Macarons!

Almond Macaron with Bittersweet Ganache Filing

I am obsessed with these tiny french cookies! They are supposed to be very persnickety to make since they are meringue based. I didn't find the actual recipe all that difficult. You just have to pay attention to what you are doing. They took awhile to make since I only have one jelly roll pan. The really fussy part is making them look good and getting even feet on them (that is the part under the smooth shell) and making sure your filing to cookie ratio is right. These came out practically perfect for a first try. I made these about 3 weeks ago. Everyone loved them and they look like little hamburgers.

The next week I made another batch. I thought it would be boring to make another plain almond batch but I wasn't ready to try anything too adventurous. So I decided on Chocolate chocolate. They were an example of Murphy's Law: everything went wrong! I was reusing the plastic baggie pastry bag I had used for the first batch and somehow it didn't zip closed all the way and burst open after squeezing out about 3 cookies. it was very messy and the bag wouldn't really re-close since all the batter was stuck in the zippers. I also had decided not to sift the flour and sugar since I had blitzed it in the food processor so they were a little more chunky. I borrowed B's jelly roll pan so I could cook 2 sheets at a time. This took a lot of juggling in my ridiculous kitchen and caused me to get a bit frustrated. toward the end of the batch they started to not cook well and wouldn't set properly in the center. I am not sure why but I think that they coked better with only one sheet in the oven at a time. The heat was more even since they were centered, even though i did rotate the 2 sheets and also because my oven door does not close evenly. They also didn't foot well and were the ugliest macarons ever. Laudree has rejected my application...

Chocolate Macaron with Bittersweet Ganache Filing

Even though they were ugly as all hell they were edible and very good. The consensus is that the almond chocolate ones are better than the chocolate chocolate ones and are also more fun because they look like hamburgers. Maybe the chocolate macaron would be better with say a raspberry jam filing instead?

And i still have leftover ganache... It is going to become a blackberry tart for dessert tonight. I have little graham cracker pie crusts left over form the summer and we have blackberries in the fridge.

I have taken some time off from the macarons but I have 2 more adventurous flavors waiting for an attempt. Saffron Macarons with Pumpkin Buttercream filling and Chestnut Macarons with possibly a Black Raspberry filing. I bought chestnut flour at the market yesterday and I think it is a wonderful flavor for macarons but I am still figuring out the filing part... Let me know if you have any suggestions.