My Very First Macarons

It's been so long since I wanted to give a try on macarons making
Something that many dreaded of, heard many unsuccesful attempts, made me thinking twice, thrice and been procrastinating since, beating my curiousity

This month Aspiring Baker's event coincidentally is macarons
It's like a wake up call for me to at least give it a shot, and not to fear failure

I found Tartlette via Bakerella and Peng's site, did some readings on how to and the tips, too, and here it is, my first macarons, and I chose chocolate this time, cos I know, whether it's a success or not, something chocolate will end in Abby's little tummy :)

Have I succeeded? I don't think so. Have I failed? I can't say that

I was glad I saw feet coming out, but it doesn't look nice enough to me. The feet should look nicer

I managed to pipe 24 circles on 2 separate pans, 12 each. 1 pan were all cracked on top, while the other pan were all smooth. 

You see in the picture above, the first picture, second macaron from the top, you see the crack at the bottom part? Yes, that's one of the cracked shell :(

Those cracked were put at the bottom rack while baked

Why? I shall find out. One thing I can think of is the adjusting of the oven temperature. I have to play with it a little the next time I give my second try, I guess. Anybody can help me?

The part which many dreaded of, the beating of the egg whites, not really an issue to me, honestly. What I found not so easy was the piping of the runny batter and to obtain uniform round shape. I think mine was a little too big wew...

There's something I'm also not too sure.. Some said to age the egg whites in loosely covered container in room temperature, some said in the fridge. Anybody can advise me on this? Does it make any difference actually?

For this batch, I was so sure that it would turn disastrous that I didn't even bother to prepare the buttercream filling, so in the end I only used nutella spread

Personally, I don't really fancy eating macarons, it's way too sweet to my liking

Abby loves them to the bits 

True enough, mostly were now in Abby's tummy LOL

I asked her to take the cracked ones first since I didn't need them for photo taking hehe...

Recipe is from Tarlette, but I used Peng's measurement

What I need:

90g icing sugar

50g ground almond

25g granulated sugar

50g egg whites

5g cocoa powder

1. Grind almond and icing sugar until fine, sift together with cocoa powder
2. Beat egg whites on high speed til foamy. Add granulated sugar gradually and beat til glossy and stiff peak form. Do not overbeat, it'll be too dry
3. Fold in almond mixture in batches til well blended (fold in vigorously for the first 30seconds, and the nslow down, not more than 50 times of folding in)
4. Transfer batter into piping bag and pipe on baking sheet lined with non stick parchment paper, let rest for 1 hour to dry the shells (it should be dry to the touch, best to put in aircon room)
5. Bake in preheated oven of 160degC for 15-20minutes
6. Remove from oven, cool down for 5minutes, peel cookies from paper and cool completely on wire rack
7. Pipe a dollop of filling on one side of the macaron, top with another shell, press down slightly. Chill before serving (overnight will be best)

Now, I shall see in my next attempt, hope I will get better result :)

I'm submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #17 – March Macaron Madness! (Mar 2012) hosted by Alan of Travellingfoodies