A post...and a half

So I missed my first month of The Great Family Bake Off...and brownies, of all months?! Truth is, I did bake brownies, and it was for the annual February birthday celebration! But they weren't great, my pictures weren't great, so I decided to skip it. We all learned a valuable lesson that day though! Vanilla does in fact expire, and it impacts the flavor of what you're putting it in. And (I should know better) always check the expiration date on ANYTHING in my parents' house.

On to Mary Berry month! Searching through my Mary Berry cookbook, it was difficult to pick a recipe because they all look so amazing. Tarts, roulades, cakes, oh my! But ultimately I decided on macarons (or macaroons? It's spelled macaroons in the cookbook, but I thought that was wrong...). Macarons felt like a baker staple that all bakers need to try at some point. Fortunately, I had a Friday off of work, so I set out at 7:30 AM to start making these things. And good thing I did, because it took me ALL day. Not because macarons take 8 hours to make, but because I made them two and a half times.

One of the first steps is to make an Italian meringue, which requires making a sugar syrup and mixing it with whipped egg whites. Well, I don't think I heated my sugar syrup long enough, so my meringue didn't stiffen. So I dumped that out, tried again, and take two turned out much better.

Next was mixing the meringue with the almond flour/powdered sugar mixture. They're very careful to tell you not to overmix, so you don't let all the air out of the meringue. Well I was so careful not to overmix that I completely undermixed (thank you Emily for all the guidance and trouble-shooting throughout the day).

So batch 2.5, I learned all my lessons. Heat the sugar syrup longer than you think, mix longer than you think, and voila! They turned out great.

While delicious, I don't think I will be making these for a long time. I prefer many other, much simpler baked goods, so macarons will probably only surface once every few years. But I do feel like I learned the most this month - I made a meringue, I used a piping bag, so many useful skills!

Recipe for Pink Almond Macarons with Buttercream and Raspberry Jam (adapted from "Baking with Mary Berry")

Ingredients

• 2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

• 2 cups almond flour, sifted

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar

• 1/4 cup cold water

• 5 extra large egg whites

• 1 tsp almond extract

• red food coloring

Method

1. Line 2 baking sheets with a silpat liner. Combine the confectioners' sugar and almonds in a bowl and set aside.

2. Put the granulated sugar and water in a pan. Heat gently over low-medium heat, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil and boil for about 5-7 minutes without stirring, until you have a shiny, clear syrup, the consistency of half and half. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

3. Put 2 of the egg whites into a bowl and beat on high speed until stiff, not dry. Slowly pour in the sugar syrup in a steady stream, beating constantly until all the syrup is used and you have a shiny meringue.

4. Add the remaining 3 unbeaten egg whites to the sugar and almond mixture. While mixing, add in the red food coloring to make a pink. Mix until it's a very thick paste.

5. Add a heaping tablespoon of the meringue, beat well, then carefully fold in the remaining meringue until the mixture is an even pink color.

6. Fill the piping bag with the mixture, and pipe small rounds onto the baking sheet. When done piping, bang the baking sheet on the counter to remove the air bubbles. Set aside to dry (mine only took about 20 minutes, but Mary Berry says about an hour), until they are no longer tacky to the touch.

7. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Bake for 10-15 minutes until firm and glossy on top. Transfer to a wire rack to let cool completely.

8. For filling, I made a standard buttercream. I piped that, along with spreading raspberry jam on each one.

This is what it looks like when you undermix. Don't do this!

Ahh much better

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