The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.
I must say, I was so incredibly excited about this challenge when I saw it. I have never had a French macaron, but have seen them on the internet and they just look so good. I love the way you can have so many different flavor combinations and they are just so fancy looking!
So I decided I wanted to try some raspberry macarons with pink peppercorn buttercream I had seen here. I got all my ingredients and tried it out using the Daring Baker's recipe. To get the raspberry flavor I added some dried raspberry powder and two drops of red food coloring.
Before baking, I had scoured the Daring Bakers' forums reading everything I could about making macarons. I did my very best to follow everyone's tips. When I put my macarons in the oven I was so excited! I couldn't wait to see their crisp shells with chewy centers and their smooth flat bottoms with the ever desired "feet".
I opened the oven and I had ... sticky Milano cookies?
*sigh*
So, I tried to dry them out as best I could so I could get them off the sheet. I filled them with a little chocolate ganache and called it a day, vowing to try again.
I saw David Lebovitz had a recipe that looked promising that other Daring Bakers' had some success with. So, today, I gave that one a try.
The meringue was very, very thick. It was very sturdy and it seemed nearly impossible to deflate. It was much easier to work with than the Daring Bakers' recipe. When I piped it out I was a little disappointed to see that I had peaks on nearly all my macarons. I had heard this could happen so I used a damp finger to gently flatten them out, which is what I read you were supposed to do when this happened.
I popped them in the oven and 15 minutes later ... BLAM! I had the feet! I had domed tops (though slightly peaked, the damp finger didn't quite take care of it all the way). However, I was worried that maybe they might stick to the parchment like the last disaster. So I let them stay in the oven a little longer. Then, I let them sit in a cooling oven for a little bit, not even an hour. When they came off the parchment easily I took them out of the oven to cool.
I was so excited! Sure they had little peaks, but they were macarons! I couldn't wait to find out what it was all about! When they were cool enough, I slathered some chocolate-peanut butter ganache in between and took a bite... CRUNCH!
They were so crunchy, I was sure I had messed up again. I know they are supposed to be crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside... this is not what I had created. They were crunchy all the way through like a meringue.
They were tasty, don't get me wrong, I ate several of them! But, they were not macarons. But, I think I know what I did wrong. I let the past experience steer me in the wrong direction. I should have taken them out of the oven right at 15 minutes, or maybe a little before. Next time, that is exactly what I will do. And someday, I will try those raspberry pink peppercorn macarons for real.
I will say, macarons may be one of the most difficult and finicky things I have ever tried to make. I will try them again sometime, but for now, I guess I'm just happy that I got feet! :D
(Below is the Daring Bakers' recipe from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern) The recipe for these pictures (2nd attempt at macarons, is linked above)
French Macarons
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.
Yield: 10 dozen. Ami's note: My yield was much smaller than this. I produced about two dozen filled macaroons.
Fill with buttercream, jam, or ganache of your choice.