Sainsbury's raspberry macarons - a mix!

Long term readers will know about my love hate relationship with macarons!
When I was over at mum and dads, mum and I were shopping in Sainburys and mum found this...

 A ready mix kit for macarons. All you need to do is add 2 whipped up egg whites. I thought it would be a bit of a laugh to try - and having checked out the ingredients there was nothing blerk in the packet, so I thought, why not. ( the packet got rather bashed in the long haul flight!)

 I followed the instructions, all very easy. Then piped out some circles. It was looking good so far.

But, as has been the norm recently, it all went horribly wrong in the oven! The cooking instructions were very different to what I've done in the past, so I thought it might work. Put them into a cold oven and turn to 50c - for 20 mins, then turn up to 150c and cook for a further 15 minutes.

 This is what happened!!! Now, to be fair, I did pipe out larger circles cos I only have one baking tray! So they would take a bit longer to cook. But they all cracked and in some of them the middle sort of oozed out of the shell! No feet either.


However! They do taste really lovely. Very almondy and raspberry. But not overly sweet. I think if I lived in the Uk and had a Sainsburys near by I would definitely give them another go.

But, I think the time may have come for me to knock these on the head! I'm probably going to stick to cupcakes!

More Pottery

I'm still going to pottery and finally I've got to the stage that even though the things I make on the wheel are still a bit squinty, they are now thinner and you don't need muscles like Popeye to lift them.

I've been sticking to the pale colours and I'm having a bit of a dot fest!

The good thing is we really are using them all and I'm still loving it.

Here's some small unglazed stuff. The front three were made on the wheel and were just me having a mess around. One of them got mashed round the rim when I picked it up and another is totally squint - I could say I meant it to be like that, but that would be a big fat lie!! The back one is a hand made pinch pot to go with my rustic dotty ones that I made a while ago.

These are some dotty, finished bowls. They're actually quite big and I admit to absolutely loving them and being somewhat delighted that they look nice.

And the rustic dotty ones that I use all the time, so I'm going to make a set.  I just glazed the small one and I've got a couple of larger ones waiting to be fired.

 

Newly glazed pinch pot and what it should come out like once it's been fired again!!

And here's the squinty one. I painted wee blue flowers on it. It might be cute once its fired!

It's raining buckets today ( after a few absolutely stunning days where we've done loads outside) so I'm having an inside day. Glazing some plates and making macarons. We'll have to see how these come out as I haven't made any for eons! I've turned the kitchen table into some sort of odd work station!

One more macaron post...

 
After yesterday I was determined to master them. I searched and searched the web, reading a million recipes and watching many videos. Finally I stumbled upon Bravetart and decided that I loved the way she wrote - she had me giggling out loud, AND I felt that I could follow what she had written. So I did - to the letter. ( well that's a slight fib, I halved her recipe amounts, but that's all I did differently) and yes, you really do whip those ( laid this morning!) egg whites for 10 minutes. Anyway, in three attempts, over 2 and a half years, I've gone from this...

Which, of course, was the most appalling disaster ever because not only did they look terrible, they also tasted awful.


To this, today!
Ta'Dah!

Now call me anal, but this worked so well that I have scored a mark on our cooker to where the exact temperature was and have written down exact timings. 6 minutes, turn tray, 6 minutes turn tray, 1 minute, turn tray, 1 minute turn tray. Well, it worked! 

And even though I do say so myself, they are the most flipping brilliant macarons ever!

They are plain shells with a marscapone and raspberry middle.

Marvellous.

And now this!

Lemon buttercream...

I think I've got it!

Macarons

Eons ago I tried to make macarons, and I was so traumatised by the whole ordeal it's taken me over 2 and a half years to try again.
Who knew baking disasters could have such a profound affect on your life?

Anyway, today was the day. I went into town and got ground almonds especially!

I tried this recipe as it looked a lot more straightforward than the last one I tried. Unfortunately for me I was following it from my ipad - which didn't have the extra bit that tells the actual weights of things. It goes for the simpler cups and 3 egg white method. Also my eggs were FAR TOO fresh. I need to leave some out over night - supposedly!

I SO wish I'd had a look at it on my laptop, though, because I would have realised that my 3 egg whites were actually about half of the required 100g. I only worked this out when once I'd added and folded in mine it resembled wallpaper paste! I frantically whisked up another couple and bunged them in - this still wasn't actually enough, but in a panic I started piping out little discs. I knew they were too solid even as I was doing it but was too freaked out to care! I'd also whipped out most of the air. At least I got them a nice colour.
And, more importantly, I know exactly where I went wrong this time.

They shouldn't have the ridges and they're actually far too thick as well. I don't know why they still look grainy as I blitzed the almonds and icing sugar and sifted them twice.

These ones, obviously, don't look perfect by any means. They're far too flat for starters! And big and grainy! But they are an improvement. They're apple flavour with creamed blue cheese as a filling - we had these when we went to The Langham for afternoon tea and these are just like them - NOT!

 I won't be beaten! I will try again and it won't take 2 and a half years this time - I may even give it a go tomorrow?


...Well maybe the next day.

Note - I just found this blog
http://bravetart.com/blog/MacaronMyths
http://bravetart.com/recipes/Macarons - the recipe
http://bravetart.com/blog/TheTenCommandments
I've just discovered her and she's sheer genius!

Macarons - Good Grief!

I have just made macarons for the first ( and maybe the last) time.  Now I know why these are the domain of bakers with years of experience who live in Paris!

What an absolute guddle.

I find it tricky enough separating eggs, let alone adding ground almonds and icing sugar to a meringue mix quickly enough so it doesn't deflate, then getting said mixture into a freezer bag with the corner snipped off ( who needs a piping bag!) and putting neat little half inch blobs onto a baking tray.

The recipe was so far beyond my meagre baking skills it was funny.

It said 2 cups of icing sugar - but then said that 2 cups were 480g - not my cup!

The recipe called for 7 egg whites but I guessed my measurements were about half what the recipe wanted so bunged in 4 and hoped for the best.

In my cack handed attempts to get the mixture into the bag without it 'deflating' it got it everywhere.
( but mostly on my laptop!)

It was supposed to be a lovely pale blue, it is in reality a rather unattractive sludge grey.

Oh yes, and they have to be put in the oven for 8 minutes with the door ajar. Ajar! Mine is either open a foot or closed. I had to make do with jamming a silicone spoon into the door to make a gap.

All this and trying to get photos too!

They are now out of the oven - 2 batches - one with what had to have been a deflated mixture. I ate half of them while attempting to scrape off the baking paper. (I now feel slightly sick as most of them were undercooked)

The recipe calls for them to have a filling and make a sandwich with one on either side, well sod that.

It all started so well...

  

things started to go a little wrong here

very wrong here

a bit more wrong here...

and absolutely pear shaped here

If anyone is interested this is the recipe I used and this is what they're supposed to look like

Cue hysterical laughter.