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.
This was not my first attempt at making macarons. In September Twitter was all abuzz about the finicky like pastry and I joined with others around the globe in a Mac Attack. Who knew that one little cookie could be so temperamental and difficult to master. My first attempts at macarons yielded a delicious but less than perfect macaron with tutus instead of feet.
In hopes of finally conquering the challenge of creating a perfect macaron, I read and reread all the tips and suggests for this month’s challenge. I aged my egg whites on the counter. I weighed my ingredients. I sifted my almond meal. I whipped my whites until stiff peaks formed and the peak did not fall over. I used stacked cookie sheets. Although short of the perfection I was hoping for, my macarons have definitely come a long way baby.
For my first batch I used vanilla sugar and made Audax’s two egg version of the Daring Bakers recipe, but I doubled the granulated sugar. They were a bit undercooked and sticky, even after trying to dry them in a warm oven, but still delicious! Both macarons are filled with dulce de leche.
The second batch was David Lebovitz chocolate macarons. The chocolate macarons were a bit too ruffly, but tasted divine! Sort of like a chocolate caramel brownie.
Visit the Daring Bakers’ Blogroll to see macarons in lots of wonderful flavors and all the colors of the rainbow.
Natashya KitchenPuppies
Mmm, is it bad that I want to eat a plate of those chocolate ones for breakfast? They look great!
Olive
those are are lovely, lovely macaroons..wish I could make mine it as nice as yours next time 🙂
Jill
Those dark chocolate macarons look so delicious! I love the dulce de leche filling you used–perfect! 🙂
Simon
The centre shot of the macarons look quite nice. Good work with the post 🙂
Jaime
looks like you were successful on all fronts! fantastic job!
Cinnamon-Girl Reeni♥
I'm glad you had success! They look scrumptious! Love the dulce de leche filling!
Nutmeg Nanny
Your macarons are so beautiful! I love the contrast between the vanilla and chocolate…delicious!
maybelle's mom
I actually think ruffly is cute. and they were tasty, so yeah.
culinography
Such pretty little feet! Beautifully done and I LOVE the idea of a dulce de leche filling. YUM!
Kat
The dulce de leche filling sounds great. Very nice job!! I am very impressed. I failed, but may try again!
Aran
they turned out beautiful!
Memória
Your macarons look awesome!!! I think you did a great job on this challenge. I love dulce de leche. Thanks for the kind words you left on my blog. I hope you make the cinnamon rolls macs very soon.
Baking Monster
I have never been able to master macaroons but these look great!
teresa
look how pretty they are, they turned out wonderful!
Fuji Mama
GORGEOUS!! I had some issues with mine being a bit undercooked as well. Luckily I baked mine in batches and significantly adjusted the oven temp and cooking time.
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
Brilliant job Barbara and you got the prized feet-bravo! 😀
Cathy
Your macarons are gorgeous, Barbara. I suppose it is like most things: practice, practice, practice. I've yet to give them a try but I'm working up to it.
Mimi
Chocolate caramel brownie.. yum. Your macaroons looks fantastic.
Mimi
Peggy Bourjaily
Wow, your chocolate macaroons look so velvety and beautiful. I never got feet, but they were tasty!
The Blonde Duck
They look so pretty!