cook's assistant, part 2

On Saturday, Max enlisted my help to make Parisian-style macarons.

I knew it was coming, I gave him a cookbook about making them for Christmas, but still. Marc made several attempts at macarons several years ago and eventually gave up in defeat. Dorie Greenspan says that the reputations of Parisian pâtisseries rise and fall based on their macarons.

What I'm saying is that these are not easy confections to whip out. And that it's a good thing I didn't have a lot on my docket that day.

Grinding almonds and powdered sugar into a fine powder.

Sifting, twice. Deciding the almonds were not ground fine enough, re-grinding and sifting.

I don't have photos of the trickiest part, called the macaronnage, which entails making a meringue and then carefully folding in the almond mixture.

Piping the batter out into pre-drawn circles. Eva was disappointed that we said this project was too difficult for her to help.

Then, allowing them to dry. Then, baking. And making a real buttercream filling. Have you ever made real buttercream? Well, suffice it to say that it is not for the faint of heart.

Piping the buttercream onto the cooled cookies and forming what Lucas calls the "mini-hamburgers."

Voilà! Only four hours later, completed macarons! Seventeen of them. Yep, seventeen whole cookies. He's been pretty tight-fisted with these babies, but he did share with Charlotte, Emily, and Josh when they were over today.

The verdict: while they were a little crunchier than the Paris originals, I'd say this was a pretty huge success for his first attempt. And he has more patience than I do. I think I'll stick with my usual homemade cookies that only take about half an hour...


p.s. In the last few days, I have found three more notes from Max. I can't believe I am still finding them, he hid them well! In a pocket of my purse, inbetween baking supplies in the lazy susan, etc... And after our long macaron experiment, it sure does feel good to be appreciated.