NOW PLAYING: LA MARSEILLAISE
sung by MIREILLE MATHIEU


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. . . OR . . . J'ÉCHOUE
À LA PÂTISSERIE FRANÇAISE*

1 AUGUST 2022


For years, I've wanted to make macarons; don't ask me why.
Maybe 'cause I knew I'd never get to France to try 'em there.
However, every recipe I found had almond flour in it;
Neal has nut allergies, so that was a no go.

Then I watched THIS and THIS (as well as several others),
and I was inspired/intrigued again,
especially as I had strawberry frosting I had to use soon.

I found several recipes without almond flour, so I chose two to try.
This is the story of Recipe #1:

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The look I was going for.

I snuck out of my office so Emmie wouldn't follow me to the kitchen . . .

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. . . she didn't even see the flash.


From watching the videos, I knew this was available,
and I'd ordered a pack from amazon . . .

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As these are two-part cookies, it's important that they are all the same size (hah!)

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Mixing station . . .

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I can already tell these are NOT gonna be a success . . .

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Why the egg whites didn't cooperate:

THEORY #1: The kitchen sliders were open far enough
for the dogs to go out, AND for the humidity to come in
while the egg whites were coming to room temp;

THEORY #2: I had used all these utensils for the
strawberry buttercream and other baking projects,
and didn't think to wipe down EVERYthing with vinegar,
as recommended (I've added that to the recipe as a reminder).

THEORY #3: Pasteurized egg whites from the carton
don't work as well as those straight from the egg.


Well, I wasn't going to give up now,
so after the 45-minute 'resting' period
(for the cookies, not for me), I baked them anyway . . .

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. . . and yes, there is a reason only half of each cookie top has pink glitter;
I have plans for the other half of each cookie top.


Ever anxious to work with
the piping bag, I took out
the strawberry frosting.

Guess what?! Piping
very COLD frosting through
a tip doesn't work well.
So I took a break.

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And after all that, I have 12 cookies . . .

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. . . which have to sit and "bloom" (whatever that means)
for 24 hours. There would've been 13 cookies, but I broke two halves and ate 'em.


THE RECIPE I USED

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Patience not being my strong suit,
we both tried one cookie this evening.
They tasted better than I thought
they would, BUT a lighter filling is needed.
Butter/cream cheese frosting
(left from the strawberry cake)
is much too heavy and sweet.

I'm learning from my misteaks
and will try again, for sure.


*I FAILED AT BAKING FRENCH PASTRY



BAKING A KEY LIME PIE WITHOUT AN OVEN HERE


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