Macarons with Blueberry Compote Buttercream - Blueberry Week # 2

Last 2 weeks when I went to KL to meet up with fellow bloggers like Swee San, Reese, Sonia, Ann and Veronica, Swee San brought a box of macarons. She knew my first experience with macarons was a nightmare. When she described in her blog that it was sweet til the roots of my teeth, it was actually understated. The fact was, it was so sweet that it burned my throat. She had been hoping that I would one day change my mind about these sugary UFOs. When I took the ones that she made and ate one, I was surprised that it was a lot more pleasant. It was sweet no doubt, but not that that crazily sweet that I can’t swallow. But after that, it was ok. Macarons are meant to be sweet, so don’t go about finding one that is not sweet, just not crazily sweet.


Then Sonia mentioned that there’s one bakery downstairs (of where we were that day) selling macs for RM3.90 a pair. We went “Woah! So pricey”. Then Swee San told us, it’s not hard to make and she didn’t even rest her macs. Baked them straight away. And that got us interested. Veronica (Quay Po) was the first on the quest for macs, then next came…………. Me! Why I was this quick? Not because I fell in love with macs, but I had some buttercream left over from Lydia’s flower cake.

Swee San quickly got her macarons posted for me and I quickly made it. And now I’m quickly posting it. I wasn’t that confident, and I told her, I’m going to risk my 100gm of almond meal, so here I go.
I used freshly cracked eggs, but not freshly laid eggs. I saw Cynthia of Mumto4Angels had success with fresh eggs which was why I dared to. Come to think of it, in Malaysia how fresh can eggs be. If you leave them in our room temperature for a few days, they’ll water and the yolk spreads like nobody’s business. It’s unlike overseas where their room temp is much cooler, the eggs stays fresher longer. So, just crack up some 4 day old eggs and used them straight away.

I halved her recipe and my egg whites were rather underwhipped before I added in the sugar syrup. So, my meringue was rather slacky. I whacked it for almost 10 minutes, arms were sore, still no peaks formed, nor do they gain any volume. Darn, stop it la! Anyway, I didn’t hope for any success. LOL. I folded it into the almond mixture, got it into the right consistency, piped them on the pan and sprinkled on some coloured sugar.

When it was baking…………… tadah! Feet appeared! But it looks more like petticoat to me, LOL.

Swee San warned me, making this is addictive. Not because it is terribly delicious, but the process itself is rather challenging and the possibilities of flavour, colour  and combination is just too fun to explore. I might be trying out the french method because I can work with 1 egg instead of a minimum 2 with this recipe.

I already have a few combinations in my head and let's just see when will I make them into reality.

The Filling Process

The outcome of my first endeavour

  First tray was baked almost immediately and the 2nd tray was baked after the 1st was done. So, you could see higher feet on the 2nd. Rest or do not rest before baking, look at the visuals and you decide for yourself. I left the 2nd tray in the oven longer as I was bathing my kids, the oven was off, but the residual heat browned them. If you like them to be white and not cream coloured, take them out asap when they are done.

Due to my inexperience, I piped  the first few too closely. Some became triplets and duplets. Luckily I had a pair of them each, so I can fill them up as triplets and duplets. There was one one quadruplet, but Lydia ripped them off and chomped on them without my consent! I had to stop her from eating more and she was crying for more. Well, I haven't fill them up you see. She loved it. No matter how I tell her, I'm going to put yummy cream in it, she won't listen. So, in the end, I had to show her Swee San's macaron post and asked her ," Do you want it like this or like Swee San Che Che's burger biscuit?" Immediately she said, "I don't want to eat now, eat later like burger". Then she went off for her nap, and got her burger right after she woke up.

My girls loved this, especially Lydia. Asking for the burger biscuits or 'macaroni' few times in a day. Lyanne prefers them without the cream. But on the first day, she was fine with the cream, but maybe when the macaron has aged, when it turned chewy, Lyanne didn't like it. Lydia will lick and lick the cream and goes, "yummy", LOL.

Pictures taken when they had their first macaron, right after they woke up from their afternoon nap.

Macarons with Blueberry Compote Buttercream

Recipe source: The Sweet Spot
*Please visit Swee San's blog for step by step pictures

Almond mixture
100gm almond meal
100gm icing sugar
37gm egg white (from 1 Grade A egg)
Small pinch of salt

Meringue
37gm egg white (from 1 Grade A egg)
100gm sugar
25gm water

Violet Sugar
1 Tbsp sugar
1 teeny weeny blob of violet food colour

1. Pulse almond meal with icing sugar in blender/mill and sift once.
2. Mix almond mixture with 37gm egg white and salt. Set aside.
3. Cook sugar and water until it reaches 118C.
4. When the syrup reaches 105C, beat egg white until medium peaks.
5. When syrup reaches 118C, pour it into egg whites with beaters running on low speed.
6. Turn speed to medium high and beat meringue until stiff and glossy (mine was all slacky, but glossy)
7. Stir 1/3 of meringue into almond mixture.
8. Pour almond mixture into meringue and fold(not stir) until batter is able to fall without trace after a count to 10.
9. Place batter into a piping bag with a plain 1cm nozzle. Pipe dollops of batter onto a lined baking tray (I used Tesco’s baking paper and they are easy to be removed).
10. Preheat oven to 150C (fan off).
11. Rub some sugar with violet colour paste. Sprinkle on top of piped batter.
12. Bake for 14 minutes on the lower 3rd of oven.
13. Remove from tray (with paper) and let it rest on a rack to cool down.
14. Peel macarons off and pair them with similar sizes.
15. Put half a teaspoon of blueberry compote buttercream onto one macaron and top with another piece.
16. Place covered air tight and keep in fridge overnight before consuming.

Blueberry Compote Buttercream

50gm fresh blueberries
1 tsp sugar
½ Tbsp lemon juice
100gm Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Cook fresh blueberries with sugar until juice ooze out, but not mushy. Turn heat off and put in lemon juice. Let it cool down totally and mix to combine with buttercream