Thus came an idea. Macarons. These delightfully colourful bite-sized pieces of heaven I've spent a majority of my adult life obsessing over. Soft and crispy outside with a chewy marshmallowy centre. You have no idea until you've tried one.
The problem with obsessing over macarons: it's pretty expensive when you go out and buy some when it's around £1 for a macaron.
The problem with making them yourself: there is so much fear surrounding the making of macaron.
I'm not even kidding. Ask any hobbyist baker and budding chefs. Macaron is a challenge. Failure is not optional, it's pretty much what you expect when you start out. Everyone who makes macarons has had episodes of complete frustration when the shells end up cracked, uneven, sticky, hollow, burnt, etc. You get the idea. Delicate things, in more ways than one.
I've tried to make macarons twice now. My first attempt was on Monday. Sunny day, in case you want to know the weather. A bit of a bite in the air. Some say that high humidity can cause macaron failure, so this day should, in theory, be perfect.
I've read up a lot on this topic, and the best resource I've found so far is Stella@bravetart, who makes these little culinary delicacies for a living. She posted a lot of information about the myths of macaron-making which is not only interesting, but also good in dispelling a lot of the fears surrounding the making of macaron (so you would actually be tempted to attempt it).
My first attempt, I followed Stella's instructions to the letter, except for the ageing of the egg whites - I had already aged some egg whites in my fridge for 24 hours at this point.
What I did not do that goes against common macaron myths:
- drying almond flour
- using cream of tartare
- using Italian meringue
- babying the meringue
- drying piped macarons
- doubling up baking tray
- be French
I pretty much dump the sugar into the egg whites at the beginning, and then dump the sifted almond mix into the meringue and folded. No babying there.
In hindsight, I may have overfolded slightly on the last stage before piping. Also in hindsight, I probably should've tried harder to find baking paper instead of using greaseproof paper (different things, in case you didn't know). My macarons taste delish, but there was so much inconsistency in the final result - some had feet, some didn't, some cracked, some didn't, some was hollow, some wasn't. And these were all in the same baking tray!
Filled with pistachio ganache.
Smooth top, but inconsistent feet and cracks.
Also - two trays were baked at 150deg C and the two other trays were baked at 140deg C. 150deg C trays had more shells with feet but were browner and 140deg C were entirely footless but retained better colour. Also baking the macarons two trays at a time in my oven will yield different results depending on whether it's on top or bottom - top tray will be browner and bottom tray will be footless, which suggests to me that the temperature control is pretty rubbish in my oven. To get any consistency in the future, I'll have to do one tray of macarons at a time.
So on to my second attempt, which was on Thursday. I rolled up my sleeves to brave the challenge again. This time, the weather was horrible. Rain, cold, gloomy and the sun never showed his face the whole day, the lazy shite. Definitely not macaron-making weather.
If you weren't following Stella's instructions, which tells you to sod the weather (I'm paraphrasing here).
So there I was, standing barefoot in my freezing cold kitchen whipping up some meringue from unaged egg whites. How dedicated am I? I proceed to dump the almond mix into the meringue and folded it in - this time, I incorporated it just enough that it didn't look dry. I know when I looked at it that I probably undermixed it this time, but better to undermix than to overmix. And I was a bit paranoid at this stage, you understand.
After piping the mixture onto the baking paper (I found some in the end!) and giving the first tray a good whack on the countertop, I allowed them piped macarons to rest for 15 minutes. Then I baked them at 148deg C for 14-15 minutes in the middle of my conventional oven which hasn't been calibrated ever in the past five years.
Even colour, but lumpy top and cracked shells.
What?? *tearful* After all that?
For the second tray of the same batter, I whacked, rested, double-trayed and baked at 148deg C for 14-15 minutes.
No cracks, baby! :)
Voila! Feet and no cracks and no hollowed shells!
It was a proud moment. I was so happy I could've danced a jig. Except, of course, I don't jig and if I did, I would've slipped on the kitchen tiles and killed myself - I am that much of a klutz.
The only thing wrong with my second attempt was the fact that the macaron shells did not have a smooth top due to undermixing before piping. But this is entirely aesthetic (still very nommy!) and I know how to combat it, so it's fine.
Macaron attempt #2: Final result.
Roll on third attempt. Will try another flavour. I'm actually quite excited about what I can create now! :)
