First off...I gotta be honest & say~I had never heard of Macaron's...much
less, tasted one! That is until I heard the word on
a TV show. That got me thinking...which led to my being curious...
which led to me googling the term...which, in turn,
confused me a little bit!
Apparently, there's Macaroon's and then there's Macaron's!
Who woulda thunk it, right?
Well, when I saw a picture of a coconut macaroon...I quickly
flashed to a childhood memory of grocery
shopping with my grandma~
putting a package (or a couple) of some coconut cookies into
the cart. They were super
chewy & my grandma would buy them...
all. the. time. No joke! I remember she had a thing for coconut!
(so that's what they're called, hmm)
Even those sweet Neapolitan coconut candies...
you know, the ones that were
pink, white, & brown striped...
Yea, those~she LOVED them!
Then there was a picture of the Macaron...the fancier one...
and oh, my! So pretty! Colorful, too!
There are a lot of articles out there that differentiate what
each one is...and, I'm sorry, but in my opinion
(& don't hate me for this)...but I. don't. care.
Really, one has coconut and dipped in chocolate (preferably)...
the other is so pretty & colorful...& has a filling!
So they're two different cookies...I'm not
prejudiced! I'll bake & eat them both...willingly!
I've read various articles/recipes/posts about them
& all I kept reading was about how
difficult they are to make! What~a~turn~off!!
And, I don't know about you, but I HATE failure!
It really bothers me when
something I bake doesn't turn out right~just ask one of my kids...
or my hubster~~they'll tell you how I snappy I get..concur!
Now, I like to read baking/cooking blogs...
& needless to say, I ran across one that specifically discussed
Macaron's. I went over all the info
on them. I debated for....ever... as to whether I should try
making them or not. Till finally, I figured
"Por que no?" I followed the advice & tips that Stella
over @ Brave Tart (http://bravetart.com/recipes/Macarons) so
kindly offered & got to it!
This is how they looked when I piped them out.
I managed to get 3 cookie sheets out of this batch of batter.
This is the first pan, out of the oven.
They're broken & collapsing...AND....they have no feet :(
2nd pan out of the oven had some of the same, but
about half of the pan, actually had some feet and
nice round domes. But I didn't get a picture
of that one...yes, I know, I know...I'm bad
about taking pictures..bad about posting regularly...
how about a random act of kindness &
forgive me? ..(is that considered random...hmm,
good question..but for consideration another day;)
Onward...this is my 3rd pan...if you look closely,
you'll see the little feet underneath
the round tops...Aren't they cute!!
This is the end result...after being filled with some
Chili-Chocolate Caramel SMBC....
Yea, although they didn't ALL turn out like these pretty ones,
they were fan~tas~mic!! All-in-all, I was pretty stoked
on how they turned out...esp. the way they
tasted! Beauty of these, is that they truly are like a blank
canvas...ready to be flavored and colored to anything
that ...basically...floats your boat!
Cheesy, I know! But you catch my drift...
know what I mean! (Yes, I'm from that generation)
Must've been a fluke tho...and
next batch will probably not turn
out as pretty...but at least they'll be deliciously
satisfying!! So my ending suggestion is:
Try them~You might like love them!!
Thanks for the read ;)
Cori
