Our foolproof little French Macaroons project


Elementary students like their "Hey" and "Junior" magazines. 



They contain short articles about nature and sports, jokes and - who knew - recipes. 

The other day C asked "Mom, can we make Macaroons? I have this recipe, and it says it's really simple!" 



Hahahahaha! Simple!!!! Right!

"Look, one of the ingredients is ground almonds which I don't have. Sorry. We can watch some videos if you like, though! Everybody's making them, Chef John, Laura in the Kitchen,   Dishin' with Di, Byron Talbott, you name it! They all do it a bit differently, but they all mention how hard it is to get it right!"

"But it looks so easy!"

When we arrived with Beth, he asked "what does foolproof mean?" I explained it. He goes "Aha. So if we follow the 6 steps, we can't fail? Let's do it!! Please? At least try?"

It's summer break, we are at home, all of his friends are away, so who am I to spoil the fun?

Grocery shopping we went!



Less than two minutes into our project I was swearing for the first time. The ground almonds were not nearly ground enough for our purpose! I dug out my little coffee grinder and tossed them in there.


Now the sifting was still a royal PIA! C wanted to quit another two minutes into our macaroon making. I reminded him that it was his wish to make those - not mine! It includes everything I hate: sifting, folding in egg whites, piping, making butter cream, ...


So we were sifting for a loooong time.

Left: out of the bag, right: re-ground and sifted. 
Adding the sifted powdered sugar.


Watching the machine beating the egg whites, adding regular sugar. 

Now this was the only easy part!


Soft peaks!


Almost forgot the food coloring!


Folding in the dry ingredients...


Pouring it into a ziplog bag


Did I mention I hate piping?


Tapping the trays on the counter. Letting them sit there for half an hour. In the oven they go! 

I know the lady said bake one sheet after the other. My oven can handle two trays!


Not looking half bad!?

Letting cool, and on to the filling!






The verdict?
  1. If you like them chewy, they're for you!
  2. It was not worth the hard work and messy kitchen.
  3. We can't wait to get to a Sprüngli soon!



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