Basic Macarons

1. Add almond meal and powdered sugar in a food processor. Pulse until they are fine. This step is optional if you think your almond meal is already very fine. Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl.

2. In another bowl, beat the egg white until bubbly. Add the cream of tartar. Continue mixing. Add sugar little by little. Mix until stiff peaks formed.

3. Fold the egg white meringue into the sifted dry ingredients. Use a spatula to fold in a circular motion and press down the batter. Repeat this motion over and over. Occasionally pick up the batter with the spatula, if it drops in a lump, the consistency is not ready. Keep going until the batter drops like a ribbon. That is the perfect consistency, you can stop there.

4. Transfer the batter into a piping bag.

5. I have done up a DIY circle templates, but it is your desire to use your own circle template or the silicone template for macarons will be ideal. Place a parchment paper over my DIY templates. Pipe according to the size of the circles.

6. Let it rest for about 30-45 min or until the batter is dry. Do not attempt to bake right away. I do recommend to dry it. This is one key to the success of making macarons.

7. Preheat oven at 150°C/300°F. Bake it for about 15-18 min. Mine was done at 16 min. This will depend on individual oven. Do not overbake, else your macarons will break on the top.

Mocha Macarons

1. Do not same as the Basic Macarons, except sift the cocoa powder and coffee powder together with almond meal and powdered sugar. Everything else will be the same.

Mocha Ganache

1. Chop the dark chocolate for easy melting.

2. In a small pot, bring the heavy cream to a boil.

3. Pour the heavy cream over the chocolate. Let it sit for about 3 min.

4. Mix it until well combined. Refrigerate it for about 1 hour to harden the chocolate.

5. After 1 hour, mix it to soften it again. The color of the chocolate will eventually become lighter and smooth.

6. Transfer onto a piping bag.

Assemble

1. Find a perfect match of same size for the macarons. One side mocha, and the other side basic macarons. The combination is totally your desire.

2. I drizzled some melted chocolate onto the basic macarons just to give it some color and design. This is totally optional.

3. Pipe the ganache on one side of the macarons.

4. The macarons are ready to serve.

Storage tips:

1. Store them in fridge, best use before 3-4 days.

2. Place the macarons in a box or container. Position that you can see the ganache, Instead of putting the macarons upright. (refer to video to find out what I meant)