Monday, December 28, 2015

French Macarons - Four Ways


It was Christmas Eve day and I decided to have
a little fun in the kitchen, trying to make 
French Macarons
for the first time since our class in Paris
over a year ago.


I am sure I was inspired by our trip to Paris and Germany
where we taste tested many of them.

I had the morning free, and I had purchased the
almond flour some time before from Costco,
where it is more reasonably priced than at
the grocery store, so I decided to give it a try.
(I admit I had been a bit of a chicken, even though
we had all successfully made them in class.)

step instructions.



I wanted to make more than one color,
and more than one flavor, so I deviated
from the above tutorial slightly, in 
that I folded the egg white meringue in
before adding any coloring, then I divided
the batter into three bowls.  Color was added
to the bowls, and the final 50 stirs were done
after coloring was added.  For the pink I used
a powdered food coloring that I had purchased
in Paris at our class, for the green I used gel
food coloring (Americolor in a squeeze bottle - my
personal preference as it doesn't dry out), and
for the white, I left it uncolored.  I felt the gel
food coloring worked just as well as the powdered,
and it is more readily available.


Then I made one batch of buttercream frosting
and divided it into four bowls, one vanilla,
using clear vanilla flavoring, one peppermint, using
creme de menthe flavoring, one key lime, and one almond.

The macarons were decorated prior to baking.  I only had
one failure, and that was that I sprinkled some crushed
peppermint candy on top of the unbaked macarons,
and there was a chemical reaction while baking that 
caused the area where I sprinkled the candy on to
rise up and create an ugly mound - (think surface of
the moon!) so those were taste
testers for hubby!



The almond was generally everyone's favorite,
but I loved all four flavors. 

Refrigerate them and they are even better the next day.


They were a lovely addition to our Christmas Eve
meal and we had some left for the next day.  
The recipe made around 40 - 45.
And yes, I did measure everything out on my 
kitchen scale in grams, and that was easy.

I had also purchased a special silpat baking liner
in Paris that had macaron circles on it, but I
felt they were a little close and some ended up
touching as they baked.  I also had some new
silpat type liners that I had purchased from
Costco.  My old worn, original Silpat brand
worked the best, as they all stuck a little to the
new sheets, but on my old Silpat they came right
off.  I don't know if that was because that was
more seasoned (if that happens with a Silpat,)
or if it was because it was a true Silpat liner,
but it definitely was the best.

So glad I gave them a try.  We will be making a lot
more of these, now that I feel confident to do them,
and I already have people asking me to teach them.
We will have to do a ladies' lunch and teach
French Macarons.






Jacqueline
Jacqueline

Chocolat - French for Chocolate. I adored chocolate from a young age when I had to sneak in the cupboard to find where my mother had hidden the Nestle's Chocolate Chips. Having read about the famous chocolat shoppes in Paris, when I finally got there I was determined to try a chocolate from every Paris shoppe. I invite you to share my adventures in creating, in travel, and in life.

10 comments:

  1. They came out beautiful, Jacqueline! Such pretty colors.
    Happy New Year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow they are not only beautiful but delicious :-)

    Smiles~
    Mari

    ReplyDelete
  3. Only you could be inspired and actually MAKE macarons Christmas eve day:)
    I am glad I didnt as our power went off from 2PM till 4 AM Christmas day~
    Look at them Jacqueline..they are perfect.I want to make some again now..
    I think you should buy a small appt in Paris..near Ina:)
    Bravo!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello Maam Jacquie,

    Hope you had an enjoyable Christmas with so much fun and love when loveones are home.

    Wishing you a bountiful & Peaceful New Year.

    P.S.
    Sorry, I am so much hibernated in bloglandia. My manageral studies took all my time :-)

    Hope it will change in 2016.

    God Bless You All.

    Greetings from Stockholm,
    /CC

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow your colors are amazing and everything is so perfect I can not believe you did this on your first try. Please count me in on the ladies lunch
    Love Kirk

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am just one of many, I suspect, who reads your blog and marvels at your energy and travels. I don't know if I have ever left you a comment, but as I read about your macarons and your idea to have a ladies lunch and teaching session, I couldn't resist writing to tell you how lucky for anyone who makes your invitation "list". My small luncheons pale in comparison, but I do appreciate the joy of sharing beautiful times with special people. Best wishes for the New Year. Marie

    ReplyDelete
  7. These are so beautiful! They would be hard to be eat because they are so pretty!! But I'm sure they are delicious!! We will definitely have to try these soon. Although they probably won't be as perfect as yours on our first try. (I wish we could attend your teaching session). Thanks for sharing!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I made them vicariously through you! So pretty, but with no one here except my husband and me, we would have to eat all of them!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Fabulous Macarons. You certainly must have done well in class, because these are gorgeous. love the different colors. I bet they tasted as good as they look. The ladies lunch sounds like fun. They must feel so special.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yours are so pretty Jacqueline. I love making them up using other but flours. My husband particularly likes the ones I make with ground peanuts. I put a chocolate ganache inside. It would be so fun to make some together sometime. Hope your Christmas was wonderful.

    ReplyDelete

Your comments are the highlight of my day! Leave a comment and then I can come and visit your blog. Have a wonderful day! Unfortunately I have had to block anonymous comments, hope you understand.

Follow me on Instagram