lemon macarons from tartelette
pierre herme macaronsI'm not a professional baker, so my expectations aren't that high for my October challenge.
pierre herme macaronsI don't know if any of my friends or relatives have actually had a real macaron before. Not a meringue, but a real French almond macaron.
matcha macaron by KuidaoreI've researched many recipes on the net and in my professional cookbooks looking for one that is foolproof and would yield consistent results. There's some really odd techniques out there. One recipe even has you leaving egg whites out at room temperature for an unseemly amount of time to get it to create the perfect macaron texture and "feet". Apparently even professional bakers can't always create perfect macarons all the time. So I have to remember that when I make mine.
pink tagada macarons from tartelette The recipe that inspired me comes from a food blog by "the Kitchen Wench", who in turn adapted the recipe from Tartelette (one of my favourite links). I chose a sugar syrup method because my experiences with the Italian Meringue method in buttercreams has always yielded successful textures and flavours. I started using syrups in Rose Levy Beranbaum's recipes and have always made my better buttercreams with them. So, I figure using the Italian Meringue method would be the most foolproof method for making perfect macarons.
laduree macaronsI'm going to adapt the recipe to make matcha macarons and black sesame macarons. I hope all goes well! Click here for the basic recipe I'll be using from Tartelette and join me in trying to conquer these cookies!
2 comments:
Re leaving the egg whites out it seems weird to us new worlders, but apparently the egg whites hold the air better when they're not fresh (i.e. stay whipped). Can't bring myself to do it, though I suppose one could leave the whole eggs out of the fridge for the same effect before separation!
Heston Blumenthal does a section on getting the perfect whip into eggs in his series In Search of Perfection which is worth a look if YouTube or something provides!
I get "dried albumen" from our local health food store and add a teaspoon of that to the fresh egg whites. Works great. Or leave them uncovered in the fridge. I've done that, too. But I could imagine ending up with fridge-tasting macarons if you have anything strong-smelling in there. The whites need to dry out, so leaving them in the shell won't be as effective.
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