Two delicious treats in one! I made these for the Nakayoshi Annual BBQ today, but unfortunately a lot of them toppled over in the car and they were a mess when we got there. π At least I got a couple nice pictures of them beforehand!
Notes for the future: Keep the macaron and cupcake separate until we get to the final destination and top them before serving. Also may not want to use softer frostings like cream cheese frosting, since they have a tendency to not hold the macaron as well.
I am a huge fan of macarons, and haven’t been able to get enough of them in the past few months! It’s been said that the macaron is the new cupcake, now that the cupcake craze is dying down (even I had started getting a little tired of cupcakes, despite how much I love baking and eating them!) — and I admittedly have caught macaron fever. These delicate French confections are both eye-catching as well as palate-pleasing, and biting into one of those little sandwich cookies transports me to cloud nine! I love the light-as-air shells that yield to the generous dab of ganache — smooth, rich, and creamy — perfectly complimenting each other.
The thing about macarons, though, is that they’re pretty expensive to buy in bakeries (I’ve seen them go for $2-3 each or more), but they are also finicky little devils that are really difficult to make yourself! I asked my friend Stephanie (who is a seasoned macaron-making expert) for some tips before my first attempt at making macarons, and she warned me not to get discouraged the first few times because she says it literally takes most people 4-5 times to get a decent-looking batch! Truth be told, my first few attempts were complete botches — there was always something wrong with them, whether it was a cracked or splotchy surface, lack of pieds (feet), or being flat and sticking to the baking sheet. I grew more and more disheartened with each try and put off making macarons for a while.
I decided to rise to the challenge once again this past weekend, though, especially since my friend Tarrin had bought me a lovely macaron-making book for my birthday! I followed the general directions in the book and tweaked the recipe a little to add my own flavoring, to create these almond vanilla macarons with matcha buttercream filling! I’d say this is definitely my best batch yet — the surface is smooth, domed, and glossy, the feet formed well, and they have that airy crunch that I’d been longing to recreate. I’m feeling a little more confident now, and hope to try out more variations of colors and flavors! Oh capricious macaron, I have finally tamed thee!
