I had never heard of macarons before I watched the Great British Bake-off. I only knew once I saw them that I HAD to try making them. I am not a big fan of macaroons (mostly because I can’t take the texture of shredded coconut) but these seemed different! Crunchy shell with a chewy interior? Almond flour? Pretty colors and fun fillings?
Of course, I went on to search for a recipe. Right now, I have two of Dorie Greenspan’s cookbooks and one of them, Baking Chez Moi, I still have around from the library. And I found her recipe for macarons!
This site has the exact recipe I used: Parisian Macarons.
First thing, I would not recommend trying to make these when you have 5 children running around the house. Every few minutes I had to stop what I was doing to help a child. In those few minutes, I would often forget where I was in the recipe! I found my way back quickly but it still would have been disastrous to skip a step!
I was able to concentrate better once I had the two youngest children down for their afternoon naps though.
This was my first step. Sifting the flour. I did this while feeding the kids their lunch. They thought I was cutting something. No, I was just sifting confectioner’s sugar and almond flour through a mesh colander. It just sounded exciting I guess!
I waited until after the littlest kids were napping to make the meringue. I’m glad because this sugar syrup had to get up to 245 degrees F!
I forgot to take a picture of the meringue when it was done getting whipped into shape. I think I am in love with Italian meringue though. It was like eating really, really awesome marshmallow creme without all the artificial flavorings! I looked at my jar of marshmallow creme and it actually has many of the same ingredients as Italian meringue. You mean to tell me I’ve been eating the inferior version of Italian meringue this whole time?
The macarons are all piped out into their cozy little circles, ready to sit for 30 minutes to form their crust. My circles weren’t very neat, but maybe I will do better next time.
Here are the macarons rising in the oven. My son Matthias was completely fascinated by these. He kept coming into the kitchen to watch me while he was supposed to be working on an English worktext. I let him hang out with me for a little bit and watch the oven.
I don’t think they are quite as poofy as they should be. And they might have been in the oven too long. At least they have the “foot” and the smooth top!
I used strawberry jam and lemon cream for the filling in some of them. I ended up making some with just strawberry jam too. The boys and I shared one strawberry macaron. They all really liked it (even my picky eater, Matthias) and of course, each one wanted his own macaron. I was a little surprised that they liked it. My sample lived up to expectation though! Crunchy shell and a chewy cookie interior along with the tart jam? I wanted one just for me too! Well, I told my boys they had to wait until tomorrow. Not very nice am I? I think they were still holding out hope for one because they kept coming into the kitchen to see what I was doing with the macarons.
I also had some frozen chocolate peanut butter balls made from chocolate ganache. So I pulled out a few and melted them in the microwave to get a spreadable frosting for a filling. I didn’t get to try one of these macarons. Tomorrow, I definitely will!
The recipe said to wait 24 hours before eating the macarons and let them sit in the fridge. Um… why? I don’t really know why, but I figured I’d better follow the recipe. Hopefully, it will be worth the wait!
-Lynn
Overnight the shells will absorb moisture from the filling and will be even softer and chewier inside. The ever-so-slight crispness of the shell will just contain the softness, it’s a great textural sensation. You’ll see! 😉
If the texture is even better than it was yesterday, then it will be worth the wait! 🙂 Thank you for commenting!
They look a lot more neat than my macaroons were that I made a while ago! Could you use just ordinary flour instead of almond flour? I would love to follow your blog! I would really appreciate it if you could check out my blog too- https://thebakingblogsite.wordpress.com/
I would imagine the texture would be very different with regular flour. More like a cookie and less of the chewy shell.
I would be willing to try it with coconut flour though. That would require some experimenting though.
The one I ate yesterday was good even without sitting.
They look fantastic. I do not know how you did it with 5 kids. I had one extra toddler today (for a total of 3) and got nothing done. Eating a lot of raw food isn’t just a healthy plan at our house, it is a matter of efficiency!
She is superwoman!
Thanks! It wasn’t easy! But it was easier once the two littlest were napping and my three oldest were busy getting their schoolwork done!
I have had many days where I got nothing done. Usually those are Mondays! I was telling Josh that every Monday is like entering my own personal insane asylum lol
I’m so jealous that you got them right on the first go. My first try was a fail and my second try was TOO poofy due to overbeating and overbaked so my insides weren’t chewy. And all this with 5 little ones running around. You’re a domestic goddess. 🙂
But cruel cause you’re making them wait. I ate mine …. immediately.
I think watching the great British bake off helped ? I would watch closely whenever someone made macarons so I could see what the batter looked like, piping them out, etc.
I looked for a recipe that didn’t require making/cooking a sugar syrup cause I don’t have an accurate candy thermometer even though I’ve bought several of the non-electronic ones.
I used a glass candy thermometer which is a little hard for me to read. The sugar syrup got up to 245 degrees F pretty fast. It might have been less than ten minutes.
I’ve got a couple of those metal probe ones. For getting to hard ball stage.
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