More macaroons

Well this is just addictive. I got home from work last night and immediately got stuck into making another batch of macaroons. I risked halving the recipe, always a brave move when it calls for three large egg whites.

Having gone with one large egg white and one small egg white, (the joys of getting a box of free range eggs from a friend's assorted chickens are many, including beautifully bright yolks and a wide range of sizes), I ended up with a sloppier mixture than last time, perhaps unsurprisingly. This did not concern me as the whole point of obsessively repeating the same recipe over the next week or to is to perfect it. Though it is certainly challenging trying to control the contents of a piping bag with a large nozzle when your mixture has the texture of a thick smoothie.

Anyway. The macaroons were rather thin and flat on the tray as the raw mixture spread a little. Happily this turned out to be a huge advantage as they rose slightly into absolutely gorgeous looking macaroons with smooth, flat tops.

So, conclusion number two (number one being to only use the top shelf of the oven) is that a sloppier mixture works better than a firm one, although I suspect that think there is some middle ground to be found between the two. Perhaps a medium and a small
egg, though this is not an exact science. I may have to talk to those birds.

This time around I left the macaroons uncovered on the side for a few hours to help them to dry out, then overnighted them in tupperware to protect them from the dog. I sandwiched them tonight and they are deeply, deliciously chewy. They look the part but the texture isn't quite right - in theory they should be flakier on the outside and a little less chewy. But given how wonderful the chewiness is, is it time to compromise authenticity for a fantastic food experience?

I think a third batch is called for, with a slightly thicker texture and a full overnight exposure, before a final decision is made.

This time around I made the Swiss meringue buttercream with a different brand of butter, and apparently it is 'too buttery'. In other news, I'm going to have to remove that pea from under the mattress.

Last night I also made a mango and coconut cake as the same person who claims to be worried about developing diabetes due to the level of baking going on around here started pouting when told that the macaroons were not to be eaten for 24 hours. This is a golden sponge with (ahem) mango puree and coconut in it. It is a fine and firm sponge, albeit slightly dry. Imagine the sponge from a farmhouse fruit cake if it had no fruit in it. The coconut flavour comes through well but not so much the mango, though there is certainly a tropical feel to it. Dear god, I sound like George Lucas. I can write this crap but you wouldn't say it. The coconut frosting is apparently 'weird but works in context'. On the whole, a perfectly fine cake but its hard to imagine it ever coming up as the answer to the 'What cake do you fancy?' question.

More macaroons up next, and either carrot cake or Jamaican ginger cake, depending on which of the missing ingredients I remember to buy first.