Natalie Wong - French Macarons for Beginners: Foolproof Recipes with 60 Flavors to Mix and Match

Copyright 2019 by Rockridge Press, Emeryville, California

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Interior & : Julie Schrader

Art Producer: Sue Smith

Editor: Pam Kingsley

Production Editor: Matt Burnett

Photography by Marija Vidal

Photography 2019 Marija Vidal

Food styling by Elisabet der Nederlanden

courtesy Cushman & Wakefield

ISBN: Print 978-1-646-11139-8

eBook 978-1-646-11140-4

R0

I dedicate this book to my mother, Karen Wong; my father, Stephen Wong; and my brother, Nicholas Wong. They are my number one supporters, and I appreciate them so much. I would also like to dedicate it to my loving boyfriend, Jevons Jiang, who helps me and pushes me to follow my dreams.

Contents

T he macaron.What an elusive, finicky cookie. A more sophisticated confection than, say, a chocolate chip cookie sandwich. Theres definitely a reason that these beautiful, colorful, and delicious creations are high-priced at your local bakery or grocery store: They are difficult to master.

My initial exposure to macarons was back in 2012 on Instagram. People were posting pretty patties and gushing about how delicious and cute they were. I tasted my first macaron at a local bakery, and I was disappointed. The flavor was supposed to be pistachio, but it tasted like pure sugar. I tried a raspberry one. It still tasted like nothing but sugar. This is what led me on my journey to discover how to create the perfect macaron. Its a path that Im still exploring today.

This path first led me to Google and YouTube, where I searched for an easy macaron recipe. I eagerly bought my first bag of almond flour and cautiously tested out the first recipe. Im not afraid to admit that it turned out terribly. The macaron had no feet (the ruffle on the bottom of the macaron; you will learn more about that later). It was cracked and lumpy. I wondered what went wrong, so I tried again. This time the macaron had feet, but the cookie was as flat as a pancake.

I studied the recipe closely. It said to fold the almond/powdered sugar mixture with the meringue until the batter looked like flowing lava. That direction is open for interpretation. It was obviously not clear enough, because I had pancakes instead of macarons.

I obsessed over getting the macaron just right and searched countless blogs and YouTube videos, trying to gain some insights. Eventually, I found a recipe that worked (so I thought) and mustered up enough confidence to post the results on Instagram.

Several friends commented on my post, asking if they could buy some macarons from me. I said, sure! I gave away my first attempts at macarons for free (I called them maca-wrongs), but now people were willing to buy my creations! I charged only a dollar each at first (what a steal!). Motivated by the increased response I was getting, I focused on creating full and fluffy shells and even wrote a blog about it, which generated thousands of views across the globe.

Now that I had found a recipe that led to successful macarons every time, I decided that I wanted to share it with others.

Up until that point, I had been unclear about my direction in life. I switched my college major three times and wasnt sure what to do next. But once I started baking macarons, I knew that I had found my true passion in life. Some say if you can master the macaron, you can master any type of baking. In the following pages, I will share my knowledge with you and give you the inside scoop, detail by detail, on making macarons. This book will provide you with a step-by-step how-to guide to making beautiful, delicious, fluffy, full macarons with different fillings. I will include troubleshooting and tips along the way, as well as ideas for how you can expand your flavors and creativity to come up with your own creations.

As you read through this book and make what are perhaps your first batches of macarons, I hope to help you avoid the mistakes I made at first and instead bake beautiful, delicate cookies. I hope to give you the satisfaction of creating something that is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also delicious.

B aking the French macaron may be intimidating at first, but it can be broken down into seven simple steps: weighing and sifting, making the meringue, mixing the almond flour into the meringue, piping the batter, resting the batter, baking, and filling. The basic shell recipe only includes four ingredients: almond flour, powdered sugar, egg whites, and granulated sugar. Once you measure out these ingredients correctly, master the technique, and feel confident in your baking, you will become a master of macarons. You may even begin to dream about making them, and become addicted to their beautiful appearance, heavenly taste, and endless flavor combinations. I hope you are ready to dive in and find out the best-kept secrets of making macarons.