Macarons

 

Orange blossom mini macarons for Christie's wedding.

 

I set myself a challenge to learn how to make macarons before Christmas this year so that I could do them for our traditional family cooking exchange. I also wanted to perfect them so that I could do a big batch for Christie's wedding.

The first two batches were complete failures, but they were both learning experiences and on the third attempt I managed to make a passable batch.There are a lot of things that can go wrong with macarons, but once you've got the feel for it they aren't too bad.

I made Christie 70 mini macarons for the dessert table at her wedding and they turned out beautifully.  Everyone was impressed by them, and Christie was very pleased so it was definitely worth doing.

Over the past few weeks since Christie's wedding, I've been working on making enough batches for the Christmas cooking. Not all of the batches turned out perfectly, but most of them are pretty good. I've made chocolate, raspberry, orange, pistachio and rosewater, coffee, and chocolate mint.

 The first successfull batch I made - double chocolate.

I think I'll take a few weeks break from making them, but after that, if you want macarons, I'm the person to ask. They are fiddly and a bit temperamental, but the sense of achievement when I get a good batch is worth it and they are so delicate and pretty looking,

 

My latest batch - coffee.