Another macaron recipe from Thomas Keller's cookbook-Bouchon. This recipe contains a higher ratio of almond flour and powder sugar to egg white. The final product is very good but a little more chewy than the one with less almond flour and powder sugar. Let's try and see if you like it. They're Bouchon Bakery's biggest seller. They are real chewy inside when I baked them per timing instruction so I increase baking time 5-8 minutes longer. No need to wait and there is no cracks. Lemon curd should be made on the day before. This is a large recipe, half it if you want to or freeze them in the freezer up to 2 weeks. Thaw in the fridge for 3 hours and take out of the fridge 1/2 to 1 hour before serve.
212g Almond flour
212g Powder sugar
82g & 90g egg white
236 g granulated sugar plus a pinch for egg whites
2/3 cup water
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise ( if make vanilla macaron)
Lemon yellow food color gel
- Line rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon liner. Making a template for even piping size. Draw 2-2¼ in circles with a dark color pen/sharpie on a thick paper (I use brown paper bag) 1-in apart or on one side of parchment paper and turn the ink side down. Preheat oven 350 oF convection mode, or 325 oF standard oven.
- Put almond flour and powder sugar in a food processor and process until as fine as possible. Transfer to a mixing bowl. If you want real fine texture, strain the powder mixture through a fine-mesh sieve and return coarse meals back to food processor and continue pulse until real fine. Pour 82 g egg white into the almond flour mixture. Scrape seeds from vanilla and add them to the mixture. Mix them well with a spatula.
- Cook sugar with water in a medium saucepan over medium high heat until the syrup reaches to 248 oF. Place 90 g egg white with a pinch of sugar in a electric standing mixing bowl with the whisk attached and beat with medium speed (#4 of KA mixer) until soft peak. If the egg whites reaches to soft peak before the sugar reaches to 248 oF, turn the mixer speed down to lowest level to keep them moving. Turn the mixer to medium low speed and slowly add hot syrup into the egg white. Pour it between the side of the bowl and the whisk. Increase speed to medium and beat until forming a stiff peak about 5 minutes. Fold 1/3 of cooked egg white (meringue) into almond mixture first and continue folding all egg white. Add food color gel when the batter still very stiff -2-3 shade darker than the color you want. Keep folding until the batter flows like lava texture-Not too stiff or too loose. .Transfer the batter to a pastry bag with 1/2 in. plain tip.
- Place the template underneath the silicon or parchment paper. Hold the tip upright 1/2 in. above the center of a traced circle, pipe out enough batter to fill in the circle. Repeat filling other circles. Remove the template. Grasp and lift the the baking sheet firm and tap the bottom down 2-3 times to spread the batter out evenly and smooth out any peaks left by pastry bag. Bake in preheated convection oven 350 oF for 15 minutes (8-10 minutes per the book) or standard oven 325 oF for 15-18 minutes. The top will be shiny and crunchy, the inside should be slightly chewy. The shell still stuck to the liner but the liner can be peeled off the shell gently. The shells will be removed easier when they cool.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack until cool completely. Cont piling another sheet after putting one in the oven.
- When the shells are cool completely, turn half of them up. Beat the filling until smooth. Put about 1 Tbs filling in the center with a spoon or pastry bag fitted with 3/8 in. plain tip. Top with another shell and press down gently until the filling spreading to the edge. Layer filled macaron in a plastic container and freeze them for 24 hrs up to 2 weeks. Defrost in refrigerator for three hours. Then bring them to room temperature before serving.
Lemon curd for filling
1/2 cup lemon juice about 3-4 lemon
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs plus 3 egg yolks
4 Tbs butter, cut in 1/2 inch-cubes, at room temperature
1 tsp agar powder
Whisk the agar powder to the lemon juice in a 2 quart saucepan. Then add and whisk all other ingredients together. Cook and whisking constantly on medium low heat until the curd is thick enough to hold the mark of the whisk and temperature should be 160 oF about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, strain the curd through a fine-mesh sieve. Press on the solid, scrap the curd clinging under the sieve into the bowl and discard solid remained inside the sieve. Whisk in butter pieces (one by one ) and let it cool. Cover with a plastic layer directly on the curd surface, chill in the fridge up to 1 week. Remove from the fridge before use and whisk on low speed until smooth.
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs plus 3 egg yolks
4 Tbs butter, cut in 1/2 inch-cubes, at room temperature
1 tsp agar powder
Whisk the agar powder to the lemon juice in a 2 quart saucepan. Then add and whisk all other ingredients together. Cook and whisking constantly on medium low heat until the curd is thick enough to hold the mark of the whisk and temperature should be 160 oF about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, strain the curd through a fine-mesh sieve. Press on the solid, scrap the curd clinging under the sieve into the bowl and discard solid remained inside the sieve. Whisk in butter pieces (one by one ) and let it cool. Cover with a plastic layer directly on the curd surface, chill in the fridge up to 1 week. Remove from the fridge before use and whisk on low speed until smooth.
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