Last week, I had felt a sense of deep accomplishment and satisfaction when I made macarons that turned out perfectly.
That feeling was short-lived.
I wanted to make some macarons for a BBQ that a couple at church was having this past Monday for Memorial Day. Instead of the chocolate, I wanted to re-create the vanilla macaron from Bouchon Bakery that I love so much. There was some buttercream left over from the wedding cake I had made and wanted to use it up anyway.
I used Dorie Greenspan's recipe that she had written for the LA Times for Easter. This was a little more advanced than the chocolate. The chocolate macaron you just whipped the egg whites by itself but with this basic Parisian recipe I had to make an Italian Meringue. Italian Meringue is whipping egg whites with sugar (and a little water) that's cooked to 240 degrees. This was tricky because I don't have a candy thermometer and even if I did, the quantity of sugar was so small it would have been hard to even stick the thermometer in and try to get an accurate reading.
There was a trick that I was taught in school to be able to tell what stage the sugar is at by spooning some of the boiling mixture into a small bowl of water. Unfortunately, I don't have photos for this. But I found a site that describes this very well.
I followed the recipe to a T except for the second and third sheet pan of piped macarons. The first pan I double panned it and opened and shut the oven every 4 minutes. Turned out ok.. except the bottom was still underbaked. So the next sheet pan I didn't put the second sheet pan underneath it and I got HUGE cracks.
Too much heat too fast.
So the next pan, I put it in with a second sheet pan underneath, then took it out after the first 4 minutes. I still had issues with it underbaking on the bottoms but I think this time around it was because of the Silpat. The Silpat was too thick and the bottoms needed lots of direct heat to form a crust. So use parchment paper.
They tasted great despite the cracks but I was so angry! There I was, thinking I had more or less mastered this little cookies.. then BAM!! A huge slap in the face and those stupid macarons laughing in my face.
In the end, it wasn't a complete disaster but it just... sucked. It always sucks when things don't go perfectly the way you imagine.
life lessons through macaroons. : D
ReplyDeleteOh how true it is..
ReplyDeleteya! that happened to me i was so happy when i have done so good on making macaroons then BOOM i made a big bulk and lots of them got cracked! SO ANGRY! but its because you didn't let a skin form so that it can be strong enough to rise without the skin stretching and cracking.
ReplyDeletemulberry purse
ReplyDeleteray ban sunglasses
oakley sunglasses outlet
oakley sunglasses outlet
huston texans jerseys
adidas uk
coach outlet online
steph curry shoes
fendi handbags
oakley sunglasses
xushengda0311
pandora charms sale clearance
ReplyDeletetexans jerseys
adidas nmd r1
christian louboutin pas cher
nike free run
michael kors
rolex replica watches for sale
coach outlet store
coach factory outlet online
clarks
170522yueqin