A macaron recipe you must try
The feeling of spring has finally sprung—I’m not one to complain but this has been one cold winter. One of my favorite pastimes when the winter weather finally ceases is strolling around New York City. I’ve always admired the pretty macarons sitting in the windows or lining the shelves of such NYC stores as Macaron Cafe, Ladurée, Bisou, Ciao and La Maison du Macaron, all of which have stunning macarons.
Could I make these myself, I wondered? They seem so delicate, like one must have gone to culinary school or at least taken a pastry class to be able to make them. If you’ve been considering making macarons yourself, I can attest that with the right macarons recipe they aren’t nearly as complicated as you might imagine. Though in all honestly it might take a couple of attempts (as it did with me).
One thing that helped immensely was having this Silpat Macaron Mat. I was able to pipe the batter into these circles without wondering if I was making them all the same size. Plus, with using the mat, you don’t have to run out and buy parchment paper.
For my first foray into making a macaron recipe I decided on adding espresso to the batter and I made a homemade creamy caramel for the center, which turned into my own version of macarons: Caramel Latte.
I hope you like them. Now that I’ve unraveled the mystery of making macarons, I will be trying others in the future: raspberry, blackberry, green tea, white chocolate, cardamom, rose petal—and who knows what else! Feel free to send in your ideas and I’ll give them a whirl. And if you want to make them yourself, I highly recommend using the Silpat when you make this macaron recipe.
Because I didn’t have my own recipe, I can’t take credit for this one, only for the addition I made. I tried a few and this macaron recipe from Allrecipes.com worked best. For my rendition, I combined 1 teaspoon of espresso (the Gowanus blend from D’Amico Coffee in Brooklyn) to 1 teaspoon of Nielsen-Massey Bourbon Vanilla and added it to the almond mixture before folding it into the egg whites. I also made this homemade caramel for the center.
[gmc_recipe 5862]