Mon Macaron

I had the distinct pleasure of photographing the wonderful macaron workshop held by Seattle's BonVivant, and taught by famed food blogger and photographer/stylist, Helene Dujardin (perhaps better known as Tartelette).

Now, I've got to come clean here. I broke my 45-day sugar fast for this class. One small macaron during class, and another one a day later. Helene is right; the macarons taste best after they've cured a day or two. In fact, it was so much better the second day, it was almost a totally different cookie.

I've always wanted to see someone else make macarons, as the little meringue cookies are on most foodies "Top Ten Hardest Things to Make" lists. They are very hard to master, as the ingredients are incredibly fickle. So, in addition to photographing private events and meeting up with really wonderful local foodies (things I love doing), I also got to observe one of my all-time favorite food photographers teach a macaron class. Score!

Here are some highlights from the class, held at Viv's home. Thanks again to her for hosting this fantastic event. Many thanks, also, to Jeanne Sauvage, for her great assistance with the class!

Tools and ingredients for macaron

Sugar goes in slllowly and egg whites are stiff-peaked

Helene shows the proper way to hold a pastry bag

The proper thickness of the macaron batter

Pipe small circles onto thick parchment paper or Silpat

Measure ingredients by weight, not by volume

The perfect macaron mounds need to sit for 30+ minutes
before going into the oven to develop a "skin" on top

Pans need to be slapped onto a hard surface to get
rid of any air bubble trapped in the batter

Assembling the macarons with chocolate ganache filling

Voilà! Not the perfect macaron, as it has a skirt instead of
feet, but it is good for a first try. Everybody did so well!

I also wanted to post a link (by permission) to Luuvu Hoang's video that he made from the class. It's so fun!

The Green Macaron from LuuvuH on Vimeo.

Vive le macaron!