Your holiday guests have, I am sure, delicate tastes that will not resist the allure, the attraction, of a few good macarons.
Fellow New Jerseyans and macaron masters Kathryn Gordon and Anne E. McBride tell us everything we wanted to know and were afraid to ask as to how to make 'bakery-quality macarons at home'.
They reveal the anatomy of a macaron with Les Petits Macarons (Running Press, October 2011)
I go for the theatrical with this first recipe.
Sarah Bernhardts
History has it that a Danish pastry chef invented these cookies to celebrate famed nineteenth-century French actress Sarah Bernhardt. The crispy texture of the macaron, the soft ganache, and the rich chocolate shell of this petit four undoubtedly evoke beauty and luxury. This recipe is perfect for shells that are cracked or that don’t have feet as well formed as others. Tempering the chocolate before dipping the petits fours in it gives it a snap once it cools, as well as a shiny color. If you choose to not temper the chocolate, your Sarah Bernhardts will still taste delicious but will look slightly less polished.
Makes 40
1 recipe of your favorite ganache (pages 104 to 119), firm enough to pipe
40 Rose (page 91) or Almond (page 40) shells
1 recipe Tempered Chocolate (recipe follows)
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Fill a pastry bag with the ganache and cut off a 1⁄2-inch tip. Pipe a small amount of
ganache, about 1⁄2-inch thick, in a cone-like shape about 1 inch high, on the flat sides of
the shells. Don’t let the ganache go all the way to the edges of the macaron. Let the
ganache set in the fridge, about 10minutes.
Dip the ganache part of the cookies only in tempered chocolate (seepage 242). The macaron base should remain chocolate-free. Place them on the parchment-lined baking sheet after dipping, then refrigerate for 10 minutes so that the chocolate sets. Store at room temperature for 2 days, in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, and in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Tempered Chocolate
Tempering consists of gradually lowering the temperature of couverture chocolate—at ype of chocolate that contains a higher percentage of cocoa butter—through stirring, then slightly raising it again, to form a crystal structure in the chocolate that allows it to be shiny and solid at room temperature and “snap” crisply when you bite into it or break it into pieces. It’s hard to temper small quantities of chocolate, so you will have a lot of it leftover. Let it solidify, and retemper when needed.
1 pound (453 grams) semisweet chocolate couverture, chopped (see page 257)
Fill a pot over which the bowl of your electric mixer can fit without touching the bottom with about 2 inches of water. Bring the water to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer.
Put the chocolate in the bowl of an electric mixer. Place the bowl over the pan, clip a candy thermometer to the side of the bowl, and let melt until the chocolate reaches 115ºF (46ºC).
Take the bowl off the heat and set it on the mixer. Fit the paddle attachment, and beat at low speed until the chocolate reaches 84ºF (29ºC) on the candy thermometer.
Dip a piece of parchment paper in the chocolate, then let it set in the freezer for 5 minutes to see if the chocolate snaps (breaks cleanly). If it does, reheat the chocolate slightly over the simmering water for 8 to 10 seconds, until it reaches 88ºF (31ºC) on the candy thermometer. If the chocolate doesn’t snap, continue to cool it in the mixer until a retest on parchment paper does snap.
Immediately use the chocolate to make the Sarah Bernhardts. If it starts to set, heat it briefly again over the simmering water for 10 seconds, and stir it again before using. Repeat the parchment test if you think it might have become too warm.
(* Recipe reprinted with permission from LES PETITS MACARONS © 2011 by Kathryn Gordon and Anne E. McBride, Running Press, a member of the Perseus Book Group. Photos © 2011 by Steve Legato)