Adventures in Macaronnage

Of course I have to make like I'm some kind of snot. I'm thinking in French!

J'ai toujours vu que pour réussir dans le monde, il fallait avoir l'air fou et être sage.

I've been enthralled since I had Parisian macarons at the historic Oscar's at the Waldorf Hotel. I've searched for recipes even when I didn't know what they were even called. I happened to find these delectable confections again while walking around mid-town Manhattan, San Francisco and yeah---even Ala Moana Mall in Honolulu! The unfortunate part is that I didn't even make the connection that these lovely cookies were French and so I missed out on macaron splurges whilst traipsing around Paris! So this holiday season, I decided that I must try and perfect making these lovely concoctions. 

I quickly discovered that there are a host of things that could go wrong in achieving macaron perfection. Humidity is but one. But most of all, the actual macaronnage---the art of mixing the egg whites with the almond flour and sugar until that perfect juncture--that point when the planets and moons align---that perfect juxtaposition of  enough whipped air, egg white consistency and magical balance of all things good is reached. One more fold of the spatula and the macarons fail. One less whip and you end up with a sorry mess in the oven. Or try making the batter on a humid, rainy day...you get moosh. Just a dozen things can go wrong. But I am undaunted. Below is a photo of what they should look like:

So, I decided that on my maiden voyage into this unknown territory, I should start with gusto and make chocolate macarons with hazelnut filling.

I started out with 3 egg whites, adding 5 tbs of super fine granulated sugar.

I just whipped the darn thing until it forms a beak....like a bird's beak or bec d'oiseau in French.

Meanwhile, prior to even messing with the egg whites, I've already processed some skinless, blanched almonds on my Cuisinart to a fine meal and then did it again with confectioner's sugar and Dutched-processed chocolate to blend all dry ingredients together.

Then, with a rubber spatula, I began the task of macaronnage--blending the egg whites with the dry ingredients until it reached that peak. Or what I thought was the right moment. Below is the point where I am about to blend dry ingredients with the egg white batter.

It's a good idea to prepare your bag and tip beforehand and place them in a tall glass or pitcher making sure that you clip the end so the batter does not leak out of the tip.

Then you are ready to pipe the batter onto prepared cookie sheets. I had already lined them with parchment paper and even made 1 inch circles so I can pipe them neatly. Remember to turn the paper upside down so you don't pipe the batter onto the pencil marks. Note that my piping skills were BAD considering I used to decorate cakes! The thing is, I did not expect the batter to be so runny....that took me by surprise. So my circles were not even....or perfectly round.

I let these puppies 'dry' for about 30 minutes before I popped them in 350 degree oven, crossed my fingers and hoped I would have my beginner's luck. Hahahaha!! Not to be!

To my horror, 6 minutes into baking, my macarons grew enormous feet!! OK. Macarons are supposed to have the famous 'feet' or 'pied' that makes them...well, macarons. I had skirts. Wah wah wah!!

Here they are after 15 minutes of baking. Absolute disaster! But I was undeterred. I sighed, kept my head up and proceeded to fill them with hazelnut spread (Nutella). THEY WERE DELICIOUS!! And the consistency was perfect albeit the appearance disastrous. Bet you wish you could taste this: It was heavenly!

Not to be foiled by my virginal attempt, I proceeded to clean up all my equipment to start another batch. Crazy?? Nah....determined. So this time, I was not going to fail. So I went back to the web to search for troubleshooting information, pondered a bit, reviewed what I had done and determined to cure them.

Next: My second attempt: Raspberry lemon macarons.

I had a hunch that the problem was with my spankin' brand new Jennair convection ovens. Happily, the new Jennair ovens took less space so I had a cabinet guy put in a new drawer under the pair. Awesome

I had to make conversions because convection ovens are happily more efficient than regular ovens. I adjusted the temperature to 318 degrees F for good measure and because 318 just sounded better than 320 or 315. (Even if the awesome computer in the oven can make the proper conversions from convection to regular ovens...)

Oh and while I'm mentioning ovens I might as well also mention that my next project will be to get an induction cooktop that Wolf or Thermador make. Doing so might wake the gourmet cook in me. After all, I did take many cooking classes in college!

So back to the macarons. I decided to go girl power and use my food colour gels and go for neon pink macarons. Here they are all ready to 'dry'.

This time, I made the following adjustments: Longer drying time. I let them sit for at least an hour. Lower oven temperature. Less macaronnage time. Added 3 minutes to bake time. And I did not forget to tap the sheets on the granite countertop to avoid air bubbles. After 6 minutes in the oven, here's what I saw:

Macarons in pink splendour with PERFECT FEET!! Ahhh la la. Tres magnifique! C'est bon! I quickly danced the Snoopy dance. Perfection feels so good. Here they are in all their glory! And they popped out of the parchment paper with nary a problem.

And the finished product---VOILA! Raspberry macarons with lemon curd filling. This has quickly become everybody's favorite flavour.

Next: Getting more confident.

I am getting almost a bit cocky now that I've made a few more batches and they've all turned out ok. By OK, I mean that they have good pied (feet) and excellent consistency...meaning not too crunchy but chewy with a soft middle. Delectable. What I am still working on: shiny tops and better handling of the piping bag so my macarons are all the SAME SIZE. I may need a different size tip. I'll have to experiment on that.

Above are my pandannus flavoured macarons rising with feet beautifully. I filled these with white chocolate ganache. And here they are below all paired and waiting to be filled.

So far, I've made chocolate macarons with hazelnut filling, pink raspberry ones with lemon curd filling, lavander coloured coconut macarons which turned light brown in the oven (I will have to lower baking temperature for purple to retain their colours...) filled with dulce de leche (YUM), green pandannus (very fragrant leaves made into herbal tea in East Asia..) with white chocolate ganache and finally, I tried a different food colour (powdered) and did another batch of violet macarons flavoured with orange essence and filled with citrus (orange) white chocolate ganache. I've ordered some passion fruit and mango essense/oil flavourings and I'm venturing into making exotic flavours. I am only going to get better and soon I will have mastered the making of Parisian macarons. (I only hope that crazy person from Idaho who likes to 'put one over me' does not try to make these just for that reason. It's just....so incredibly sophomoric. But I'm sure she wouldn't even know the meaning of that word. But I am flattered that she makes me THE ONE to set her sights on bettering. That makes me superior. HAHAHA!!)

Padannus flavoured macarons filled with white chocolate ganache

Orange flavoured macarons with orange-white chocolate ganache.