Hello Kitty Macarons

July 10, 2015

Hello Kitty Macarons

I made some Hello Kitty Macarons! I specially bought some edible markers for this. I felt like I was spending way too much time and effort making icing to draw on faces on top of macarons. With the edible markers, its just there and you just draw it on. It dries immediately and doesn't smear. I bought mine from Walmart, it came in different colors, but you just need black and yellow for Hello Kitty faces. Normally I would use jumbo heart sprinkles for the Hello Kitty bows, but I ran out of those. I had some fondant, which was also bought from Walmart, already premade. Easily I was able to make bows out of fondant, you can color them any color bow you want, I chose pink :) (of course) I felt like making fondant bows were a lot more cuter and more bow like. Though I had to make sure they were tiny enough for Hello Kitty's head. This is the same recipe I have always been using. I think it depends on the person, what kind of macaron recipe you should use. This is the "Italian Meringue Method" which makes a more stiff batter, so you don't have to worry about over mixing. I apologize to those who are tired of seeing the same recipe, this is just what works for me, I've tried other macaron recipes and failed completely. I don't know if you would rather not see the macaron making part in my videos, or if you'd rather that I skip ahead to the decorating part. I just like having all the steps put together, as much as I can.

Hello Kitty Macaron Video

MACARON RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

120g egg whites, divided (60g/60g)
35g sugar
150g finely ground almonds
150g powdered sugar

Optional: dash of cream of tartar to stabilize eggs

SIMPLE SYRUP

INGREDIENTS

150g sugar
50g water

1. Start of by first whipping up your 60g of egg whites to soft peak in a mixer. Once it gets a little bubbly, add in a dash on cream of tartar to stabilize the eggs. Once it reaches soft peak, slowly sprinkle in your 35g of sugar a little bit at time. While your egg whites are whipping, make your simple sugar by heating up 150g of sugar with 50g of water in a pan until it reach 220F.
2. On low speed, while the syrup is still hot, pour the syrup into the mixing bowl, make sure the syrup hits the bowl, before trickling down into your whipped whites. Continue whipping until have a strong shiny meringue.
3. I would get one of the sifters that you just need to turn for this, to make the process more faster. But sift 150g of powdered sugar and 150g of powdered/flour almonds together into a bowl. It is said it is best to use this in a food processor for better results, but I just sifted it twice, and that it was fine.
4. Add in the remaining egg whites into the bowl, and fold. At this point if you want any food coloring, add them now.
5. Fold in your meringue/whipped whites, but at first use only 1/4, very gently fold, and keep adding 1/4 at a time. The mix would be too stiff at first and would deflate your batter.
6. I totally recommend using a sturdy half sheet pan, and a silpat mat over it. Pipe your macarons onto the mat, 1 inch in between, each a quarter size. They will flatten during the resting/drying period, so make sure there is space in between. If you want even sized cookies, either trace circles on a piece of paper and have it behind the mat. That's a bit too much effort for me, so I just count to 3*depending on how hard you pipe* on each macaron you pipe. You want your piping tip perpendicular to the baking tray, and when you finish off piping, do a slight twitch-swirl so you don't get pointy ends. Give your macarons bear like features and pipe two small ears on the almost sides of the circles, and bit close to the circle for a natural or cuter bear look
7. Tap the tray 2-3 times. Poke out any air bubbles with a tooth pick. Let the macarons dry/rest for 1-2 hours. Or until when you touch it, it doesn't stick to your finger. This is so you can develop feet for you macarons by the skin they produce on the top of your macarons. *meaning very important that you leave your macarons until they dry out/look dull* But this is a Italian meringue method, you may or may not have to do this since the batter is so strong. I've always done resting periods, regardless. Bake at 320F for 15-25 minutes depending on the size of your macarons. I sometimes change it up and use 285F for 20 minutes, if I realize my macarons are rising a bit too quickly and are cracking

Filling:

Can be any kind, it was left out of the video because I made Chocolate Concorde Cake the other day and had leftover filling. This is the recipe, but you do not need this much

GANACHE FILLING RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

1lb chocolate
1 pint heavy cream

DIRECTIONS

Chop chocolate into tiny pieces and place into a bowl.
Boil heavy cream in a pot.
Pour hot heavy cream into bowl of chocolate.
Wait 30 seconds. And then stir.
Either cover and let it set overnight. Or to use it right away, pour onto a baking tray to let it cool, cover, and place it in the fridge. But watch it closely to make sure it doesn't get too cold/thick

DECORATION