I've contemplated for quite some time now on when I will attempt to make the masterful macaron. I've googled several recipes, looked at A Canadian Foodie's attempt and mentioned the word 'macaron' so many times, even my boyfriend is tired of hearing it from me. So yesterday evening, I alloted time to make "the macaron".
I had visions in my head of how great it will turn out; or how horrible. Boy, was I correct on the latter one. How did Chuck Hughes from Food Network Canada make it look so darn easy? That's where I got the recipe from (I even watched the video). I know the most difficult part was the "macaronnage", so the professionals call it. It's the process of blending the meringue mixture with the ground almond flour (I was already running into problems grounding the flour because I didn't know how to use my new food processor properly..haha). You must be extremely careful though. Folding the meringue into the almond mixture can just cause it to just kaput. And so there was my problem. I was whipping the egg whites, but for some reason I didn't get nice, stiff peaks that I usually do. But I just went with it, because they eventually had more consistency. I then incorporated the hot syrup 1/4 cup at a time, and that's probably where I messed up;it turned all watery. After incorporating it with the ground almond mixture, I began to build some hope that these little things will turn out. Well, I was wrong. By the time I piped them on parchment and put them in the oven, they were spreading out like regular-sized cookies.
Surprisingly, they tasted very good. Even my boyfriend agreed that they were delicious, despite the fact that they were supposed to look like macarons. Instead, they tasted like those Italian amaretto cookies.
My attempt next time, which I'm not sure when this will be, I will have to make sure that the egg whites whip properly and that my almond mixture is more finely ground. My motto: you never until you try! And that's what I did.
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