Making Macarons: A Healthy Dose of Humility

Imperfect macarons.

For those at least as obsessed with baked goods as I am, there comes a time when certain treats known to be difficult are too tempting not to try. Stuff like croissants, puff pastry and yes, macarons. It happens that many of these things are French. This is somehow unsurprising.

First, however, a quick and critical point of distinction that is echoed in virtually every English-language recipe for macarons I've ever seen. In a nutshell (no pun intended), these are not even close to the same thing as coconut macaroons (of the sort commonly seen in the US on Passover). Rather, these macarons are shells made from almond meal (yes, that's why it was a pun), egg whites, and sugar, that are then filled with richly flavored buttercream. When done well, they are sublime in a way the coconut counterpart can only dream of.

Ok, back to my story about trying difficult things. Every recipe for macarons notes that they are finicky and difficult. There are multiple web pages dedicated to macaron troubleshooting, and multiple videos. You can't whip the eggs so much that they dry out, or so little that they won't provide structure. You need to be sure the almonds are ground extremely fine, but can't run the food processor so long that they become a paste. You have to use egg whites, but they can't be fresh...you need to let them dry out a bit on the counter. And macarons are created by squeezing the batter from a pastry bag, preferably in perfectly round little formations that hold together, but don't have an obvious little pointy bit from the pastry bag tip. Plus they should be colored, but you can't use more than a couple drops of liquid food coloring. Obscure powdered colorings are the preferred strategy.

Dry ingredients.

Once they emerge from the oven, moreover, everybody can tell if you did it correctly or not. Did they puff up? Hopefully. Did they crack? Hopefully not. Are the bottoms perfectly flat? Hopefully. Did they turn brown? Hopefully not. Did they develop 'feet'? Hopefully. And are they perfectly round, shiny, smooth and free of blemishes? They better be!

Despite all of these very good reasons not to attempt macarons as a project, I got a new cookbook a few weeks ago (Sugar Baby by Gesine Bullock-Prado) that had an entirely too tempting recipe. So I decided to try them.

The first step was a shopping trip, as her recipe calls for "egg white powder." I had never heard of these, but was happily able to find some at Treasure Island. Then I needed almond meal, which it turns out Trader Joe's has at about half the price of similar products elsewhere. Oh, and I had to "age" my egg whites by leaving them on the counter for a few hours. Ok, all set to go.

Waiting for sugar to heat up.

The first step was to get all of the dry ingredients together (210 g almond meal, 200 g confectioners sugar and 14 g egg white powder) in the food processor and process until very fine, but not too long.

Next I put 3 "aged" egg whites and 3g of salt in my stand mixer, with the whisk attachment, to get them ready.

I then put 200 g of sugar and 1/4 cup water in a saucepan, stirring until the sugar dissolved and then heating until it reaches 240 F.

A few of my favorites.

Prior to this, though, I had started the egg whites beating when the sugar reached 210 F. This was just to get them foamy and ready for the sugar mixture, which got poured into the egg whites slowly down the side of the bowl (so the eggs don't scramble from direct heat) with the motor running at low speed. Once incorporated, I increased the mixer speed to high and let the egg whites beat until they held soft peaks.

Cracked macaron

Ok, now back to the dry ingredients. I first mixed 1/4 cup of water into these to form a paste (apparently this type of paste is good, though almond paste is not), into which the egg white mixture is then gently folded. They need to be combined until there are no more white streaks, but not over-mixed.

I then put this mix into my pastry bag, and piped it onto baking sheets covered with silicone mats, and baked for about 35 minutes at 275 F.

As you can see in the photos, a few of them came out nicely. They had feet! The tops were rounded! They were puffy and had flat bottoms!  But many did not. They cracked and/or had cratered bottoms, and didn't get very puffy.

Lime buttercream.

I did some troubleshooting to find out what I had done wrong. According to one web site that seemed possibly helpful, cracks are an indicator that your macarons have been mixed too much. Or that they have not been mixed enough. Thanks...  They still taste good, though.

And to fill them I made my first Italian-style butter cream made with egg whites and flavored with lime zest and lime juice.

They're pretty tasty. I'm thinking I'd like to try them again to see if I can get better results. Stay tuned!

Sandwich Making

A point of pride for me is that I have brought my own lunch to work or school virtually every day for my entire life (exceptions: four years of dorm food during undergrad, days when I have social plans at a venue where it would be inappropriate to bring my own food, events when food is provided, extenuating circumstances*). There are a variety of reasons for this. Partly it's to save money. Partly it's because the food I make can be healthful if I want. And partly it's because I've worked in several places where I can make better stuff than what's readily available (downtown Toronto being a notable exception).

Another point of pride is that I try to keep my lunches interesting, even though I'm mostly just eating sandwiches every day. And usually the same sandwich repeated for several days. As I've said here before, this means they've gotta be tasty so I don't get sick of them.

What I've decided to do this week is share some of my sandwich making tips and creations.

First, bread. Bread is critical. That's why I've written 'bread' three times to open this paragraph. I personally find that baguettes are fabulous for just about any sandwich, and they can be easily kept in the freezer (sliced into thirds) to be reheated. The key, though, is to find interesting bread that will not just contain your sandwich, but also enhance it...and not get too soggy in the process. If you don't go with the baguette, find something that's thickly sliced (or that you can slice yourself) and has some flavor to it.

Second, interesting fillings. Boring fillings make boring sandwiches, even in great bread. And boring sandwiches make boring lunches (aside: boring lunches, of course, are what well drillers eat...). The key to interesting sandwich fillings is to always have a few ingredients in your sandwich, and to always keep some interesting condiments around. It's also nice to have some sandwiches where you can prepare a filling in advance for several sandwiches. Here are some of my favorites, ranging from easy to more time consuming:

Easy to shop for and assemble:

• sliced brie, cucumber, tomato and black pepper (best on a hard roll or baguette; assemble with tomatoes in the middle and cucumbers on top to minimize tomato-related bread sogginess)
• sliced avocado, red pepper, sprouts, chili paste (great on thick multi-grain bread and enhanced by a bit of cream cheese
• hommus, tomatoes, cucumbers, sprouts (possibly with some carrots)
• salami, some sort of hard white cheese, arugula, onion jam (or mustard)
• prosciutto, sliced apples or pears, some sort of hard white cheese

Require a little bit of prep:

• sliced turkey (well worth going to Whole Foods to get the freshly roasted stuff, or roast your own), chipotle mayo (make in blender with 6 tbsp mayo, 1 whole chipotle pepper (canned), juice from 1 lime), lettuce, tomato
• smoked salmon, red onion and wasabi cream cheese (mix some wasabi paste with cream cheese and store in the fridge)
• curried chicken salad (cook and dice 1 lb of chicken breasts, toss with sliced green onions and maybe some mango, dress with a mix of yogurt, mayo and curry paste from a jar)
• roasted veggies and apples: slice an onion, a red pepper, an apple, and some mushrooms. Toss with some butter or oil and sprinkle with salt/pepper. Roast at 375 for 20 mins or so. When done, place some of this mixture on bread with some greens and maybe some sort of aged cheese. The veggies are great cold. Endless substitutions are possible.
• roasted eggplant and goat cheese: Slice up an eggplant and roast it at 375-400 after brushing with oil. Put on bread with a good chevre and some greens.
• tofu salads: Moosewood New Classics has a couple of these themed Italian and Thai. They basically involve crumbling some tofu, tossing it with some veggies, and then dressing it with a theme-appropriate dressing.
• Spanish tortilla: Make your favorite Spanish Tortilla recipe (this is a fritata with potatoes and onions) and then slice it up. This one is best on a hard roll or baguette, and is surprisingly delicious cold. My favorite recipe is in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.

I'll add more as I think of them (I'm sure I've made others), but this is a good start. 

Third is assembly, which is more important than you think. I've added some assembly tips for a few of these where it matters even more. I find that assembling my sandwich in the morning works best, and always try to do so in a manner that minimizes the likelihood of soggy bread or otherwise befouled ingredients. I then wrap it tightly in plastic wrap to hold it all together.

Finally, my main point here is that if you've got a bunch of ideas that are easy to shop for, it's easy to eat tasty stuff all the time. I'd also love to hear about others' favorite sandwiches. That could be a whole separate blog. You can also take some pleasure in recalling that Arthur Dent (from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) took pride in his career as a sandwich maker when he gets uprooted and finds himself on Lamuella.

* Those who have known me a very long time may note that an extended extenuating circumstance was the entirety of first grade (translation for Canadians: grade one), during which I did not eat lunch in school at all, ever. My mom did, however, make lunch for me every day...so technically I did bring it. I don't actually remember why I didn't eat my lunch at school, but finally deciding to do so resulted in my getting a Hot Wheels race track, so I consider the whole episode a win. (I have a history of being a bit stubborn about doing mundane things; this is a topic for another entry...or therapy.)