Merry Macarons to you!

Parmesan Pancetta Rosemary Macarons

This holiday season has been a busy one for me, but I am not complaining. It's incredibly flattering to have people hire you to do baking for them. This means, prior to leaving for vacation, most of my nights have been spent happily up to my elbows in sugar and flour and butter and eggs... and almonds. Yes, I made quite a few macarons this month, and even spent an evening with my friend Shannon, "teaching" her how to make these finicky french cookies, or rather, teaching her how not to. The evening led to the discovery that macarons are *not* one of those kids-can-help recipes. Shannon's adorable 4 year old son, who loves to cook, and 6 year old daughter, who loves chocolate mousse, were excited to help out in any way he could. But sadly, this is what our macaron shells turned out like that night. It's not pretty, but at least we had fun.

Major macaron fail... NOT a kid-friendly recipe

Well, back in my kitchen, I was back at the mixer, fingers crossed that I could finally get feet on my little macs. Shells of various colours and flavours were prepared, and {whew} batch after batch turned out as hoped - feet and all. And what better time to bake up my MacTweets Challenge macs... Savory Sweet Holiday Macs!

It's true that there are limitless flavour combinations that can be made in a macaron. The delicate flavour of almonds makes them compatible with just about everything under the sun. From tomatoes to pork to fish to olives, almonds can be accompaniment to any of them, though not necessarily in a sweet application. Contemplating the possibilities, and flipping through Pierre Hermé's Macron, I finally settled on Parmesan Pancetta Rosemary Chocolate Macarons.

Festive red macarons with Pancetta, a sprinkling of Parmesan and Rosemary infused ganache

Hubby and I attended a wine and chocolate tasting evening several months back, and one of the treats that was better than we expected was Pancetta and melted chocolate. Yes, bacon seems to be popping up in all kinds of dessert applications, but pancetta is bacon with the flavour volume turned way up - and it really works with the tannic bitter undertones of dark chocolate. One thing I was not prepared for, when baking my macaron shells, is the effect that a sprinkling of parmegiano reggiano cheese would have on them. Baked on the same sheet and from the same batch of regular macaron shells, the parmesan shells somehow "erupted" and cracked, while the regular shells were perfectly shaped and domed. I'm not sure just what it is about the addition of cheese that causes this, but that's the only variable that can be the cause.

The mystery of the erupting parmesan mac shells

So, with my less-than-perfect Parmesan mac shells, I made a simple chocolate ganache, first infusing the cream with a bit of fresh rosemary. With the addition of some finely minced pancetta, and topped it off with a larger ruffle of the cured Italian bacon. The result? While it's not my favourite flavour of mac, it is definitely a good one. The salty and sweet mix of chocolate, almonds and pancetta, and the earthy flavour of the rosemary, made for a nice combination.

Parmesan Pancetta Rosemary Macarons
makes approximately 36 cookies, but is easily doubled
adapted from Pierre Hermé Macarons

100g almond flour
150g confectioners sugar
55g egg whites
~
150g granulated sugar
37g water
55g egg whites (yes, another 55g of egg whites in a separate bowl)
1/2 tsp food colouring

2 Tbsp grated Parmegiano Reggiano cheese

Prepare two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Using a fine mesh sieve, sift the almond flour and confectioners sugar together into a large bowl.
In a small bowl, mix the food colouring with the first 55g of egg whites. Stir the coloured eggs into the almond sugar mixture until well combined and set aside.
In the bowl of standing mixer fitted with a whisk, whip the second bowl of plain egg whites until they are foamy but do not yet hold a peak. Turn off the mixer and prepare the syrup:
Pour the water into a small saucepan, and pour the sugar into a mound the centre of the pot, but do not stir.
Place the pan over medium high heat, and keep your thermometer handy.
As the sugar begins to dissolve, gently and carefully swirl the mixture around to distribute any sugar that has not yet melted.
Once the syrup begins to boil, periodically check the temperature until it reaches 115˚C (239˚F).
Remove the pan from heat and check the temperature again - the syrup will continue to cook.
When the mixture reaches 118˚C (244˚F), turn the mixer up to medium speed and carefully pour the hot syrup into the egg whites in a steady stream.
Once all of the syrup has been added, turn the mixer to medium-high and whip for another 2 minutes until the meringue is glossy and holds stiff peaks.
Using your thermometer, check the temperature of the Italian meringue - it should register about 50˚C (122˚F) or slightly cooler.
Fold the meringue into the coloured almond mixture until no white streaks remain, and has a consistency similar to cake batter.
Fill a piping bag with the macaron batter and pipe small rounds onto the prepared baking sheets.  Sprinkle a small amount of cheese onto each of the macaron shells while they are still wet.
Preheat the oven to 350˚F and place rack in the centre of the oven.
Allow the piped cookies to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes to form a dry "skin" while the oven comes to temperature.
To make sure the cookies are ready to bake, gently touch one with your finger, if any batter sticks to your finger, they are still too wet. You should be able to lightly press your finger to the top and have it come up clean.
Bake one sheet at a time, for 12 minutes. You should have nice puffy macaron shells with the loveliest feet you have ever seen. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool.

Rosemary Infused Chocolate Ganache with Pancetta

120ml (1/2 Cup) heavy cream

2 stalks fresh rosemary

120g (1/2 Cup) dark chocolate, chopped

1/2 tsp salt

50g thinly sliced pancetta

Pour the cream into a small saucepan.  Using your hands, firmly bend and "bruise" the rosemary, to help release the fragrant oils.  Add the rosemary to the cream, and gently heat the cream until it is steaming but not boiling.  

Place the chopped chocolate and salt in a medium bowl.

Remove the rosemary from the cream and pour the mixture over the chocolate, and allow it to sit for 3-4 minutes.

Gently whisk the chocolate and cream together until it is thick and silky, but be careful not to incorporate any air into the ganache.

Set the bowl aside and allow the ganache to cool to room temperature.

Set a few layers of paper towels over a shallow bowl or plate and set it near the stove.  In a frying pan or skillet, quickly fry the pancetta until it is ruffled and crispy.  Pancetta has a much lover smoke point than regular bacon, and also cooks much much faster, so there's no time to turn your back.  As soon as the pancetta is ruffly and shrunken, remove it to the paper towel to drain.  

Once the ganache has cooled to room temperature, fill a piping bag with the ganache and pipe a generous amount onto the underside of 1/2 of the macaron shells.  Place a small piece of pancetta on top of the ganache, and then add another small dot of ganache and top them all with the remaining macaron shells.

Refrigerate the macarons for at least 24 hours.  Remove the macarons from the fridge about 2 hours before serving so they can warm slightly.

Enjoy!

Macaron Fail

For the past couple of months, I have been a bad MacTweet-er.  I have missed not one but two challenges in a row - not because I've wanted to, but because hubby and I have been busy putting in some new flooring and putting a fresh coat of paint on a few rooms.  The downstairs portion of our house is looking pretty great now, and Molly and Riley are quickly learning they can't quite corner as fast on wood floors as they can on carpet (I'm pretty sure we're going to have to heavily pad the landing on the stairs when we finish them next).  Anyway, I'm back now, and am ready to get back to making macs!

...problem is, the Macaron gods seem to be a bit peeved with me.  Yep, that's right.... macaron FAIL!  Consider it Karma.

This month's MacTweets challenge was to create Pinkarons for Pinktober, in honour of October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  This cause is important to me not only as a woman, but as a woman who has seen friends and loved ones touched by this tragic disease.  The importance of self-exams and mammograms cannot be stressed enough, as early detection is currently our best defense.

So I decided to make Pink Ginger Macarons by adding a bit of ginger syrup to the macaron batter, and then made a chocolate ganache loaded up with the a sassy kick of ginger.  Even though I'm not much of a drinker, when a friend recently told me about an incredible ginger cognac liqueur, I knew I needed to get a bottle for my baking.  Either sipped at the end of a meal, or stirred into a bowl of melted dark chocolate, it is absolutely intoxicating, though it seemed to lose a bit of its pungency in the ganache.  That was quickly and easily rectified by grating a knob of fresh ginger over the bowl and incorporating all the spicy fresh ginger juice and pulp.  In no time, we had a killer filling for our lovely pink macs.  Unfortunately, "lovely" isn't quite what I ended up with this time.

After the success I had last time I made macarons, I knew I had to stick to using the Pierre Herme Italian meringue method.  I'm quite sure they would have turned out just fine if I had been focused on my macarons and nothing else, but as you can probably guess, such was not the case.  No, I was simultaneously working on dinner for hubby and a friend while trying to make finicky french cookies (seemed like a good idea at the time).  As time for the macaron process ran out, I had no choice but to put the batter into a piping bag, seal it up and set it into the fridge until the following day.  I figured this wouldn't be a problem, as Ken at HungryRabbitNYC had used a refrigerated batter for a previous month's challenge with spectaular results... what could possibly go wrong?  Well, for starters, his macs weren't made with the already thick Italian meringue.  When day two arrived and I finally had the time to devote to piping, drying and baking mon petit macarons, I was getting hand cramps just trying to pipe the batter onto the cookie sheets.  I walked away several times, partly out of frustration, but mostly to let the batter warm up a bit and make for easier piping.  An hour and an half later, I had three sheets filled with bright pink dots.  Only the dots were bumpy.  They were lumpy.  They were ugly.  I gave the ol' "rap the cookie sheets on the table sharply a couple of times" trick a go, but there was no improvement.  Finally, after waiting and speculating different fixes,  I grabbed a small spoon and a bowl of water and attempted to "smooth" the tops down a bit - they needed to at least *look* like macs, instead of pimply pink Hershey's Kisses.  I let them dry for a full 45 minutes before I baked them, but the fact of the matter is they were simply destined to be ugly macs.  When they finally came out of the oven, any happiness I felt over the success of having feet, was quickly over shadowed by the fact that my bright pink macs were now unmistakably flesh-coloured.  Pink Ginger macs had become Soylent macs in a matter of minutes.... not at *all* what I was going for. 

And, in case you were wondering...yes, they were also still bumpy and disfigured; thanks to the wet spoon trick, any water that hadn't completely dried before they went into the oven became a volcano-like vent for the hot batter to bubble up through and collect, giving a glimpse into what macarons may look like if they're not allowed to dry before baking.  Disappointed and defeated, I set the lumpy bumpy shells aside to be filled later.

But later never really came, at least not for these shells.  They were so unappetizing that I didn't even want to serve them to anyone.  So, into the food processor they went, to ground up and be mixed into meringue another day, hopefully reincarnated as the beautiful macarons they were meant to be.

As for the ginger ganache... warmed up and spooned over a bowl of ice cream, it is simply divine - and an excellent way to soothe your bruised baker's ego.

Happy Bakings All - I wish you better results than I had this month!

With a little help from my friends...

Carrying on a conversation is problematic for me when I'm baking, as inevitably I pay more to attention to one than the other, but I love having music playing when I'm working away in the kitchen.  I don't think I'm alone in this, as this month's MacTweets challenge was Sing-a-Song macarons.  Normally I think I would have chosen one of the songs on my favourite baking playlist - and some french tunes would certainly be fitting for these popular Parisian sweets - but my quest for the perfect macaron recipe meant that a different song was more appropriate.

"What would you think if I sang out of tune,
Would you stand up and walk out on me.
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song,
And I'll try not to sing out of key.
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,
Mmm,I get high with a little help from my friends,
Mmm, I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends."

                                     John Lennon & Paul McCartney 

"With A Little Help From My Friends"... a classic Beatles tune from 1967's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.  Without our friends, where would we be?  I was fortunate enough to meet and make some new friends at Food Blogger Connect in London last month, and not just any friends, but fellow food-obsessed friends.  Among the many incredible new friends I made there, was one half of our fabulous MacTweets leadership duo, the lovely and talented Jamie from Life's A Feast, and the sweet and wonderful Cecilia from One Vanilla Bean, who was also my "tube-buddy" while in London.  I would love to have met the darling Deeba, our other head MacTweeter and the blogger behind Passionate About Baking, but she wasn't able to be there this year.

It's a fantastic thing to meet a fellow foodie; there's an immediate connection, a kinship that binds you as soon as you first shake hands.  I tend to be a bit guarded when I first meet people, so I was delighted & surprised when Cecilia and I headed out in search of a great restaurant for dinner one evening, only to find ourselves in a grocery store.... for two hours. Only another foodie can appreciate (or tolerate) spending a solid two hours in a grocery store in a foreign country.

what happens when you let two foodies loose...

Well, Cecilia and I never did make it to a restaurant that night.  Instead we filled our cart and fashioned a bizarre picnic dinner of goodies we couldn't get at home; the best double cream on the planet, tiny scarlet strawberries so flavourful my mouth is watering right now at the memory of them, crunchy coleslaw, jewel-toned root vegetable crisps, a creamy and young Asiago Pressato, some gourmet ice cream, French sparkling lemonade, Poilâne bread from France, a raspberry meringue the size of a dinner plate, and some delicious baked pasta and mushrooms.  I know, it sounds like a disastrous menu, but it was one of the most enjoyable meals I've had in years.  When we eventually were kicked out of the grocery store at 10pm, we headed back to the hotel and finished up dessert while chatting away till past midnight.  It was just a really great evening with someone I'd only met 36 hours earlier, but we share so much in common that it was as if we'd been friends for years, and I'm sure we will be friends for years to come.

darling Cecilia

But, back to the reason I chose this song... I've been on the hunt for a copy of Pierre Hermé's book Macaron, as well as La Pâtisserie de Pierre Hermé - a book I actually held in my hands a few years ago, only to put it back on the shelf because at the time, I could not justify spending €115 on a cookbook (I can't tell you how hard I've been kicking myself for that decision ever since!).  While I'm still hunting (and getting nowhere), dear Cecilia happens to have a copy of Macaron, and when she heard that I was still not able to get my hands on this book, she came to my rescue and e-mailed me the recipe for Pierre's macaron à l'huile d'olive et vanille, one of the specific reasons I want this book.  So, very literally, this month's MacTweets challenge would not have been the same had it not been for  "a little help from my friends".

Needless to say, after so much fruitless searching for his book, I was anxious to try this recipe from the pâtisserie genius that is Pierre Hermé.  Not only that, but while in London, Jamie, Cecilia and I discussed the pros and cons of macarons made with French meringue method vs Italian meringue method.  Having never tried the Italian meringue, I was curious to see if there would be a noticeable difference.  The verdict?  There absolutely is!  The entire recipe is quite different from the method I normally use;  first of all, only half of the egg whites are actually whipped.  The other half, in their liquid form, are mixed with the food colouring and stirred into the almond and icing sugar mixture.  The other egg whites are whipped into an Italian meringue, which is then folded into the almond-sugar-liquid egg mixture.  The result is a thicker, more stable batter that I found much easier to pipe, and didn't spread as much once it was piped.  When they baked up, these macarons kept that extra height and looked more like the very ones you find in Pierre's shop in Paris - or the one Cecilia and I visited inside Selfridges in London.

Pierre Hermé at Selfridges in London

Now for the sciencey portion of the program... Briefly, for those of you who may know the difference between different meringues, here is a basic overview:  all meringues are made up of whipped egg whites and sugar, but there are three main types of meringues, prepared and cooked in different ways.  In a French meringue, the egg whites are whipped with confectioners sugar or granulated sugar, and then baked as in a topping for lemon meringue pie.  Swiss meringue is made by combining raw egg whites and sugar, and whisking them over a bain marie to cook the eggs, then whipped into glossy stiff peaks off-heat.  To make an Italian meringue, hot sugar syrup is whisked into softly whipped egg whites.  The addition of the hot syrup actually cooks the egg whites, which makes them quite stable and suitable for a glossy icing for a cake, or a wonderful base for delicious almond macarons.

macarons à l'huile d'olive et vanille

As for the olive oil ganache, well that was a bit trickier than your average ganache, which is understandable when you think about the amount of oil that is being incorporated into something that doesn't typically contain oil.  Add to that, the fact that I may have mis-translated the instructions for the ganache, and heated the oil when I should not have.  Next time I make this, I will use the oil at room temperature, and I'm sure the ganache will turn out better.  That said, I am quite happy with the end result here, but when making it, the oil repeatedly separated from the cream and the chocolate, at least until the whole thing cooled down a bit.  I decided the best bet was to just patiently and gently whisk the ganache as it cooled, and I was rewarded with a silky and flavourful filling for my lovely green macarons.  Of course, because it is so silky and 30% olive oil, it becomes very soft at room temp, so keeping the finished macarons in the fridge is a must.  At Pierre's recommendation, remove them from the fridge about 2 hours before you wish to eat them, at which point they are the perfect consistency; crisp outer shell, chewy interior with a creamy filling and just a tiny piece of olive in the centre... sooooooooooooo gooooooooood. *wipe the drool from your chin, silly woman!*

There you have it, the master's method for perfect macarons.  Now that I've tried both recipes, I'll be sticking with Pierre's recipe.  After all, there's a reason he's called the Picasso of Pâtisserie.

Merci bien, M. Hermé....

Gorgeous Green Macarons

PS... a note on my never-ending quest for those two wonderful books.  Yes, I have searched every online vendor of books, and I have seen the €300 used copies of Macaron, but since the original book was only €30, it's more of a last resort.  I have even e-mailed the staff at Pierre's online store, explaining the situation and asking if they could ship books to Canada (I was unbelievably thrilled when I saw the books available on his store, and that Pierre would even pen a dedication in the book if requested!)  Unfortunately, I was told I should contact the publisher's directly and was provided their contact information.  Over a week has gone by and I have had no response from the publishers.  So, if anyone out there reading this happens to have M. Hermé's personal e-mail address, I'd love it if you could pass it along.  It seems that I have two options left: write to Pierre personally or hop a plane to Paris.  While I am always looking for another excuse to head to Paris, the €300 used copy is more in my budget for the time being....

Macaron à l'huile d'olive et vanille
adapted from Pierre Hermé's Macaron
(followed as closely as possible, but listing the ingredients I could get here)

Macarons
150g almond flour
150g confectioners sugar
55g egg whites

150g granulated sugar
37g water
55g egg whites (yes, another 55g of egg whites in a separate bowl)
5g coffee extract
green food colouring

Olive Oil Ganache
175g white chocolate, chopped
75g heavy cream
1/2 vanilla bean
113g olive oil
(because the flavour of the olive oil is in the spotlight here, choose a flavourful variety, preferably cold-pressed)
2-3 olives (preferably plain, unstuffed olives), pitted and chopped into small pieces

Directions:
Prepare two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Using a fine mesh sieve, sift the almond flour and confectioners sugar together into a large bowl.
In a small bowl, mix the food colouring with the first 55g of egg whites.  Stir the coloured eggs into the almond sugar mixture until well combined and set aside.
In the bowl of standing mixer fitted with a whisk, whip the second bowl of plain egg whites until they are foamy but do not yet hold a peak.  Turn off the mixer and prepare the syrup:
Pour the water into a small saucepan, and pour the sugar into a mound the centre of the pot, but do not stir.
Place the pan over medium high heat, and keep your thermometer handy.
As the sugar begins to dissolve, gently and carefully swirl the mixture around to distribute any sugar that has not yet melted.
Once the syrup begins to boil, periodically check the temperature until it reaches 115˚C (239˚F).
Remove the pan from heat and check the temperature again - the syrup will continue to cook.
When the mixture reaches 118˚C (244˚F), turn the mixer up to medium speed and carefully pour the hot syrup into the egg whites in a steady stream.
 Once all of the syrup has been added, turn the mixer to medium-high and whip for another 2 minutes until the meringue is glossy and holds stiff peaks.
Using your thermometer, check the temperature of the Italian meringue - it should register about 50˚C (122˚F) or slightly cooler.
Fold the meringue into the coloured almond mixture until no white streaks remain, and has a consistency similar to cake batter.
Fill a piping bag with the macaron batter and pipe small rounds onto the prepared baking sheets.
Preheat the oven to 350˚F and place rack in the centre of the oven.
Allow the piped cookies to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes to form a dry "skin" while the oven comes to temperature.
To make sure the cookies are ready to bake, gently touch one with your finger, if any batter sticks to your finger, they are still too wet.  You should be able to lightly press your finger to the top and have it come up clean.
Bake one sheet at a time, for 12 minutes.  You should have nice puffy macaron shells with the loveliest feet you have ever seen.  Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool.

While the macarons are baking, prepare the olive oil ganache.
In a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, gently melt the chocolate.  Once the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl from the pan.
In a separate small pan, heat the cream until it is hot, but do not allow it to boil.
Scrape the vanilla bean seeds into the cream and stir well.
Whisking gently, pour the cream and vanilla into the melted chocolate.
Pour the olive oil into the ganache and continue to stir until everything is well blended.
When you stop stirring, the oil should not separate from the ganache.  If it does, gently continue to stir the mixture as it cools, until the oil is remains emulsified in the ganache.
Fill a piping bag with the finished ganache.

On a clean work surface, turn the macaron shells upside down.
Pipe ganache onto half of the upturned shells and place a small piece of olive in the centre.
Pipe a small dot of ganache on top of he olive, so that the olive is completely covered.
Top each filled shell with an empty cookie shell and refrigerate for 24 hours.
Remove from the fridge about 2 hours before serving.
Believe me - they are absolutely worth the wait!!

Pierre Hermé inspired Olive Oil Macaron

Funky Monkey Macarons

This month's MacTweets Challenge comes hot on the heels of my trip to Food Blogger Connect, in London. It was an incredible trip, one of the best things being tha I finally got to meet a few of my fellow MacTweeters like Cecilia with her One Vanilla Bean, Bethany and all of her Dirty Kitchen Secrets, Pam a.k.a. the Cooking Ninja, Sarah, who lives at the fabulous Maison Cupcake, the fabulous Mowie of Mowielicious fame, and the darling Meeta, who asks What's For Lunch Honey? In anticipation of this trip, however, I was most excited to finally meet the brilliant Jamie, one of our fearless MacTweets leaders, who writes beautiful stories about how Life's A Feast - and she is just as sweet and kind as I had hoped she would be.

For this month's challenge, Jamie & Deeba (who was unable to attend FBC) challenged us to "Walk on the Wild Side" with our wild animal inspired macarons. I have to admit, I was a bit stumped by this one for a while, if only because I don't always associate many wild animals with my food. If only I had seen this beautiful fella, sitting in the lobby of the Hempel Hotel in London, before I made my macs (he's the perfect embodiment of this challenge!)

A few days before I left for the conference, hubby was called away for a business trip, which meant I was on my own for a few days. Typical of moest people, we each have our different food likes & dislikes, and when we are apart, we tend to indulge in the things the other hates. When I am out of town, hubby gets to enjoy all the soup he wants (that's right - I'm a freak, I hate soup. Even the smell of it makes me gag), and when I'm on my own, I go and get myself a few bananas for simple treats like bananas & cream (a childhood fav), banana bread or bananas foster over ice cream. Spying them sitting on the counter one night, inspiration struck and the Funky Monkey Macaron was born...

I whipped up a batch of chocolate macaron shells, which turned out quite pale compared to previous batches of chocolate macs, and then got to work on making a delicious banana pastry cream for the filling. I dug through all of my recipe books, looking at recipes for banana cream pie, but every recipe simply layered slices of banana in the pastry cream-filled shell. This was not what I was looking for, so I decided to just add a single mashed banana to my favourite pastry cream recipe. That's when I discovered why the pie is made with slices... pastry cream with a banana blended in does not set up. I learned the hard way that the custard that normally firms up just enough to stay in place in a pie shell or pâte à choux becomes a delicious but runny mess when you add a mashed banana. I'll try making it again, adjusing the recipe to see if I can get it to gel, or if all else fails, next time hubby's out of town and I bake with bananas, I'll just blend them into chocolate ganache, or else take a lesson from Pierre Herme and add a tiny piece of banana in the centre.

So while they may not have turned out quite as pretty as I had hoped, they did turn out to be quite yummy. If anyone out there has a recipe for a tasty banana filling that actually sets up, I invite you to give this one a try, and let me know how it works out for you.

The recipes for both the macaron shells and the basic, non runny pastry cream can both be found in previous posts on this blog. Just click on the link and it will take you there!

what to do with 150 “leftover” macaron shells

So I completed my MacAttack challenge using the recipe I have had the most success with, but as Jamie pointed out in her lovely comments to me, yes, I had a tonne of leftover macaron shells.  I’m not sure just how big they make their macarons – maybe the size of a hamburger – because the recipe says it makes *20* sandwich cookies – I got 90.  That’s right, 180 shells in total.  Well, seeing as I was testing out a new flavour, I only made 1 cup of Saffron Buttercream, which isn’t really enough to fill that many cookies.  So I came home and brainstormed with hubby and he came up with an absolutely brilliant idea… the boozy macaron!  

Ganache can be used in a multitude of ways, one of them being macaron filling, another being truffles, which are often flavoured with various liqueurs.  It makes so much sense, I can’t believe it didn’t occur to me before.  I did not, however, head for the liquor cabinet.  Instead, I ran to my fridge for the wonderful little present my friend SZ brought me from London; Fortnum & Mason’s Cognac Butter.  It’s intended for good, english Christmas puddings like the carrot pudding my dear sweet Grandpa used to make each Christmas, but I did not make such a pudding this year, so I still had more than enough left to whip up a batch of Cognac Butter Ganache and fill all those orphaned mac shells.

So that’s what I did and packed them up for hubby to take to work (a great bunch of folks who comprise a good chunk of my taste-testers, and who save me from weighing 800 lbs if I had to eat all this stuff myself).   My husband reported back that the initial responses were “oh my god”, “holy sh*t” and a small crowd of people following him to his desk.  OK – I think we have a hit here.  The few leftover Saffron Buttercream macs were all getting good reviews, especially from the other foodies he works with, but not quite the same food-gasmic reactions as the cognac.  Now I just need to see if that friend of mine would mind zipping on over to London and picking me up some more of that cognac butter.  After all, it’s only a 9 hour flight and I’m sure finding Christmas pudding hard sauce in March shouldn’t be much of a problem…. I’m sure she won’t mind.


Cognac Butter Ganache

1 1/2 Cups (300 ml) heavy cream

350 g dark chocolate (I use Callebaut Dark Callets – after all, I have 10 kilos of the damn things)

4 Tbsp  (60 g) Fortnum & Mason Cognac Butter

Place  butter and chocolate into a heat-proof bowl.  Heat, but don’t boil, the cream in a small saucepan.  Pour cream over the chocolate and let sit for a few minutes.  Gently whisk or stir until mixture is well combined, thick and glossy.  Cool to room temperature before piping between macaron shells.  Devour with wild abandon.  When no one’s looking, lick the bowl and spoon clean, check face in mirror for any chocolate marks on face, forehead, chin, etc.  Resume composure and carry on with your day.

les macarons parisienne

As many of you already know, or are finding out, I **LOVE** Paris.  I love the architecture, the shopping,  the language, the culture, the people... everything - especially the FOOD.  And one of the Frenchest (is that a word?  yes, I'm going to go ahead and decide it is) things you can eat while in Paris is le macaron.  You can hardly walk down the street without seeing these shiny, colourful little sandwich cookies beckoning "mangez-moi" to you from a pâtisserie window.  In fact, the array of stunning window displays in Paris, crafted from macarons could easily fill a coffee-table book - and a stunning book it would be (hmmm... there's an idea, and one hell of an excuse to go back for a visit)!

For those of you who have not yet had the pleasure of tasting un macaron, they are, at their most basic, a sandwich cookie comprised of two almond meringue cookies and a filling of some sweet sort.  That description simply does not do them justice. The variety of colours, flavours, fillings and flavour combinations they are available in is absolutely limitless.   In fact, I would be surprised if you could find a pâtisserie in Paris that does not have at least a dozen varieties on hand on any given day.  Ranging from the simplest vanilla with buttercream or chocolate filled with chocolate ganache, through the slightly more sophisticated cassis-violette (backcurrant & violet), caramel au beurre salé (salted butter caramel), olive oil & vanilla (a personal favourite of mine), and upwards into the very daring (or some would call them bizarre), white truffle (the fungal kind), wasabi & grapefruit, ketchup,  and even fois gras - the competition among pastry chefs to create the hot new flavour is so intense that they can go a bit crazy in effort to out-do one another.  Macarons have achieved an almost cult-like following, so much so that they even have their own day;  le Jour du Macaron falls on March 20th of each year, when the leading pastry chefs in Paris donate the day's proceeds from macaron sales to their charity of choice.  To drive donations and traffic, they usually go all out with the varieties available and "sell" them at a discounted rate.

Needless to say, upon returning home to Canada, I decided I needed to learn how to make these magnificent little confections.  Trial and lots of error ensued (and still does), and I learned that even though they may look simple, they can be surprisingly finicky to make.  You see, there is an anatomy to the ideal macaron; the two cookies should each be perfectly uniform in size and roundness, with a smooth, shiny dome resting on the iconic ruffled foot or "pied" as it is called (don't kid yourself, this is the very thing that makes them so darned tricky to make).  The cookies will have a crisp outer shell, with a soft, chewy interior.  But it doesn't stop there... hugged between these two flawless, almond-y shells is a delectable filling typically made of either a creamy, flavoured buttercream, a silky ganache or a brilliantly fruity preserve.  Well at least that's what it "said" they should look like...

Had this been any other dessert, I would have thrown in the towel and given up long ago, especially with a success rate somewhere around 15% (like I said; lots of errors), but they're so delectable and A) you couldn't get them  anywhere in Edmonton until very recently, and B) I absolutely refuse to be beaten by a few lousy egg whites, some sugar and ground almonds!  So I soldiered on, read everything I could get my hands on and quickly discovered there are a few little tricks to achieving success - but, oh, yeah... even with all the tricks it can all go out the window if it's a little to hot or humid or dry or cold or cloudy or... who knows - my success rate is still only about 15%.

But because I love macarons so much, despite the apparently abusive relationship I have with them, I keep trying.  To that end, I've recently joined the fabulous ladies on MacTweets as part of their MacAttack macaron challenges.  YAY!  Now I can torture myself on a regular basis and blog about it too!  Seriously though, I see it as much of a support group as it is a teaching tool.  A place where I can turn when I have meringue in my hair and cracked, flat, or footless macarons.  They feel my pain, and what's more, they understand why I keep going back...

So this month's MacAttck Challenge has the theme of Spring Fling: Baking Your Favourite Springtime Flowers.  Perfect!  I'll crack the code on those delicious cassis-violette macarons I love so much!  Except for one thing: a person cannot find violet flavouring of any kind in Edmonton.  Trust me - I've looked.  Fine, 'Plan B' it is (well, more like Plan D or E...).  Anyway, after much fruitless grocery shopping, I turned to my pantry and decided to try my own wacky flavour: Saffron Vanilla Macarons it is! Saffron fits the bill perfectly - it's not only a flower flavour, it is an actual part of a flower!  Now it's not typically used in sweet applications, but who knows - it might just turn up on Pierre Hermé's menu this spring.

So, I went about making my meringue with my aged egg whites, folding in the almond/sugar mixture, and performing my little tricks (remember?);  completing the macaronnage, and waiting ever so patiently for that full hour  for them to dry just the right amount so that their little pieds would magically pop out beneath them when they baked.  Well, our Olympic athletes aren't the only ones getting gold today -  when I finally found the courage to peek through the oven door, I found my macarons have feet!!! WooHoo!!!  As for the Saffron Buttercream, it's not bad, but it certainly didn't knock my socks off.  I'll be stripped of my medal if the IOC ever finds out, but I did have to artificially enhance the colour a tad.  Saffron is known for it's bright orange hue, however, when it's diluted in buttercream, it comes out looking a lot like something that is much less appetizing (I'll spare you all the graphic comparison).

At the end of the day, I am pretty happy with my result.  The colour marbling effect that I tried wasn't as dramatic as I had hoped and I didn't quite have the flavour success that I wanted, but ultimately they are so pretty and quite yummy anyway, that I really don't care - there's always next month.  All that matters is that they have FEET!

Many thanks to Deeba and Jamie and all my new friends on MacTweets - I can't wait for the next MacAttack!

Macarons 
makes 40 sandwich cookies

3 3/4 Cups (315 g) finely ground almonds
3 1/3 Cups (380 g) confectioner's sugar
1/8 tsp salt

5 egg whites (190g), room temperature, aged 3 days

1/8 tsp cream of tartar
5 tsp (25 g) granulated sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Line two or three baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.  Fit a large pastry bag with a 1/2" plain tip; set aside.
In a food processor, process the ground almonds, salt and confectioner's sugar until the mixture is very finely ground.  Into a large bowl, sieve the mixture three times, to remove any large pieces or lumps.
In bowl of a standing mixer (if using a hand mixer, use a large, very clean bowl), whisk the egg whites on medium low speed until they frothy.  Sprinkle in the cream of tartar and increase speed to medium-high.  Whip until they are thick and voluminous (about a minute or so), then sprinkle in the granulated sugar.  Continue to whip until stiff peaks form - about 1 minute.  Be careful not to over-whip!
With a large rubber spatula, fold in about 1/3 of the ground almond mixture, followed by the almond and vanilla extracts.  Gradually fold in the remaining almond mixture until the mixture is very thick, and falls in a thick ribbon when the spatula is held over the bowl.
Fill the pastry bag with the mixture and pipe into 1-inch dots onto parchment-lined baking sheets - spaced about 3/4 inches apart.  The batter should slowly spread a little and become smooth and round on top.  Now we play the waiting game.......
Let the macarons sit at room temperature to dry - about 1-2 hours, depending on humidity (In Edmonton in February, it takes about 45 minutes - more than enough time to go apply another layer of lotion to your moisture-starved skin).
About 30 minutes before baking, place a rack in the centre of your oven and preheat to 300F.  If you normally bake with convection, I recommend you turn that feature off if your oven allows.  Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time for 14-16 minutes.  If you've done everything right, and the stars are properly aligned, and the macaron gods deem it so, you should have frilly little feet at the bottom of each perfect little macaron.  Transfer to a cooling rack and do your dance of joy. If your macarons are feetless, transfer to a cooling rack, take a deep breath and join the ranks of bakers world-wide who have felt your pain.  Allow the cookies to cool completely before filling.

Saffron Vanilla Buttercream
makes about 2 cups

2 large eggs
1/2 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
10-12 threads saffron
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Cup (226 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 1-inch cubes

On the stovetopring a saucepan half-filled with water to a simmer.  In a small mortar & pestle, combine 1/2 tsp of the sugar with the saffron threads.  Crush until the saffron is finely ground - you should end up with a uniformly coloured powder.  In a medium, heat-proof bowl, mix together the eggs, sugar, salt, saffron mixture and vanilla. Place the bowl over the pan of water, and gently but continuously whisk the mixture until it is thin and foamy and registers 160F on an instant-read thermometer.
Transfer the egg mixture to the bowl of a standing mixer and whip on medium-high speed until it becomes light and airy and has cooled to room-temperature (about 5 minutes).  Reduce the mixer speed to medium, and add the butter one piece at a time. When half of the butter has been added, it may look curdled, but don't fret, that's how it should look.  Once all of the butter has been added, increase mixer speed to high and whip for 1 minute, until the buttercream is light and fluffy.
Fill a piping bag with the buttercream, and pipe half of the cooled macaron shells with about 1 tsp of filling.  Top with an empty shell, and gently press the two together until the buttercream presses out and is almost flush with the foot of the macarons.  Take a deep breath, admire your handy work, and savour the fruits of your labour.  Voilà!