The Great Canadian Baking Blunder: Macarons
I've decided that I'm going to call the blog posts where things work out The Great Canadian Baking Wonder. It has the right cadence for my inner English Major nerd heart.
By the title then, my macarons didn’t work. However, they weren't quite the blunder I was expecting! Right off the bat, I'm going to tell you three places where I think I went wrong and I'm going to change next time.
I used a plastic mixing bowl instead of a glass one. I didn't realize this was such a big no-no for meringue, but apparently plastic can absorb oils that keep your meringue from getting as stiff as it needs to.
When separating my egg whites, I broke the yolk of one of the eggs. I hadn't thought that I'd gotten any into the egg whites, but it's entirely possible that I did. Of course it was the third egg and I didn't want to scrap all three. Lesson learned, don't take the chance!
Parchment paper. Find some. Buy some.
On to my attempt!
I started with separating my egg whites and yolks. I used the method I was taught where you play catch the yolk with the egg shell halves. (Actually, it's more like gently pass the yolk back and forth but that doesn't sound as fun when you write it out.) The yolk on my last egg broke and while I thought I had kept it contained to the shell, I might not have.
Next, I sifted together my dry ingredients. This was so satisfying. It’s up there with beating butter with a rolling pin. Baking is just a series of satisfying events that culminate in a delicious end result.
Next up, I made my meringue. It took longer to get the stuff peaks than it has other times I've made meringue, so that should have been a sign to me then. The peaks I did get really weren't very big, but the whole thing seemed stable and I could hold it over my head.
I added red food colouring, but I didn't add enough. They looked pale pink which was pretty until I baked them. They came out a weird peachy colour after baking.
I folded my ingredients together in as few folds as possible, and then loaded up a piping bag. Piping is something I've become very fond of, best birthday gift I've ever bought for myself.
They piped beautifully, but I shouldn't have used tinfoil. It was all I had, so I thought I'd give it a try. I also used a copper baking sheet. Figured between the two, one batch had to come out okay.
Unfortunately, they stuck. I didn't get a single one off in one piece. This was pretty heartbreaking, but the scraps were delicious at least! And y'know, it was all worth it for this picture:
This was the first time my son ever got to watch in the window of the oven to see cookies baking.
It's the little things.