Welcome to The Cookie Monster, a blog about the most marvelous, versatile, and beloved bakeable item in the land: The cookie. You may see occassional forays into pies, bars, and other sweet treats, but my main focus is and has always been on the bite sized genius behind my very favorite snack. Happy Baking!

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Strawberry Macarons


In the culmination of my self proclaimed Macaron Month, I finally achieved a (almost) fully successful Macaron endeavor!  Hooray for me!  I only had about 15-20% crackage on this go around, which is far better than the 50% crackage rate of my previous attempts.  I followed some helpful tips from my fellow food blogger and KKG Kirsten, tried out a new flavor, and all and all had a successful baking afternoon.  Huzzah.

Ingredients:
115 grams blanched almond flour
230 grams powdered sugar
144 grams egg whites
72 grams sugar
2 tsp Strawberry Flavoring
1/2 tsp salt
a smidgen of pink gel coloring


Following the same process for the most part as the First Round of Macarons this month, I worked on my meringue, and then folded in my measure almond flour and powder sugar.

 
 
 
Ah.  Lovely.  I think some of the cracking issue may have been a mixing issue.  As in I was undermixing before.  So I made sure I got everything well incorporated.
 
 

Very focused pregnant baker. Haha. More after the jump.
 
 
Okay, so after all the piping was done, I smacked my cookie trays on the counter a few times, hard, and then at Kirsten's suggestion let them hang out for about 20 minutes on the counter.  The theory behind this is that a shell like coating will form on the top that will prevent the cookies from cracking.  I think it worked.
 
 
Booyah.  Top sheet.  No Crack victims
 
 
Bottom sheet.....a few crack victims, but FAR less than before.  I think it may still be a heat issue, and perhaps I need to dial down the temp to 285 or so (I baked this batch at 290 for 19 minutes).
 
I decided to go with a strawberry buttercream frosting, just using strawberry jam.  Very easy.  Pretty tasty.  Although I think maybe just a classic vanilla buttercream would have made a nice "Strawberries and cream" situation.  Next time.
 
Strawberry Buttercream:
 
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup strawberry jam
3 cups powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons milk
tiny bit of pink food coloring.
 

 
 Then its sandwiching time again! Woohoo!
 
 
Lovely.
 
 
 
 
 Obviously I'm very proud of these.  Haha. And they are very rich and tasty. 

 Victory. 
 


2 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh. I'm dying. I just discovered macaroons and I'm obsessed. There's a place here called the French Broad Chocolate Lounge that does awesome combos...had a salted caramel one the other day! With an almond filling of some sort. These look so good!!!

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    Replies
    1. yummm that sounds amazing! I too am obsessed with these, hence the continuous attempts. haha. They are so light and flavorful. love love!

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