a macaron is born

my baking repertoire:

1) the basic choco chip cookies from the chocolate chip bag recipe.
2) creme brulee, my forever favorite.
3) the perfect mysterious white chinese sponge fruit cake.
4) the french macaron, my new favorite and current obsession.

believe it or not, this is the extent of my experience as a baby baker. i suspect the true beginning began a month ago with the obsession to figure out how to make the delicious not too sweet chinese sponge fruit cake, but i will leave that for another post.

back to the macaron: despite the ominous warnings of macaron baking disaster, i was lured in by the super cute pictures littered around the internet. i was memorized by this little almond cookie treat. it was so cute, i had to have it.

so after a week of reading countless blogs and recipes, and an extra 3 days of egg white ageing. i happily made my first batch of macarons via the italian method as it was supposedly more forgiving. mixed. piped. rested. in the oven and looking good... i was ecstatic. checking every min, everything looked perfect. ..after 5 min, i didn't want to jinx it decided to relax and resisted the urge to check till the timer went off... 15 min later i returned to the oven and waah! what happened?! there lay a battlefield of disfigured mounds and mini volcanos. sigh, i became another defeated contender.

determined, i immediately tried again (i had aged 6 egg whites just in case) this time with the french method, even though reviewed to be a bit more temperamental. i suspected in my efforts not to overmix, i way undermixed. so i mixed. piped. rested. i also suspected the oven temperature and this time used double trays. watched carefully and at 7 min, after the feet were formed, cracked the oven open and continued to bake. and.... success! i couldn't believe it! as i waited for them to cool, i made a lingonberry buttercream for the filling. the two halves gently cradled the sweet goodness and the little treat lay before me taunting me to taste it. but striving to achieve the optimum flavor effect, i patiently waited for the 24hrs to pass before i could sample the cutie pie. and the moment the delicate sandwich melted in my lips, something sparked in me and i was hooked. endless flavor possibilities immediately flooded my head and a macaron officially birthed me into the bakers world.