macarons vanilles, un et deux

Macarons. Refined, elegant, exquisite, and delicate. An iconic and delicious part of French culture. Naturally, when my mom and I spent six days in Paris, we had to try six different macarons from six different pâtisseries. The winner of our little contest? A macaron with a perfect blend of tahitian, madagascar, and mexican vanillas. 

Merci beaucoup, Pierre Hermé. 

In close second was a macaron caramel à la fleur de sel (on the right) from Ladurée.

So by the time I reached home, armed with Les Petits Macarons from the wonderful Katie and Mel, I was determined to master them. How difficult could it be? Short ingredient list, seemingly simple steps. So when I first tried the recipe at the end of January, I thought it would go well. And overall, I was pleased! Because I didn't own a sieve at the time, the unsifted flour mixture created the bumpy surface of the macarons. And I don't think I mixed the flour with the meringue long enough, because they retained some of their 3D shape, and the little tails from piping.

But the texture was perfect- the firm "skin" on the outside, and then airy but slightly chewy goodness on the inside. And my taste testers approved, which is always a good thing.

For round two, I was going to sift the flour and they were going to be smooth and beautiful, with all the same texture. NOT. 

Yes, they were smooth, but I made the individual macarons slightly smaller, and then the baking time changed, and I mixed in the flour mixture with the meringue for a longer amount this time, and something went wrong! Too dry, no chewiness. And the ones pictured above browned too quickly.

Here, the batter is clearly mixed too well. So no tails, but the height is lacking. 

I mean they were okay, but not for consumption outside of the Meese house. I didn't even bother filling them because I was so disappointed. Note how different the exact same recipe turns out! But I haven't lost hope yet- by the end of this week, I'll be back at it again. I'm determined to make the perfect batch.

Also, I'll include the recipe once I finally get it!