The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.
Neither of these pictures are the macarons I made for the challenge, actually. The first one is a picture I took of a sculpture that reminded me of a macaron, and the second is a pretty macaron I made a while ago.
I did do the challenge though! It's just been so long since I've done a challenge and posted about it that I actually just forgot to take pictures before they were all devoured, which was quite quickly. They didn't even get the chance to rest in the fridge for as long as they should before being eaten.
I made them for my boyfriend's parents, whom I was meeting for the first time this past weekend. I was told that his Dad likes German Chocolate Cake, so I made chocolate macarons with chocolate ganache and coconut pecan frosting filling. They were perfect, and even without having the most time to rest, they were nice and soft on the inside.
My boyfriend declared that they were the best things I've made that he's tasted, and the next day he bought a huge bag of Halloween candy because he was craving the macarons but couldn't have them. Haha, so I guess I'll be making a lot more.
The only thing I had a problem with in making these was grinding the almonds fine enough. My food processor just doesn't do it. It grinds maybe 20 % of the almonds I put in it fine enough, and the rest just stay gritty and mealy. so I always end up putting in way more than I need, and then sifting out the fine enough stuff, and throwing out the rest. I need to find a better way to do it... Maybe I'll try buying almond flour next time.
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10 comments:
Well the one you have a photo of is beautiful and they sound tasty! Hope you find a solution to your grinding situation. :)
The macarons looks amazing and the filling is so tasty!!!
mmm...these look great! love the arty photo as well.
I wish you had a picture of your current creation! I am relieved that so many people had success with this challenge- it gives me hope!
A coffee grinder might work better to grind them fine enough. I've used this method for spices in the past.
It is nice to see you blogging again!
I don't bake much but I have a similar problem when I try to "grind" various nuts.
I just had an idea, which you may be able to try out sooner than me.
Try using the "grate" blade on your food processor first to reduce the nuts to a smaller, more consistent size, and then use the blade you normally use to reduce them to a powder.
Almonds aren't too hard - you could try putting the coarser bits into a pepper mill, if you don't want to spend money on a spice/coffee mill.
Also, Trader Joe's sells packages of ground almonds, if you don't mind cheating a bit. ;)
Yummy,,nice cake
I am the regular reader of CINNAMON LOVE posts. They always post something delicious and the macarons are looking very yummy.
I love to bake in my free time. It gives me pleasure and relaxation. When i am sad or feel down i start baking my favorite cookies. Your experience with baking this recipe is amazing. it looks delicious in the picture and i am sure it will be in real too. Do share more pics of your baking material.
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