Nutella Macarons

Macarons.. my nemesis which made me fail twice. Today, we did another attempt at Sharron's place and I'm thrilled to present these Nutella Macarons to you. I'll be doing another blog posts on the possible reasons why macarons fail based on what I've experienced so far. In any case, these are by far the toughest things to bake due to the many technicality issues to combat when baking them. Every step requires somewhat some precision. 

I'm not gonna lie to you. They're not easy to bake. I've failed these French macarons twice myself and this method/recipe that I've used today is troublesome.. But, what's a little work for these precious gems that are sold at $3.80 a pop from Ladurée? Even a decent one from Bakerzin or Canelé costs $2.50! But! These methods and recipe that I've worked out after 2 times of failing should work real well. So.. click on and learn more! I did not photograph each step of the recipe but I will do so soon.. so do come back and check this page for a detailed image to image recipe!

The recipe is rated difficulty level 5 out of 5 and takes about 1 h 30 mins in all to complete. Recipe proportions were taken from a recipe that Sharron had but methods were assisted by some guidance advised by Jong (: 

Nutella Macarons Recipe

This recipe yields 16 cookies/8 macarons

55g fine almond meal

55g icing sugar

Yellow gel food colouring (I used Wilton)

11g castor sugar

A pinch of corn flour

40g egg white (from about 1 60g egg) [This MUST be of room temperature]

2 tbsp Nutella

Method

1) Combine almond meal and icing sugar.

2) Pass the almond meal and icing sugar through a fine sieve.

3) Discard all big almond bits.

4) Place the egg white in a clean and dry bowl. Add a small pinch of corn flour. Add in a small portion of yellow food colouring. (The egg whites should be really bright yellow as the macaron will brown a little when baked so the yellow won't show through as much).

5) Whisk the egg whites till stiff peaks.

6) Take 1/3 of the meringue and fold it into the almond mixture. It will look odd and clumpy but fret not.

7) Add in remaining meringue and fold it into the mixture. It will start to look clumpy. Tilt/scrape all contents onto one side of the bowl and smear it against the sides while folding it in. It should take about 40 -50 folds. This is just a gauge though.. It truly depends on how you fold the batter. Fold it till you get to a ribbon stage. The more you fold, the more ribbon-like it will become. Be careful not to over fold. Mixture will look glossy and be ribbon-like when it is ready. 

8) Scoop into piping bag fitted with a round tip. 

9) Pipe onto bake tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Your rounds should be about 2.5cm in diameter (or the size of a 50-cent Singapore coin) and should be spaced apart as they will spread. 

10) Tap the baking tray about 5 times on a hard surface to release air bubbles and spread the 'nipples' on the macaron. 

11) Repeat on all 3 other sides of the baking tray. Repeat if necessary or till there are no more nipples and air bubbles on the surface of the macaron. You may use a toothpick to gently 'burst' the bubbles on the surface. 

12) Preheat oven for 5 minutes at 200 degree Celsius. 

13) TURN OFF the oven and pop the baking tray into the oven. DO NOT close the oven door completely. Leave a small gap of about 5cm to allow some heat to escape. This will aid in the drying of the macarons. This is especially effective for humid climates like what I have in Singapore. Allow macaron to dry for 5 minutes. Check for drying of the macaron shell by gently touching the surface of the macaron. If it is not dry and 'shell-like' yet. Remove from oven and preheat oven for another 5 minutes.

14) Repeat drying process or till macaron shells are dry. 

These were my dry macaron shells.

15) When dry, remove from oven. Preheat oven to 160 degree Celsius for 15 minutes. 

16) START YOUR TIMER NOW. Pop baking tray into the oven and bake for 2 minutes. 

17) Adjust baking temperature to 180 degree Celsius after 2 minutes and allow 'feet' to form. 

18) This will take about less than a minute. 

19) When you are pleased with the 'feet', turn the heat back down to 160 degree Celsius and bake for another 3 minutes before bringing temperature down to 150 degree Celsius. Bake for a total of 14 minutes from the time you start your timer.

20) Remove baking tray and slide baking sheet off the baking tray and allow them to cool on a baking rack.

21) When cool, gently peel macarons off baking paper. Match macarons that are of the same size for assembly.

22) Have nutella in a piping bag.

23) Pipe nutella on the insides of one macaron. Cover with the other shell.

24) If possible, refrigerate in the fridge overnight to allow the flavours to meld together.

So there you have it.. Nutella Macarons! (: Enjoy these lovely treats! (: 

I'd love to see the bakes or stuff you've cooked using the blog's recipe! Do share photos of stuff you've baked or cooked using the blog's recipe with me either via FB message to http://facebook.com/limcynthia OR http://facebook.com/thebakingbiatch OR via email at cynthia.lim.hl@gmail.com! I look forward to hearing from you! (: