Failed Macarons

*Big sigh*.

So this weekend I had attempted to make macarons for the very first time. I got a little ambitious and wanted to make two batches, one chocolate and one some other funky flavour, but I didn't even pass the first batch.

Just look at all this spoilt cookies:

This is from the first batch, it was too runny and I piped them on too big, so they kind of spread and joined each other.

Second batch, and I had piped them on perfectly!

Let them sit for an hour till a hard shell develops then proceed to bake.

Alas!

They were stuck on the parchment paper and proceeded to break.

They did have the little 'feet' at the bottom though.

Dang. You'd think the batter was wasted. However it didn't hinder me from eating macaron batter *embarrassed*. Those three spots on in the picture went into my mouth.

I looked at possible reasons my macarons failed and found something on Serious Eats:
  
A Few Tips

• Sift your ingredients, multiple times if necessary. You want your ground nuts to be powdery. No lumps! Almond and icing sugar mixture may be pulsed in a food processor to make finer.
• Use old egg whites. No really, leave them out for three days at room temperature if you don't mind waiting for that long. Using fresh egg whites is more likely to result in macarons that are too fragile and flat.
• To make it easier to remove the macarons from the parchment paper after baking, pour a little bit of water underneath the paper. After a while the steam will have loosened the macarons.

Ah! Some helpful little pointers to help me along! I'm definitely not going to give up and trying them again this week.

Pie, or as my friend Denver would say it, PAHH

How do you do?

Yesterday was a very miserably spent National Day. I only woke up at noon, and whenever I wake up late I feel like a slob. I wanted to go out with people but everybody had plans, or at least I thought they did! I chatted online and talked to my best friend, and guess what? She was spending a lonely National Day by herself too!

..I thought she might have wanted to watch the fireworks with her boyfriend or something cheesy romantic like that.

Anyway, it was too late for us to hang out so I kicked my arse into gear and shopped for ingredients to finally bake a pie, and I decided to make lemon meringue pie. I had posted a grainy webcam picture of my first pie in a previous blog, but now *ahem* pictures are much clearer :D

Cheat code.
Bake according to instructions on the back.

Probably should have covered the edges with aluminum foil.. Will keep in mind.

Pour lemony goodness into the crust

I had wanted to use this recipe and I already wrote down the ingredients to buy, but, as if the world is against me making a pie, BOTH supermarkets I went to had no frickin' cornstarch, and all the other minimarts were closed due to public holiday. I wanted to scalp a random passerby.

Luckily, I remembered this easy pie recipe which did not use cornstarch and I called my little brother at home and asked him to read to me the whole ingredient list so that I knew what to buy.

..Lucky save.

Beat egg whites until glossy stiff peaks form

Plop onto pie. So fun! Plop plop!

This recipe I used only 3 egg whites, but in the future I would probably use 4 to create a bigger pillowy top.

Bake & refridgerate overnight.. Or eat all immediately. I won't judge.

1 slice for you & the rest for me.

Dig in!

In the end I combined the two recipes and the end result was more than satisfactory! Maybe I should bake for my new neighbours..



Lemon Meringue Pie
Recipe taken from Chaosinthekitchen & Stonesoup

Ingredients:

• 1 prepared and baked pie crust
• 1 400g condensed milk (I only found a 380g so I added 3/4 tbsp sugar)
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• Zest of 1 lemon, chopped (optional)
• 3 egg yolks
• A big pat of butter
• 3 egg whites
• A pinch of cream of tartar
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 325F or 180C.
Combine condensed milk, lemon juice, zest, egg yolks and butter. Pour into pie shell. Beat egg whites with cream of tartar, sugar and vanilla until stiff glossy peaks form. Spread meringue all over filling and bake for 8-10 mins until meringue is golden. Cool on a wire rack until room temperature then cool overnight in fridge.