensaft fast steif schlagen. Den Zucker nach und nach zugeben und schlagen bis ein steifer glänzender Meringue ensteht.

Den Puderzucker, Mandelmehl und den Kakao sieben. Nach und nach unter den Meringue heben. Man sollte dazu nicht mehr als 50 Züge (1 Zug = 1x Unterheben) benötigen, sonst fällt die Masse zusammen.

Die Macarons auf ein Backblech mit Backpapier spritzen und mit Kakaosplitter bestreuen. Das Backblech vorsichtig auf die Arbeitsfläche schlagen, so bekommen die Macarons eine gleichmäßige Oberfläche.

Den Ofen auf 150° C vorheizen.

Die Macarons 20 Minuten trocknen lassen, damit sich Füßchen formen können.

8 Minuten backen, dann das Blech wenden und nochmal 8 Minuten backen. Immer nur 1 Blech auf einmal backen!

Abkühlen lassen und in eine luftdichte Dose legen, bis man sie füllt.

Für die Füllung die Schokolade im Wasserbad schmelzen. Dann das Himbeerpüree und die Sahne dazugeben und gut unterrühren. Die Butter unterrühren, bis die Füllung cremig und leicht glänzend ist. Abkühlen lassen, bis man die Füllung mit dem Spritzbeutel bearbeiten kann. Am besten in den Kühlschrank stellen.

Wenn die Masse fest genug ist, die Macarons damit füllen.

Since on the 20. March was Macaron Day I decided to show you my latest accomplishment in macarons.

But most often I think anyway it’s better and more fun to do it myself. I mean look at those little beauties. Just want to grab one immediately and stuff it into my mouth.

And it is not difficult. Ok my first try wasn’t what I expected. They tasted good, but they didn’t look like macarons. So for some tipps, you can look up my first post with macarons.

But don’t want to bore you with that theoretical things.

Chocolate Macarons with Raspberry Filling

Ingredients:

100 g egg whites (at room temperature; separated at least 24 hours prior)
25 g sugar
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
225 g powdered sugar
125 g almond flour (ground almonds, which I grind another time with an attachment of my immersion blender)
15 g cocoa powder
pinch of salt
cocoa nibs for topping

For the filling:

100 g milk chocolate
50 g raspberry puree
a splash of cream (or something similar: heavy cream or crème fraîche)
a piece of butter

Don’t forget, that the egg whites have to be separated 24h prior or longer before starting to bake. So they loose moisture, which helps to form a stable meringue. Let them get room temperature.

Whip the egg whites and the lemon juice until they are almost fully whipped. While mixing add the sugar slowly. Whip until you have a shiny stiff meringue.

Sift the powdered sugar, almonds and cocoa. Add the dry ingredients successive to the meringue and fold until a shiny mass is formed. You shouldn’t need more than 50 strokes to do that, otherwise you overfold the mass and it will deflate.

Pipe the macarons onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with cocoa nibs. Take the baking sheet and hit it on the working surface (of course as gently as you can, you don’t want the macarons sticking on the ceiling). That helps to get an even surface. Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F). Let the macarons dry at room temperature for 20 minutes. That helps to form their feets (you see in the pictures).

Bake them for about 8 minutes, then rotate the baking sheet and bake for another 8 minutes. Only bake one baking sheet at a time! Unless one sheet is ready and the other not. I tried!

Let them cool and transfer to an airtight container, until you fill them.

For the filling, break the chocolate into pieces and melt it in a double boiler. When melted, add the raspberry puree and the cream. Stir until incorporated. Add the butter. Stir until it’s creamy and a little bit shiny. Let it cool until it’s pipeable. I put mine on the window board outside (it was cold). Otherwise I would recommend the fridge ;).

When it is pipeable, fill the macarons with the ganache.

Enjoy your Macarons Day!

Zimt und Anis MacaronsCinnamon and Anise Macarons

Update: Für das deutsche Rezept nach unten scrollen!

This month challenge for the Daring Bakers were French Macarons. 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.

I was a bit scared, because I tried macarons some weeks ago the first time and they went totally wrong. The shells weren’t really hard, almost no „feet“ (you can see feet in the picture of my succesful anis macarons below) and they were much too soft. But I was also eager to do it better.

In the (english) food blog world everyone is about macarons. But here in Germany nobody knows them. Or precisely macarons are known as something different. Dessicated coconut with beaten egg whites and sometimes nuts or chocolate within. „Feets“ are not wanted, it’s more like small piles. Germans wake up and get to know french macarons!

The challenge itself was challenging. After my first mishappening and reading in the Daring Bakers Forum about the problems with the recipe given and the better-going recipes with Tartelette’s one, I decided to give the disaster not a chance again and go with Tartelette’s recipe.

The recipe is very easy to vary. I made the Cinnamon Macarons with hazelnuts and a Tbsp. cinnamon and a gianduja (rounded up with some cream) filling and the Anise Macarons with almonds a Tbsp. grounded anise and a white chocolate filling.

Some tips, which I found important are:

Ground your grounded nuts again yourself (something like a Moulinette would be helpful). They are not fine enough. Sieve your powdered sugar before.

I used a silicone mat and normal parchment paper and I would prefer the parchment paper here, because the macarons sticked so much to my silicone mat, I didn’t get them off right. Also after baking let them cool for about 15 minutes outside, then move the baking sheet back in the warm (but not hot!) oven. Let them cool completely over the night. Mine were mostly *fingers crossed* easy to peel off the parchment paper. If it doesn’t work give some sprinkles of water under the paper, if the sheet is still warm or hold it over some steaming water. The steam dissolves the macarons from the paper.

For piping: stand your bag up in a high glass. It’s easier for filling and when you rest.

In my opinion the macarons are the better the smaller they are. Furthermore the ywill expand a little while baking. Hope all this helps. If you have any questions feel free to ask! This is how my macarons looked like after piping, while drying, before baking.

Französische Macarons

von Tartelette

Zutaten:

90 g Eiweiß (etwa 3)
30 g Zucker
200 g Puderzucker
110 g gemahlene Mandeln (Mandelmehl wäre optimal)

Am Tag davor (24 h) die Eier trennen und die Eiweiße abgedeckt bei Raumtemperatur aufbewahren. Man kann auch Eiweiß aus dem Kühlschrank benutzen, dann sollten die Eier aber bereits mehr als 48 h getrennt sein.

Die Eiweiße steif schlagen und nach und nach den Zucker zugeben und weiterschlagen, bis man einen glänzenden Meringue hat. Nicht zu lange schlagen, damit der Meringue nicht zu trocken wird.

Die Mandeln mit dem Puderzucker in eine Küchenmaschine oder einen Blitzhacker geben und mahlen bis die Nüsse sehr fein sind (bei Mandelmehl nicht nötig). Zum Meringue geben und vorsichtig unterheben, dabei erst ein paar schnelle Züge, gefolgt von langsameren Unterheben. Man sollte nicht mehr als 50 Züge benötigen.

Einen Spritzbeutel mit einer runden Tülle (Kaiser 9 mm Größe 3) ausstatten, mit dem Teig befüllen und 3 cm große Kreise auf das Backpapier spritzen.

Die Macarons 30-60 Minuten stehen lassen, damit sie außen antrocknen. Das ist wichtig, damit nachher „Füßchen“ enstehen.

Den Ofen auf 140° C vorheizen.

15-20 Minuten backen. Auskühlen lassen.

Some tips, which I found important are:

Ground your grounded nuts again yourself (something like a Moulinette would be helpful). They are not fine enough. Sieve your powdered sugar before.

For piping: stand your bag up in a high glass. It’s easier for filling and when you rest.

French Macarons

from Tartelette

Ingredients:

90 g egg whites (about 3)
30 g granulated sugar
200 g powdered sugar
110 g grounded almonds (or almond meal)

For the whites: the day before (24hrs), separate your eggs and store the whites at room temperature in a covered container. If you want to use 48hrs (or more) egg whites, you can store them in the fridge

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites to a foam, gradually add the sugar until you obtain a glossy meringue. Do not overbeat your meringue or it will be too dry.

Combine the almonds and powdered sugar in a food processor and give them a good pulse until the nuts are finely ground. Add them to the meringue, give it a quick fold to break some of the air and then fold the mass carefully until you obtain a batter that flows like lava or a thick ribbon. Give quick strokes at first to break the mass and slow down. The whole process should not take more than 50 strokes.

Test a small amount on a plate: if the tops flattens on its own you are good to go. If there is a small beak, give the batter a couple of turns.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip (Ateco #807 or #809/Kaiser 9mm Größe 3) with the batter and pipe small rounds (3 cm in diameter) onto parchment paper or silicone mats lined baking sheets.

Preheat the oven to 140° C.

Let the macarons sit out for 30 minutes to an hour to harden their shells a bit and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on their size. Let cool.

If you have trouble removing the shells, pour a couple of drops of water under the parchment paper while the sheet is still a bit warm and the macarons will lift up more easily do to the moisture. Don’t let them sit there in it too long or they will become soggy.

Once baked and if you are not using them right away, store them in an airtight container out of the fridge for a couple of days or in the freezer.