So, I looked into purchasing them and having them shipped to me. Welp, $54 dollars for 8. No joke. So, before I purchased a batch, I wanted to see if I could make them first! I mean, really - how hard could it be to make a cookie? (Yes, I can bake and cook! Shocking, I know.) Anywhoodles - people have told me these are somewhat hard to make...but eh, I'm always up for a challenge. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands. The next thing you know I was boot-scoot-boogying out of work and 10 minutes later, I'm at my local grocery store picking up almond flour and all of the baking goodies the recipe called for. I got home with dreams of creating & perfecting the ever-so-popular French Macaron on my own and throwing it in Martha Stewart's face who says they are hard to make. Well, missy - not for this girl they aren't! This is how you make the PERFECT french delicacy aka The French Macaron....
Gather your ingredients:
Almond Flour
Cream of Tartar
Confectioners Sugar
Extra Fine Sugar
Large Eggs
Then gather your utensils. You will need:
Large Mixing Bowl
Mixer
Sifter-thingy
Measuring Cups
Spoon (that ones a given, but I thought I'd include it just incase)
How lame does it make me that I was really excited to use a dispenser set?
I didn't really use these measuring spoons...I just wanted to take a picture of them :p
Cream of tartar...don't ask me what it does because I just have no clue. You'll only need a pinch of it.
First, you mix your almond flour and EXTRA fine sugar. Be sure to get the extra fine because the regular granulated sugar is too coarse to use for the cookie and will cause bumps on the surface.
2 large egg whites. Make sure these are at room temperature. If you forgot to take them out to reach room temp, just drop them in a warm cup of water for 5 minutes and they will be fine.
First, mix the almond flour and fine sugar together and drop it through a sifter. DO THIS TWICE. The almonds that don't make it through the sifter, you can put aside.
You then want to mix the egg whites & sugar until they create a soft peak...
Just like this.....
This was my little helper, Charlie. He was making sure everything was getting done to perfection.
Now, you can add your food coloring. Remember, add a few extra drops because color fades when items are baked.
Then, place the cookies on a cookie sheet on top of parchment paper like so...
Create 1" mounds about 1" apart from eachother like so.
Then, slam the cookie sheet down a few times to release any air on the bottom of the cookies...
this will create air bubbles (which is fine)
Place in the oven on 375 for 10 minutes. Take out of oven, let them sit for about 10 minutes, and then match cookies up together and fill with a merringue of your choice ...
Oh, hi again Charlie.
And VOILA! The (almost) perfect French Macaron....
Except I'm totally kidding and don't listen to a word that I just posted above. Because if you keep scrolling down, you will see the reality of my French Macaron experience.
An absolute disaster to say the least, that left me with a ransacked-looking kitchen as well.
An absolute disaster to say the least, that left me with a ransacked-looking kitchen as well.
I probably got 2 or 3 good ones out of a batch of 35 :(
Remind me never to try to make french desserts again and leave it up to the professionals, k?
I will definitely be placing an order to have them shipped to me for our upcoming project.
:(
The end.
Lol Well at least you tried. :)
ReplyDeleteThe best chiefs in the world have failed miserably before! Great post :)
ReplyDelete