Cooking fashions come and go, but french macarons seem to be in for the long haul.
I avoided them for a long while, but the regular MacTweets from Twitter friends like Sarah at Maison Cupcake led me to have a go early last year.
I prepared by reading lots of blogposts, recipes and online tutorials and filled my head with far too much information. The complex descriptions included ‘the mixture should flow like magma’ (who has seen magma flow?) and numerous scary statements like ‘You MUST do this’ (age your egg whites for 2 days) and ‘NEVER do that’ (stir more than x number of times)
I was ready to hyperventilate by the time I picked up a whisk to make my pistachio macarons.
What came out was a slightly flacid looking, snot green attempt. They tasted pretty good, but they were not attractive.
Determined to try again, I tried a chocolate version a week or two later.
They were a bit prettier, but not the traditional shape. Far too rounded on the top, apparently, and by the time I had made them I ran out of energy to make ganache so I just filled them with Nutella.
It was another year before I tried again. The next ones made for an all-day magazine editing session were filled with white chocolate ganache.
I thought these ones looked ok. They even had the elusive ‘feet’, but I got a few comments about how the subtle flesh tone made them look like…*ahem* well, work it out for yourself.
Oh, and did you know that white chocolate is a nightmare and it doesn’t really set in a ganache unless you use twice as much as normal chocolate?
I didn’t. But I do now.
So after another late night baking session I decided that macaron making was maybe not for me.
That was until a couple of weeks ago when we were making goodies to take to Deb’s Baby Shower.
Louise asked if I could make some lemon macarons as Deb loves them. I just had enough time to age the egg whites for two batches and I decided I wanted to follow a Mowielicious recipe. I set off to get the dried egg white powder that was in the recipe but it seems to be something that no one stocks around here. Even the local specialist cake decorating shop had not got any.
In the end I merged a couple of different recipes due to my compromised ingredients.
That was my mistake.
What a disaster.
The first batch were bad; the second were worse, they spread too far and didn’t cook in the centre. Four trays full of those lemon coloured sticky blobs I made. I couldn’t even scrape them off the paper. Not even with my teeth no matter how hard I tried!
I was at the end of my tether by the time George came in and threw them in the bin. In a panic about what I could take instead I managed to scrape together the ingredients for some teeny lemon meringues that we spread with the lemon curd and fresh cream.
“THATS IT!” I said “I am not making macarons again!”
Then…just a couple of days later, Mowie announced that his next book will be about Macarons. Now I know the photos will be beautiful and I am sure that the recipes will be tempting and easy to follow…and I really do hate to be beaten.
Perhaps I’ll try making them just one more time, when the book comes out.
Watch this space
Things we make 
Mikki
August 23, 2011
Those pink ones look just fine! (and I live in france and eat and bake a lot of macarons so believe me!) dont listen to those people who said they look like something else. I can tell you there are many macarons for sale here that look like those! Keep trying and go back to this recipe!! Otherwise, I had great success with Tartelette’s recipe and her guide on how to make macarons. Bon Courage!
thingswemake.co.uk
August 23, 2011
Ah, thank you! I think Tartelette’s recipe was one of the ones I worked through. I will try again…eventually!
Prettydreamer (@prettydreamer)
August 24, 2011
oh isn’t there always some recipe (or series of recipes!) that taunt us relentlessly. For me it was torrone and lebkuchen … how many batches egg whites an pure honey were whipped … into an inedible results … It’s been years since I went out in search of a trustworthy, a faithful recipe for torrone .. but maybe the next one and maybe the next macron recipe will be the one that changes everything! …..When I finally tried the joy of cooking recipe for lebkuchen … all was put right and christmas always promises a returning tradition…Claire, wishing you all the best next time around! 🙂
thefooddoctor
August 24, 2011
I agree with Mikki…the pink ones look great!
and I really have to salute you..I have been planning to make macaroons for ever
Still have not worked up the courage to
Sally
August 24, 2011
Doesn’t look like an epic fail to me! Macarons have been on my ‘must do’ list since the beginning of the year but like you have read about dozen versions of scary instructions and I’m still paralysed with fear!
Mowie @ Mowielicious
August 24, 2011
Claire! Those lemon macarons – oh no! Trust me, I’ve had my fair share of disasters that looked exactly like those – some even worse. But that’s what made me keep trying, and even though you say you never want to make macarons again, secretly, you know you’re just itching to try again =) A good trick is don’t tell anyone you’re going to make them, so that’s less pressure on you! Your pink ones look amazing! Anyway, try my strawberry & cream macaron recipe, and stick to the exact ingredients, measurements and method, and I (could almost) promise you they’ll work – you don’t even need to age the egg whites. I’ve had such a great response from readers that have tried them. The recipes I’m using in my next macaron book are even better and easier but unfortunately I can’t share those just yet. Also, I’ve noticed Sainsbury’s and Asda stock Dr. Oetker’s egg white powder in their baking section now, and failing that, a great place to look is health food stores that stock protein shake powders, they usually stock egg white powder too for all those muscle men (seriously, who thinks ‘let me have an egg white powder shake’?! YUMMY!) =) x
Jules
August 24, 2011
Can I join the ‘I hate making macarons club’ I’ve so far had 3 attempts and none are quite perfect. I’ve heard the Italian meringue method is the key. I haver tried this method yet as I can’t bear to fail again! I want to master it as I feel Derbyshire needs a gourmet macaron outlet but by the time I’ve flipping mastered them
they will be passé!
Sarah, Maison Cupcake
August 25, 2011
Well your first batch look pretty good and the pink ones excellent. The yellow ones look like some I made last week, I tend to get good results with chocolate but iffy when I try to deviate to other flavours.
Meringue powder isn’t necessary really (unless you have issues with eggs). Dr Oetker do some in the supermarket now although that wasn’t the case 18 months ago.
I keep meaning to try Italian meringue method – it worked for me at Waitrose cookery school but I’ve not done it at home.
Sasha @ The Procrastobaker
August 26, 2011
haha what a post! Your photos are beautiful, and i think those uhmm ‘dodgy’ looking macs (the pink ones) are really gorgeous! I havnt attempted them yet and i have a feeling i probably never will… 🙂
sneige
August 26, 2011
Had similar experience with macarons. I think the better they turn out from the beginning the worse for the one who cooks, because he thinks – oh, the first /second batch is fine, so I mastered them, but then come a couple of really nasty batches, which make you question why why on earth do I need to do this? again?
I’m done with macarons by the end of the year, but am really tempted to try some interesting flavours, so… never say never!
Yours look very professional if I may say!
Joanna
August 26, 2011
I would like to thank you for showing us that even an experienced food blogger can have bad days. Nice to know you are human and can suffer from dessert disasters like the rest of us!
mallory elise
August 26, 2011
took me a while to figure out what was wrong with the pink ones. tee hee. anyway. people put macarons on “the pedestal.” they aren’t as god-like as people say they are. they are just bloody cookies. i made my first ones about 3 years ago while i was still in college….in my shitty college house…with no mixer…no food processor….no baking sheets..no piping tips…. and they still came out! for serious. i ground the almonds in a magic bullet (college house, of course we had one!), whipped the whites by hand and used a plastic baggy to pipe onto a pizza tray i borrowed from the neighbors. im pretty sure that the only reason they work out for me every time is because in my head i tell them who’s boss. and you can’t think about them while you are making them. nope nope. think about something else while you are doing it. something that makes you really happy. something that makes you forget completely about macarons even though you are surrounded by them. pretend they arent there. think about a romantic story or something really crazy that’s what i do and mine always come out. whether the egg whites are two days old or 2 minutes old. i never count my strokes, and when i put them in the oven i tell them to play nicely. only this! just dont put the oven on convection 😉
Miska
August 26, 2011
Well, I love them all! Not every day is sunday, as we say…and often fail tastes great.So where is the fail? Just because they are not perfectly shaped? I am telling you they are lovely and I would deffinitly eat them 😉 Don’t give up, try again. Have nice weekend.
Abby
August 28, 2011
It’s nice to see not everyone has a perfect baking day. I cannot for the life of me make fudge! I’ve tried many times and have now given up. I think your pink macs look lovely though.
caitlingaudette
March 28, 2012
Thank you for posting this, it’s great! I really enjoyed reading it – especially since I feel the same way! I have done some macaron research myself and although I am very excited about my upcoming macaron “science project”, as I call it, I am so scared of failure, myself! I guess that’s the fun of it though, to get that perfect cookie!
Ps. your pink ones are pretty enough to “pin it”, so I will 🙂 They look foodgawker worthy too!
Pss. thanks for following my blog! So sweet, I have added your blog to my “favorite links” section – I love following it!
❤ Cait
thingswemake.co.uk
March 31, 2012
Ah thanks, Caitlin…and thanks for the pin!
John
November 4, 2012
I think the pink one’s look great. I cooked close to 30 recipes of macaroons. I have one for Italian and one that works really well for French macaroons and believe me I still have fails at cooking them