Batch #10 - Tahitian Lime & Salted Caramel Popcorn Macarons

Batch Number 10 was a lesson in consolidating my macaron skills.  We chose our 2 favourite flavours and made a big, big batch.

Freshly piped, the macaron shells are shiny and sweet looking.

I usually leave the pans out for 30-60 minutes prior to baking in the oven.  This helps to give the macaron shells the nice, slightly crispy crust.

My oven was a bit too hot to start with, as a consequence my first few trays were duller in color, flatter and had yucky spread feet which made them look like abalones.  Because of the extra heat they are a lot crunchier and were borderline macawrongs.  After maturing in the fridge with the filling for a good 5 days, most of them were edible but not my finest hour.....

The shells were better after I adjusted the temperature and baking time.  Still a bit flatter when compared to the popcorn ones.

I also experimented with different patterns of piping the filling to get that perfect and neat look after you squish the two shells together.

I did get some that I was happy with!

Lessons Learned :

• Watch the oven temperature.  When you cook a big batch there's a lot of opening and closing of the oven door happening, and this can make a huge difference to most small home ovens.  I'm hoping to get an oven thermometer before my next batch so that I can more accurately measure how hot the oven is and therefore calculate the correct baking time needed.
• When popcorn is used in the shell, you need to eat these macarons a bit earlier as the shells get a bit chewy as the popcorn suck up the moisture from the filling during maturation.