First Attempt

After deciding that I would learn how to bake french macarons, I discovered I already had a recipe for them. I have David Lebovitz' book "The Sweet Life in Paris" and he has one recipe for chocolate macarons. David was a chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. He wrote this book about living, eating, and cooking in Paris. It's really interesting and a good guide to the city, interspersed with great recipes.

I checked his website before I began and found he has a section on macarons and the techniques for making them as well as another recipe, one he said was more popular with his French friends. So that is the one I made - chocolate macarons with chocolate, prune and cognac filling. He says to use Armagnac for the cognac. I went off to the liquor store to get a small bottle and was told the only bottle they had cost $1,100.00. That can't possibly be right. Certainly would not be included in my first batch of macarons. I found a $3 mini bottle of Courvoisier, which I hoped would be adequate.

I made the cookies over Thanksgiving weekend. I was quite tense after reading about all the disasters possible and the importance of technique. What technique? You are supposed to use a pastry bag to make small circles with the meringue. I had never used a pastry bag. I bought a kit by Wilton with disposable plastic bags and a few different tips. This worked well except that as a new user my technique produced almost as much batter out the top of the bag as through the tip on the bottom. Eventually I got enough batter circles on the parchment paper on the cookie sheets and got the cookies in the oven. I finally relaxed a little when they were done and they each had the small footing on the bottom, characteristic of the macaron cookie. It's called the "pied." You can see this in the photo above. Two of these cookies will be put together with the chocolate filling to make the macaron.

If you decide to make this recipe, I have found that my oven cooks the macarons in about half the time of the recipe. I have also learned that Lebovitz' requirement of rapping the cookie sheets on the counter before you put them into the oven is essential. I slam them on the counter about three times before baking. It pops the air bubbles out of the meringue.