Praline Macarons with Bourbon Vanilla Buttercream
By Kim Morgan • Oct 26th, 2008 • Category: Desserts
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Macaron mania is sweeping the world and for me to escape getting caught up in it was impossible. For one, the most talented Macaroness lives in my home town Charleston-Tartelette. The second reason is that they are just a little bite of heaven, no matter what the flavor. And thirdly, they hook you.
The thrill of getting a foot on what seems like a simple process of making a Macaron is exhilarating to say the least. Once you get the infamous foot-you’re hooked. Getting a foot and then failing to get one for the next 10 batches is an obsession. One in which I experienced a few weeks back.
You can read Tartelette’s version of the story here. All, I know is that I finally got the chance to meet Helen. I spent an afternoon learning the most important why’s of Macaron making. You can read her wonderful article, which Helen wrote for Desserts 101. As grand as this was, the real treat was in spending an afternoon making a new friend, laughing while chatting in the kitchen. Helen, is just as delightful as you would imagine from reading her blog, and I ended the day that much happier for meeting her. She is also a grand teacher, as her style is extremely relaxed.
Helen rescued me from Macaron Hell, which in my book is never getting a foot again only to yield flat or high cracking macrons over and over. Maybe some of you can read and then craft them to perfection, but I needed a gifted teacher to stand over me while we went through the process saying, “do you feel it”.
“Yes, I do”, over and over through each step.
Now, you might be saying, what is A Yankee in a Southern Kitchen doing making Macarons in the first place. Well I said, yes to a friends request to make 120 of these for her wedding a month ago. I am a hard worker and relatively smart with a pretty good sense in the kitchen, so why not.
Years decades ago, when I was in my twenties I applied as kitchen help in a 3 or 4 star restaurant called, The Coventry Forge Inn, in Pennsylvania. During my interview one of the first questions I was asked, was what can you make?
In my confident youth, I said, “I can make anything.”
Can you make puff pastry?
“Uh, no but I can make bread.”
“Sorry, the chef said, but we need someone who can make puff pastry.”
I went home defeated but for awhile. Then I got back into the car, went to the nearest cooking store and said, “What do I need to make puff pastry?”
Determined, I walked out with a pastry scraper which I still have and a pastry board. I then spent the afternoon with Julia Child’s cookbook and proceeded to make puff pastry.
The rest of the afternoon was spent making puff pastry which, I let sit overnight in the refrigerator. The next day I arose early, baked the pastry in small shapes and drove back to the restaurant, where by -I boldly knocked on the back kitchen door, asking for the chef. He came to the door and I said,
“I went home yesterday and made puff pastry and here it is.”
He inspected my board, tried some, smiled and said,
“Good job for your first try, you’re hired”. Beaming from ear to ear, I went home proud and excited about the prospect of working for this fine man and learning more about my first love-cooking.
As life would have it, I had to turn the job down days after accepting it, and am sorry that I lost the chance to hone my cooking skills at the Coventry Forge Inn.
It was this boldness returning to a much older woman with the spirit of the young girl who said,
“Yes, I can make anything”, that got me into Macaron hell.
When my friend asked me, “Can you make Macarons and 120 of them?
I said, “yes- of course.”
Only this time it wasn’t as simple as going to the pastry store and buying the equipment. I did manage to make 120 Macarons, but only a few had a foot and it took me two- 12 hour days to yield 120 filled Macarons-as batch after batch went into the trash time and time again. This wasn’t a slack 12 hour a day, with breaks in between either.
My back ached, I suffered at least a zillion hot flashes under pressure, especially with two ovens going, and I finished just a mere 3 hours before I was to deliver them. It just so happened that very day, David Lebovitz had a post on Macarons, which lead to Tartelette reading my comment seeing that I was in distress. Unfortunately, I did not read the email she sent me upon sensing my panic. Tartlette’s offer was to talk me through the Macarons and help me. But the email did lead to our get together which we kept putting off because of busy schedules.
On our Macaron afternoon, we made quite a few batches, and at the end while waiting for the Macarons to rest, I asked if it was possible to make a Praline Macaron with Bourbon Vanilla Butter cream. I am excited about these as they turned out incredible, and I am making them for another friend’s upcoming wedding in November. This is the perfect combination for a Southern wedding, as they do have that praline taste and the Bourbon Vanilla Butter cream just screams the South.
I am not going to begin to tell you how to make them, if you want to know how-go to the best-Tartelette and learn from her. I am most grateful for her time, encouragement, gentle carefree teaching, saving me from Macaron Hell, and most importantly her friendship. Helen said, she left my home with a skip in her step; I stayed with a skip in my heart. The kitchen really is the heart of a home, and I got to spend an afternoon playing in it with my daughter and a new friend.
Oh-one more thing. I now have the pleasure of residing in Macaron Heaven-and it is a much better place to be.
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Kim Morgan is the aspiring writer, photographer & passionate cook of ayankeeinasouthernkitchen.com; she is currently cooking Southern food, one stick of butter at a time.
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Fantastic! What a wonderful flavor! You did a great job here, wow!
Cheers,
Rosa
that is a great story. what perseverance!
those macaroons are georgeous. and, as always, I love your packaging. you’re a little Martha Stewart!
Oh my goodness, these are amazing looking, wow, you’ve outdone yourself here! Just awesome!
The picture of them stopped me in my tracks. They are beautiful! I’m sure they taste just as good as they look. NICE!!
Great story – That took some real courage.
Great twist too. Nice one!
So beautiful! I’ve only been to a macaron place once and it wasn’t Heaven. Your story inspires me to try again with Helen’s tutorial by my side.
I never had macarons in my life. Great pictures.
Your macarons look perfect! I can just imagine them with the bourbon vanilla buttercream. I just made 330 for wedding the other week and my feet were killing me.
yum! these look great! i really like your blog
The visit from Tartelette alone would have put me on cloud nine for a year, to have baked with her and learned from her would have been a memory that I would revisit again and again forever. Your macaroons are beautiful and your story is inspiring.
great story, kim! believe it or not, i haven’t even tasted a macaron, much less made one. i’m rebellious like that.
I’ve yet to make one of these. I admit, I have been too intimidated to try. Yours look gorgeous; the flavors sound incredible
.
i loved reading this, kim
great post
and your photos are just amazingly beautiful
this blog is just really awesome
excellent writing too
you go girl
all this being said, i am never ever making these
TOO HARD!!!
What a wonderful story. I wish I had the gumption to say Yes, I CAN! Good for you that you went for it and kept at it!
Your macarons look terrific!
~ingrid
Ahahaha! You have figured out my teaching style: if I don’t say anything keep going!! I find it less confusing than talking over the good steps. But I can surely talk about a lot of something else
OK…so I have started talking out loud more during the day so I would not burn your ears off this week…and I promise to bring book sample. I have a huge pink post it on the fridge!!
I am looking forward to many more kitchen exchanges with you and your daughter!
They look wonderful! What is the foot you keep talking about?
These macarons are perfection! Great job!
Your story made me smile…I love tenacity!!!
I do the same thing! And though I have always done what I said I would/could do…sometimes cakes and what not ended in the trash as well, until just right!!!
Awesome macaroons…
I love this story!! Talk about determination. I love the “can do” attitude; this world could use a little more people like you! These macarons look divine.
What a post, Kim! I read Helen’s some time ago and hoped to read yours later. The macaroons is an absolute perfection! Congratulations!
Brilliant.
Love your story about puff pastry.
Exquisite! I am dying to make macarons this year and these are the perfect inspiration. Not only do yours look amazing but, better yet, you have come up with a flavor combination I can’t resist. And now, having read your story, I will also remember to be humble and not feel so bad if they don’t turn out on my first try. Thanks for sharing your challenges as well as your successes!
Those are so pretty! AND what a great story! I never knew that one. They look amazing, great job!
Great story Kim!
Great job on those macarons, too. It sounds like way too much work for me though.
That’s brilliant Kim! Well done indeed and good on you for getting help from one of the greatest too
Bourbon Vanilla Buttercream? Oh my, that sounds like something I just need to eat by the spoonful.
These look beautiful, I love macarons but I’ve never attempted to make them yet.
Gorgeous! you’ve inspired me to make something yummy tonight – probably with bourbon and vanilla! hope all is well. Lisa