S is for Success

Not a perfect success, but I'll take it. Since my failed attempt at making macarons I've made 2 more batches (using this tute.) Both of which resulted in something very much like a macaron. Yipeee! I piped the cookies a bit too large and over cooked the second batch, but other that, people I'm making macarons.

My hunch is that aging the egg whites (leaving them out for 1-2days) is what made the difference. In the class I took we were told that the eggs should be room temp. I even asked about aging the egg whites to which the chef replied, no need. Perhaps she is right. But I believe it was the aging that lead to my success.

The other truth that became clear to me is that you really need to have the proper equipment to make macarons - a digital scale, a fine sifter, a piping bag and the proper tip. I also think a stand mixer would be a huge help too. I have a hand mixer. All this makes a difference.

I've since become macaron obsessed! I've read about it happening to many a blogger. It is not about eating them. It really is about making. Perfectly and with ease. I can hardly wait to try again. I'll roll my sleeves up again just as soon as my piping bag, #12 tip, and supply of powder food dye arrives. It is all about the proper equipment.

One question I still have about macarons is how to tell when they are done. Anyone know?

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:

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.

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.

Baked. Need I say more?

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

American Macaroning

I bet you thought my posts about macarons were over now that we've landed in America. Think again! Yesterday I took a 2 hour class all about making macarons. It was so fun.

I learned all about the characteristics of a French macaron - the pied (foot), the small frills that form along the bottom of the cookie and the skin; the shiny top of a macaron. Macs are supposed to be crunchy with a slightly chewy middle.

I also learned some new fancy words:

Macaronnage - The technique of mixing flour and meringue to make macarons.

Macaronner - The technique of mixing the batter until it is firm and drips slowly when scooped.

The class was divided into 4 groups. Each group made a different flavor macaron. The instructor made one too. So we had 5 different combinations - mint with rum cream, coffee with vanilla custard, sesame with white chocolate ganache, cassis with blueberry butter cream and coconut with coconut filling. The best? Sesame with white chocolate ganache. A surprising combination that gave a lot of flavor.

I was part of the group that made cassis macs. As you can see we had some trouble with the piping! Much harder than it looks. Due to some old, thick purple dye we ended up over mixing our batter. That made it too runny and also lead to baked macarons that wouldn't come up off of the parchment paper. Don't over mix!

Above all though, I had a really great time. Now I'm about to dash upstairs and try to make some on my own - back tomorrow with results!

More Macaroning

Finally tried some macs from Wengé, a bakery here in Luxembourg. A friend brought an assortment over for dessert on Thursday evening. The flavors were: Lemon, raspberry with chocolate filling, orange, chocolate, MYSTERY, and salted caramel. Yes, you read that right. My friend couldn't remember what flavor the turquoise macs were. All 6 of us sampled them, trying to guess. The guesses were all over the board - bubble gum, lemon, lavender, jasmine. Are there any locals out there who can tell me what we ate? I may just have to get myself down to the center and have a look myself.

All the flavors were tasty. The salted caramel tasted like it literally had butter as the filling, help me god. The raspberry and chocolate is a great combination but I wanted a more intense raspberry flavor. I didn't taste the orange but someone said it tasted like a Dreamsicle. The lemon (citron) was good. Didn't taste chocolate. Fun evening. Fun tasting. Now, to figure out the turquoise mac - it is driving me crazy!

Mac Daddy

I was bound and determined to make it to Pierre Herme this trip to Paris. And I did. We did. However it came at the expense of Julie's poor feet. Her super cute ballet flats which started out as "comfortable shoes" turned on her. At one point she swore there must have been only bones left on her feet, no soft skin padding. But Julie is a trooper.

Pierre Herme is located at 72, rue Bonaparte. We stopped for lunch around 24, rue Bonaparte right across from the church of St. Germain-des-pres. After food, rest and a cappiccino she was ready to complete our death march for macarons. We made it. These macs became more than just Pierre Herme macarons, they were blood macarons. Thank you Julie. And thanks to your trotters as well.

I found the macs at Lauduree had soft, delicate flavors. They specialized in giving you just the essence of flavor. The macs at Pierre Herme were just the opposite. In fact, a few could be described as bold, brash balls of screaming flavor. On with the notes, starting left to right:

Orange and Caramel: Odd flavor combination. One of the flavors should have been more obvious. Didn't do anything for me.

Mint: Tasted like a wad of fresh mint from the garden. Literally. No subtely here. Just fresh, real mint. If this is your flavor, this is the mac for you.

Passionfruit and Milk Chocolate: This was almost a shock to the palate. A tangy, almost tart parrionfruit that nearly caused the mouth to pucker. Combined with soft, smooth milk chocolate. It was tasty, unexpected and unusual.

Rose: Yes, this was rose. No doubt about it. Too rosie for me.

Jasmine: This was flavored with jasmine tea. I couldn't really taste anything at all. Dissapointing.

Olive oil and Vanilla: So weird. Definitely got the olive oil taste. Soft and pretty savory. Didn't taste any vanilla. Bryce wouldn't try it :)

Not Sure: I'm not sure what flavor this beauty was. Spend way too much time researching it on line too. Didn't find it. Any one know? It had a teeny square of red jelly candy in the middle. Obviously the flavor didn't knock my socks off because I don't even remember it -

Grapefruit: Different. Tangy, but not too much.

Have you been to Pierre Herme? I'd love to know what you think . . .

Yes, this is a travel post!

Macarons seems to be a good place to start. So here we go, a trip to Laduree. The window displays were incredible, just as beautiful as their macarons.

Just for the record, Julie did not at all understand my interest in macarons. Which got me to thinking, why do I care? I mean, they're tasty cookies and all, but when I'm craving a cookie it's always a chocolate chip or a snickerdoodle. Truth be told, I've never had a huge hankering for a rose macaron. The reason why came to me as I was selecting my macs at Laduree. The flavors. The huge variety. The unusualness of the flavors. It's similar to jelly bellies or the 31 flavors at Baskin and Robbins or even scented candles. There is a curiosity about all the flavors. Which one is the best? Have you tried the ________? I like this one better than that one. And they're pretty. Very, very pretty. I think that is the allure - the depth and breadth of flavors and the pretty factor. Your thoughts?

Julie and I ate breakfast at Laduree's cafe. I had French Toast with Chantilly Cream - hello gorgeous! It was wonderful. After breakfast I purchased a few macarons. I bought Julie a salted caramel one in hopes of winning her over. Here are my tasting notes about the new flavors I tried:

Orange Blossom: I couldn't taste orange at all. Julie said she got a subtle taste. Needles to say, this one wasn't mind blowing.

Vanilla: Rich butter cream filling. Full vanilla flavor. Almost as good as salted caramel.

Licorice: Looks intimidating. Looks like it would be strong. It wasn't. It definitely tasted like black licorice only a softer, milder version.

Christian Louboutin: This is one of Laduree's special 2009 macarons. Each year they create a few macarons inspired by a specific designer. This year it was shoe designer, Christian Louboutin. It was striking to the eye. Not really sure what flavor it was. The filling was definitely fig. This was purely eye candy as it didn't do much for the mouth.

Read about my previous trip to Laduree here.

I dragged Julie to Pierre Herme as well. A new bakery with lots of macarons to try. Tasting notes coming soon.

Macaron Tasting Notes

I'd been waiting for this moment . . . tasting *real* macarons from Laduree. I was just delighted when we walked right by it on the Champs-Elysees. I was the proverbial kid in a candy store or, more accurately, lady in a macaron shop. I was particularly interested in trying some of the perfumey flavors, rose, jasmine, lavender.

The line was long but moved pretty swiftly. All of a sudden it was my turn, I didn't have time to study the list of 16 flavors, I had to choose and do it quickly. So I blurted out 2 mint and went from there. I ended up with an eclectic sampling of 12, some I probably wouldn't have picked had I been of clear mind. But, oh it was so fun.

The macarons really were different from others I've tried. Granted, I really haven't eaten very many. The cookie part was very light and delicate, breaking easily. The fillings were buttery, rich and flavorful. Here's a run down of the flavors I tried:

Mint: Bright turquoise blue in color so I expected it to be strong, refreshing almost like a peppermint patty. Quite to my surprise it was what I'd call spearmint and had a soft, buttery, warm minty taste. Much better than what I was expecting. Audrey liked it too.

Chocolate: Not too sweet, not quite dark chocolate, but not the sweetness of milk either. The filling was thick, almost fudgey. Very tasty. Bryce liked it too.

Caramel with Salted Butter: This one was exceptional! The filling wasn't butter creamy, instead it was more like the best thick, caramel sauce you've ever tasted. Real caramel sauce, full of flavor. DELICIOUS. Eva approved.

Pistachio: Extremely subtle flavor, in a blind taste test I'm not sure I'd be able to detect pistachio. Almost had a coconut flavor. I would skip these next time.

Rose: So curious about this. Eating perfume. The filling was a rich butter cream with a perfectly subtle taste of rose. It wasn't perfumey at all, but definitely Rosy. Interesting. Tasty. I'll try again for sure.

Black Currant: Called Cassis/Violette in the shop. Ever so slightly tart, strong flavor in filling. Definitely a currant flavor, not blackberry or mixed berry. I enjoyed this flavor.

Lemon: Called Citron in French. I love lemon desserts so I was excited about this flavor. The filling was a butter cream with a subtle, soft lemon flavor. No tartness or tanginess at all. It was good, but I wanted a bit of zing.

Bergamot: This was one of their new spring flavors. It had a butter cream filling, with a subtle, almost absent orange essence. I love the chartreuse color of the cookie, but after tasting it, would probably skip it next time.

Next on my macaron radar is Wenge here in Luxembourg. Catherine tipped me off to this place. I walk by it often in the center but have yet to stop . . .I'm also very interested in making my own. These sound lovely.

Tell me your macaron tales - most interesting flavor, best over all - I want to know!!

Macaroons or Macarons

Whether you call them macaroons or macarons what we're talking about here are these beautiful little French pasteries made famous by the Laduree family of France. They are nothing like the chewy blobs of coconut you are picturing. I was totally unaware of their existence until reading about The Black Apple's obsession with them. I was thrilled to run across them at Auchan during one of my many shopping expeditions. Strangly though they were were missing the cream filling.


The macarons are not what I expected. I thought they would be a light, flaky sugar cookies. No. They crack on the outside and are chewy and almost raw like on the inside. The cookie is made with blanched almonds ground up - almost like almond paste. The best part. They come in the most interesting flavors - grenadine, licorice, amber, rose petal. Of course, I missed out on the whole flavor thing because the macarons I bought were missing the filling. But mark my words the first time we set food in Paris, I will be making a run to Laduree's. Ooooo, I can't wait!