French Macarons – Ube flavor/Purple Yam

I had made french macarons a few times and it amazes me how technical it is (from meringue to your almond flour). The first time I made it was with my husband. First we leaned how to make the perfect meringue, in my experiment. I tried stiff peaks and then soft peaks of the meringue. the outcome was totally different. Having it at stiff peaks made it too crunchy on the outside and when I did the perfect soft peaks/glossy meringue, it turned out great! If this is your first time making it, don’t give up, it’ll get better the more you make it. I made chocolate, pistachio and Ube. I love Ube ever since I was young. I used Ube extract  for the flavoring. It was actually perfect for me. subtle hint of Ube and the texture was a perfect macaron!

a few things you need to do before making it:

• room temperature egg whites
• use castor sugar makes a difference
• good quality almond flour
• do not over mix it

Ingredients:

1. 100g egg whites
2. 130g Almond Flour
3. 130g icing sugar
4. 125g castor sugar
5. 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
6. 1/2 tsp. Ube flavoring (like McCormick brand)

first, I put my granulated sugar to my food processor to have my castor sugar ready, set aside. egg whites are at room temperature. add your almond flour to you food processor to get it more finer. Use a wire whip and attach it to your mixer then add the egg whites on your mixing bowl and whisk at speed 3 (if you’re using kitchenaid stand mixer) as soon as starts to have bubbles then add the cream of tartar. Then slowly add castor sugar. Change the speed to 6 until you get glossy soft peaks. Then fold slowly by batch to your dry ingredients until incorporated, about 25 folds. Add your wet ingredients to a 16″ size piping bag (I used the Wilton brand). I don’t even use any tip, I just cut the tip of the piping bag, the slowly pipe each to your circles/ guide. The mixture will be like a soft batter.

I used parchment paper and draw even circles as my guide when I pipe each cookie. Once you’re done, let it set for  . to an hour. You’ll know when it’s ready, when you touch it lightly, it’s dry. Heat oven at 280 F/140 C. Bake for about 16-20 mins. one baking pan at a time and then rotate the baking pan half way through for even baking, you will see the feet growing – the little ridges the at bottom or referred as “feet”. Let it rest on the baking sheet.

note: if your cookies are cracking they may be under mixed or over mixed. But again, don’t give up. Practice the techniques before the recipe.

Happy Baking!