A Macaroon Diversion

Yes, macaroons!! Again!  This is the second time we made the little bite size macaroons, but this time with a slight difference in technique - we used Italian meringue instead of the traditional French meringue, and end result is that it holds its shape better and removing from the baking sheet is a piece of cake.  The large macaroon 'cake' we made earlier this month was also from the same technique.  

What's so special about macaroons, those who are not initiated, would ask, it's just ground almonds, sugar and egg white?  Or is it...?  There's a lot of care and preparation that goes into its fabrication and nothing less than love, one for its pure divine taste, and two for perfection, can one really succeed....  Of course, putting the fairy tale book down, you will need a good pastry kitchen, well-controlled humidity and room temperature, a good oven, a good hand and a good eye in the techniques required. 

As you bite into a (good!) macaroon, your teeth meet some resistance on the shell, which snaps and gives way completely to a soft crumbly, moist centre.  While grains of ground almonds play on your tongue, you slowly begin to pick up the flavors.  Cool, palatable, fruity, exotic, well-balanced.  Sometimes sweet, sometimes a bright flash of citrus, but always well-controlled, poised, elegant, much like the two berets of macaroon biscuits pieced together in total equilibrium.

I made those in the first picture, chocolate macaroons with a variety of fillings - a) chestnut cream b) banana chocolate, and c) milk choc with orange.  All with a light 'swish' of gold dust.

And I will be happy to try (again!) to reproduce them in Rumia.  

Current trend is to try out different shapes and sizes of macaroon and different style of presentations.  But classic still holds its grounds.

Also in petit-fours, last week, we made some bite size miniardises - choux with ginger lemon cream, green apple 'jelly', cheese mini-cakes, and soft almond mini cakes with passionfruit mango gel centre.

But still, nothing like macaroons.... of course!