I know, I know. Macarons are so 2012.
I should move on to whatever this years big dessert treat is! (actually, I have no idea what is supposed to be "IN" in 2013. The internet says it's fancy popcorn, figs and push-pops.) But you know what? I love macs. I think that they are cute and colorful and French, so I will go on making macarons until I run out of flavors to make! Especially now that I've found my method for macs that works consistently without all the fuss.
I received an egg separator - perfect for separating those whites from yolks. I also got a person powered hand mixer - just what my tired arms need for whisking sugar into egg whites over a simmering pot of water. Finally I got a fancy spatula. The tag said it was an omelet turner. I put mine to use in the oh so important macaronage step of macaron making. These tools should be remarketed to the macaron maker. They worked perfectly!
The other reason I decided to make macs? I found these freeze-dried raspberries at a gourmet grocery store in South Orange, NJ. I knew they would make an amazing ingredient to a macaron, since the best way to flavor the cookie itself is with dry ingredients. If you find freeze-dried mangos, let me know. I totally want a mango-flavored mac. How the French would sneer at a mango macaron!
With the tools and the cookies taken care of, there was just one thing left to deal with. The filling. Searching my cabinets I happened upon a block of Callebaut white chocolate. Raspberry macarons filled with white chocolate buttercream? That sounds just delicious enough to work. (Would I rather have filled them with white chocolate ganache? Yes, but I was out of heavy cream and I wanted to eat the cookies ASAP.)
So now we have raspberry and white chocolate macarons, OXO has a new marketing campaign for their egg tools and my pantry is cleared of two of the more eccentric items. All in all, a good day!
See, so cute. So colorful. Bonjour macarons.