I have been learning how to make macarons at the York Cookery School. The French ones, not the English kind known as macaroon. The English macaroon are quick to make from foamy meringue into which ground almonds and sometimes coconut are mixed. The French macaron, on the otherhand, take a couple of hours hard labour, require technical skill and can only be made in bulk - about four dozen at a time.
The outer shell of a macaron is brittle whilst the inside is soft. The filling is usually ganache - a mixture of whipped cream and either white or dark chocolate. I like them because they are pettite, sweet and indulgent and their colours are soft and pretty. One or two are really delicious any more and you begin to yearn a savoury snack. They are incredibly sweet.
Some say macarons are set to replace the cup cake in popularity and the craze for them has been fuelled in part by the Great British Bake Off. Apparently new brides are ordering towers of them in place of a traditional solid wedding cake. It is probably wise not to think too deeply about the symbolism being played out here.
Macarons are made from Italian meringue into which ground almonds and a little colouring is mixed. To make the Italian meringue sugar and water are heated to precisely 180C before slowly adding to whisked egg whites. Ground almonds and icing sugar are then folded into the meringue together with more egg white coloured with a paste.The raw macaron mixture has to be blended thoroughly otherwise it cannot be piped.
You need strong arms to hand mix the macaron ingredients. We were discouraged from using an electric mixer because this would beat out too much air.
It helps if there are two of you making the macaron. I worked with my sister Maggie Neil who is a more experienced cake maker than I am. This helped keep me on track.
You also need to be able to pipe competently. Little discs of macaron mixture are piped neatly onto a tray. This is tricky as you don't want them to spread and bump into each other. But it can be done if you put your head down and concentrate. " Keep the nozzle down and just push out a blob" we were told by our instructor Kate Clarkson. You also have to pick up the piping bag again to fill the inside of the macaron.
All macarons taste the same regardless of their colour. It is the fillings that determine the individual flavours. I like pistachio and vanilla - just simple, plain and beautiful. Some colours and fillings are a little garish for my taste.
Macaron are best left in the fridge for a day after making and before eating. This gives the inside of the macaron time to soften. The outer shell and the soft inner are very much part of the sensual experience of eating macaron.
Would I make them again? Probably not unless I was making them for an event. You need a good table top food mixer to beat the egg whites and meringue which I do not have at home. We used lovely Kitchen Aid food mixers that were perfect for the job. You also need a crowd to eat the quantity of macaron made. But don't let that put you off. Macaron are satisfying, quite inexpensive to make and good fun if made in a pair with a cooking buddy.
They are expensive to buy - good ones cost about 95p each in Yorkshire. They probably cost more in London patisseries, so you are quids in if you make a job lot yourself.
There were two other people on the course I attended - Claire and Anne Chambers, a mother daughter team ,who were prompted to come on the course by British Bake Off fever. They had a great time and some of the macarons in the collage above are made by them.
"Kate is an excellent teacher, willing to help people individually and is very encouraging. She doesn't make you feel like a failure" said my sister Maggie who is an advisory teacher for Oxfordshire County Council.
Claire and Anne Chambers agreed.
I was learning how to make macaron courtesy of the York Cookery School where ace cake maker Kate Clarkson and her husband Fraser run courses for professional chefs and be
giners.
Courses at the school range from £25 for a taster session to £125 for a masterclass.
Kate Clarkson, Director, York Cookery School
For more information on making macaron and other courses