The Making Of The Macarons!

Because, here at Allenbrite Studios,   We never take the Easy Path!   Who wants some pathetic Christmas Cookie you can buy in the store?   We make Macarons! ( Macarones?  Ma-Ka-Rones?)    Because they are Difficult, Time Consuming, And Expensive!   And.... we like showing off that we made an effort.

It is possible that many people do not even know what Macarons are.   And thus,  All our efforts will be wasted.  Such is our Chosen  Life Path.  Ah well.    It is the Journey, after all; And not the Destination that brings us Joy and Happiness.   ( Or so I am told.....Somewhere...In one of Cheryl's Running Magazines possibly.)

Not as Colorful. ( Supposed to be Blue) 

But on to Macarons!  It has been 6 years since we last made these.  ( I think ... possibly longer... we were at ACT working.)  So there was plenty of time to forget all the details on  how to make them.

You know the Meringue is ready. 

First!   Whip up some Meringue  (Marangue?... Mara- Ang- e?) Egg whites mixed with Sugar.   Whipped until the fluffy stuff will hold it's shape in the bowl.    Try not to Scare Cheryl since she just cleaned up the floor from the last time you tried this stunt.

Mostly circular. 

Touch them to see if they are "dry".

Then!   Add Color!   First we added blue... which turned green because the vanilla was a light yellow color.   Go figure.

  Then add the Almond/sugar powder mix.  Fold in 1/3rd of it at a time until you get a ribbony consistency.


Then,  Pipe it out onto the Parchment paper.  You can add circles if you want,  but Cheryl just tried to "Eye-Ball" it.    Not to bad, I must say.  She was much better at it than I was.

Allow them to set of 30 minutes.   Until the tops are dry to the touch.   Then bake for 15 minutes.

Piping on the Ganache

Cheryl looks concerned. 

We first attempted a Ganache  ( Ganash?... Ga-Na Shhhh?)   All these strange words attached to this French Cookie.   No wonder the French hate us!    Basically it is Chocolate mixed with Heavy whipping cream.   Boil the cream,  pour over the chocolate.   Mix...  EASY! 

Taste good!  With that crunchy/chewy
consistency.

Even look pretty good. 

Well,  it take a long time.   We waited about 2 hours for the Ganache to set up to the point where we could pipe it.   Cheryl even added some of our Christmas Chocolate to the mixture... making it more like French Silk pie rather than Ganache.   I made a command decision to plunge ahead and make the cookies using the goo we had!

Especially when they are boxed up. 

Pudding Pie Disaster. 

Overall, I think they turned out pretty good. They tasted good.  And were  not as much of a disaster as the first time we made them.   And Certainly  better looking than Cheryl's Chocolate Pudding Pie.  ( Note:  Don't make Pudding Pie with Jello Instant Pudding...  It never sets up. )

 Cheryl packed them up and we sent one to the Post man and the UPS guys.  Luckily,  Both delivery brands arrived today and were able to receive them.

Fold in the Almond Flour.

This time...Add red to make them
Pink. 

But with a half a bag of Almond Flour left,  Cheryl wanted another go!  She was not happy the Ganache was sub-par.... So this time we were going with Butter Creme Frosting.  A little easier!  And the Cookie is really what the show is all about.

Load up the "messy bag"

Fold and Mix.

This time we made them with Red food coloring.   Pink looks a little better than Green.   

Everything seemed good until we piped out the cookies on the Parchment paper.    The viscosity was a little more thin this time.  Maybe it was a good thing!

Bake 15 minutes. 

Wait 30 minutes,  bake for 15.  But somewhere many of the tops cracked!   Some research may be required.

Some Cracking on the Tops. 

But they taste good.  And the Butter creme frosting was much easier to work with.

Look good from a distance...

Cheryl says they taste good. 

Cheryl packed them up and now begins the hardest part of the entire process:  Finding enough friends and acquaintances to actually give them to!  ( We don't have many friends... at all.)  Possibly the Folks at the Local Casey's will be enough to take them.  We know quite a few of them by name.... so they are kind of like friends.  kind of.

Even better all boxed up. 

Running in Shorts on the First day
of Winter?  

Warmer weather is predicted for the Holiday,  Cheryl has plans to run..  possibly longer than normal.  We have to work off all those failed cookie experiments and all that Pudding Pie.   She menioned something about Muscatine.  We have not been there since they closed Tee's for the Winter.   Perhaps it will be a nice change from the Iowa City Scenery.  We shall see.

Hope everyone is having a Merry Season so far.   And if you are making anything special for the Holidays to give away,  I would not recommend Macarons....  Unless you simply want to spend an entire day in the kitchen watching paint dry.