Macarons – The delicate French invention.

tan319 · April 23, 2008

hi,
has anyone heard about the Patis'Macaron product from patisfrance. its a kind of "all in" macaron mix, i tried a few made with it at the europain fair, they were pretty darn good. all you do is mix 1000g of product with 200g water, mix and your good to go....
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That's a wild product!

Edited April 23, 2008 by tan319 (log)

tan319 · April 23, 2008

OK..my mission to get a perfectly shaped macaron with a nice shell and good feet, is getting better, demonstrated by the Vanilla macarons filled with orange curd, below. What could have made a difference, is that this time I baked them at 325 for 6 minutes, then turned the pan completely around, and let them go for another 5 minutes. These were made with french meringue. I call them 'reverse' creamsicles..lol Some of them had a little bittersweet chocolate ganache surprise in the middle, but they were eaten before I could snap some photos of them split in half.
However, on the flip side..I'm having so much trouble making pure pistachio macarons using all pistachio meal in the TPT instead of almond meal. They taste delicious, but turn out horrible in all aesthetic aspects, as you can see below, especially when compared to the Vanilla-Orange macaron.
I just don't get it. The batter was perfect, and settled nicely without any peaks or too much spreading. Here's a photo of them drying. I usually let them dry anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, depending on the weather.
Maybe it's because I use ALL pistachio meal in the TPT instead of combining some of it with almond meal? Maybe there's a different texture and/or oiliness to pistachios? I grind them to a fine powder just like the almonds (although I did use already ground almond meal in the vanilla-orange macs, and ground them down even more with the icing sugar).
Regardless, I've seen people on the net (blogs mostly) have great success using all pistachio meal, as they turn out beautiful. I don't want to just color the batter green and add pistachio flavoring, and then fill with pure pistachio paste, pure pistachio buttercream, or some form of ganache or gelee with pure pistachios mixed in. I want that really pure pistachio flavor in the cookie itself. However, even though they come out ugly, the flavor and texture is phenomenal. Now I just need to figure out a way to make them pretty. Any suggestions or ideas would be so helpful.
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Most recipes with pistachio I've seen suggest a mix of almond & pistachio powdered.

Better luck next time!

AmritaBala · April 24, 2008

Lisa, they dont look THHHAT bad!!!!!

When I do peanut macarons, I use 100% ground peanuts, but that's cos I can actually find ground peanuts, which isn't the case with pistachios over here. Do you grind your own pistachios?

I would try 50/50 next time ....I should try them out too...well, I'll have to spend some time grinding first before I can do that! =op

lennyk · April 24, 2008

what kind of grinder do you guys use ?

I use a kitchenaid coffee grinder, works better than the previous grinder I had

it also helps a lot if you toast the almond meal gently to dry them more

iii_bake · April 24, 2008

hi,
has anyone heard about the Patis'Macaron product from patisfrance. its a kind of "all in" macaron mix, i tried a few made with it at the europain fair, they were pretty darn good. all you do is mix 1000g of product with 200g water, mix and your good to go....
←

I went to the Food exhibition here in Singapore and found this Patisfrance Macaron. The chef was Demo-ing and it took 4 minutes to whip up. I had one mac he made...it was great....chewy...not that sweet.

The chef said..the company is the first to make this and one good point is that it is not as sweet as the make your own version.

Amritabala...have u gone there?

You can PM me if you need more info.

Edited April 24, 2008 by iii_bake (log)

Lisa2k · April 24, 2008

Lisa, they dont look THHHAT bad!!!!!
When I do peanut macarons, I use 100% ground peanuts, but that's cos I can actually find ground peanuts, which isn't the case with pistachios over here. Do you grind your own pistachios?
I would try 50/50 next time ....I should try them out too...well, I'll have to spend some time grinding first before I can do that! =op
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Aww..thanks. Amrita, but truth be told, that one pistachio macaron in the photo is ONLY one that came out decent enough to even use in the photo! Trust me when I say you wouldn't want to see the other ones!

Also..thanks to you and tan for pointing out that it's best to use a 50-50 ratio of almond meal and pistachio meal. I'm hoping it works, as pistachio is not only one of my favorites, but seems to be a popular choice among many.

I always grind my nuts to a fine powder. When I use prepackaged almond meal, I just grind it in the robocoupe witn the icing sugar, since it's already pretty fine, but lenny - I do use a coffee grinder to get the pistachios to a powder, or when I'm grinding my own almonds, perfectly demonstrated by the 'step forward' with the vanilla-orange curs macs. However, I guess it was the ground pistachios 'alone' that made the 'ugly' difference. I can't wait to try it with both meals. Once again, I'll report back.

Oh, one more thing..I've never dried out my almond meal prior to mixing with the icing sugar..whether it be toasting or in a low oven.. at all. Does it really make that much of a difference? It feels pretty dry to me, even after grinding. Then again, no doubt the ground, toasted almonds just add another dimesnsion of flavor to the cookie. I usually toast nuts in other recipes, to bring out more of their flavor, especially in cookies.

AmritaBala · April 25, 2008

hi,
has anyone heard about the Patis'Macaron product from patisfrance. its a kind of "all in" macaron mix, i tried a few made with it at the europain fair, they were pretty darn good. all you do is mix 1000g of product with 200g water, mix and your good to go....
←
I went to the Food exhibition here in Singapore and found this Patisfrance Macaron. The chef was Demo-ing and it took 4 minutes to whip up. I had one mac he made...it was great....chewy...not that sweet.
The chef said..the company is the first to make this and one good point is that it is not as sweet as the make your own version.
Amritabala...have u gone there?
You can PM me if you need more info.
←

iibake, no I didn't go there and I don't plan on attending, lol! =op

I seem to have bought everything they have there on amazon already, silly me!

One more thing, was the macaron powder pure or did it have any preservatives in it ? ) Hope you enjoyed your time there!

iii_bake · April 25, 2008

iibake, no I didn't go there and I don't plan on attending, lol! =op
I seem to have bought everything they have there on amazon already, silly me!
One more thing, was the macaron powder pure or did it have any preservatives in it ? ) Hope you enjoyed your time there!
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The company says it stresses on natural ingredients...i have not checked the package out...but from what the chef said, it's natural.

One kg can make 100 macs.

It is faster, more reliable and so less cost.

I have tried macarons from many shops in many countries i went...i had to admit this one from the ready made is almost flawless. ( i had just one it was so good it did not take time to find the flaw!)

Lisa2k · May 6, 2008

Well..considering I've been baking several batches a week, I think I'm getting a little closer to how they should look. That said, I had this sudden craving for a Mojito last night, but no fresh mint..so, since my head has been filled with macarons for over a month now, I decided to make a Mojito macaron.

Lime zest was added to macaron batter along with an OD of green gel color (one drop came out as a blob, much to my surprise). Once they were baked and cooled, the underside of each cookie was brushed with a white rum simple syrup, then filled with a light Creme de Menthe Blanche buttercream. It wasn't a Mojito, but it definitely satisfied the craving

gfron1 · May 8, 2008

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