My favourite part of this photo is Aleli’s dainty touch to her hat.
Colors! Lots and lots of pretty colors!
Jamie & Wayne decided that Fantasy Fair would be an ideal spot for their December engagement shoot so we wouldn’t have to worry about the weather.
The lighting at Fantasy Fair is a photographically challenging mix of natural and artificial lighting. There are also many colorful surfaces for the light to bounce off of, which can create interesting (usually undesirable!) color casts on people’s skin. So I was really happy to find a relatively white light in the arcade. The only problem was that it was in the T-rex box at toddler-height. Well, nobody said taking photos was easy, so Jamie & Wayne gamely did a serious squat workout for these pictures. I really like these pictures. :)
Whac-A-Mole is hard with 2 people and 1 mallet!
I think Wayne was doing something he wasn’t supposed to…
I usually do little to no Photoshopping, but for this shot, I really had to clone out the Nike swoosh from Wayne’s sock. Hah! So note to future clients: Make sure you wear plain dress socks!
Yeehaw!!
See you guys again in May!!
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The ingredients in many macaron recipes out there are called out by weight. I don’t have a scale, so I used the measurements on the packaging to convert:
- 1/4 cup egg whites = 63g = ~2 egg whites
- 1/4 cup almond flour = 28g
- 1/4 cup icing sugar = 30g
The icing sugar came in a 1kg bag, so I split it up evenly into five 200g portions. Each portion was 1 2/3 cup + 1 tbsp. Similarly, the package of almond flour was 453g in total. I split that up into four 113g portions (1 1/8 cup). I know that the weight listed on the packaging may not be exact, but I figured it’d be close enough. :)
Then, based on Not So Humble Pie’s scatter plot nerdery, and cross-references to other recipes (Clement’s recipe (volume), Martha’s (volume), Serious Eats (weight) and a couple others that were done by weight), I decided that my basic macaron recipe would be:
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp egg whites (~95g, ~3 egg whites)
- Pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 1/8 cup almond flour
- 1 2/3 cup + 1 tbsp cup icing sugar
I’ve decided that Stella’s no-fuss approach is most suitable for me. Accordingly, I dump the granulated sugar and salt in with the egg whites at the beginning and beat away with a hand mixer (rather than adding the sugar in gradually).
For this attempt, I think my batter was overmixed per the comparison photos on Syrup & Tang. The tops are too shiny and smooth!
Oh well, too bad so sad…can’t unmix it now! Into the oven with chopsticks to prop the door open. It looked promising from afar…
Alas! I think my oven temperature was too high, causing the feet to explode out!
*sigh* Attempt #4 in all its protruding feet goodness. They’re totally hollow again too with just a thin skin on the top. I *think* I may have been too gentle with the batter and didn’t squish enough of the air bubbles out, which means this batter was undermixed and overmixed all at the same time. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!
I added a tiny bit of cocoa powder for coloring…they look kind of like dried abalone.
At least the bottoms look okay…not that anyone sees them. Maybe I should start making my macarons inside out. Hmmm…
THE GOOD – There is no good. This sucks!
THE BAD – protruding feet, lopsided, air pocket / blister thing
CONCLUSION – FAIL
NEXT TIME – whip egg whites even stiffer, squash air bubbles out without overmixing…try warming oven up to 350F, then dropping to 300F as soon as macarons go in (to eliminate blister)
I froze examples of previous the attempts, and here they are in all their deformed blistered-top glory. Attempts #1 through #4 from left to right:
Other attempts:
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