And thank God this ended on a positive note. I have had mixed success with macarons, as evidenced by yesterday's lemon versions but these came out pretty well and the filling is positively spectacular!
The only difference between these and the other macarons in this cookbook is that the almond flour is traded for hazelnut flour. This flour is pretty interesting (even if I did struggle finding it and finally ordered it on the Internet) - it's like almond flour in that it's just ground up nuts - but the skin of the hazelnuts was left on so it has little brown flecks in it which I think makes the cookie look pretty cool.
See how pretty they are? See how they didn't explode in the oven?
Well, half of them didn't explode which is really what I've come to expect from a successful macaron adventure.
The ganache is actually really easy with corn syrup (it was supposed to be trimoline, which is a weird sugar syrup, but I've never bought it for any of the other recipes and wasn't about to start now. Plus, it's only a tablespoon so I figured the corn syrup would be fine and it was), heavy cream, salt and chocolate.
This isn't any old chocolate, it's Caramelia chocolate which is so much better because it's chocolate with caramel integrated into it - not melty in the center but all mixed in there. This means that you get a ganache that has the flavor of both chcolate and and caramel which is so much better than regular chocolate ganache.
The ganache gets made and left to set up on the counter overnight and the results is a firm, spreadable consistency.
These little sandwiches are ridiculous - the cookies are a fairly neutral canvas with just a bit of a nutty flavor but the ganache is hands down one of the best things I've ever made. It is so creamy and rich and just a little bit salty - I absolutely love it!
Since I had more than a few pretty ones, those came to work with me where someone told me it was the best thing she'd ever eaten. That made me smile.
The less than pretty ones stayed at my house and got eaten very quickly.
Reflecting back on the entire cookie chapter reveals some hits and some misses.
My least favorites were the Pecan Sandies and the Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. The Pecan Sandies were too greasy and not enough like shortbread and the oatmeal raisin cookies had raisins in them.
Biggest surprise were the Florentines which I didn't expect to like as much as I did and the Shortbread which I thought would be boring but was really delicious.
My two favorites were Better Nutters which were rich and peanut buttery and just as good when I ate then at the bakery and these Hazelnut Macarons, because that ganache just can't be beat.
CA votes for Florentines, Shortbread and Pecan Sandies which is funny. He says his coworkers liked the Better Nutters best.
Sconnie's favorite was the Dog Treats, obviously.
Enjoy!
Julie
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