Weekend Cooking: Macarons class

Last weekend I had a very French weekend! I made eclairs which I posted about here. We then went and had a French dinner before attending the arena performance of Les Miserables. The performance was amazing, and I was very pleasantly surprised by the meal that we had. It was a fixed price menu and I was a bit worried that it would be underwhelming but every thing we had was delicious and a very generous serving. 

On Saturday, my friend and I went to a 3 hour long class to make macarons. I have made macarons once before. That was during COVID when a couple of friends bought a kit, and we all made them and then had a Zoom afternoon tea. Remember those days! It turns out that this class was from the same people who sold the kit. The pastry chef, Josh, was very excited to hear that we had made them and wanted to see all the photos. I posted about that experience here. 

Thank goodness those days are now gone, and we can do classes in face to face environments now. After a glass of wine to get started, we headed into the professional kitchen which was our classroom for the day!

First we mixed together the almond meal, icing sugar and egg whites. Then Josh showed us how to make Italian meringue and then we all got given the necessary amount from a pre-made batch which we then mixed together to form the macaron mixture! Once our mixture was the right consistency we filled up the piping big and piped what was supposed to be a 20cm size. Mine were probably all a bit bigger and not that consistently sized.  After giving the tray a bit of a wobble on the bench top, they then needed to rest for about an hour until there is a skin formed on the top of the macaron. This is what helps the foot that is such a distinctive part of a well made macaron.

While we waited for our macarons to rest, we were treated to an amazing afternoon tea of quiches sandwiches, and delectable cakes. It was almost like what you would have for afternoon tea. It was way more than I was expecting!

Once the shells came out of the oven, they were all put into the blast freezer as quickly as possible. At home they would need to rest until completely cool.

Then it was time to make the passionfruit and milk chocolate ganache which formed the filling which is made from chocolate, glucose syrup, cream and passionfruit puree. This is another element that normally needs quite some time to cool completely so we got to bring the ganache home and use a pre-made batch for our filling.

Finally, it was time to assemble. After finding all the shells which were similar sizes to each other and putting the ganache in a piping bag it was time to pipe.  A handy hint was to generously pipe the ganache in the middle, when you put the two halves together give it a bit of twist so that the filling goes right to the edges.

I learned a few handy tips from the class:

• Put any food colouring in with the meringue, not in the almond meal mixture. It will blend much better and give you a consistent colour
• When you combine the meringue with the almond mixture, keep on mixing it until the mixture is loose enough to fall back in on itself. It needs more mixing than you might think. This is why my previous attempt looked more like meringue kisses instead of macarons.
• Aim for a 20 cent size when piping the macarons. Mine were bigger but as long as they are consistent sizes it will be fine. Leave to rest for about an hour before baking.
• Once they are baked you want them to still be chewy. They should be able to peel off the baking paper once they are cooked but not just slide off as a meringue kiss would.
• You can freeze filled macaroons. Just take them out of the freezer 24 hours before you want to serve them and thaw them in the fridge. This means you can make big batches
• The flavour is much better if you leave them for a day before you eat them. If you can resist them!

This was the first time they had run this class so I think that it was an experiment to make sure that they had the timings right etc. The ladies who were part of the group also had lots of suggestions for other classes that they would love to do. I would definitely go again.

In addition to the macarons, I also bought home the tub of passionfruit and milk chocolate ganache which I then had to figure out how to use. In the end, I used it to top some of the eclairs that I had previously made and then filled with chocolate cream. We still have a lot left. One of the chefs who was working with us suggested you could have it on ice cream or toast. I could do ice cream, but I am not sure that I could do toast! All suggestions for how to use it gratefully accepted!

A while ago, I bought a kit to make salted caramel macaroons and now, having done the class, I feel much more confident to give them a go than I did previously. I think I will probably do them in a couple of weeks time!

Weekly meals

Saturday - Spicy Prawn Curry with rice and roti (new)
Sunday - Steak, baked potato, carrot and broccoli
Monday - Pea and ham soup with artisan bread (new)
Tuesday - Zucchini, mushroom and tomato pasta
Wednesday - Normandy Pork and mash
Thursday - Takeaway
Friday - French Onion Casserole

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page