macarons

My challenge at the moment is to learn how to make Macarons. They're really just fancy meringues, using almond flour and a couple of techniques to get them to look and act as they do. I now know that one has to bang the tray on the counter top once they are piped, and leave them to set for about 30mins before popping them in the oven. It's important that a "foot" forms during baking. One should use gel colour, not liquid otherwise the "batter" is too liquid. Most recipes say you need to bake them for 10 minutes, but it's actually more like 18 minutes in my experience.

Over the weekend I made a batch. This was my 3rd attempt. Actually my last attempt was more successful but I think I got more consistent sizing this time round. The "foot" on the macarons wasn't as well formed this time. I think it was either because the air was damp or because the almond flour wasn't fine enough. Some of them were cracked on the top and others were beautiful and smooth. Just gotta hang in there and one day I'll get them perfect.

One thing I love about Macarons is, that even if they don't turn out perfectly, they still taste sublime. I made some chocolate ganache to sandwich them together. 50:50 cream and chocolate. There aren't any cracked ones on the rack because they'd already been eaten.