In some bakeries, you can find a small, colorful and pricy dessert. The
size of the dessert is only about 1.5 inch diameter but costs you at least 2
dollars each. It is not very commonly found in many bakeries so it always
attracts people to buy and try when found in a bakery. In Paris famous
bakeries, you could even see people waiting in a long line in order to buy the
small dessert, macaron.
Macarons are a kind of French confection. They are sweet,
small, round-shaped meringue-based dessert made with egg
whites, Almond flour, sugar, and food coloring. They are served two-by-two filled
with ganache, buttercream or jam. Macarons can be found in a wide variety of
flavors that range from the traditional (raspberry, chocolate) to the new (foie
gras, matcha).
The English word macaroon can also refer to the macaron.
However, many people have adopted the French spelling of macaron to refer to
this French dessert.
What's the magic of this small dessert? Why is it more expensive than
other desserts? The answer is because it's not easy to make it perfect. And the
perfection of look, taste and flavor is what this small dessert’s value is.
Let’s look at a diagram and see what a perfect macaron should have.
1. A perfect macaron has a smooth, glossy,
eggshell like crust. Of course it’s not as hard as the eggshell. It
should crackle a little under your teeth.
2. A perfect macaron has a decadent filling. Yes it will make you decadent.
You just couldn’t resist it even it will ruin your waist.
3. A perfect macaron is pied (p-i-e-d), means the “foot” or small frills
that form along the bottom edge of a macaron that makes the cookie distinctive
and authentic. Forming the foot depends on several factors including proper
technique of mixing the ingredients, oven temperature and rapping the baking
sheet on the counter before placing it in the oven.
4. A perfect macaron has a perfect look and color
If you look at the right side of the macaron, you can see how the shells
match and are perfectly aligned. It really takes time and effort to make shells
the same size and two-by-two aligned perfectly. Making the color perfectly is
also a challenge because the color sometimes changes after baking.
In a nutshell, a perfect macaron tastes crispy on the outside and soft, moist and chewy on the inside.
When you bite it, the shell should crackle a
little under your teeth but the innards give way to a firm-ish meringue, that
seems hefty but is actually quite light.
I attended a cooking class to learn how to make macarons and practiced
at home couple times. Did I make them successfully? The answer was No. I
realized one class plus couple times practice are not enough. This proves that knowing how to make it is one thing, having the true
skill is another. Skills take lots of practice, experimentation and failures to
get what will work for you. Which comes down to "Practice makes
perfect"!
