Too young to stand on their own feet!
The daring bakers challenge this month has been to make macaroons. I have read on many occasions and on different blogs that the real challenge in baking macaroons is to get the feet right. Well mine were not standing on their feet 
. Perhaps it was that the egg whites were not at the right temperature or that they were too stiff or that the oven temperature was not quite right. But most of all, serves me right for trying the recipe the day before and not having enough time to bake a second round to try and get it right. That I think is the most important lesson of all. The other important lesson, is that macaroons with no feet may not be pretty, but hey! they sure taste just as good; so for people like me who really eat with their nose and mouth, these smelled glorious and tasted fine.
Veteran macaroon maker, Helen of mytartelette, advises to always “stick to the macaroon recipe that works for you!” This one is not going to be my go to recipe for macaroons. The one I will use will be the one by Mr. Chocolate, Jacques Torres. He does not call for almond flour but paste and I find that much easier to do, especially to avoid cold feet. You can find it here.
However, this experiment I owe to the October 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge chosen by Ami S. She chose macaroons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe. It was a challenge too!
Since I am lazy, I am copying the recipe straight from the Daring Kitchen website…so here goes -
Ingredients
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.
Make yours and enjoy!
Leave a Reply
Blog at WordPress.com.
Theme: Monotone by Automattic.
