Weekend Cooking: Making Macarons

I have mentioned a couple of times before that there are certain foods that I feel intimidated the thought of trying to make, and macarons is one of the recipes that I specifically named in this context.

I always intended to try making them at some point, but a couple of weeks ago I was given a not too subtle nudge by a friend of mine who sent two of us a kit to make macarons. We then all made them and sat down to an afternoon tea where we all tasted our creations.

Similar to the Bake It Boxes I used to do, this kit came with everything we needed to be able to make macarons with a milk chocolate passionfruit ganache filling. 

Firstly, the box that it came in, is gorgeous! I am intending to keep that box and use it to store some of my baking things in it!

All of the dry ingredients were pre-mixed and packaged up. the only thing we really had to do was measure out egg whites and provide cream for the ganache. Oh, and I had to sift the almond meal/icing sugar mix.

After following the instructions which involved whisking up egg whites, and getting sugar up to the appropriate temperature, we had macaron shell mix!

As always, my piping skills could do with some work!

Leaving the trays of shells to rest so that hopefully they get the "skin" on top before they get baked.

And the finished product. I think they look a bit like minions, but they tasted amazing!

I guess the big question is would I make them again? The answer is a resounding yes. I need to remember to use my finger to push down the tip so that they can sit properly on the plate, but while it was a bit tricky, it wasn't too hard to do!

Do you make macarons? What's your favourite flavour combination?

I am linking this post to In My Kitchen hosted at Sherry's Pickings.


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