"I think I'm obsessed." I said these words to a friend, tonight. Nevermind that his answer was "you're just now figuring that out?" before he even realized what I was doing. I was actually referring to the fact that I was in the kitchen making my second batch of French macarons in less than 24 hours. He thought I meant in general. Hrmph!! Well okay so perhaps he's right - I do tend to go a little crazy when I find something I like. And boy did I like those macarons!!!Folks who tried them did too! I had a meeting with my senior director this morning and brought her a few (why did Gia immediately rub his nose when I told him that?) and she went so crazy over them she ran to the next office over to share them with another director who "LOVES macarons". Wow.
As the last line in my previous post stated - I was ready to try some different flavors! First one on my list: Pistachio! I'm not sure why except that I love the idea of turning out light green cookies. What I hadn't thought about was that the pistachios I had at home, and was ready to make into little soft fluffy macarons, were in shells and salted. So I rolled up my sleeves and started shelling pistachios, washing the salt off, drying them in the oven and 
then grinding them so that they'd push through a sieve. WHEW!I wasn't as happy with this batch though. They were DANG tasty but I think I spoiled myself turning out such perfect macarons last night on my first try.
Could I have gotten *gasp* overly confident?? Never! I think I worked the batter too much this time and then didn't bake them long enough. They're not quite dry enough in the center - but boy they sure do taste delicious! I shelled, washed, dried and ground even more pistachios to make a vanilla pistachio buttercream for 
the filling. Yummy! This is so fun! More than anything I love the idea of churning out different colors and flavors of the same type of cookie. To my friends: I'm taking requests - got a favorite macaron flavor? Leave a comment and I'll try it (and if you're local I'll try to get some to you!)Have a great weekend everyone!
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How about a chocolate raspberry? That sounds good to me! Or a mint? Those are my two flavor votes! Wait, would toffee work? Man, now I want a cookie...
ReplyDeleteWow - I absolutely love macarons and your versions look fantastic, Lise!
ReplyDeleteSo my favorite flavors are the classic ones -- hazelnut, vanilla, chocolate and the one you just tried -- pistachio.
But in case you're looking for crazier ideas -- when Jim and I were in London last year, we found this amazing restaurant/bakery called Yauatcha that created Asian flavored macarons -- the flavors were incredibly imaginative, but the flavor and texture were... *okay* - see links for pictures and reviews.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/markhillary/2109789347/
http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/features/4254.html
Yauatcha flavors include:
cashew
lychee raspberry
black bean
kumquat
fig violet
strawberry tagada
coconut saffron
apricot ginger
Does that earn me a cookie?? :-)
OOOOH MY GOD!!! YOU ARE AMAZING! French macarons are my absolute most favorite cookies! Yours seriously look perfect (but I expect nothing less from you). Like Andrea, hazelnut and pistacio are a couple of my faves, but I also really love the rose and lavender ones as well. oooh, how about a chai one! I have chai tea latte concentrate, so let me know if you want a bottle. mmmm. How about tiramisu, or peach, or passionfruit? My god...I better stop. I'm getting carried away...
ReplyDelete~deb
Most folks have already listed my faves (serves me right for waiting until the end of the day to post a comment) --- pistachio, lavender, rose, hazelnut. Running with Deb's chai idea, how about tea flavors? Green tea with chcolate ganache, perhaps? Jasmine tea or perhaps a way to even make a HK milk tea version? Also read somewhere that Paris is currently raving over a lime-basil combo... Not sure about that one, but sometimes what sounds horrible to the ears is heaven on the tastebuds...
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ReplyDeletei'm a day late commenting but lise and friends, your cookies and suggestions are making me want to book a trip to europe!
ReplyDeleteall these ideas sound great but how about a citrus macaroon - like lemon or orange? tangerines are in season now. :)