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Last year, I baked Christmas cookies and gave to my colleagues and a handful of relatives as christmas gifts.
This year, I came up with the idea of giving macarons in Christmas colours. I've always liked the way they look, really cute and enticing. Most macarons come in pastel colours, which make them appear even more resistable irresistable.
A couple of days back, I tried a supposedly reliable macaron recipe, armed with aged egg whites (which are to work better) and a whole lot of enthusiasm and apprehension.
Other than women, I think macarons are probably the next most temperamental things on earth. I read up quite a lot before I experimented. I remember reading on someone else's blog that she has never known of anyone who has successfully made a macaron on his/her first attempt. She is probably right. Unfortunately, in this case, I proved her right.
I attempted chocolate macarons. The cocoa smell was wonderful and filled the whole kitchen. However, a couple of things did not go right.
Firstly, my piping was not up to mark. There were little twirls which I did not know how to get rid off despite rapping the baking tray on the table top a few times before baking.
Secondly, the feet. What's a macaron without feet? My first tray of macarons did not have feet, not even little toes. I kept my eyes glued to the oven for the second tray, and I swear I almost hit the ceiling when I saw FEET!! Yes! Not all of them had feet, but I saw 2 of them with feet. My excitement was short-lived, because I'm not sure what happened, but they later seemed to succumb to their weight and the feet disappeared.
I swear I saw feet!
Thirdly, I had the common problem of having the little rascals sticking to the baking paper.
My fourth problem was the taste. Mine was chewy, and it definitely was not how macarons should taste like.
Fifth problem....they cracked. Period.
As with every flop, my heart sank for a little while. Looking at my trays of maca-wrongs, I wondered what to do with them.
I did more research, and I think I'm ready to give it another attempt soon. I'm running out of time!!! I need a backup plan!
