Macarons

It's summer! Joy and Tracy have been getting folks on board with their summer bucket lists, so I was inspired to return to my bucket list.

And it hit me.
Macarons.

These are different from macaroons, which are coconut or almonds covered in sticky sweetened condensed milk, mounded up into little haystacks, and baked. Sometimes people cover them in chocolate. They're really smart.

No, although macaroons are on my bucket list too, macarons were the project du jour. Supremely light and yet totally chewy (we all love a good chewy cookie, amirite?), these are perfect for the warmer weather.

I used Bravetart's method, which is fantastic. These are great summer baking.

Wait, you're saying. Macarons, they're killed by humidity, right? According to Bravetart, no. After all, pastry chefs make pastries whether or not it's humid, hot, dry, raining. No biggie!

Because I'm lazy, and because I love chocolate, I made ganache instead of buttercream...just boil some cream in the microwave (1 minute and then 30 second bursts on high), add an equal amount of chocolate by weight, and whisk until smooth and supple.
Supple?
Yup.
Add a pinch of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract, chill and fill!

It's for summer. They go in the fridge. They stay there. It helps the flavors get mellow with one another and keeps the chocolate from splooshing everywhere.

I'll be honest with y'all. Half of my macaron shells didn't get feet and cracked on the top.

You know what? They still taste amazing. Yeah, sure, it's not the pinnacle of macaron glory, but no one's complaining when it's this good.

Summer bucket list:
Tackle something hard.

Check!

The recipe I used was Bravetart's basic macaron.
She also has fantastic posts on the Ten Commandments and the Ten Myths of macaron making.

Thanks Stella!!