French Macarons Fail

Apparently, Macarons are all the rage in Paris. I, however, have never eaten one. Yet, I did help make a real-person version of them while visiting friends in Charlottesville for the weekend. Which of course inspired me to subsequently attempt my own ACD version.

...which went pretty far-off.

Cool lookin' cookies, but certainly not macarons.

Macarons are supposed to be light merengue cookies, perfectly smooth and gorgeous, filled with a smooth and delectable creme/caramel/jam filling.

Mine were pretty much none of the above. My cookies turned out dense and chewy, which was a result of several fundamental issues:

Issue #1: Eggs did not creme properly. AKA I did not creme them long enough to achieve truly stiff peaks before adding flour. Then, I probably added too much flower, which resulted in a dough, instead of a ribbony, lava-flow meringue. Problem, indeed. Also: I did not have the traditional almond flour, so I used brown rice flower. Which is ironic, that for once a recipe calls for an ACD friendly flour, and I have to substitute for a less-healthy one.

Issue with egg creaming leads me to ask: Can eggs creme properly, and remain stable that way (aka make a successful meringue) without the addition of granular sugar? (I did add cream of tartar to assist with this). Answer TBD...

Issue #2: Salted caramel agave sauce did not thicken. Ghee added to it separated to top of jar in fridge. Not good. Filled cookies with jam instead. Lame.


So yes, these cookies were quite sub-par.

BUT

1) Sometimes I like a challenge:

(as clearly stated by this lolcat, and exemplified by my Freshman year spring )

AND


2) Everybody Makes Mistakes

(as expressively-danced by good ol' doglover 19970, youtube sensation)

Watch this Now!


thanks doglover, for providing a whole lot of college procrastination...

~~~

So, yes. STAY TUNED for updates on macaron attempts, AND popover attempts- I still haven't forgotten about those! And, of course, the dreaded white frosting. And hopefully no more obscure lolcat/youtube/unidentifiable internet references.