Macarons

This post also appears on Fuss Free Flavours!

Over the last few months I was a bit under the weather and when the horizon appeared a little brighter, a very kind and generous Helen who runs Fuss Free Flavours braved the local transport system and came all the way over to visit me, along with some delicious treats!

Alongside the delicious treats, Helen also kindly gave me a copy of an elegant little book simply called Macarons, by Annie Rigg, to help ease some of my boredom!

Initially I felt like a bit an outsider in the fact that I?d never tried, or dared to make a Macaron before, but yet quite convinced I would like them! The book has a lots of enticing recipes, from tempting both visually and by word, from Mint chocolate flavoured to the rather more exotic Gingerbread spice! There are clear instructions on how to make the Macarons and is ideal for a complete novice like me, and slightly egg white phobic cook, along with all the lovely fillings and ideas for combinations.

With the help of a fellow baker, (also a Macaron virgin!) and her rather lovely new kitchen (also with a dishwasher thankfully!) we recently set about making Macarons for the first time! Being both rather girly orientated we decided to dye them all pink! The book recommends paste colourings but we used liquid without any problems. I must admit the mixture looked rather glorious in all its soft pink foaminess but fighting the urge to eat it, we battled through with the piping bag and hoped they were successful, having no previous Macaron knowledge to go by! 

Sadly, the first tray came out black as the night, fortunately with a keener eye the remaining came out near perfect! We then made both the buttercream and chocolate ganache (using Filthy Rich chocolate, quite intense!) recipes from the book and very carefully filled our macarons! They are fragile little beasts though so be careful handling them!

Not too shabby for our first attempt!

I am hoping to bring you a giveaway for the book but am waiting for confirmation - will let you know later!

With thanks to Helen for allowing me to post :)