Palate Sensation Macarons

The first time I came across macaron batter, I was over at a friend's place and her mom was putting together trays of macarons in their kitchen. As I walked by, I tried to sneak in a cheeky bite, but the cookie was surprisingly sticky... and oh. It hadn't been in the oven yet, and I just ruined one of the shells. Oops. Can't bring me anywhere. 

It's been several years since that incident, but it marked the start of my fixation with macaron-making (well, at least once I got over the embarrassment...). Crafting cookies with such a delicate exterior while maintaining its chewy interior sure is a skill worth learning more about. Palate Sensation conducts macaron classes at regular intervals, and I spent a satisfying weekend whipping, beating and piping several types of macaron batter and filling up the baked shells with ganache.  

Helming the class was Brenda Chew, who kept a watchful eye on us every step of the way until the macaron shells and ganache came out just-so. With over a dozen of us in the kitchen, it was certainly no mean task. The class participants ranged from the experienced to the newly-initiated, but seasoned baker or not, by the end of the second day, tiny ruffles (or 'feet') could be seen on everybody's macaron shells. Success!


I've made my fair share of cookies and cakes, but I've never seen such diligence being required every step of the way. A digital thermometer is essential to get the temperature of sugar right to 120C, a digital scale is needed to portion out the almond flour (in one of the recipe, 208g means 208g) and even the oven has to be calibrated exactly to 140C. Because macarons can be technical and finicky to get right, having a professional watch me perform each step and correcting me as I go along is much-appreciated. Although, everything does become more challenging when someone is breathing down your neck... 

Because the environment affects how macarons turn out, part of making a macaron recipe yours is to test it out in your home environment and tweak it to get the results you want. The changes in humidity means that less egg whites is called for in winter, and more so  for summer. I'm not sure how well this recipe would work in Australia, but I'm excited to give it a go when I get back. 

A point of contention was to use old egg whites (by cracking them the night prior to baking and allowing them to aerate in the refrigerator overnight) or fresh egg whites. We used old egg whites to great success in the class, and old egg whites are validated by this Quora answer, but other reputable sources say to use fresh eggs at room temperature. I'll let you read both and make up your own mind, but it's safe to say that whichever way you go for, you can find a host of baking science to back you up. 

The course was pretty well-paced, and as challenging as macarons can be, there's still down-time (particularly when the macaron shells are setting) to have a chat with a couple of other people and to check out the designs of the other participants. Bonus if you become friends with someone from the adjacent class learning Singapore Heritage Cuisine! I swopped some of my macarons for some of the food that she was cooking, and the plates of fragrant Hokkien Mee and Satay gave me the energy to keep on piping. After spending so much time doing - and writing - about these macarons, surely this qualifies as a dissertation. Or should I call this a dessert-tation?