Learning...

 

I have been reading about these delightful almond cookies for a long time on many food blogs.  They always looked amazing, but I had never had the opportunity to try them.  I mean, how awesome are meringue and almond shells with their soft middle sandwiching sweet buttercream or chocolaty ganache.  However, macarons have always terrified me to make.  They seemed far to advanced for me, better left to the hard core individuals.  I have heard many tales of runny batter and no feet (Feet on a cookie?).  And then there is the whole issue of pouring boiling sugar into whipped eggs as well as French vs. Italian Meringue.  Scary!  A few months ago I had tried making them from a random cookbook and failed miserably, exacerbating my fear of macarons.

But then I read a post from Mrs. Humble.  She explained everything in extreme detail with graphs and everything.  She had tested a ton of different ways and wrote of her findings.  It was amazing!  After reading her post, I felt like maybe it was something that I could conquer.  So I made my attempt.  And...it went ok.  Clearly from the above picture, some of my cookies did not turn out perfectly.  But, and its a big but, some did turn out.  I was so excited that I danced around the kitchen.

The biggest triumph though is that I learned.  I learned that some of my pans are too thin.  I learned that my piping skills need some work, but sticking to smaller circles work better.  I learned that the top rack of my oven bakes these cookies better than the bottom and I learned to let them cool before pulling them off the parchment lest their sticky bottoms remain attached. I also learned to turn the pan halfway through, unless I want macarons that slope downhill.

So I will keep trying at these delicious yet elusive cookies.