Itsy Bitsy Foodies

Well, I finally did it.  I broke down and made macarons.  They have only been on my “to-do” list for more than ten years, ever since I visited Ladurée {Maison de Macarons in Paris}.  In the early 20th century, Ladurée invented the most popular macaron: the Parisian macaron {also known as “gerbet”} which are the macarons most commonly known today.

Macarons are a meringue-based cookie comprised of only four ingredients: almond flour, egg whites, powdered sugar and granulated sugar (making them naturally gluten-free).  Don’t let the small ingredient list fool you, however, because they are known to be a fragile and finnicky cookie.  I think that is why it has taken me this long to finally make them.  But I realized that they aren’t as difficult as I originally thought.  I definitely learned some things during my first go-around and I can’t wait to make them again and start experimenting with the endless opportunities of flavors and fillings.

Part of my hesitation for trying macarons was how many variations there are.  When I first referenced my copy of The French Cookie Book that got me through many high school French cooking projects, I discovered a sampling of the many types of macarons.  So many, in fact, that my head was swimming in thoughts of whether I wanted my macarons to be crackled, tender, soft, Parisian, Gerbet, etc.  Overwhelmed and unsure, I put my cookbook away for a while.  But the idea of macarons lingered, especially with how ubiquitous and mainstream trendy they have become.  Macarons are all over the place.

Then the beautiful Pumpkin Macarons and Easter Egg Macarons from Yummy Mummy Kitchen caught my eye.  Using Martha Stewart’s recipe, Marina made macarons seem approachable and gave me the final push of inspiration that I needed to try my hand at macarons.  The basic recipe is somewhat similar to the Parisian Macarons recipe in my French cookbook, only it seems to be simplified a bit which is a fact that hooked me during this very busy time in my life.

Typically, macarons are colored with powdered food coloring.  I actually tried some dyed with raspberry juice and though they had a beautiful color and tasted deliciously like raspberries, the texture changed drastically enough that they couldn’t really be called macarons.  I decided to leave the remaining macarons white rather than mess with artificial coloring.  I think the natural macarons with the pink raspberry buttercream filling look beatiful and they are the perfect bite-sized melt-in-your-mouth raspberry almond treat for Valentine’s Day or any other day.