Macaron Making Madness

My sisters have been baking a batch of blue-coloured macarons this weekend, whilst I have been toiling away at an essay.  Being at Mum's, we are in the same room with our very different endeavours, and I have been able to eavesdrop on the steps.

Jessie and Katie have done this before, for a friend's wedding.  These macarons were the bomboniere - chocolate, hazelnut and raspberry white chocolate.  So brown, cream and pink were the end product, displayed in a cute clear box for the guests to take home.  So pretty, and everyone was massively impressed.

This time, they are doing it all again for another friend's wedding.  This weekend, they were testing the oven at home in Ballarat, and also the blue dye and the use of stewed blueberries within the middle of the macaron. All preparation for the main bake in a couple of weeks time.

It's quite the production!

As I have been reading up on logic models, the girls were talking about "fold this in" and "work it and pipe it".

While I have been looking at the difference between normative need and perceived need, they were saying things like "then we get to lick the bowl!" and then "the nips I am not too concerned about" once the shells were poured and they were fussing about the tips.

The end product, as they envisaged, has a blueberry nestled in the centre of the butter-cream filling, meaning that you get a little surprise when you bite into the crispy shell and through the meringue.

Although after this batch, the girls had been brainstorming other ideas, and then whipped up a bowl of mascarpone filling to achieve of more lighter, white goo to surround the surprise blueberry.  It's all trial and error, they tell me!

We now have a ton of macarons in the fridge, and a container has been boxed for the bride-to-be to sample, and another has gone out to my aunties when the girls went out for afternoon tea.  There have also been many little morsels consumed, all in the name of research for the project, of course!

My sugar-fuelled essay is well on it's way, as I curse my lack of attention in lectures and weekly readings, all with the knowledge that there are plenty of macaron treats for a study break around.

I think that they could be doing this as a little business, because the end product at the table of a wedding as the little take-home, is so cute and delicious - a lovely addition to a special day.

The girls have certainly spoiled my view of many other macarons, given how good these and the past batches have been.  Considering I only tasted macarons for the first time in February, hearing the planning, and taste testing for the girls has made me critical of the many average ones out there!