Come unto these yellow sands,
And then take hands.
Curtsied when you have, and kissed
The wild waves whist.
Foot it featly here and there,
And, sweet sprites, bear
The burden. Hark, hark!
Ariel, The Tempest, William Shakespeare
Unsurprisingly (to me), I have little to write here this month.
Busy, so busy, on the wards. I am learning and growing as much as everyone promised I would, but such growth spurts have a tendency towards the uncomfortable as you s t r e t c h out.
I am a single pat of butter being spread thinly over a vast, coarse expanse of toast.
I am frequently tired and often a tad delirious. Butter, toast, makes sense. Yeah.
Happy days, in my new apartment with a new oven (how I ever got so lucky, I don’t know)—everything works the way it ought to. Even these blasted, irritatingly high maintenance cookies.
I am strongly suspecting that my many mediocre trials of macarons came down less to substrate and more to mechanics—a warped pan here or there makes a big difference, and an unevenly heated oven can spell disaster.
For these, the first attempt in my new place, I set myself up for success as best I could—aged egg whites (which sounds utterly disgusting but has been the most reliable method for me), twice-sifted flour, my favorite white spatula with a broad, flat face perfect for macaronage, and two heavy, unwarped sheet pans.
These cookies are a plain, almond shell filled with flowery and fluffy St. Germain buttercream with a tiny piece of preserved fraise de bois in the center to provide a little kiss of fruitiness. They are crisp and sweet and ever-so-lightly boozy—two bites of balance. Though they lack the fizziness of a St. Germain spritz, they have all the elegant, vaguely European subtlety of one.
St. Germain Spritz Macarons
makes 20 2-inch macarons
ingredients:
for the macarons:
100 grams aged egg whites
100 grams granulated sugar
100 grams powdered sugar
100 grams almond flour
pinch salt
yellow gel food coloring and sanding sugar, as desired
for the filling:
110 grams butter, softened
225 grams powdered sugar, sifted
generous pinch salt
15 grams heavy cream
60 grams St. Germain
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
preserved strawberries
directions:
Prepare 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Prepare a large piping bag with a round piping tip.
Over a double boiler, combine egg whites with a little less than half of the granulated sugar.
Whisk continuously until the sugar is dissolved and mixture reaches 160 degrees F.
Move to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment.
Whip on high speed; when very soft peaks form, slowly start adding in the remaining granulated sugar about 1 tablespoon at a time.
Once soft peaks form, add a drop of gel food coloring of whatever color you want.
Whip until stiff peaks form and the meringue is glossy.
Meanwhile, sift the powdered sugar, almond flour, and salt together twice.
Gently add the dry ingredients on top of the meringue and begin folding by hand.
Complete the macaronage until the batter flows like lava.
Add into the piping bag and pipe even circles onto your prepared parchment.
Rap the baking sheets down a few times on a flat counter to pop any air bubbles.
Sprinkle with sanding sugar if desired.
Allow to cure while the oven preheats to 300 degrees F (at least 20 minutes of curing).
Bake for 14-20 minutes, rotating halfway through, until a test macaron lifts off the parchment without leaving its center behind.
Allow to cool completely.
Meanwhile, make the filling: whip butter with powdered sugar and salt until thick and fluffy.
Slowly add the cream, St. Germain, and extracts.
Whip until incorporated.
If the filling is still too thick, add 1 tablespoon of cream at a time, being careful not to overwhip (the alcohol predisposes it to splitting).
Pipe into shells using a small French star tip, leaving a gap in the center.
Drop a half of a preserved strawberry in, and sandwich 2 cookies together.