The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.
Uh oh.
Seriously? Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……………………..
Yup, that was my exact reaction when I saw this month’s challenge was going to be French Macarons. Now, I love the look of these quaint little cookies, I love the fact that they are gluten free without the need to alter the recipe, and I love the flavour combination possibilities. You can literally do anything with these. Salty, sweet, savoury, dessert, appetizer, it doesn’t matter. They are little shape shifters, ready and willing to take on anything you have to throw at them.
So why the harsh reaction in learning that they were this month’s challenge? Because they are such a challenge! Google “macarons” and you will invariably come across many a message board with frantic questions from the beginner baker asking why their macaron is lacking in the telltale feet. The feet being the cute little ruffle that is on the bottom of each cookie, or should I say is supposed to be there.
I’ve never made a macaron, and I don’t recall having ever eaten one either. I’ve seen them countless times, but I usually opt for more decadent treats. Give me cream filled cannolis or frosting coated cakes over itty bitty cookies. Also, there is the lack of people making them anywhere near me in my tiny village. If I come across one any time soon, I’ll be picking some up for sure.
Now let’s get to what happened to mine. I followed the recipe as best as I could, but sadly mine came out feetless every single time. Don’t get me wrong, they were utterly delicious, but they were more of a regular old cookie sandwich rather than a delightfully, quaint French treat.
My one success out of all this learning was the filling. There’s just something about sweet, creamy chestnut cream inside those lovely chocolate cookies.
So, although mine did not turn out, I think everyone should try their hand at these little bauties at least once (or twice) in their lives. I don’t often fail at my attempts at baking, but this time was different. I am humbled.
Chocolate Macarons with Sweet and Salty Chestnut Filling
Macarons:
Icing sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)
2 Tbsp good quality cocoa
1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
Not quite…
That’s lookin’ good.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. Add the cocoa in at this point as well. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.
For the Filling:
1 lb. chestnuts, roasted
1 cup whole milk
1 cup water
25 g icing sugar
30 g unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 vanilla bean
2 grams salt
1. Peel roasted chestnuts and add to small saucepan. Fill with water and milk. Bring to boil and simmer on medium heat for 20-25 minutes (or until chesnuts are well softened and liquid is reduced).
2. In the bowl of a food processor, add the chestnuts and the reserved liquid.Pulse until mostly pureed.
3. Add in the sugar, butter the seeds from the vanilla pod and the salt.
4. Pulse until completely pureed and combined.
5. To fill cookies, spread filling on one cookie (not so much that it oozes out the sides, but not so little that you can’t see it when sandwiched). Top with another cookie.
6. Can be refrigerated for a couple of days.
Wow I have been looking out for chestnut recipes because I’ve just started seeing them in the shops! Using them in macarons sounds wonderful! I also did not get the elusive feet (on any of my 5 attempts) but I will not let the macaron win! I have heard that some of the other recipes give better results, so I might try some of those next.
.-= Lauren´s last blog ..Coffee Macaron : Daring Bakers =-.
Your description of these as shape-shifters is spot-on. I did spicy coco with a strawberry cream cheese frosting filling but I could not pipe them uniformly. I had feet, but the shapes were so awkward I couldn’t even bare to look at them. mine=fail. I love your determination and the flavor combo. Chestnut and cocoa sounds perfect for Christmas.
.-= Rachel J´s last blog ..The Stoner from Stardust Coffee =-.
Macarons are really tough. I think I finally have them down but it took many, many tries. I actually wrote a whole blog post on the experience so I understand your frustration!
.-= El´s last blog ..Dark Cocoa Cupcakes with Lavender Whipped Cream =-.
hey, I just wanted to let you know that I added you to my blogroll. Your site is great!
.-= Jenn´s last blog ..blah =-.
Why thank you very much Jenn! Always appreciated.
hey again, just gave you a kreativ blogger award. Check it out on my blog.
.-= Jenn´s last blog ..you like me! you really like me! =-.
They look so beautiful that it hurts to hear you call them a failure! I love love the chestnut filling and getting hungry just thinking about it.
It seems like a lot of people had much frustration with this challenge. Who knew macaroons would be so hard?! It’s definitely sparked my interest and now I want to try my hand at it but I wonder if I have the resolve or patience to get it right..
In the meantime, here’s a place with awesome macaroons you should check out – one of my favorite chocolatiers and very creative macaroon flavors (lychee rose, shiso, kiwi pear)
http://www.keeschocolates.com/mac.html
.-= Shelly @ Experimental Culinary Pursuits´s last blog ..Blogger Awards! =-.
Pingback: uberVU - social comments
Wow, what a mouth-watering dessert! All your pictures are beautiful
.-= Sook´s last blog ..Cream Cheese Pumpkin Cookies =-.
Yammmi macarons with chestnut sound so good!
great job!
.-= pontch´s last blog ..Macarons =-.
Your macs look very much like mine. While I definitely do not take pleasure in the fact that the recipe didn’t work for you, it is nice to know that I’m not the only one who didn’t have perfectly beautiful French macarons. They do look delicious, though!
.-= Jen @ My Kitchen Addiction´s last blog ..Daring to Fail (Daring Bakers October) =-.
I love how you molded the DB challenge to the local produce available! These look delicious. =) Excellent job!
YUM I love chestnuts!!! What a great idea for the macaron filling
Salty chestnut sounds amazing… you’ve done it again, girly <3
.-= Mel @ bouchonfor2.com´s last blog ..3 Ad Hoc at Home Winners! =-.
These were just great! I think we ate about a dozen of them within a few hours of them being done.
Pingback: Chestnut Soup with Amaretto
Pingback: Whole Wheat Machine Bread | Guilty Kitchen