Macarons: when Friendly Fire leads to collateral damage

/ March 4, 2015

I’ve always imagined my nemesis to look like a mix between Mrs Clooney and Katherine Hepburn (ca. 1942), who could bake like a pro. The reality is somewhat disheartening. My real nemesis, it turns out, are candy-coloured, chocolate-filled meringues: macaroons, as some call them; overhyped faff, according to others (ok, mainly me).Macarons 1

When Dana first proposed the term ‘Friendly Fire‘ to describe an international bake- or cook-along, I was a little taken aback by the belligerent connotations of the term: ‘friendly fire’ is often seen as the second most misleading metaphors in recent times in that it describes the accidental death or injury caused by one’s own side in a war. There’s really nothing friendly about that. The most inappropriate metaphor, in case you were wondering, remains ‘collateral damage’, which seems to suggest damage to buildings and structures but in fact refers to civilians killed, accidentally, during an attack. Both ‘friendly fire’ and ‘collateral damage’ are therefore euphemisms. metaphors that are used primarily to conceal a harsh or unpleasant reality.Together, however, they sum up my endeavour to make macaroons.

In my defence, it hadn’t been my idea. Marta had proposed it, and to add pressure she even sent me a pack of her favourite macaroons and two bags of finely ground almonds. In other words: the challenge was on, but the odds were clearly against me:

Macarons disaster

That was my first attempt. Nice colour, though … Clearly I overstirred the mix. But that’s not the only hazard: you can see what else could go wrong in the following picture, which sums up my second attempt:Macarons trouble shooting

In the end I figured out that a) you had to watch out to not overstir it (yellow), and b) stir it long enough to avoid those squiggly pink swirls.

I used a recipe by the French blogger Aurélie Bastien, who has been bringing French recipes to the German-blogging world. Her recipe is straightforward – at least if you follow it – and you can get some impressive macaroons.She’s also got a video tutorial on her site, albeit in German, but even watching it without sound will give you a good idea of what it entails.

Macaroons / Macarons (makes ca. 30) after Aurélie Bastien

  • 90 g ground almonds, ground very finely, like powder, and then sieved
  • 150 g icing sugar
  • 2 egg whites (exactly 72 g)
  • 20 g caster sugar
  • food colouring (paste or powder)

Cut baking parchment to fit your baking sheets and draw 30 or so small circles, ca. 4 cm/ 2 inch diameter.Macarons shape

Sieve the icing sugar with the almond powder and mix it well using a fork.

Beat the egg whites; when they starts forming soft peaks, add the sugar and keep beating. Finally add the food colouring until you get the colour you are after.Macarons colouring

At this stage you can start adding the almond powder, in 5 or 6 batches, fodling it in with a spatula. You want the mix to be fairly runny without mixing all the air out of it.

Using a piping bag with a plain nozzle, pipe the macarons into the circles. Set aside for 20-30 minutes to dry.Macarons drying

Meanwhile, heat your oven to 140C / 280F. Although Amélie swears she gets better results with her standard oven, my macarons worked best when I used a fan-assisted oven. It’s your call.

Bake them for 12-14 minutes. It’ll take a little before they come up in their little ‘feet’, so don’t despair!

Once they’re done, slide the parchment on a cool work surface an leave them to cool a little before removing them using a spatula or knife.

Raspberry Ganache

  • 100g chocolate, broken into pieces
  • 100ml single cream
  • 1 tbs soft unsalted butter
  • 40g defrosted raspberries, blended.

Heat the cream until it almost begins to start boiling; add the chocolate and the butter and stir until it is fully dissolved. Add the rspberries and leave it to stand for 5-10 minutes. Pipe the ganache in a circle on one of the macarons, then stick a similar-shaped one on top. Voilá.

Macarons 3

Would I do it again? I don’t know. If you love them, they’re probably worth the effort – check out Marta‘s immaculate version, beautifully photographed, as ever. Looking at them, even I am tempted to give them another shot …

 

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38 thoughts on “Macarons: when Friendly Fire leads to collateral damage”

  1. Pingback: French Macarons- the worst challenge ever/Francuskie makaroniki- najtrudniejsze wyzwanie | Plate du Jour

      • Haha come on!! Try and let me know how it went. By the way I went through another macaron drama this morning- I had some whites in the fridge since Wednesday waiting for Sunday- and listen to this- my boyfriend “cleaned” the fridge last night. He said the whites were not good! I went histerical!! Wanted to pack his suitcase this morning!! Argh!

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  4. What are you talking about, they look incredible!!
    You’re a champion for trying this is Marta, she really knows how to put the pressure on 🙂

    Beautiful outcome and colors, keep up the damage my lovely Gingersnap!
    xx

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  7. I made macarons in a class at Sur la Table over a year ago (see Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate) and included the cookies in that post. I have collected a number of recipes as fellow bloggers make them and I need to give them a try. The colors make them so much fun but they are not as easy as you found out 🙂

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    • The colours are the best bit! And I love Marta’s idea of using mascarpone for the filling – I ended up with dark chocolate as the white chocolate, which would have looked better, was all used up already in the previous attempts…

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  8. Haven’t made these since culinary school and have absolutely no desire to! I share your opinion that they are not worth it. But I suspect they will end up on the editorial calendar sooner or later and I will have to eat my words…..and macarons. Yours look fantastic! Sorry they were so frustrating!

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  10. Hey there! 🙂
    I’ve been requested to do macarons for 2 years now, but I’ve never yet dared to put my hands on them… And even though yours turned out wonderful in the end, I must admit that your post does not really set me on fire. 🙂 I bet I’d make 10 of those fail-batches and then simply frustrate with it… Doesn’t sound like something I’d have patience for. Plus: I don’t even really fancy the taste of them so much… Not the store bought ones anyway!
    Anyhow, great work – and I totally understand if you never make em ever again! 😀

    Your Backdirndl
    (www.backdirndl.wordpress.com)

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      • And now I ended up making some anyways – can’t ignore a birthday wish, can you….?
        I used a similar recipe and they turned out alright (pretty feet and no cracks). However, I did not manage to ground my almonds fine enough, so the tops weren’t completely smooth. 😦
        Don’t know how you do it, but my food processor from Kenwood did not manage to pulverize anything…, but my enthusiam about making Macarons…
        Anyhow, Macarons – CHECK!

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  12. Well done you! I’ve never made them, mainly because I don’t particularly enjoy them (although they look so beautiful) but also because it seems like such a lot of work 😦 But you rose to the challenge – ad look how great they turned out!

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  16. Amazing, and look at those colors! I love the shot of the pink with the beaters, it looks a bit like two eyeballs popping out of a hot pink monster face! A cute monster face! I have never really given Macaroons much thought one way or another, but then I’ve probably never had a good one! 🙂 instructive post, too! Love it!

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  19. I have made them before, but they are sooo fiddly. A friend of mine made some giant ones recently which although less than dainty, looked far more reasonable to make! 😀

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