Macarons... I did it!

My buddy introduce these sweet little treats to me. The first time I had them, we were sharing a piece it in chocolate flavour. The second time I had them, we shared each of the 3 pieces we bought, they were rose, lychee, and chocolate banana flavors.

Since I've had enough of sharing these little thing, I decided to make them myself so I can eat as much I want :)

I invested in a candy thermometer, silpat, illy, Valrhona, lots of eggs, ground almonds and hazelnuts. I even got a new digital weighing machine, just an excuse to get rid of my old conventional one.

This is my first attempt on macarons, I use the Italian Meringue method and I tried out the coffee almond and chocolate hazelnut flavour.

I almost spend the entire evening measuring the ingredients very carefully, beating the egg whites, boiling the sugar syrup, stirring, mixing and piping.. okie i need more practice on this. I had the "skin" and the "feets" where they were supposed to be.

Somehow, I underbaked my 1st tray of hazelnut ones, had 2 cracked ones, and some in really odd sizes, I even had a few figures of 8 as I have piped them too closely. But I was glad the rest turns out quite nicely. They had eggshell-thin top crust, frilly skirting around the bottom, moist and alittle chewy interior. I am already very happy with my little achievement.

And of course, I can't wait to share them with my buddy.

Specially for you Pris!