Saturday 7 January 2012

"Chambord" Macaroons with "Tangerine" buttercream

So it's January and I'm feeling blue.

I have nothing in my life to complain about, yet I still feel heavy and (as my nieice says) grumps.



I guess after all that Christmas frivolity; a holiday from work, lots of delicious food, presents, dancing, singing, beautiful colours and smells and the overwhelming feeling of excitement because santa is coming (!) you would feel down when it all ends at once....

and to top it all off I have to take the tree. sob.



I thought giving myself a good challenge in the kitchen might give me a boost so I made these macaroons the other day.

They are delicious but they don't taste like Chambord or Tangerine.


This happens to me quite a lot when making macaroons, unless the flavour is chocolatey, coffee, caramel - you know those kind of flavours (Do they have a name?) they just taste like almondy chewi-ness which is fiiiiiiiine but when I am trying to make exciting flavours, I want them!


So I was slightly disappointed with these because I can imagine the taste of chambord macaroons with tangy tangerine buttercream and I think it would be good!



I used this recipe from hicookery.com. I should have followed the recipe properly and filled it with jam (which would have been yum) but I haaaaad to experiment! Sometimes this works out well but this time only so so.


I didn't use a trusted buttercream recipe = Fail.

The buttercream tasted too plasticky (?) and there was no flavour of tangerine :(

On another note this is the first time I made macaroons with hot sugar syrup (blimey it's scary to make!) because the boys parents bought me a sugar thermometer for Christmas (plus lots of great baking books!). I have to say I didn't notice a huge difference from the ones I've made before but the boy did say they were the best ones I've made yet.


AND they can't have been that bad because my friend, Hannah, tried them and made an order for her wedding! Looking forward to trying out some more flavours and colours for then but I think I'll stick to trusted recipes this time.

My new years resolution/challenge is to get out of my funk quicker this year. I spent yesterday giving myself at least one thing to look forward to each month. Try it, it worked wonders for me!

Happy January (staying positive!)

4 comments:

  1. Your macarons look fabulous and I LOVE Chambord too.....wonderful frivolous little treats!

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  2. arh, poor you! I felt a bit the same and had post Christmas blues. I have filled my living room with spring flowers - tulips and daffodills all over the place and have cooked new meals from my cookbooks and I am booking theatre trips and nights out with friends - and I am all over the blues now! This is my prescription :) Lovely blog you have xx

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  3. I've never tried macaroons before but I love the sound of tangerine buttercream... well glad these were good even if they didn't taste like they were meant to! Know what you mean about the January blues, but baking is a great thing to help I think, I spent a whole day in the kitchen last week and felt much better for it!

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  4. Karen - Chambord is delicious and I have a whole bottle so stayed tuned for numerous chambord recipes :)

    Lucie - Thanks Lucie. I have booked Mathilda and Legally Blonde which are suppose to be great so looking forward to them now!

    Kim - I just got a new mixer so cue making days spent baking - lets hope it works. You should try macaroons they are fun.

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