French Macarons minus the trip to Paris

.. Of course, I would looove to have an afternoon tea at the famous Laduree in Paris with an array of colourful macarons being laid in front of me. But what can a penniless girl do, except bake?

It all started when someone rang me asking if I could do macarons for her engagement. Back then, I din know what macarons were. Meringue I know, but not macarons. Curiousity got the better off me, so I googled and was mesmerised with what I saw. 3 days later, lo and behold, I made my own macarons!

Before I show you my macarons, first let me give you a low down of how a perfect macaron should look like..
There are essentially 2 types of macarons; The French Macaron and The Italian Macaron where the latter involves more complicated techniques and should not be attempted by 1st timers. Making macarons is all about techniques. Heck, this cookie doesn't even have flour in it and uses like what... 4 ingredients? Yet, anyone who tried baking macarons has failed at least once. It's very leceh with a whole list of do's and don’t's

Can't fold the batter more than 50 times. Can't overbeat or underbeat the eggs. In fact, which part of the world you are in and understanding how your oven behaves are extremely important as french macarons are highly susceptible to temperature and humidity. Basically, macarons are a bunch of temperamental matsalleh cookies. Imagine my excitement when my 1st batch of macarons came out almost perfect. Or so I thought..


It has feet, crisp outer shell and chewy inside. However, the top wasn't shiny and smooth at all. Plus, it was hollow and dry. A quick google revealed that I overmixed. Not wanting to give up, I went for a 2nd try. And guess what? It got worse! I had to throw them away coz the macarons cracked up like tiny volcanoes.

I was not satisfied till I get my macarons right so I tried again, experimenting with diff recipe and tips from the internet. Adding a pinch of salt. Adding a drop of lemon juice. Keeping the oven door slightly ajar while baking.. You name it, I've done it. And finally, after many, many exhausting tries, I got it!

All the while, I was obsessing about the eggs. I tried ways and means to get the eggs whipped into a right consistency. But as it turns out, it's not how the eggs are beaten, but how the dry ingredients are mixed into the beaten eggs! Aahh.. This process is called Macaronage and it's the most crucial step in making macarons. Overmixing or undermixing can produce undesirable results (tho' I've heard that it's better to undermix than overmix). So, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my French Macarons with Nutella Ganache..