Macaron practise sessions!

Got some practise on macarons this weekend in between weekend outings! - Saturday : Raspberry Macarons with Raspberry Mascarpone and Sunday : Lemon Macarons with Lemon Curd. Both utilising the french method as I like the less sugary flavor and lighter texture.

My hand-me-down-but-brand-new scale unfortunately has to go as it only has marks at 20 gram increments while the recipe requires precision to 5 grams, so I will not be attempting macarons again till I get a digital scale as we all know precision makes or breaks a macaron! Also, I'm using starched sugar, after all No So Humble Pie gets beautiful macarons using starched sugar.

For the raspberry macarons, I used Tartelette's recipe here, followed the recipe as closely as I could with the exception of using 1 teaspoon raspberry powder instead of 1 tablespoon coloring. I used a smaller amount as I wasn't too sure how the freeze dried powder would react- tends to draw moisture.

Double sifting is hard work, will be getting a blender to help in macaron quest soon!

Opps! Forgot to sift in the raspberry powder, so just dumped it on top!

Beating the whites..

Never quite know when to stop, so I always turn the bowl upside down, when it stays: STOP!

Took it too far! About 55-60 stirs. Tartelette recommends no more than 50.

Could not control the flow!

There you have it! Overmixed sloppy mixture! But baked it anyway and the result was...

Raspberry mascarpone

Tadah! Flat almond biscuits ;)

 While the raspberry powder smelt divine, it loses it's vibrant hot pink colour on baking. So perhaps, 1 teaspoon raspberry, 1 teaspoon coloring might be a compromise.

On Sunday, I wanted to try Tartelette's recipe again without the overmixing. I counted 45 stirs this time, even then it was a little sloppy but I'll put it down to my guesswork with the measurements.

No yellow food coloring this time... still learning to be consistent with piping.

Lemon curd- at least this is super easy to get right every time!

Finished product

Shells were still a little brown despite using a lower rack in the oven than the raspberry attempt. Guess all was not lost thou, as of Monday afternoon, my chief taste tester had polished off all of the weekend's efforts! He is enjoying my new hobby :) Looking forward to next practise session when I have a proper scale and a blender! Might even try parchment paper as it gives neater feeties than silicon mats. Now...I still owe someone his Lemon Meringue Pie...