Adventures in Macaron Making

2.23.2012

PART I
challenge chal·lenge something that by its nature or character serves as a call to battle, contest, special effort, etc.: Space exploration offers challenge to humankind.


Macarons are a challenge. Which is why I was so determined to give them a try. 

For the last two weeks, I have read recipes, watched YouTube videos, and done everything I possibly could short of flying to France to learn about the technique of making macarons.  Last weekend I felt I was ready and decided it was time to attempt the elusive treat.

As I set out to print the recipe I would follow, I came across a new recipe that was so different from all the other recipes I had read. This new recipe skipped most of the "classical" steps seen in the other recipes such as no aging of the egg whites, no drying out of the batter before baking and not adding the sugar in batches to the egg whites. Since it seemed to have so much success (IE it had such pretty pictures...) I decided to abandon everything else I had read before and follow this new recipe. 

It all seemed to be going well. I made sure to measure out all of my ingredients and tried to pay attention to the batter and "macronage." But I think even before the folding of the dry ingredients with the meringue, I don't think my meringue was stiff enough.  The batter consistency didn't fit the profile of over mixed or under mixed so I continued on. As I filled the piping bag and started piping them out (for which I also used the wrong tip) the batter wasn't runny, but it wasn't holding either. But pipe away I did. I even made sure to whack the life out of the baking pan (to remove air bubbles) and as a result, none of the cookies broke. Plus one for me!

I baked the cookies in about three batches. The first came out resembling macarons the most with little "feet." Batch #2 and #3 well, there are no words for them except HUH?

So on the macaron front, they are an epic FAIL! But on the delicate almond cookie front they are absolutely WINNING because they are delicious! I will surely be attempting macarons again, and this time I will surely be sticking to classical wisdom... 

4 comments :

  1. Aw jeez sorry to hear about that! I have wanted to try macaroons but keep getting a wee bit put off- most people keep saying its a hard thing to make! But hey at least it was something edible so you could still munch something :p
    Would you try them again but with the more classic recipe?

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  2. I'm so impressed that you made Macarons (even if they didn't turn out exactly right). They're so intimidating to me, but since I generally do baking better than cooking, I might have to give them a shot. 
    I'm not sure if you've seen this, but at TJ's in the frozen section they have chocolate & vanilla macarons and in the baked good sections they have giant chocolate ones too!

    Anyways, hope you're having a lovely weekend :)
    xx

    p.s. we need to Skype soon!

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  4. maybe they weren't how you wanted, but I bet they still taste great!

    ReplyDelete