First Attempt At Baking Macarons

I went for a macaron baking class last night, which I bought for a big discount via Groupon. I do not really have a chance to bake at home because I do not have a proper oven, so whenever there are any baking demonstrations, I always try to go as much as possible. I have tried cheesecakes, chocolate cakes, tiramisus, Christmas log cakes, cupcakes, brownies, cookies, durian cakes, but never macarons. So this class came along at a right time.

The class was held at one of the training centres for civil servants. The kitchen is pretty well equipped. I really like the big mixer! The instructor happens to be the pastry chef at one of the restaurant schools, so she guided us step by step on how to bake the macarons. For the detailed recipe, please refer to my food blog.

 

One thing about the class is that, after the macarons have been piped into the respective trays and moulds, there was nothing else to do save to wait for the batter to set and then placed into the oven to bake. So there was about an hour of waiting time where there was nothing much to do. The instructor told us to go back to the classroom from the kitchen, but since everyone had nothing to do and being locals who do not bother talking to anyone else, we had about an hour's time of boredom, which I feel can be better utilised by letting us try our hand at some smaller recipes instead of sitting around and waiting.

 

Eventually the macarons were baked. Some of them were not baked properly yet so back to the oven they went. Those that were baked properly, we had to do the final step of spreading the cream and placing two macarons together to make a complete one.

 

The moulds my group used are pretty unique. There is the teddy bear shape, and the flower shape. In fact, the teddy bear turned out pretty good. Unfortunately, the round ones that we piped onto the trays did not turn out well.

The finished products

Still, it was a good experience. I have not baked for so long that I could not even remember how to fold in the icing sugar into the egg white and sugar mix! What a blunder! I think people were probably thinking I have never done any kitchen work in my life before!

 

I have not tasted the macarons yet, but I hope they taste alright at least. So now I know how to make macarons, I can start making them as and when I like, that is after I get a proper oven!

By the way, I also got a letter of appreciation for attending the class, as well as a discount card. So it is not that bad a deal after all!