Strawberry Cream Cheese French Macarons

Starting from a few years back, French macarons have been pretty and trendy sweets to bake and eat. Trendy... to the extent of having its own language... Funny, isn't it?

Welcome to the present world of French macarons baking!!! If you are new to macarons baking, you may wish to learn and speak some macarons lingo with me ...

Macaronnage = term for mixing almond meal and meringue to make macarons
Macaronner = term for mixing the batter until it is firm and drips slowly when it is scooped out.
Pied = As macarons bake, small pleat-like frills form at their bottom. This peat is called a pied or foot. 
These macarons lingo are extracted from the book, I love Macarons by Hisako Ogita

Are you ready to speak these macarons language with me? 

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Prior blogging and this post, I have baked French macarons several times. Sometimes it works but sometimes it doesn't... and only once, it works like magic!

Magic French macarons? huh? These always-reproducible French macarons are made of Italian meringue and I came to know this reliable method from one of the short courses that I have attended at William Angliss. I remember that one of my blogging friend, Laura from Laura Loves Cakes said the same at her post. This method using Italian meringue is simply fantastic as drying of the macarons batter is NOT required. All you need is just 5 minutes of resting and then bake. 

Despite saying that, I have tried baking macarons several times using Italian meringue recipe prior this bake and they all failed with no pied or foot. The Italian meringue recipes that I have tried and failed include the one from the book, I love Macarons by Hisako Ogita and even the one that I have learned at William Angliss. 

Why? I kept asking myself...

I'm not giving up... and glad that I didn't. I have came across a highly reproducible macaron recipe by Swee San, The Sweet Spot. Her recipe is later used by many blogging friends that I know including Honey Bee Sweets and Nasi Lemak Lover. With my further calculation and research, I realise that Swee San's recipe is exactly the same as the one that I learned at William Angliss. And so, what went wrong?

With all my countless of macaron baking, these are what I have learned:

(1) A weighing scale is necessary for macaron baking! I have learned not to assume that all egg whites are 30g each. I need to weigh them to make sure that the proportion is right for every macaron baking.

(2) Knowing my oven is critical. I have learned that fan forced baking is bad for macaron baking and baked mine subsequently in the middle rack at 150°C with no fan just top heat.

(3) Yes that you need a candy thermometer to make Italian meringue.

Getting the hang of macaron baking? Happy that I am. These macarons are the lightest version of macarons that I have ever made. They are made with our homemade strawberry jam and reduce-fat cream cheese. Indeed, they are extremely light and heavenly...

Strawberry Cheesecake French Macarons

Macacron baking requires multitasking. First, I beat egg white at medium-low speed.

While beating, I cook the sugar syrup - Almost ready!!!

Pour syrup in while whisking...

While whisking, I prepare the almond mixture.

The macaronnage and macaronner stage

Hurray! I see pied!!!

The fat-reduced filling and homemade jam are great! Making my macarons less sweet and less guilty to eat.

Strawberry macarons are my son's fav!

Very light and delicious!

Mummy, I like these macarons!

Here's the recipe adapted from The Sweet Spot including what I have also learned at 
William Angliss

Makes 18 macaron or 36 shells

100g almond meal (ground almond) 
100g icing sugar
75g egg whites, divided into 2 portions 
100g caster sugar
25ml water

a few drops of colouring or flavoring or decorations - I used pink colouring gel for this bake. 
 
Light cream cheese strawberry fillings:
160g of the low fat spreadable cream cheese with 14% fat
1 tbsp of homemade strawberry jam for each macarons filling 
(see here for recipe)

Preheat the oven to 150°C (NO fan forced).

Combine almond meal and icing sugar and sift them three times or more and set aside.Using an electric mixer, beat one portion of egg whites at medium low speed at first for about 10 mins. While beating, combine water and caster sugar in a small saucepan. Place the saucepan over medium high heat and cook the sugar water syrup to 118°C but not over 125°C.

Increase the mixer speed and continue to beat the egg whites while pouring syrup into the egg whites slowly in a steady and fine stream. Continue beating until the meringue is glossy and near-stiff peaks. Allow the meringue to cool to about 40°C.

Place almond meal-icing sugar mixture in a mixing bowl and mix in the remaining portion of egg white to form a thick paste. Add a drop or two of any colouring that you desired in the almond mixture if you wish to have your macarons coloured.  

Fold in half of the cooled meringue first into the almond paste, scooping it up from the bottom of the bowl until the mixture is well-combined. Then, fold in the rest of the meringue into the almond mixture until the mixture is well-combined again. This folding-in step is usually referred as "Macaronnage".

Continue to mix in order to "deflate" some fluffiness of the meringue in the mixture and this step is usually referred as "Macaronner". In the book, I love Macarons by Hisako Ogita, it suggests scooping the batter from the bottom and turn it upside down for nothing more or less than 15 times but I like to gauge this stage by the look of the batter. I reckon it is ok when it looks firm and dripping slowly from a spoon.

Attach a 1 cm tip (I used Wilton tip 1A) to the pastry bag. Place the pastry bag, tip down, inside a cup or container and pour the macaron batter into it.

Pipe out the batter onto baking tray lined with silicon mat in circles and any shapes that you like. Gently tap the baking sheet firmly against flat surfaces to allow the batter to settle.

Rest the batter at room temperature, uncovered, for 5 mins. Bake for 15 mins or until dried and slightly crisp. Note: My oven doesn't have bottom heat function and had to bake for another 5 mins at 130°C with NO fan forced to get the bottom of the macarons crisp.

Allow macarons to cool on baking mat as they peel off easily only when they are completely cooled.

Sandwich two macaron shells with strawberry jam and cream cheese fillings. Enjoy!

IMPORTANT: Please note that this cream cheese jam filling is NOT the firm buttercream kind. DO NOT STORE the macarons overnight as fillings can be runny on the next day. For best result, consume these on the day that they are filled and sandwiched.

For more macaron baking tips and troubleshootings, please refer to this blog post by Not So Humble Pie. Ms Humble, the author of this macaron post has thoroughly listed everything you need to know or troubleshoot your macaron baking. Good luck and hope that you can taste the success and magic of macaron baking!

Happy Baking
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Last but not least, I have to give my son the credit of chopping most strawberries needed to make our strawberry jam. Glad that he has progressed well from chop-pause-chop to chop-chop-chop - LOL!

Thumbs up to my hardworking Mr Chop-chop!