Une Leçon de Macarons (A Lesson on Macarons)
Did you know that this past Sunday was Macaron Day in NYC? I got an e-mail about it yesterday and then this afternoon a friend told me about her weekend in New York and all the macaron shops she hit up while she was there. Oh man was I jealous. If only I had known! The good news is that Anne told me that the Danish Pastry House, which I absolutely love and is just a short drive from our place (or a longer walk when my knee is up to it), has awesome macarons. Yes!
The other good news is that my own macaron making skills have improved. Dramatically. Remember my horribly failed cinnamon apple macawhoopsie pies? That were supposed to be macarons? Right, well, I was kind of afraid to try making macarons again after that. But my wonderful husband got me a class on macarons at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts as well as a cute little book on macarons for Christmas.
The class was technically a macaron and French cookie class, but it was clear from the beginning that every single person that signed up for the class was there first and foremost to learn more about macarons. Like me, several people had tried on their own and had, well, let’s say we all had considerable room for improvement. The French instructor was hilarious and kept the room full of women and Joseph (the lone male in the class) in hysterics, but more importantly, he demystified macarons. He told us to forget about all the little tricks we had learned. Things like aging the egg whites for a couple days (or even a couple hours), letting them sit on the pan before putting them in the oven, throwing in a pinch of cream of tartar or lemon juice– forget all of it he told us. He promised us that his recipe is so foolproof that you don’t need to worry about all those things.
The class went by in a whirlwind of bright colors and flour, and in the end we went home with two big boxes of cookies, mostly macarons. Am I a master macaron maker now? Ha. I wish. But am I more confident in my ability to make them? Most definitely. Am I a big tease and not going to actually show you what I did on my own the weekend after the class? Yes, yes I am. So check back soon for a chocolate peanut butter macaron recipe. They may not be quite as good as these macarons from our class, but they do have feet! Wee little feet, but they’re there! See you all soon. 🙂
