I made macarons!

[GreenFrog]

awesome, i love macarons

 

[TheFoo]



I am going to try this! Is there anything else you found that made it easier?

Just remember getting the batter to the right consistency is the critical point. Err on the side of stiffer, drier egg whites. Everything else is easy and straightforward.

 

[UnnamedPlayer]

Did you let them sit for at least 2 hours after piping before placing in the oven?

Big mistake if you didn't.

 

[BrianVarick]

Did you just pipe the filling in or what?

 

[TheFoo]



Did you let them sit for at least 2 hours after piping before placing in the oven?

Big mistake if you didn't.

No, I didn't. The macaron lady just said to bang the tray a few times to settle the macarons. This seems to be common advice. And it worked. The macarons all came out well-formed.

Did you just pipe the filling in or what?

I would have, but I was very angry with my pastry bag by that point, so I just spooned it on.

 

[foodguy]

beautiful job foo. i find that really good macarons are great, but anything less is kind of "what's the fuss?". there doesn't seem to be a middle ground ... like for chocolate chip cookies, where even the one's that aren't great, are really good.

 

[TheFoo]

Made these last night. Oolong tea with honey buttercream on the left, blueberry cream on the right. Came out even better than the earlier batches. A few individual macarons came out cracked, but no batches were botched.

The oolong one is perhaps my favorite so far. I thought it would be difficult to infuse the flavor or tea into the macaron, but it turns out you just need to ground up some loose leaves and throw them into the batter. I tried two teaspoons, fearful of making it too strong. After tasting them, I think I can go three or four. The honey I added to the filling complements the tea flavor very well--oolong is very robust and can stand up to the sweetness.

For the blueberry ones, I wanted to avoid doing a fruit jam macaron. I much prefer a cream filling. So, I mixed some blueberry preserves into the basic buttercream I've been using (which, incidentally, is super-easy to make). Again, I could have gone stronger and doubled the blueberry portion. Next time.

 

[gomestar]

those look awesome.

Oolong = want.

 

[erictheobscure]

Man, I'm impressed.

Can't find a decent macaron in Philly. In fact, the macarons I had out of a refrigerated display case @ a convenience store in Tokyo were better than any I can find in Philly.

 

[dopey]

What are macarons?

 

[TheFoo]



What are macarons?

Probably yet another food you aren't allowed to eat.