Success at Last!

As you know, I've been trying to master the art of the macaron lately. I've been improving slowly, but I had only stuck to one method - the French method. This involves making a standard meringue, and mixing it into the almond/sugar mixture. There is an alternative - the Italian method. This involves making a hot sugar syrup and beating that into the meringue (instead of just using plain sugar). I have been wanting to try this, but the lack of a candy thermometer in the kitchen had kept me away from it. I now (inadvertently) have two thermometers, so today was the day. I based my efforts on Edd Kimber's recipe from The Boy Who Bakes. Edd was the winner of the inaugural season of the Great British Bake Off, and I understand he was known for his macarons. He runs masterclasses teaching the art (enrolling was going to be my next step if today was a disaster). Thankfully, his brilliant recipe has been a success!

Here are my vintage rose and lemon macarons (they actually don't taste like rose because I'm not a fan of rose syrup, and I didn't have any, but the colour is a rather pretty faded antiquey rose). They are shiny and have the wee foot/pied and I am deeming them a total success! Yay!

I'm not quite sure why I was so determined to succeed with this - I hated the idea that there was something I just couldn't bake! Now I'm tempted to make loads of different kinds. I suspect the people in my life might find themselves eating a lot of macarons in the near future...