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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Dainty Feet & Puffy Tops

Finally, after days of accumulating a wealth of information and loads of tips and tricks from my SIL, friends, fellow bloggers, and my cookbooks, this novice baker has plucked enough courage to attempt this little thing called the macaron.


Before I continue, I should admit that I have not tasted a professionally made macaron before.  The only macarons that I have tasted are the homemade ones made by my SIL.  Not that she's not a pro or that it wasn't professionally made, but you get my drift.  I guess what remains now is for me to plan a trip to Paris in order to sample the world acclaimed macaron and understand how it should taste like.  Paris Spring 2011, anyone ?


I have digressed.  Back to the post.

The result of my first attempt ?  

Aesthetically speaking, I could do better with the feet.  It all sounds a bit silly, but yes, the feet is a very important element in macaron making.  Some of my macarons had dainty feet and some were footless.  I deduced it was because I only left them out to dry for a mere 15 - 20 minutes as opposed to the 30 - 60 minutes suggested by most recipes.  Also, the more humid the weather, the longer it should be allowed to dry. Given that my kitchen is located in one of the most humid cities on earth, I should say 60 minutes is about right.  Unfortunately, my impatientness got the better of me. It didn't help that by the time I finished piping these babies, it was already almost 1 am.  Oh yes, my macarons also had puffy tops, unlike the requisite domed tops.  I blame it on my poor piping skills...I think.

Tastewise, my grouse is that these little things are too insanely sweet (at least for me). 

Although a bit nerve wrecking and time consuming, I had fun making these, and I will definitely make them again sooner rather than later.  Speaking of which, I had better go age some egg whites now.  Au revoir !


P/S:  I will be testing various recipes for this babies, so I won't post any recipe just yet. But watch this space, I'll be back with more.

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