Tag: macaron

The Nefarious Pastry

whynotstayinLeave a comment

French macarons. Instantly recognizable, coveted. A pastry to instill child like glee in the hearts of all.

If the sight of those perfectly round little sandwiched pastel cookies does not evoke some sort of emotion, specifically respect, in you then you, yes you dear reader, have absolutely no soul.

These deceiving angelic and simple looking cookies are probably Satan’s tea cakes of choice. All those french pastry chefs regardless of Michelin star status are hand-picked by Satan for his person entourage.

Why I make such a large deal of them you may ask yourself. Well in truth perhaps I exaggerate a tad, but still.

French macarons are notorious in the pastry world.

The batter is temperamental on an exceptionally good day, piping a load of tears, and not to mention don’t even bother showing up if they aren’t perfectly round and smooth enough to make a baby’s butt look like sand paper.

Again perhaps I exaggerate.

But despite my dramatic air the parameters of a good macaron are truly satanic.

This is why my head nearly spun round, detached itself, and did a jig when I tried to bake these infamous cookies for the first time this weekend.

The reason I almost exorcised my self is because the first batch I have ever made turned out looking like this:

Photo Credit: Emily Burns
Photo Credit: Emily Burns

Bragging aside it was surprising to say the least. After hearing horror stories from my baking partners past attempt, I was prepared for blood sweat and tears. Too say the least I’m frickin proud of me and my dear baking buddy.

The world of baking is endless and the grandma just got adventurous.

Sweeeeeet

enternity1030Leave a comment

Speaking of desert, my favorite would definitely be a “macaron.”

A macaron is a French sweet meringue-based confection made with eggs, icing sugar,  almond powder or ground almond, and food colouring. The macaron is commonly filled with ganache, buttercream or jam filling and sandwiched between two biscuits. The name is derived from the Italian word “macarone.”

Macarons are usually really small. It is mildly moist and easily melts in the mouth. There are numerous flavors and each has different colors. The traditional flavors are raspberry and chocolate to the new ones such as matcha, lemon, green tea and rose.The fillings also range from jams to ganache to buttercream.

Macarons are more and more popular these days. In Paris, the Ladurée chain of pastry shops has been known for its macarons for about 150 years, and even McDonalds sell macarons from McCafé. Outside of Europe, the French-style macaron can be found in all over the world, not only in U.S, but other nations like Australia, Korean, Japan.

I’ve not tried all the flavors of macarons yet, but my goal is to try all colors of them and then decide which one is my favorite, right now it’s rose.

But if you are not a “sweetness” lover, you probably will not enjoy macarons that much, because to be honest, they are really really really sweet!

Oh, btw (to my dear friend Emmy), they are not hamburgers!!