Making macarons can be addictive. oh dear.
Since switching to italian meringue, I've been having more success with my shells. my last batches with french meringue - the batter settled into misshapen blobs and I've no idea why. The only thing I found is that with italian meringue, the shells take longer to mature. The macaron must really be aged for 2 to 3 days before it is at its best. My favorite flavour is the purple one... cassis. The red one is chilli chocolate; most people would balk at the idea of chilli in sweets, but rest assured I use the littlest amount to impart a slight tingle to the palate - in fact, most people won't know there's chilli inside until I tell them.
This is my new flavor: key lime pie. I initially wanted an edge of coconut to it so I added some coconut cream to the ganache filling too only to find out later I couldn't taste any coconut! I prefer to use ganaches for fillings as curds will reduce the macaron into a blob of goo in no time.
I also used to have a problem with hollow shells; I used every temperature setting but the problem remained. But this lovely lady, Thip (www.namthip.com) solved my problem. She told me that my batter was not deflated enough during the macaronnage process and I had to keep pressing the batter down against the side of the bowl with the spatula. since taking her advice, I've found out that the air pocket problem was resolved although I still get them on bad days.
