Burger-Style Macarons

I haven't participated in the Mac Attack Challenge for a while, but this month's theme was so interesting I wanted to give it a go. Ballpark-snack macarons are the topic of this month's Mactweets. I have actually never been to a big ballgame in Germany, neither have I been at a hockey game all those years I lived in Canada. I know, shame on me, but in my defense, I have been to several football and baseball games while I was living in San Francisco.

The football games always started with a tailgate party, which was totally new to me. I mean who would bring half of his kitchen to a parking lot. But it was always a lot of fun, often more than the actual game. Most people would make burgers, and this is what I wanted to make as my macarons. I have seen similar Macs a while ago and always wanted to try them, since they looked so cute.

Ganache filled macarons are always on the sweet side, but with all the fruit toppings it tastes really good. They would make a cute dessert for any BBQ party or picnic.

Meyer Lemon Macarons

I have read a lot about Meyer Lemons in recent years. This spring I was finally lucky to see them in the store and was able to try them myself. Meyer Lemons are not as sour as regular lemons, and they have a hint of thyme and a very fragrant skin. They are perfect for making lemon curd, and I was thinking about making Meyer Lemon macarons for a long time.

So, when this month's challenge for Mactweets macaron was revealed, I immediately thought about an old children's poem from the legendary Heinz Erhardt. We were called to be inspired by a childhood fairytale or story for our monthly macaron flavor. Heinz Erhardt was a German comedian, actor, entertainer and also wrote children's poems. I always loved to watch his movies. The poem is called "Why lemons turned sour".

Warum die Zitronen sauer wurden

Ich muß das wirklich mal betonen:

Ganz früher waren die Zitronen

(ich weiß nur nicht genau mehr, wann dies

gewesen ist) so süß wie Kandis.

Bis sie einst sprachen: Wir Zitronen,

wir wollen groß sein wie Melonen!

Auch finden wir das Gelb abscheulich,

wir wollen rot sein oder bläulich!

Gott hörte oben die Beschwerden

und sagte: Daraus kann nichts werden!

Ihr müßt so bleiben! Ich bedauer!

Da wurden die Zitronen sauer.

Cherry Blossom inspired Macarons

This month on March 20th marks the annual Macaron Day. So, the lovely ladies from Mactweets called upon us the macaron lovers to make some spring flower inspired macarons, which will be presented on this special day on their website.

It sounded a lot more challenging than I thought. The first things that came to mind were Elderflowers. I made some very nice syrup last year with them, but I already used it up, and they are not yet in season. Then I thought about rose or lavender, but I wasn't sure how they would turn out. The idea finally came to me when I was taking a walk outside: cherry blossoms! They are already blooming all over the streets of Vancouver, a month earlier than usual. It's an awesome site. Spring certainly comes early this year!

I made regular macaron shells colored in pink and filled them with a white chocolate ganache with dried cherries and some kirsch. I later found out that Tartelette once made real cherry blossom macarons, with cherry blossom extract, which you can actually buy in Japan. 

Key Lime Pie Macarons

I have never tasted Key Lime Pie before or even seen Key Limes in the supermarket. So I was pleasantly surprised when I finally saw those green little balls in the store the other day. Key limes are more tart and aromatic than regular limes and they are also a lot smaller in size. They are named for their origin, the Florida Keys.

The first thing I made was of course Key Lime Pie, which tasted very good and had a great tartness. The filling is traditionally made with sweetened condensed milk. After making the pie, I had some leftover filling and egg whites. This made me think they would make good macarons.

The tartness of the filling compliments the sweetness of the macaron shells very well. You will have some leftover filling. You can either use it as pie filling (baked in a pie crust instead of the ramekins), or just eat it as a yummy lime curd.

I am submitting these Macarons to Mactweets, a Macaron Lovers' group I just discovered. Every month there is a different theme for Macarons. You should check out the great creations on their pages. This month theme is Valentine's Day.  Well, on the first look my Macaron might look not very Valentine like, but after the winter who wouldn't want to spend a romantic getaway on the Florida Keys.

Daring Bakers: French Macarons with Cranberry Curd

French macarons was the October challenge for Daring Bakers! Since I started reading food blogs on a regular basis, about a year ago, this little beauties were popping up everywhere. They are also more and more available in cafes and patisseries all over the place.

My first attempt using the original recipe failed miserably. The macarons looked more like a milano cookie, they were totally flat, had no feet and would stick on the parchment paper. Since I made macarons before, I was surprised that everything went so wrong, but I was not alone, as I could read in the Daring Bakers Forum. After reading the many tips and advises (especially Tartelette and Audax), I switched to Tartlette's recipe, which uses more dry ingredients but the same amount of egg white.

My second batch failed out of different reasons. I oven was way too hot, because I was also roasting a chicken before. They came out a little brown of course, but they still had the feet. They were still yummy, just a little crunchy.

Then came my third and last attempt. I was so happy when I saw they all got little feet and none of them were broken.

For the filling I used cranberry curd, which you can find at my last post. The magenta color of the curd gave a great contrast to the white shells, and the taste from sweet to tart was very good.

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s "The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern" as the challenge recipe.