I don’t have a “12 Days of Cookies” post today, so I hope you’ll scroll down to yesterday’s (after this, of course!) and visit the other dedicated holiday cookie bakers in their quest to produce 12 cookies in 12 days from the Bon Appétit 2008 Holiday Cookie-a-Day collection!
“To tweet of many things:
Of eggs–and nuts–and flavorings–
Of Macarons–and sweets–
And why meringue won’t lighten up —
And whether Macs have feet.”
(with apologies to Lewis Carroll)
Notice something? No feet. No ruffley, elevated base from which the macarons rise gracefully to smooth, mushroom-like tops. Look like little Moon Pies, don’t they? I comforted myself with my husband’s words: “Hey, they don’t need feet to get ’em to my mouth!”
In the end, though, it wasn’t enough. Although fear of further failure reared its ugly head, the subsequent mysterious and cryptic Twitter chatter between Deeba and Jamie only served to whet my curiosity. Then the announcement: MacTweets, the website, was born, and with it, the opportunity for wannabe macaron-bakers of every skill level, to learn, to bake, to commiserate, and speculate over every aspect of the macaron and its most elusive feature: feet.
I discovered that I wasn’t alone. Accomplished bakers and cooks on at least three continents were bemoaning the lack of feet on their macarons, trying this recipe and that, sifting, drying, tweaking oven temperatures. We compared technique and relative humidity. As we came closer and closer to this day, the Twitter buzz intensified and the tension mounted.
Finally, like Deeba, on my sixth try, I produced macarons with feet! I was all alone in the house, and grateful for that, as I did the “happy mac dance” around the kitchen, squealing “I’ve got FEET!” I grabbed my cell phone, took a quick, fuzzy snap, and posted it to Twitter with the caption: “FEET! I’ve got FEET!” The uninitiated were all like, “Huh?” or “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’m happy for you” but others knew and shared my joy.
I don’t know if I can make it happen again, but without further ado, and in honor of both Chanukah and Christmas (we’re a bi-holiday household), I bring you Peppermint Macarons filled with White Chocolate Peppermint Buttercream:
Do feel free to click on the photos to see them in all their glory! And please visit MacTweets for recipes, tutorials, and general all-around encouragement, and return on December 15th for a roundup of Macarons from home bakers all over the world!
The macarons look great! Love the colors you used too!
Congratulations on your FEET! They are gorgeous!
I love your Judeo Christian Macarons! LOL! Glad you got some feet. Im afraid I might miss this challenge. 🙁
They're perfectly beautiful! Congrats, Renee–all your hard work paid off!
Wow! I definitely have always wanted to try making macaroons. These are beautiful.
Oh, brilliant! And I love the bi-holiday theme (we are too). Congratulations, Renee, not only have you got feet but you have gloriously perfect macs! Jump for joy! (and your husband is a hoot!)
They are beautiful!!! And I love the flavor. So holidayish! :)My hubby bought me 2 macaroons at a new local bakery. First think I said to him where they did not have very impressive feet. Yea, I noticed!Yours are awesome!
Nice job on the macs!
You macs are gorgeous! I love the flavor! Perfect for the holidays
beautiful! you've got feet. acccck, i love em! x
Those look terrific! I like the idea of flavoring them with peppermint. I've only made macs once; I really need to try them again.
Oh Renee, these are bee-yew-tee-ful! Seriously, not only did you produce feet, but they are the sweetest, daintiest feet ever. What graceful little treats you've made. Love the flavor combinations, too. My cinnamon macs with apple cider glaze turned out okay, but just okay. And again the feet were enormous. I'm not quite sure if I should be proud about that or embarrassed. My next attempt is going to be for dainty feet like yours! Congrats.Casey
Oh Renee…I'm in love with your feet!! Gorgeous toes you got there dahling! WOW!! I can imagine your joy & happy feet dance. Am so glad you joined Mac Tweets & look forward to many more magic mac moments! These are so pretty!
Your Mac's are beautiful! I've tried twice- both attempts were failures, third might be the charm. Love the way yours look!
Yay! Well done.You got feet and then some. The shells are so pristine white as well. Very impressive.
WOW, what a beautiful array of macarons and the flavors sound delicious. Great job on the MacTweets! Have a lovely holiday!