So another month has gone by, which can mean only one thing… another Daring Bakers Challenge!

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.

Macarons are one of those things that look so perfect that you want to collect one in every conceivable colour and flavour combination.  Essentially just meringue, with some ground almonds, they are deceptively simple, yet require attention to detail in order to have them turn out exactly right.  Macaron shells should be nice and soft on the inside, but have enough structure that they don’t fall apart or shatter.  They should also have the characteristic “feet” at the bottom of each shell.

First, the egg whites need to be brought to room temperature, and whipped to soft peaks before adding sugar and finishing whipping to stiff peaks.

I ended up doing 3 rounds of macaron “trials”. Each time, I used the idea of grinding flavoured teas into powder to add flavour.  For the first trial, I made the receipe exactly as written… not great, not enough mixing, and no feet!

… so round 2, I ended up using the same recipe and assembly method, except I added a couple of extra strokes during the mixing…

… better, but still not the amazing feet that other Daring Bakers were seeing. I filled these anyway — some with strawberry jam and some with chocolate frosting.  Despite the lack of dramatic feet, they were pretty darn tasty, and the whole plate disappeared in short order.
So for round 3, I used the same mixing method, but changed the baking method to Tartlette’s. I let them dry on the counter for about 1 hour, and then baked at 280. Baking at a lower temperature seemed to help them keep their shape while cooling.  These were flavoured with chai tea, and filled with chocolate ganache. Think this is it!

These are pretty addictive, and once you get the bug, you may find yourself thinking up all kinds of flavour combinations.

Here’s the basic recipe:

Ingredients
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.

And some tips on making macarons:

David Lebovitz breaks it down: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2008/09/making_french_macarons.htm…
More macaroon 411: http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/10/introduction-to-french-macarons.html
Get inspired by our own Tartlette!: http://www.mytartelette.com/search/label/macarons
Go behind the scenes of Paulette: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXIvX0-CEu0
Watch a pro pipe macaroons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_RfiFoWZKQ&feature=related