French Macarons are all the rage here in the Bay Area. I actually never tasted one until we were in Paris and then I only had one or two. There were so many yummy things to get around to eating there. In retrospect we should have gone in Laudrée, the bakery known for macarons, when we walked past it. I just never imagined they were as glorious as they are. I guess mainly because I’ve never found meringues that interesting.
I set about learning to make these delectable cookies when we got back from Paris. I’ve tried three different recipes and finally have one that works for me. I’ve read dozens of them to get to this point. I’ve kind of gleaned a little here and there.
I’ll point you to One Vanilla Bean’s blog post for details on how to make good macarons. I must say I vary on a couple of minor points: fresh eggs work fine for me, right from the fridge. I have backyard hens, and used their eggs both times I’ve made the recipe. I always run my almond meal-powdered sugar through a sieve. I swear not doing so messed up one of my earlier test runs.
Getting everything folded together is the most challenging part for me. I tended to under mix. That’s better than over mixing, but getting it just right gives you nice feet, but not running feet. Cecilia’s picture of the mix falling off the spatula is particularly helpful.
I also have a cheat. I bought this silpat like item from Fantes.com, the Mastrad Small Macarons Baking Sheet. It sure helps me make all the shells the same size. I’m not that good with a piping bag. I spray it with a little canola oil to make doubly sure no sticking.
For the filling I took inspiration from Mardi of EatLiveTravelWrite.com. She very recently filled some macarons with Meyer Lemon Curd and a special blackberry jam. I made lemon curd from our Meyer lemons and I already had a jar of blackberry jam from Amber in the fridge.