Sunday, January 15

F is for Complete Failure

Friends, it wasn't pretty. I could tell by the meringue. I told myself to dump the meringue and try it again. But naturally I didn't listen to myself so I continued. And they were a joke.

My errors were in the meringue. I broke 2 of the 3 tenets for making a successful meringue -

1) egg whites at room temp. NO, too cold.
2) No yolk pieces in the whites
3) "Stretch" the egg whites* before beating them. My new hand mixer doesn't seem to have a low. Position 1 seems to be the same speed as 6. grrrrr.

*Stretching egg whites means to beat them for a minute on low before turning up the speed. The chef who taught the macaroon class paralleled it to pulling a balloon a few time before blowing it up.

Here is the evidence:

Meringue
Don't be fooled by this pretty looking meringue. I stood there with my hand mixer for 1o minutes at least! It never got light and had the consistency of marshmallow cream.
macaron mess
Ready to go in the oven. They should have spread out so the tops were smooth. The fact that they still have peaks and lumps is a huge red flag.
macaron mess
Baked. Need I say more?

But today, today I found some success. I'll tell you about it. Check back.

4 comments:

This Girl loves to Talk said...

which is why I have not attempted to make a macaron....

thanks for reminding me why I pay $2.50 per macaron at the farmers markets :)

I wish you luck though!!

Jennifer said...

I love your baking experiments, even the failures. I'm just sad I'm no longer close enough to get to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Those macarons don't look too terrible to me anyway. I bet they tasted good.

The Expatresse said...

It is still a learning experience.

P.S. At the risk of being . . . inappropriate . . . my Cuban friends in Miami all insisted that there were days of the month a woman cannot get eggs whites beaten properly. Why they did not blame the humidity in South Florida, I don't know. But they insisted that a man could get good results 100% of the month, while women have a week or so they should not even try. Funny, isn't that?

likeschocolate said...

So sorry they didn't work out!

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