My darling hubby bought me a gorgeous Candy Pink KitchenAid Stand Mixer that I have been lusting after for years. For it's maiden mix, I wanted to make something really special: Macarons! I have never made these before and yes, I know they are no longer on-trend (you know things have reached their bitter end when Brumby's start to sell them) but it is a baking challenge that has alluded me long enough. And regardless of their popularity, they are simply divine.
Now Macarons shouldn't be particularly hard - it's only 4 ingredients - but it is the delicate balance of these ingredients that has to be perfectly executed. The almond meal has to be ground, just so. The meringue has to be whipped, just so. The mixture folded in, just so. Baked at a temperature of, just so. Now I must admit, I am a bit of a lazy baker sometimes. Like when the recipe calls for egg whites that have been sitting covered in the fridge for 5 days and then brought to room temperature, surely any old room temperature eggs will do? And when my almond meal gets caught under my food processing blade, surely a few quick pulses is enough? Apparently not. A macaron is a high maintenance piece of biscuitry. Even too humid a day will send your stiff peaks crashing down to a sloppy mess.
It is vital you know your whisking speed as over or under-beating can end in disaster. Looking back, it was probably not the smartest thing to use my never before used mixer.
Alas, my macarons were over-beaten, resulting in little puffs of puffiness, rather than the pretty glossy domes with ruffled feet we all know and love. They were punctured and pin-pricked which indicated I didn't fold the meal in enough. I clearly didn't understand what 'glossy ribbons' meant.
I picked up my poor little bubbly not-quite macarons and gave them to the people at work. With a filling of raspberry and dark chocolate ganache they were delicious, just not very pretty. They were received with enthusiasm by the crew and I was told they liked them even better than traditional ones as they were 'softer' Maybe I have inadvertently stumbled across a new breed of biscuit?
Sadly, I was so traumatized by my failure that I didn't take photos of the puffs. But if you can image a highly aerated cookie, puffy with lots of holes - then that is kind of what it was. I can't even find any pictures of something similar on google. Was it that much of a spectacular fail that no one else has seen it?
A little bit broken, I am not deterred. I will conquer the macaron yet.
Kxx
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