a month (or more) of macarons

I've been making macarons for about a month and a half now--and here's the kicker. I don't really even like them--the taste, the way they look. (too sugary, boring. I'd rather eat and look at pizza.) Part of me wonders if my struggles with macarons are a result of not liking them, like maybe they sensed this?

I got into this because I wanted a challenge (and a challenge it has certainly been) and because I happened upon this recipe. Insofar as anything maple serves as a kind of gateway drug for me, I figured this would be the best (and most delicious) place to start. NOTE: I've attempted this recipe a half dozen times and have never been able to get my meringue to the consistency shown in the images here. The macarons still came out (although they weren't pretty--a little too wrinkly on top) and tasted fine, it's just that nothing in my process ended up looking the way things did for the original poster.

I was planning on this being a one and done kind of hobby, but this recipe led to others and then still other recipes and methods--Italian led to French and then to Swiss, and then back again to Italian. I think I've tried almost every recipe and method out there at this point.

My experience with macarons has been hit or miss, mostly miss. It seems I can produce a full mac if I don't mind them having weak and wrinkly tops OR I can produce a great looking mac with a strong and shiny top shell, but the tradeoff is often having to deal with hollows. Ah, those dreaded hollows--some of which are diminished when the macs are filled and matured, others never go away.

In late December, my macaron-making happened to overlap (however briefly) with my sugar cookie-making and I started wondering about applying some wet-on-wet royal icing techniques to the macarons. If I could do this with cookies, why not with macarons? At least I could make macarons that were (at least to my eye) a little more interesting.

I knew that many were applying color, texture and/or design to their plain macaron shells post-bake, but I wanted to find a way to do the design pre-bake, at the batter stage. As powerful a motivator as maple is for me, leopard print is even stronger. And so, my goal was to make leopard print macarons. After this, I promised myself, I'd stop making macarons (and that was almost a month ago).

I made this how-to video for one of my macaron groups, showing how I've adapted for macarons the wet-on-wet royal icing technique, but since making that video, I've begun to experiment with other colors, designs, and shapes. A small sampling:  

 

And, continuing on with the Boston Terrier theme, perhaps my favorite macs to date--inspired by a dollar thrift store painting we bought seven or eight years ago.

In a nutshell, my attitude toward macarons was (and still is) this: If I could do it (had done it) with royal iced sugar cookies, why not try it with macarons? And so doing this:

 
Naturally meant trying this:

Another valuable cheat/lesson I've learned along the way--best way to make the best of the ugliness of a wrinkly top? Dip 'em in chocolate.