Watch the pointy topped cookie become a fully fledged macaron!
Cynthia came over on Saturday for a macaron making party. Using the basic maracon batter recipe found here and the bittersweet chocolate cream ganache recipe found here, we whipped, folded and piped our way to cute little macaron…burgers. Yeah, macarons aren’t supposed to look like pointy sliders! While the taste was okay (albeit a little crunchy and too sweet), the look was way off.
THE GOOD
- Macarons came right off the parchment paper with no problem
- Taste was generally good (maybe a little too sweet)
- The foot looked decent in spite of the overly puffed up nature of most of the macarons
- Tops did not crack or volcanically erupt
THE BAD…VERY VERY BAD
- Almond meal (from Bulk Barn) was too chunky. Note: Blending in the blender did not help – need food processor?
- Didn’t have a sifter to properly mix and sift the dry ingredients
- Batter didn’t look right – chunkiness aside, the batter didn’t sink down into flat shiny little discs
- Ginormous air pocket inside the cookie
- Too crunchy
- Macarons resemble sliders more than macarons…
- Macarons aren’t supposed to be pointy, HAH!
NOTES
- Everything mixed in the ceramic Creuset bowl
- Used hand mixer, 2 layers of cookie sheet + parchment paper, wet measuring cups (don’t have dry measuring cups nor scale)
- Used aged egg whites that had been out on the counter for 2 days
- Followed recipe exactly in terms of oven temperature. Placed trays on “lower middle” rack (there doesn’t seem to be an option for exact middle in my oven – it’s either slightly below middle or slightly above middle)
- Put macarons into oven immediately after piping – did not let sit & rest
CONCLUSION — FAIL
NEXT TIME
- Need to grind the almond meal down into a finer powder
- Need to sift!
- Need more accurate measurements
- Air pocket most likely due to undermixing and overly hot oven temperature
We had decided ahead of time that we should have a back-up recipe in case the macarons were a total disaster. Behold! Aunt Geri’s Magic Cookie Bar! We made two batches – one with walnuts (instead of pecans) and one without. We didn’t have 2 cans of condensed milk, so we just used 1 can + equivalent amount of evaporated milk. Tastiness!
But what to do with all the leftover egg yolk? Why, key lime tarts, of course! I used the 5 egg yolks and 1 can of sweetened condensed milk per the recipe, but used 3/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice and added the zest of 2 limes. I also added about 250 mL evaporated milk. And instead of making a pie, I got frozen pre-made no name tart shells (packs of 30 from Superstore). The filling fit the 30 shells exactly! I was very happy about this since I hate having random leftover things in the freezer.
The Spousal Unit and I also made ribs, hence the random bottle of BBQ sauce in the background. You need some meat to counterbalance all the sweets, y’know?
Other attempts:
If you have any more “fails” I’d be glad to help you get rid of them :) yum.
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