Tag Archives: baking
Macaroon 5
I am in misery, there ain’t nobody who can comfort me…
5 frustrating batches later and I’m finally starting to get the hang of making french-style macarons. There’s a longer story to my ongoing fascination that I’ll share another time, but for now let’s just say that I’m enamored by the science behind these temperamental almond biscuits. …And I might have an addiction problem with hazelnut-coffee buttercream.
I’m collecting my lessons learned and will share when I can reliably make “perfect” macarons. So before that time in the distant future, I thought I’d first share a pic of this “milestone” where everything came together, albeit far from perfect. Like an Obama oratory, these macarons appear great on the surface but are sadly hollow on the inside. But at least I’ve narrowed down the number of my issues and have an idea on how to solve them (move somewhere with lower humidity).
For those interested in learning more about making macarons, I highly highly recommend the french macaron how-to guide from Not so Humble Pie.
Putting the “o” in Macarons
I managed to weather the great cupcake fad of 2008/9 without ever having to try or learn to bake any. However, thanks to G, I’ve regrettably succumbed to the macaron craze that’s spread worldwide with the virulence of the Macarena. My culinary interests are normally related to savory solids and sweet liquids, but since I had an opportunity to take a class at ToTT on macarons and prove a point (G doesn’t believe that I can follow recipes), I decided to learn all I could about these mercurial meringues.
Approaches for making the perfect macaron are as varied and confusing as the debate over whether it’s ok to refer to these confectioneries as macaroons (my spell checker refuses to acknowledge macarons). A quick search online turned up dozens of recipes and tips from which meringue type to use to proper oven baking and cooling techniques. In this ToTT class, Chef Mimi Wahadi of the 1-Rochester group taught us how to make macarons using a Swiss meringue* and very straightforward baking approach. Continue reading