I love to experiment in the kitchen. To the degree that I have even attempted to make my own cheese and my own mayo (I’m still working on that second one). I like piecing together the puzzle of a new recipe (sometimes for odd things) and then making it my own. Of course, when that comes to baking, the wiggle room is slim.
Someone once told me that cooking is artistry and baking is science. There is an argument, of course, that the opposite could also be said. However, the artistry with baking is less with the ingredients (you can’t, for example, change the eggs to butter on a whim and expect your cake to be, well, a cake). Their is joy in the result, especially a recipe pulled off well.
So why not try to learn how to bake a particularly uptight cookie?
I learned about a little shop in De Pere that offered classes, and I perused their list. One of the classes offered was for the French Macaron – and I thought, why not? I signed up, and then a few weeks later showed up ready to learn.
The first step is to create a meringue, something I’ve never done before – which can easily be under whipped or over whipped (no pressure). Egg whites and sugar – that’s all. But combine them and try to stuff them with air, and they can become quite temperamental.
After that, comes almond flour (superfine) and more sugar (and, if you want, coloring), which you combine with a specific mixing technique (shout out to the other attendee who also giggled when the teacher used the phrase ‘fold in‘). The mixing technique use for this step is called macaronage – essentially swoop and press. You are strongly encouraging it all to become friends.
From there, you pipe them onto a macaron cooking sheet filling to the edge of the inner circle. Then – the part that frightened all of us – you pick up the mat and slap it against the table a few times to remove any air bubbles that might have formed. Our teacher was, of course, fearless about this step. The rest of us were certain we’d ruin all our hard work.
Thankfully, we did not.
Continuing on with the temperamental cookie, you then leave them to dry a bit (should be tacky to the touch but not stick to your finger). You can both let them rest too little or too much. (The fact that these cookies exist at all is a testament to the strength of one’s sweet tooth.)
Another thing we had to worry about was the humidity. The AC in the back of the shop was broken, and it was indeed a bit sticky (we were in the midst of a heat wave). Too much humidity could mean a foot-less macaron. The foot of the cookie is that bubbly ridge along the bottom. The type of foot can tell you all kinds of things – if you over or under mixed, if you didn’t let it rest long enough, and, yes, if it was too humid when you piped them and let them rest. (She had us piped the in a part of the shop that still had AC in the hopes it wouldn’t affect the foot.) They turned out pretty well:
Because it was a class with likely different tastes, our teacher made a straight buttercream for us to frost them with, though one could do all sorts of flavors. It was a fun experience, if not a potentially frustrating confection. If you like playing in the kitchen and ever get the chance, I highly recommend taking such a class.
Because I’m me, my first time attempting these at home were going to be a chai flavor. I had run into some issues with the piping bag I bought, which snowballed and honestly made me almost throw in the towel. I also think I didn’t whip the meringue long enough (but I was so worried about overwhipping…), and I need to find a finer almond flour. But – despite their super sloppy look (had to frost with a knife) and poorly formed feet (all of the above), they tasted perfect. Will be trying them again.
Ami Maxine 