The Sweet Centurion

Happy 100th post! I don't know how and when we made it to a hundred, but I knew I wanted to step out of my comfort zone to attempt something different for today. There's so much I don't know, and after today I can say a decent meringue isn't one of those things (yay).

Macarons!

They sit there at the confectionery looking so colorful and pretty and you just want to pop a million of them at once. Totally doable at home, by the way.

Preheat oven to 150C. Beat four egg whites together with a cup of caster sugar till they form a stiff foam or meringue - which is when the mixture stiffens so much that you could turn the bowl upside down for a sec and it won't fall out. Add a few drops of desired flavor or food coloring and mix some more. Then add a cup of almond meal and a cup and a half of icing sugar with a tiny pinch of salt. Fold until mixed well but not runny. Pour into a piping bag and make little macarons on a tray lined with baking paper. Tap the tray flat against the counter once or twice to smoothen each macaron. Bake for 15-20 minutes and cool.

For the filling you could use any cream, but I went with a simple chocolate ganache. Boil 30 mL of cream and pour over about 100g of chocolate. Let it sit for a minute then stir to mix. Cool until thickened in the fridge and pipe onto the base of one macaron cookie. Add the second macaron cookie on top and there you have it: homemade macarons!