Skip to main content

Not quite macarons but...


This is the best alternative I got short of flying to London and buying the mini-macaron tray off Paul whenever the urge to eat these cookies strikes. I've had a couple of disasters making macarons before, so I did two things differently this time. One, I baked on parchment rather than directly on my nonstick baking tray. Two, I used a recipe by bakingbites that uses half the egg whites to bind together almond meal and sugar, and only makes meringue of the other half.

And one thing I learnt. There are some recipes you can't scale down too much. Nicole used 4 egg whites, I used one which means I was trying to beat 1/2 an egg white into stiff peaks. Doesn't work. Take my word for it, you can't get volumes from egg whites if only your mixer tips touch them. So instead of fluffly macarons with feet, I got chewy almond cookies.

They didn't look like macarons but they sure tasted like them. I was so sure I will fail that I hadn't even thought of a filling. But even almost-macarons need to be sandwiched. So I melted some cherry jam to fill my macarons. Just the right flavor blend for these chocolate and almond goodies.
Labels:

Comments

CurryLeaf said…
Wow,they look good Simran,but yes,scaling down may not work in sme recipes.Great Job
June 15, 2009 at 6:34 PM
lubnakarim06 said…
Hmmm they looks gr8 yaar....
June 15, 2009 at 7:42 PM
Rush said…
looks great to me!!
June 16, 2009 at 12:22 AM
Sunshinemom said…
Did you read Helen's tips on it? David Lebovitz has done a great one too. My second attempt had feet but the top was brittle. Will give you company with the next attempt:). So long as they tasted good I guess it is alright and enough motivation to go on trying!
June 16, 2009 at 5:33 AM
Bindiya said…
I am craving these right now!
June 21, 2009 at 8:57 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kadhi Chawal

I just can't think of what to write today. That's what my absolute favorite meal does to me, I just want to stop talking and dig right in. So I won't ramble and go straight on the recipe for kadhi. First, make the pakoras that would go in the kadhi. Slice an onion lengthwise. Make a batter with 1/2 cup chickpea flour (besan), salt, red chilli powder and water. Dip onions in this batter and deep fry until crisp. Keep aside. Now blend 1 cup yogurt and 1/3 cup besan into a paste. Add 3-4 cups water to make a very thin blend. Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan. Add a tsp each of mustard seeds, cumin seeds, ajwain (carom seeds) and methre (fenugreek seeds). Let splutter for a few seconds. Now add a large onion, cut lengthwise into thin slices and cook until browned lightly. Pour in the yogurt/besan mix and add 1 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp red chilli powder. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and let simmer for at least half an hour. You have to stir this occasio...
17 comments
Read more

Potato Naan

I know what you see up there is a naan. But let's pretend for a moment we are making bread. For I had bookmarked this recipe for potato bread a zillion years ago. And that's what I set to make. Chopped and boiled 100 gms potatoes until they are soft. Mashed them along with 3/4 cup of water they were boiled in. While the potatoes were boiling, I added a tsp of sugar to 1/4 cup warm water, then sprinkled a tsp of yeast and let it proof for 10 minutes. To the potato/water mix, I added a cup each of whole wheat flour and plain flour, 1/2 tsp salt as well as the yeast. Once everything was mixed well, I put the dough on a flour-dusted surface and kneaded it for 10 minutes or so. It was a fairly wet dough, but got it to get smooth. Oiled a large bowl and put the dough in it to rise to double it's size. By the time the first rise ended after an hour or so, I didn't want the bread. I wanted a naan instead. And if someone deserves to throw a tantrum after days of sniv...
16 comments
Read more

Dukkah

Talk about myths busted. I went to Dubai planning to buy zat'ar, the fragrant herb and spice mix. And Dukkah, the interesting blend of nuts and spices. Not sumac, because I still have a pack left in my fridge. So zat'ar was easy - every Carrefour supermarket had that one. But no one had dukkah and I was like, how can they not have dukkah? It's a middle eastern thing, right! But well, they don't sell dukkah in Dubai, so I came back and armed with recipes from 10-odd blogs (all roughly the same), I set to make my own. The key to making dukkah is : line up all your ingredients, toast each of them separately in a heavy non-stick pan till they are fragrant and lightly roasted, then put everything in a blender and grind coarsely. This is your dukkah. Now dip your bread in olive oil, then dip it in dukkah and indulge. A final word of warning: this can be highly addictive. And finally, my list of ingredients: 1/4 cup almonds 2 tbsp coriander seeds 1 1/2 tbsp sesame...
14 comments
Read more