Wednesday, January 6, 2010

[MacTweets/ma3] Fruity Macarons







Fruity Macarons:-
Mangosteen Macaron Shells with Mango Pineapple Buttercream & Blueberry Jellied center.  

For MacAttack3 challenge we are suppose to try something different that we have never done before..so i decided to try making macarons using the italian meringue way - my first time making macarons with sugar syrup. :) I used the recipe from the Chinese publication of I Love Macarons by Hisako Ogita. The proportion between the Chinese & English Publications is a little bit different.  The Chinese version uses 50g of eggwhites which is what i was looking for and seems to have less sugar too. I didn't want to make a huge batch of macarons since i was only trying out for the first time. :)   I'm glad it turned out successful on my first try!   Since Mangosteen is purple in color, i thought i would color my macaron shells violet. I added violet color but i don't know why it turned out blue-green instead!  I kept adding the powder but it just didn't turn purple! Strange!




Yup, i own both the Chinese & English publications. :)
I bought the Chinese version first before the English one was available.


This is also the first time i'm using freeze-dried fruits. I bought the mangosteen, pineapple, rambutan & durian ones. I grind the freeze-dried mangosteen into powder and added it to the meringue.  The freeze-dried pineapple i pound into tiny pieces and add it into the mango buttercream for the added flavor.  Although i have fresh pineapple in the fridge, i didn't want too use it since i think it would be too over-powering..i just wanted a bit of an added crunch.  The blueberry jellied centre is made by adding a bit of agar powder to the blueberry filling (i had a tiny bit left-over in the fridge and had no idea what to do with it..LOL!..so i decided to try something new..and surprisingly the texture turned out quite well!)

It's a strange combo with so many flavors but surprisingly it turned out quite good! LOL!

Please do check out other bloggers' macarons & flavors listed on http://mactweets.blogspot.com!


23 comments:

Barbara Bakes said...

I heard so many good things about this book. How fun that you have two. I've been wanting to try the Italian version. How wonderful that they turned out lovely on your first try!

Lois B said...

Faithy, I'm so impressed. Your macarons are beautifual and on your first try! I've been reading a lot of blog entries about making macarons trying to get up my nerve, and yours is the most encouraging!

Lois B said...

oops! make that "beautiful"

faithy, the baker said...

@Barbara! Thanks! It's quite a good book. I've tried her french way and it is also successful. A good book to get - great for home bakers imo! :)

@Lois: Thanks! I made macarons before but these are the first time i made them using the italian way. Macarons are sensitive 'creatures'.. you have to make them with 'tender loving care'..;)

Sarah, Maison Cupcake said...

Wow you have wonderful feet! My macs are still misbehaving but I hope my next batch will be "the one". Have you tried that food colouring on anything else? I wonder whether it just went green with macs or if it does it with everything? Had you used it before?

faithy, the baker said...

Hi Sarah! Thanks! I put a little in a cup of water and the violet powder turned purple. But somehow in the batter it kept showing up as blue. Maybe i didn't add enough for the color to change? *shrugs*

youfei said...

Hi Faithy!

That's a really interested combination! I think you made a wise choice by using the freeze-dried pinapple instead because real fruits are pretty "wet" so they'll make the shells soft. Well, at least that's the experience I had with fruit jams. =(

Nonetheless, pretty work! =D I like!!

ButterYum said...

Great job faithy - and your photos turned out wonderfully.

Pei-Lin said...

These macs look beautiful!! Love the flavor combo!!

Pei-Lin

Vicki said...

They sound really delicious Faithy!
I'm really wanting to try macarons myself but haven't quite got the nerve yet.

Kitchen Butterfly said...

Fantastic job...I too just made a first batch of macarons - very successful!!!!!! So glad about it! I have also ordered that book, so excited

faithy, the baker said...

Thanks everyone for your kind comments! :)

Mamatkamal said...

What a lovely colour and great macarons!

tspegar said...

Your macs look great! Congratulations! What a great flavor combo!!

Kitchen Butterfly said...

So where are you? Cause I could easily send you some of the nice checkered baking paper!!!!!

Deeba PAB said...

OMG...another winner from Hisako Ogita's beautiful book. I LOVE the colour you got & I love your technique with using freeze dried fruit. AWESOME macs. I wish I had your skills & the beautiful book too! Thank you for playing along with us at MacTweets!

brenda said...

my apologies - Chinese...not Japanese.

brenda said...

lovely! so if the Japanese version is a different recipe I'm assuming the recipe is written in Japanese? where can I find this recipe in English? I've never made them before, so knowing a recipe works prior to my trying it is always a good thing!

faithy, the baker said...

Hi Brenda, she has the book in English (can buy from Amazon)..it's just the English version uses 150g of egg whites and the other ingredients increases accordingly (but seems like not to scale to me although i can't really say for sure since i'm not very good in math...)..but basically all other translation/photos/instructions are the same. HTH!

brenda said...

might it have been a type-O? have you tried the english recipe version? what's your preference? sorry for all the questions, just like to get them all out before I purchase the book! :) (thank you for your help!)

faithy, the baker said...

Hi Brenda

I've not tried the recipes from the English version yet..but others (eg Foodfinery) have tried...check out their blogs and they have success.

The Lone Baker said...

I'm impressed that you are using Mangosteen to start with!! Your resulting macarons look/sound fantastic! re: colour.. same recipe/book I tried to make red velvet & couldn't get the batter to turn red even after buckets of red colour.

Blessed Homemaker said...

Hi, I hopped over from Pei-Lin's blog. You are really good in your macs! I have heard so much failure and still chicken about making it. One day, I'm sure, I'll overcome my fears to try this.