Macaron - the Pierre Herme Way

Sorry for not writing in a long time!  Since it's spring, a lot of friends have been visiting in the past couple of months!

Yet, I haven't been lazy about my cooking - indeed, I have accumulated quite a few recipes to share with you - one of them is super tempting, the macarons, AGAIN!

My husband got me this Pierre Herme Macarons cookbook from ebay (it was a good deal), as a surprised gift - turns out more of a treat for himself, cause I'll be the one experimenting the recipes and he'll be the one eating.

I was quite amused with my first attempt with using his recipe, and the trickiest part was to cook the sugar before whisking it into the meringue.

Earl Grey Tea Macaron (Makes 20 pairs of macaron shell)

MIXTURE 1:
100g almond grounds
100g icing sugar
36g egg white (about one large egg)
1/2 tsp earl grey tea leaf - ground with grinder
1g food colouring (optional)

MIXTURE 2: (Meringue)
100g caster sugar
25g water
36g egg white

Ganache

300g double cream
10g earl grey tea 
130g dark chocolate
25g butter

1. Prepare 'mixture 1', sift together almond grounds and icing sugar, stir in the grounded tea leaves.


2. If you are using food colouring, stir it in with the first portion of egg white, then pour on to the almond mixture - do not stir.  Set aside.

Stir in food colouring into 1st portion of egg white

Pour egg white with colouring onto almond mixture, set aside

3. For 'mixture 2', with electric whisk, whisk the second portion of egg white till soft peak, meanwhile, cook the caster sugar with water until it reaches 118C - it should turn slightly golden in colour.   Slowly pour the melted sugar on to the soft peak egg white, simultaneously whisking it to let it cool down.  This will form your 'meringue'.

Whisk 2nd portion of egg white into soft peak

cook sugar and water until 118C

Pour in soft peak egg white and whisking in high speed at the same time

4. Fold in the meringue into the almond mixture until just combined - do not over mix, this will make the batter too watery and won't form the shape.

Use a spatular, fold in the meringue to the almond mixture - don't over mix 

5. After resting the batter for 10 minutes, spoon in to pipping bag and pip into 3.5cm diameter circles.

6. Let the shell stand for at least 30 minutes or until they are completely dry and do not look shiny- test it with your finger tip, the shell should not be sticky.

7.  Preheat the oven at 180C and bake for 12 minutes.  During baking, open and shut the door quickly for 2 times to reduce the moisture inside the oven. (First after 8 minutes and second time after 10 minutes)

8.  Let it cool completely on the work surface.

For the ganache, bring cream to boil and remove from heat.  Add the tea and let it infuse for 3 minutes covered.  Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and pour in the cream in 3 times.  When the mixture is cooled down to 60C, add whisk in the butter until smooth.

Cover ganache with cling film and chill in room temperature until thickens.

To assemble, pipe ganache on the macaron shell generously, leaving about 2mm space from the edge.