Baking Sunday: French Macarons filled with Raspberry and White Chocolate Ganache

Jenny and I decided to make French Macarons this past Baking Sunday. Macarons are notorious for being tricky and complex. We had a real adventure! Jenny studied abroad in France while she was in college so she found legitimate recipes (one for the meringue shell and one for the ganache) online because you can't make macarons the American way! No butter allowed. Our first batch of meringues turned out okay, but they were sticky and we couldn't figure out if they had baked long enough. The second time around proved a whole lot more successful. We lightly greased the pan, which was actually really helpful and I turned the oven down to 300F instead of 275F as the recipe called.

In addition to being tricky in general, macarons require you to pay attention to detail. We used the food processor to make our own almond meal and Jenny strained it through a mesh sieve twice. It's important for the almond meal to be very fine. I also learned that when you're making the sugar syrup, you cannot stir it or touch it with a spoon once it has boiled. Stirring it allows oxygen in, and in turn makes the mixture solidify. I was in charge of the sugar syrup and did that! Oh jeez. I learned a baking lesson the hard way and had to re-make the sugar syrup. I told Jenny when we were baking that macarons wouldn't be fun to make alone! I think our total baking time (we made two batches) ended up being 3 1/2 hours or so. But the little jewels were well worth the effort and it was a lot of fun. Our second batch wasn't too shabby! Plus, the raspberry/white chocolate ganache is to die for. And now we can say that we've made macarons. Ladies and gents, our baking has ascended to a new skill level and that's a good thing, too, because the semester is almost over and Jenny is going home! What am I going to do without her? I told her we will have to have Skype Baking Sundays. Otherwise, I'm trying not to think about her going back to Mississippi :(.

I know it seems silly, but Baking Sunday has been one of best ways that I've experienced God! It's been so fun to anticipate fellowship each week and create. Baking Sunday often reaches farther than Sunday, too. It enabled me to make a GREAT friend (Jenny), have some really fun and meaningful conversations along the way, and to share our baking goodies with others in the Asbury community. My bosses at work benefit the most ;). Baking Sunday has truly been nurturing for my soul. What a wonderful sabbath activity it has been. 

Besides what I listed above, I have no extra critiques about the macarons. I am just going to leave you with links to the original recipes that we used. They worked out pretty well for us. Enjoy!

 - Recipe for the meringues here
 - Recipe for the raspberry ganache here

Bon appétit my fellow Sunday bakers!