French Macaron Adventures
My sister came to visit over the weekend, and we decided to do a batch or two of the infamous french macarons everyone’s obsessing over these days. This was my third go-round making these little warlocks and, though the recipe itself is pretty simple, there are many, little details that can go sideways… so do not attempt making these at home unless you are up for a culinary challenge! The cookies (and often the fillings) are quite sweet, and the color and flavor combinations are practically endless, which is definitely half the fun of making these yourself!
For the cookies, we used a hybrid of two recipes found online via Tartelette and A La Cuisine! Personally, I would not attempt making these without a stand mixer (but that’s just me.) You need to whip up a smooth, peaked meringue, and I can never seem to achieve that with my hand-held mixer (and I certainly do not have the upper body strength to whisk them by hand!) If you can get your cookies to turn out nice, then the fun part is sandwiching them between the filling of your choice. Here are the combinations we went with:
Mint Macarons with Chocolate Buttercream
* Mint green food color gel and peppermint candy flavoring
Vanilla Bean Macarons with Dark Cherry Preserves
*Real vanilla beans and store-bought preserves (no color)
Citrus Macarons with Lemon & Lime Curd
*Lemon zest and Egg Yellow food color gel. Store-bought curd
Vanilla Macarons with Cotton Candy Buttercream (It was almost 4am when we decide on that one!)
*Light pink & sky blue food color gel. Cotton candy & vanilla candy flavoring.
My favorites are probably the mint chocolate, and the lemon curd (they taste just like a bite of lemon meringue pie to me!) The cotton candy ones were, of course, obnoxious yet delicious – in a sugar-induced-coma kind of way. The cookies are so sweet on their own, I think having buttercream in the middle is just over-kill. I much prefer the preserves and curds, even if they are not as bright colored and aesthetically pleasing as hot-pink frosting!
vanilla bean and cherry preserves
I’d like to get a few more successful batches under my belt before I would even consider writing up a tutorial for these, but if any of you brave souls are considering taking on these wee culinary giants, here are a few other bloggers that have conquered the macaron, and lived to tell the tale:
Also, if you are looking for pretty packages to wrap your mac’s in, we have some dainty, new candy boxes in four colors available in the shop.
March 9th, 2009 at 8:56 am
Wow, your macarons look awesome. Enjoying the blog!
March 9th, 2009 at 9:54 am
they do seem to be the latest baking trend, don’t they? i don’t think i’ve ever even had one! but they sure look darn pretty and sound delicious! i don’t know if i’d be up for the daunting challenge of making my own though – i think i’ll stick with cupcakes and cookies!
March 9th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Love the packaging of these treats!
March 9th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Mmmmmm…they look so GOOD!
March 9th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
i have seen these around too! they are so adorable i was thinking about making some…but i never heard they were hard to make. hmm. i guess i shall proceed with caution!
March 10th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Hello,
I love them and yours look fantastic!
~ Gabriela ~
March 11th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Oh man these look amazing. If someone ever figures out how to do a vegan version, they will be a zillionaire.
March 26th, 2009 at 10:43 am
I am in love with the pink and blue ones. Absolutely adorable.
Macarons actually scare me. I haven’t the gusto to attempt to make them. But I sure like looking at pictures of them. Nice work.
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:16 am
I am right there with ya on the “light golden brown” biscuits.When I cook a big breakfast I have to take my biscuits out before everyone else.My husband likes to tease me about eating undercooked biscuits.
July 8th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
[...] themed desserts: For dessert, choose citrus or lemon flavored treat, like these citrus macarons with lemon and lime curd from Bake it Pretty. Here are some more citrus and lemony dessert ideas: lemon poppy seed pound [...]
July 8th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Hi Amanda-
I loved your delicious, inspired flavors for french macarons. We recently included your Citrus Macarons in an inspiration board on the Celebrate with Style blog. We gave you full credit, including a link to this post and your company website. These are fabulous for any party
Best,
Corinne Zachary
Contributing editor
http://www.celebratewithstyle.com
February 21st, 2010 at 7:37 pm
I love your flavour combinations. Macarons are kind of scary for me. Probably one of the more difficult things any baker could attempt, but you make it look so easy. I’ll have to muster up the courage to do the same. Thanks!
July 4th, 2010 at 10:16 am
They look absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!