So, it's kind of embarrassing for me to post anything here because my macarons didn't exactly macaron, if you know what I mean. And it's not like I have no cooking experience. I've been cooking for years. It's more like an equipment failure than anything else.

I decided that I wanted chocolate in my shells. I did some reasearch and found another recipe that used 3 Tbsp of cocoa. So, I used 3 Tbsp cocoa plus enough almond flour to make the 150 grams. But I'm pretty sure that wasn't a problem.

The ganache was super easy and came out rather well. Tasty too!

The shell process worked up to the point where I put it into my stand mixer. I have a 7-quart Viking mixer. Super big because mostly I bake bread in it. (Every other week - told you I wasn't a newbie!) It turns out that sometimes BIG isn't better. My 55 grams of egg white barely coverd the rounded bottom of the bowl. And when I tried to pour in the sugar/water mixture, it ran down the side of the bowl and kind of stuck to it.

I nearly gave up at that point, but I figured I could salvage something from the project. Much of the sugar/water mixture remained stuck to the bowl, so I know the consistency was way off. But I persevered. I even scraped some of the sugar off the bowl. But that wasn't such a good idea either.

I was using a ziplock bag and sometimes lumps of sugar poked through the whole. That's part of why these guys below look so lumpy. A Bit of a Fiasco Here - But I Know Why! - image 1 - student project

Plus, the batter was way too thin because half the sugar was left behind. So it was difficult to control the flow. I baked them anyway, after they sat for 30-40 minutes. This is how they turned out:

A Bit of a Fiasco Here - But I Know Why! - image 2 - student project

As you can see, some of the sugar extruded out of one of the shells.

It was difficult to match up my shells, but I managed to get 14 match ups out of the mess. And bless his heart, hubby said they tasted good.

And actually they did.

So, I'm curious if there's a way to resolve the issues I had, short of buying another mixer. Because that's not happening anytime soon. I'm open to any suggestions.

Here's a picture of the finished product:

A Bit of a Fiasco Here - But I Know Why! - image 3 - student project

Barbara McNeely

Natural Health Coach Geek

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