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"I think I'm obsessed." I said these words to a friend, tonight. Nevermind that his answer was "you're just now figuring that out?" before he even realized what I was doing. I was actually referring to the fact that I was in the kitchen making my second batch of French macarons in less than 24 hours. He thought I meant in general. Hrmph!! Well okay so perhaps he's right - I do tend to go a little crazy when I find something I like. And boy did I like
those macarons!!!
Folks who tried them did too! I had a meeting with my senior director this morning and brought her a few (why did Gia immediately rub his nose when I told him that?) and she went so crazy over them she ran to the next office over to share them with another director who "LOVES macarons". Wow.
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As the last line in
my previous post stated - I was ready to try some different flavors! First one on my list:
Pistachio! I'm not sure why except that I love the idea of turning out light green cookies. What I hadn't thought about was that the pistachios I had at home, and was ready to make into little soft fluffy macarons, were in shells and salted. So I rolled up my sleeves and started shelling pistachios, washing the salt off, drying them in the oven and
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then grinding them so that they'd push through a sieve. WHEW!
I wasn't as happy with this batch though. They were DANG tasty but I think I spoiled myself turning out such perfect macarons last night on my first try.
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Could I have gotten *gasp* overly confident?? Never! I think I worked the batter too much this time and then didn't bake them long enough. They're not quite dry enough in the center - but boy they sure do taste delicious! I shelled, washed, dried and ground even more pistachios to make a vanilla pistachio buttercream for
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the filling. Yummy! This is so fun! More than anything I love the idea of churning out different colors and flavors of the same type of cookie.
To my friends: I'm taking requests - got a favorite macaron flavor? Leave a comment and I'll try it (and if you're local I'll try to get some to you!)
Have a great weekend everyone!
How about a chocolate raspberry? That sounds good to me! Or a mint? Those are my two flavor votes! Wait, would toffee work? Man, now I want a cookie...
ReplyDeleteWow - I absolutely love macarons and your versions look fantastic, Lise!
ReplyDeleteSo my favorite flavors are the classic ones -- hazelnut, vanilla, chocolate and the one you just tried -- pistachio.
But in case you're looking for crazier ideas -- when Jim and I were in London last year, we found this amazing restaurant/bakery called Yauatcha that created Asian flavored macarons -- the flavors were incredibly imaginative, but the flavor and texture were... *okay* - see links for pictures and reviews.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/markhillary/2109789347/
http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/features/4254.html
Yauatcha flavors include:
cashew
lychee raspberry
black bean
kumquat
fig violet
strawberry tagada
coconut saffron
apricot ginger
Does that earn me a cookie?? :-)
OOOOH MY GOD!!! YOU ARE AMAZING! French macarons are my absolute most favorite cookies! Yours seriously look perfect (but I expect nothing less from you). Like Andrea, hazelnut and pistacio are a couple of my faves, but I also really love the rose and lavender ones as well. oooh, how about a chai one! I have chai tea latte concentrate, so let me know if you want a bottle. mmmm. How about tiramisu, or peach, or passionfruit? My god...I better stop. I'm getting carried away...
ReplyDelete~deb
Most folks have already listed my faves (serves me right for waiting until the end of the day to post a comment) --- pistachio, lavender, rose, hazelnut. Running with Deb's chai idea, how about tea flavors? Green tea with chcolate ganache, perhaps? Jasmine tea or perhaps a way to even make a HK milk tea version? Also read somewhere that Paris is currently raving over a lime-basil combo... Not sure about that one, but sometimes what sounds horrible to the ears is heaven on the tastebuds...
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletei'm a day late commenting but lise and friends, your cookies and suggestions are making me want to book a trip to europe!
ReplyDeleteall these ideas sound great but how about a citrus macaroon - like lemon or orange? tangerines are in season now. :)