French Macarons Part II

Saturday, April 14, 2007

French Macarons Part II

all (or at least most) of us know that macarons are made with ground almonds, but do you know they can also be made with ground hazelnuts? thats what i did for these few attempts. using a one-to-one substitution, the macarons turned out great, if not better. im still really at an experimental stage tho'. macarons are so fun to make and i never get tired of making them! now, i almost forgot what its like to bake with butter as a main ingredient LOL. the thing about french patisserie is they go really light on butter, oil & grease but the flavors and texture are maintained with the use of fresh fruits, nuts, chocolate, coffee, tea etc. and of coz, to compensate for the lack of butter, they use lots of sugar. not a very healthy substitution i would say.

macarons a la noisette, or hazelnut macarons. these are in their original color and i just love the granite-like specks. paired with nutella hazelnut spread, they're so very yummy! but im not really satisfied with the end result since the feet wasnt very prominent and the tops werent smooth. i always hv problem with uncolored batter coz they don't often get folded in well enough.

hazelnut coffee macarons, made using the same batch of batter as before and paired with coffee whipped cream. im totally satisfied with this - prominent feet & smooth domes, just what i really want!

for part III of this, im gonna try making macarons with ground pistachios =)

Labels: french macarons