Oaxacan Cinnamon Chocolate Macarons

I have recently become obsessed with food52.com. If the name didn't give it away, it is a blog all about food. Home cooks share and post their recipes, or adaptations of recipes for people to peruse at their own leisure. Since I am a lover of all things pickles, I was sold at 'Foodpickle,' an open forum for questions and answers on anything you might come across when cooking or baking.

Following, what seems to be my beginner's luck macaron, I attempted them again on three separate occasions with the same result: blech. There were ones that didn't rise, ones that weren't the right consistency and the list goes on an on.

For a party last weekend, I gave the Oaxacan Cinnamon Chocolate Macarons a go. The first batch failed miserably and were all grainy. The second batch, which I managed to salvage somewhat, had cracked. There were a couple good ones, but they cracked. They also didn't get the little feet they talk about around the edges.

There are various reasons as to why macarons crack; you overwhipped the whites, the heat was too high, the rack was too low, or you didn't stack two baking sheets when baking. This just goes to show that these delicious little French delicacies are complicated. I won't give up. Until next time, macaron.

Macarons

So I am about two years late to the macaron party, but they have always intrigued/frightened me. On top of being the most adorable of desserts, you can make them in any flavor imaginable. The more I researched recipes, the more I saw the boundless color and flavor options. I decided to go with salted caramel.

I have only heard how temperamental the shells are to make and how easy it is to screw up the batter. I went into making these with the attitude that they will fail miserably in hopes I would be pleasantly surprised by their success. Miraculously, they worked out in the nick of time, and I was able to share them with our good friends visiting from Minneapolis. Although, they were slightly browned from leaving them in the oven too long. Whoops. I loved them, and I am now hooked on the magic that is French macarons. Reason number 342 as to why I must go to France.

I went off two different recipes for the macarons. Most recipes for these are in grams and since I don't have a scale I needed one with cups. Here is the salted carmel recipe, and here is the recipe with much greater detail, as well as a step-by-step process to making these desserts. A major piece (also slightly gross), is to use stale eggs. I let mine sit out for 48 hours and I'd like to think that made all the difference. Something about stale eggs keeps the macaron shells from cracking. Hopefully, you will be seeing more of these to come and my success in making these won't be beginner's luck.