Sweet Dreams Bake Shoppe

Sweet Dreams Bake Shoppe
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Friday, 1 February 2013

My Macaron Journey: The Beginning

December 25, 2012 (eek! Sorry it took me so long to post these!)
                I am so excited, not only because this is my very first post and Christmas, but because I just received all the tools I need to make macarons (not macaroons---the delicious coconut treat). For those of you who do not know what a macaron is, I suggest you quickly go to your nearest patisserie and eat one stat. They’re delicious gluten free mini cookie sandwiches mainly comprised of almond flour, egg whites and sugar. The filling ranges from chocolate ganache, a personal favourite of mine, to any flavour of buttercream that you can imagine.
                After graduating with my bachelor of arts, I decided that I deserved to take one class outside of the academics to delve further into my baking dream. I took the plunge and enrolled myself into a macaron class with a lovely macaron goddess named Connie (of J’adore les Macarons). It was the best decision I had ever made! I had had many failed attempts at making the delicious, labour-intensive treats so this was literally my last hope.
                I am by no means an expert on making macarons as I have only watched and helped someone make them, but I do know the general construction of a macaron. It should have an outer shell that is easily broken with the teeth with a soft and slightly chewy centre and ‘feet’. In the past, the ‘feet’ have been the hardest part for me to achieve (I will hopefully be able to post a picture of a ‘properly’ made macaron soon).
For those of you foodies out there who absolutely adore Parisian macarons and have tried numerous times to make them, I feel your pain! The first time I made macarons the batter was far too runny and ended up looking more like a squishy meringue rather than a colourful delight. Then the next time they were far too overcooked and only tasted of burnt cocoa (note to self: don’t try to make flavoured shells on your first go).
If you are going to attempt to make macarons, which I encourage you to do, my advice is don’t get frustrated and make sure you have the proper tools and ingredients. Don’t even bother trying to make them if you only have a hand mixer. That is really difficult for me to say as I have been making around fifty sugar cookies and meringues a week and surviving without a KitchenAid (or a working hand mixer for that matter). I finally broke down though and decided to make a conscious effort to obtain one. Luckily, my wonderful parents gave me one for Christmas and my fiancé provided me with all of the rest of the tools I needed (pans that bake everything evenly and quickly, a digital candy thermometer, a food processor, a digital food scale and a sieve with really tiny holes).
I have absolutely no clue as to how to use half the tools I have (is it crazy that I have never even used a food processor for cooking?), but I am ready for macaron battle. I unfortunately can’t share the specific recipe I am going to be using as it was given to me through the class I took, but if you would like the recipe and are in the area, I suggest you take a class with Connie (www.jadorelesmacarons.com). There are many recipes for macarons online and hopefully all of my mistakes that I am bound to make will help you get a perfect macaron that will surely impressive your friends and family.

Beautiful Baking Fellow Sweeties

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