Monday, February 27, 2012

Mastering Macarons

For my birthday, I requested money to take a class at William Angliss Institute in Melbourne, and my parents, parents-in-law and brother and sister-in-law kindly complied. I didn't know at the time what class I wanted to take, only that I'd been drooling over their short courses for years, but when I saw the Simply Macaron class on offer, I knew that was the one for me.
Yesterday, I finally got to attend. The day was stinking hot, but the kitchen was air conditioned. The teacher was amazing, my fellow students lovely, and somehow, macaron making became easy.
My partner (whose name I can't remember how to spell) and I made Turkish Delight macarons. We used the Italian method (as opposed to the French which is what I have attempted previously), and the rosewater butter cream was from a French recipe (which involves sugar syrup and egg yolks). I couldn't be happier with how they turned out, and they taste even better today.
Plus, we got to bring home some of everyone's!
 The brown ones in the bottom right are choc-chilli. The mass of pink ones are the Turkish delight ones I made. Green is pistachio, red streak is raspberry cheesecake. The four in the top left are strawberry gum, as in gum tree, and are our teacher's signature flavour. The remaining pinkish ones are peach iced tea, some with dark chocolate and some with white.
 Turkish delight

Top tip: Don't use eggs that are too fresh! For best results, freeze your egg whites, then defrost 24 hours before. Preferably strain them too. All this helps make them more liquid and less gooey.

5 comments:

Noamuth said...

They look gorgeous! I'm so glad you had a good time. ^.^ And yes, the older the egg, for macarons anyway, the better. The whites hold more air the older they get as well.

So with the amount of eggs your chickens get, you'll be fine. Eggs for everything at every stage!

Do you remember what the teacher's name was, by any chance?

Unknown said...

Her name is Khristina Mulyono

Pam Sykes (aka Pretty Knitty) said...

Yummmm!

Mama Up! said...

Oh, that is brilliant! I've been meaning to try these, but I keep sissing out because I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the reviews I read that say it's SO hard.

Unknown said...

Do try them, Christa! Use quality ingredients and a light hand and they'll be tasty even if you have trouble making them pretty!