Some of you might know I have tried quite few things on those daily deals you get from either Groupon or Living Social. During Easter time I saw this deal on learning how to make macarons and they had a deal for 2 so I asked if Marketa was interested. We both love macarons and it was her who introduced me to the famous ones in Zurich called Sprugli.
Finally many months later, today was the day of the lesson. Unfortunately it was rainy, the sort of perfect day for a lie in but I had to be in Hackney at 10am. What a hip area to go to, Hackney.
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| Marketa and me |
The baking school is under the railway arches called "Happy Kitchen". It looks so hidden that you could easily walk past it thinking it's some shop under renovation? It has been so long since I took the bus and I had to take bus 277 towards Highbury and Islington for about 30min.
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| Arriving at Ganache Macaron |
We were split into pairs and then we watched a demo round by the instructor Audrey. She did a step by step explanation and gave tips along the way. The class had about 12 people and I could sense some eager macaron bakers were among us judging by the questions they asked. The only experience M and I had with these sweet little things were.. well… just buying them from the shops.
We learnt that macarons are very fussy. They don't like moisture nor humidity (I wonder how they can survive in Singapore?). They say that even an experienced chef for 10 years could have a bad "macaron day". Each macaron is handmade carefully which probably explains why they are so expensive.
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| Whisking away till stiff peaks form |
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| Putting in the colouring. We wanted a pale pink. |
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| Supervised by Paul, the other owner of Ganache Macaron. |
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Disappointed that the batter was still not ready. Paul says it should fall down smoothly.
Mine was one big pink glob. |
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| Almost there! You can tell the difference already. |
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| Good tip to put the template below the baking paper so we know how big to pipe each shell |
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| Piping in action. We were loving the colour! |
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| Close up piping |
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| My turn to pipe. How fun! |
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| The other pair had their shells piped too high and so Paul taught her to hold the tray and knock it gently on the table to settle them down better |
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| Once done we had to put our trays in front of a heater to let them "dry" such that a "skin" would form on our shells |
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After 10min in the oven, tada!! Look at our batches of shells ready to be filled!
Each shell has the" spill out" at the base called "feet" |
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| Here is Paul using our shells as examples to teach us how to fill up the macarons and how to store macaroons: on their "feet". You need to consume them in a week but if you decide to freeze them, you can keep them for up to 3 months. |
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| Our shells turned out slightly more "beigey" than I expected. The vintage kind of pink. |
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| We hand mixed a strawberry cream paste and then joined two shells together |
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| That is our batch of macarons done! |
M and I thoroughly enjoyed the process of making them. But to make them like Audrey and Paul for every day… it's no wonder Paul said he doesn't eat macarons. Now I wonder if I would be trying them myself at home… I might try Bel's version.. kaya macarons?! Time to start my own cafe as what K always tells me.
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