Batch #1 - Chocolate Butter Cream Macarons

Chocolate Butter Cream Macaron

I decided to try and make macarons at the start of this year, to combat the fact that my Macaron Monster can literally eat me poor if I was to buy these treats as often as we'd like.  I have read EVERYWHERE that these are really the divas of the Sweets world - any mistake in any of the many steps involved in the recipe can turn a potentially beautiful batch of macaron into a disaster.  I am no creative chef, and being slightly obssessive I did lots and lots of research, read many recipes, tips and warnings, before I finally jumped in and gave it a go.  I decided to make macarons au sucre cuit - Italian Meringue method - more fiddly, but more stable and slightly less likely to go wrong.

This first batch was both encouraging and disappointing.  I was excited by the fact that I got feet on the shells, and happy that I got the shells to be relatively smooth and shiny.  But the shapes were awful and the shells were way too flat!

Ugly shell, but happy feet!

Because this was the first time I made these, it took a loooong time.  By the time I got to making the filling, I had run out of enthusiasm.  In a hurry to have a try, I sandwiched 2 macarons together with some cream. (Gasp!)  Luckily it tasted okay and it renewed my enthusiasm, and I got back into it and made a chocolate butter cream filling.  Learnt many lessons for the next batch!

Lessons Learned :

• When making the meringue, the egg white needs to be quite well beaten prior to pouring in the sugar syrup.  I didn't beat the white enough and that's what led to the flat shells.
• Consequently the macronage was too runny, therefore I had yucky irregular amoeba shaped macraons.