What in the sugar is a macaron?

I have been receiving many orders and questions about SD Bake Shoppe's macarons so I hope that I can answer most of your questions in this post. 

I have described what a macaron is in previous posts, but I did not go very in depth. Here is an FAQs list regarding the Parisian treat!

"I would like a maca---a macar---". Don't worry! I had trouble pronouncing it for the longest time too. 

How to say it: MA-KAH-RONS (You can give it the French 'r' as well if you want to be fancy) 
How not to say it: MA-KAH-ROONS. Macaroons are made with coconut and do not taste at all like macarons. 

"What is it made out of?"

The shells are made out of almond flour, icing sugar, aged egg whites, granulated sugar and water.

"Is it gluten free?"

It is gluten free, but because I bake a lot of non-gluten free items at the bake shoppe I would recommend that those who have a serious allergy should not consume them. 

"What is a 'good' macaron?"

A properly made macaron should have an airy shell that collapses delicately when bitten. It should also have a slightly chewy centre and a delectable filling inside (as shown below)!

"These are pricey! What is so special about them?"

Macarons are my favourite type of cookies in the whole entire world, but they are also one of the most temperamental and difficult cookies to make. The ingredients and tools needed are quite expensive. I buy good quality almond flour and only use my stainless steel pans imported from France (I don't use these pans for any other type of cookie). They are also quite time consuming as there is a lot of wait time and they need a whole lot of TLC, planning ahead and preparation!

"How do you make different flavours?"

I personally only change the flavouring of the filling of my macarons rather than the shell itself. 

"How long do they keep for?"

I have heard that they last up to three months in the freezer, but I wouldn't want to freeze them for over a month depending on the type of filling.

"Why is it that specialized macaron orders have a minimum?"

Because I do a lot of custom work, most customers prefer particular coloured macarons. Colouring macarons is a lot more difficult than colouring other types of cookies as you cannot simply separate the batters and colour them.

Hopefully that answers most of the questions you may have about macarons! Keep an eye out for some of our past and future macaron tutorials.

Beautiful Baking Sweeties