Little Hamburgers?

      Actually, not really this is a very meatless post, but they certainly ended up looking like little hamburgers.  My two year liked them better than the real ones anyways.  These are the very daunting macaroons. Yes, you've got that right I tried my hand at making one of the most finicky desserts of all.  If you have never had one they are crunchy, yet chewy little sandwich cookies that you fill with buttercream, ganache or any other tasty fillings.  They are quite the rage now and they are being used not only as dessert, but as gifts.  These little cookies can be quite difficult to make because there are many details you have to keep in mind.  The quality of your almond flour and your eggs, the way you sift your ingredients the temperature of your oven and the level of humidity in your house are all things that will affect the quality of your macaroons.

     But, there are days that you just get tired of making cake so I figured I would tackle the very scary task of making some of these.  I made the basic vanilla macaroon recipe from the book I love Macaroons by Hisako Ogita.  If you are interested in these tasty treats I recommend this book.  She has pictures of every step of the process as well as pointers to make your macaroons turn out.  She also has recipes for fillings and other desserts you can make with the egg yolks you will have left over.

I used almond flour.  I've seen other books in which they grind fresh almonds.  If this is your first try (like mine) you have enough to worry about as it is. Macaroons are really a mixture of a meringue and an almond and powdered sugar mixture.  If you can master a meringue you are halfway there.

     After that you will fold the mixture together and then place it in a piping bag.  In here it is critical that you don't over mix. I think my macaroons didn't turn out as glossy because of it.  The next step is to pipe your circles into the templates you prepared before you started this whole process.

     Next you wait of them to dry out.  This process varies.  It took me about 25 minutes in a sunny day in South Florida.  Keep in mind humidity and location can change your cooking and drying times.  If you live in Denver, Colorado I'm sure that your results are going to be quite different.
     When you place the macaroons in the oven they will form a pied on the bottom of the cookie.  If  you don't see one form you need to adjust something next time you make them. Mine took about 12 minutes to cook.
      After that was fun part.  I filled them with chocolate ganache and a raspberry caramel my mother created (yes, that is how it all started).  You can fill them with many things, caramel, flavored icing etc. Hisago gives you plenty of ideas about what to put inside your macaroons.  She also gives you the recipes to flavor your batter and dye it different colors.  I am highly thinking about making some of these for my brother's wedding as party favors. They look very elegant and can be dyed any color, not to mention they are edible so people don't have to worry about where to put them when they leave the wedding.  I am glad I finally took the leap into the macaroon world.  Next time flavorings...hmm... so many choices.