Yes, I am a bit (maybe a lot) obsessed.

So you know when you try something out, and it's cool and all if you don't succeed and just move on? At least that's how it is for me with sports or anything that involves coordination. However, when I stumbled upon the idea of making French macarons for the first time, I thought it would be just like any hobby or activity I start--I would just get bored and move on. It was quite the opposite, as I learned how hard and fickled macarons were to make that it made me more determined to get it down at some point. How hard could it be? Ha. No wonder they charged 3 dollars for a quarter sized macaron! I read baking blogs online and picked up tips here and there, and more assuringly, I read that a lot of bakers (even professionals) struggled to get macarons down, not just once or twice, but sometimes dozens of times. Phew! It's not just me.

This is a picture of the batter at the right consistency, as I'm letting it dry out on the table before I stick it into the oven:

This is one of my "macawrongs." These were supposed to be chocolate macarons. I knew they were the hardest to make because the acidity of the cocoa powder would interfere with the stability of the meringue inside the batter, but I tried nonetheless. Plus, I thought, I was somewhat close the very first time I made chocolate ones (see previous post). So I just sent them with my dad to his work. He told his co-workers they were "soft baked chocolate meringues." His co-workers raved that these "baked meringues" were so good. If only they knew what they were supposed to be...The macawrongs in this batch failed because they puckered up due to a few extra unnecessary strokes of folding the batter. : (


On a brighter note, I decided to give up to the French method of making macarons, and decided to try for the first time to try out the Italian method. This involved making a sugar water solution at 118 degrees Celsius, so I had to find a candy thermometer to use, because a meat thermometer didn't reach as high in temperature. Surprisingly, the macarons, aesthetically turned out well. Once again though, there was another problem, there were too many air pockets formed. I baked it at the optimal temperature to prevent them, but they still occured, probably as a result of the Italian styled batter, as warned by many baking bloggers. The tops were flat and smooth with no wrinkles, and feet developed (the frilly skirt thing on the bottom of the macaron). However, with the air pockets, and the dullness of the tops, I still haven't made them correctly. =(

So I'm supposed to sandwich two macarons together with some sort of ganache. Making good ganache will come later...way later.

Conclusion: Macarons win. I lose.