Decided to try making pistachio macarons on my birthday, thinking to myself, "Oh, this'll be easy-peasy! The recipe's so simple!" Boy was I deceived. It was...not a very successful experiment @~@ As you can see from the above photograph, the macaron shells turned out hard and cracked. The buttercream filling was okay...the recipe called for quite a LOT of sugar, so it was really, really, REALLY SWEET!
I'm not a fan of sugar, so you must be asking why on earth I would make macarons, which are the epitome of sugary doom and gloom. But man oh man, if you have ever tasted a real French macaron...I don't even have to say anything. My mouth is watering just thinking of them. Sigh...but when I check the local pastry shops to satisfy my craving, I find out that each macaron costs about $2. The inner DIY gal in me is saying, "Wha...?? Unbelievable!! I bet I could make macarons for cheaper than that!!" And thus, my foray into the world of macaron making...or rather, macaron destruction, in my case @~@
So, in retrospect, it's probably a lot cheaper to buy the macarons than to make them. Pistachios are pretty darn expensive! And to top it all off, each batch of macarons I made only yielded about 20 macaron shells. That's 10 macarons in total. So let's do the math (approximations only):
-$20 for a pack of pistachios from Bulk Barn (I bought extra because I'm known for my kitchen disasters...)
-$8 for a piping bag
-$6 for food colouring (next time, no food colouring...I know they're bad for you, but I just wanted to test out my theory about paying less for DIY macarons)
-$0.20 for about 20 minutes of oven usage, including preheating (if 1 kWh of cooking = $0.60)
I used more than these, of course, but you're starting to get the picture. That's almost $35 for ten macarons, compared to $20 at the store. I mean, the only advantage with making your own macarons is that you know exactly what goes in it. Ah well...it was a good way to spend a birthday. Failures are supposed to bring growth, right? Right?
And now for your viewing pleasure...more pictures of my failed experiment:
The egg white and sugar mixture has to be mixed enough that it looks shiny and has a thick consistency.
It was kind of difficult to use an electric mixer for a bar of butter because the butter just kept getting stuck in the spaces inside the metal mixers. I ended up mashing it with a spoon.
This was my first time using a piping bag, so the shapes turned out okay. The sizes though...well, let's just say I should have traced 1.5 inch circles onto a paper and used it as a guide underneath the baking pan...You know, despite the texture and look of these macarons, they did end up tasting wonderful, if a little too sweet...
For now, macarons, 1, moi, nada.
Until next time, vile macaronian villain!
