i have absolutely no culinary training. the cake decorating course i took with my mom nearly 20 years ago does NOT count.
speaking of which, my final project was a bunny cake...it was near easter...as was my 14th birthday. i had a party and we planned on eating the cake, except for the fact that my dog ate the whole thing while we were all goofing around outside.
no biggie, it probably wasn't good anyway. crisco buttercream is never a good thing.
so where was i? oh yeah, culinary training...i have none. my degree is actually in turfgrass biology, don't ask. i've always had an appreciation for food. the one few things my parents did right was to provide a meal for us each night. we always ate as a family.
my father-in-law and i had the pleasure of working with each other two summers ago at a dessert cafe he owned. the original business partner bailed on him months after they opened the doors. he asked me if i was interested in running the shop, as well as baking everything. i always loved the idea of having my own business. but man, it is A LOT of work. i baked enough tropical carrot cake to choke a horse. i'd be okay if i never saw or tasted one again.
needless to say, i learned a lot about baking. not so much technique, but just finding great recipes and following them to the T.
when it comes to technique, nothing i can think of needs as much technique as french macarons. crispy on the exterior, chewy in the middle with a decadent layer of buttercream or ganache. and they just look so pretty, almost too pretty to eat.
...i said almost.
here's a few things i learned by researching macaron technique...
1. age your egg whites. crack em open, put them in a clean container with plastic wrap for 24-48 hours. i even saw a recipe that suggested 5 days of aging egg whites. not so sure how i feel about that.
2. although you can find almond flour finely ground, it is probably not ground enough. add the 10x sugar and almond meal together and blend in a food processor.
3. use a quality food processor. i was too lazy to dig for my good food processor, so i opted for the small one that fits my immersion blender attachment. fail.
4. be sure to sift the almond meal mixture more than once. no one likes their macarons to look like they have small pox.
5. i also read after the fact to use quality 10x sugar. the cheaper the brand, the more cornstarch. not something to be desired. not sure why.
i opted for chocolate macarons with semi-sweet ganache. simple. straight-forward.
the fancy-pantsy macarons intimidate me.
this is after i tried pulverizing my almond meal/10x mixture. my mini food processor is straight up pathetic. i used a finer strainer to run the mixture through.
beat the egg whites to soft peaks in a large clean bowl. some people have trouble figuring out if the egg whites are beat well enough to fit the description. if you can slide your eggs out of the bowl, they are not done. once they are able to stay put when tilted, they are probably ready. just be sure not to over beat.
this is a crappy pic. i know. poor choice of bowl. but you get the idea.
add a third of the mixture to the egg whites and FOLD. i read on tartlette's wonderful blog to fold about 50 times. or until the mixture flows like magma or a thick ribbon.
once everything was mixed is when i freaked out. it was like a really thick ribbon. i was pretty close to dumping it. but i remembered...i waited 48 hours for those stinkin' egg whites to age, there was no way i was about to dump them!
i probably could have gotten away without using a glass to hold my piping bag since my mixture was pretty thick. use a half inch round piping tip. my tip was smaller, hence the smaller macarons. i'd like to make them larger next time.
that is a bit embarrassing...
much better.
let them hang out for 30 to 60 minutes in a cool place. pre-heat the oven to whatever the recipe calls for. mine started out at 425 degrees. then required you to drop the temperature down to 350 degrees right after putting the tray in.
to prop open or not. that is the question. i propped open my door. but my macarons didn't have much crunch on top. i probably won't prop open the door next time.
meanwhile, feed the kids, clean up some dishes, pour myself a glass of wine...
okay, times up!
take those bad boys out.
i have feet. score.
sorry no pics of the ganache being made. it's really simple though. stick to the microwave. i just used semi-sweet chocolate chips and heavy cream.
1/2 c. semi-sweet chips
1/3 c. heavy cream
microwave on high for 30 seconds. take out and mix until smooth. you can probably let it cool a bit, too. no one likes drippy filling.
once the shells are cool, you get to play the matching game. take each matching set and lay them next to each other. pipe about a teaspoon of ganache on one side of each pair. put on the top and waaa-laaa...
they turned out much better than i expected. i still have so much to learn. my next goal is to get a nice, crispy top. if you have any tips for me, please share.
"good night, don't let the bugs bite you" as my daughter would say.
jill
