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Macaroons: How I conquered my baking Everest- Atelier Gourmand, Chartres

Macaroons are my baking Everest. Despite numerous attempts at home, I can't quite make them work. They tend to be ugly and the texture is completely wrong. I decided that the only way I could create the perfect Macaroon would be to seek some help.

Luckily, I stumbled upon Atelier Gourmand in Chartres. This lovely little business gives cookery classes, so I signed myself up for the Macaroon class.

The set up is really good fun. Everyone is given their own little station to cook at, so yes I did pretend that I was on Bake Off or Masterchef! The lovely teacher then takes you through everything step by step, telling you when exactly to do anything and giving little tips and tricks. The recipe was also far easier than ones I have tried in the past- no need for any sugar thermometers!

So two hours later, I had finally produced two rather fine sets of macaroons! What do you think?


I feel like to publish the recipe would be giving away the trade secrets of Atelier Gourmand, but I will give you some tips and tricks:

If using food colouring, use powdered or gel colouring. The liquid ones will disrupt the liquid/powder balance.

If adding cocoa powder to the mix, deduct the weight of the cocoa powder from the other powders, so that the powder/liquid balance is not disrupted.

Add the icing sugar when the whipped eggs are just starting to form little waves.

When cooking the macaroons, put a big knife in the oven door for the first ten minutes. This wedges it open a little, allowing the air to circulate. Apparently, macaroons like a little of humidity, so it makes nice little bubbles at the base of the macaroons.

To check if the macaroons are cooked, take each side with a finger and thumb and gently move it from side to side to see if it moves. If they seem sturdy, they're done.

Leave the macaroons for 24 hours before eating them. If you eat them straight away, the texture will not quite be right and they might stick to your teeth a little.


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