A French Icon

With its new found popularity, the French macaron is considered the new cupcake. In my opinion though, the two never could compare. Cupcakes are all good and well, but what do you get in a cupcake that you can't get in cake? The answer is nothing, except maybe portion control if your lucky. The macaron however, is something that compares to nothing else. The outside consists of a crispy, melt-in-your-mouth outer shell, while the middle contains the creamy filling, whatever it may be. Somehow, these two ingredients manage to become one, unlike cupcakes, which are clearly frosting plus cake. The macaron's outer meringue shell works together with the filling sandwiched within. I have made these cookies three times now, and feel pretty confident with my abilities, although I would prefer my outer shell to me firmer. For my recipe, I used a multitude of sources and did a lot of research prior. Essentially, all the methods are the same, but the techniques and quirks surrounding this petite cookie, vary just about as much as the flavors they can possess. I for one, am a huge advocate of aging my egg whites. I chose to age mine for forty-eight hours and leave them at room temperature for a good six hours before using them to bake. I also swear by weighing the ingredients. Some people insist on almond flour for the cookie, while others say to grind your own almonds. Although it is a lot more work, I have had better luck with grinding my own. Nonetheless, the process of making a macaron is not easy, and requires a lot of attention. This is not something that you can just pop in the oven and leave, you have to constantly plan for your next step, and prepare all of the ingredients before you even start. The put-together is time consuming, but worth it for the product. All the sifting of the powdered sugar and almond meal is a tedious job, and trying to decipher whether or not your sugar/almond mixture is folded enough, too little, or too much into the whipped egg whites can be difficult as well. It is truly all about studying and experience though, and I have certainly just begun my journey. Aside from this though, I absolutely adore making them, and I also love how much of a blank canvas they are for flavors. It also doesn't hurt that they are absolutely scrumptious!

I made macaron's for my mother's dear friend, and they came out lovely. Here are a couple of pictures and the flavor description of them...

Flavor #1: Pistachio Cookie with Pistachio Butter Cream

Flavor #2: Maple Cookie with Biscoff Spread Filling(The best flavor)

Flavor #3: Almond Cookie with Raspberry Butter Cream

Flavor #4: Chocolate Cookie with Chocolate Ganache

The macaron is so finicky, and takes a lot of practice. As you can see in my photo, some of the cookies appear cracked, while others are smooth and look fine. This is due to the cooking time. A matter of seconds, can take your macarons from undercooked, to perfectly cooked, to overcooked. You can even watch them overcook before your eyes, but it is often times, too late. I am proud of my progress so far, but rest assured, there will definitely be round 2, and 3, and 4.