Vive La France

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Cupcakes may seem to be the flavour of the moment but us foodies are always on the hunt for the next best thing, we are it seems a people intent on the next sensation, pundits, food enthusiasts and bloggers alike have all wondered what this sensation might be. More than a few have suggested that French-style macaroons (called macarons in France) might supplant the cupcake. This may or may not come to pass, but the basic premise of the French macaroon is a delectable patisserie item.

When I was a child any reference to macaroons meant a cookie made primarily of coconut, which I by the way hated. However European macaroons are based on either ground almonds or almond paste, combined with sugar and egg whites. The texture can run from chewy, crunchy or a combination of the two. Frequently, two macaroons are sandwiched together with ganache, buttercream or jam, which can cause the cookies to become more chewy.

These delectable French cookies are notoriously hard to master. Have a tootle around various food blogs, cookery websites and you will see many an attempt to find the perfect technique. Which one is right? Which captures the perfect essence of macaroons? The answer is all of them and none of them. Macaroons are highly subjective, the subject of passionate debate in the food world. Do what works for you and you should be happy with the end result. 

We had a lot of scope with this challenge, we could choose our own fillings, our own flavourings, our own colourings but we just had to stick to the method laid out by our hosts.

I’d just had a large bag of cobnuts delivered and thought this to be a great opportunity to get using them. Kentish cobnuts are a type of hazelnut. Most of the hazelnuts grown in Britain are of the named variety Kentish Cob, which was introduced in the early 19th century. Cobnuts are marketed fresh, not dried like most other nuts such as walnuts and almonds and consequently they can usually only be bought when in season, typically from about the middle of August through to October, although stored nuts may be kept until Christmas. At the beginning of the season the husks are green and the kernels particularly juicy. Nuts harvested later on have brown shells and husks, and the full flavour of the kernel has developed. 

The cobnuts grow in a papery husk, and then are contained within a relatively hard shell. As you can see my cobnuts were late season and had taken on that lovely ‘nut’ brown colouring.

Trust me peeling and shelling hundreds of these is hard work, but the taste, well that makes up for it. They are delicious.

I was slightly daunted by this challenge, although not overly complex they are a precision timing event. The last time I made macarons I didn’t cook them long enough and they turned out too chewy and sticky. I was determined this wouldn’t happen this time around so I baked them for perhaps slightly too long instead as they turned a darkish shade of hazel brown but they had the desired texture and I rather like the colour, even though it is unconventional to let macarons brown.

I had intended to use half cobnuts to half ground almonds as per the Daring Bakers note that as almonds are drier than other nuts and help again with that all-important texture. However I didn’t have any almonds to hand and I wasn’t putting off the baking for another day so I could go shopping. All cobnuts it was and with no ill effects at all.

Cobnut macarons instantly lead me onto thinking of chocolate fillings and of course what could be better than Nutella? A hazlenut chocolate spread, but a home made version – perfect right? The recipe for the nutella comes from The Secrets of Baking: Simple Techniques for Sophisticated Desserts  (Sherry Yard) and is I have to say even better than shop bought Nutella.

The macarons went down a storm, slightly crunchy on sinking your teeth into the cookie, but yielding a chewiness and creamy centre. They were devoured within the day.

Thank you Daring Bakers for the challenge, it was most enjoyable

Macarons

• 2 1/2 cups icing sugar
• 2 cups ground cobnuts
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 5 egg whites, at room temperature

1. Preheat the oven to 90C or the equivalent. 
2. Combine the icing sugar and ground cobnuts in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of icing sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery. 
3. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks. 
4. Sift a third of the ground nut mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients. 
5. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc  style bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter. 
6. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper). 
7. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. 
8. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 190C or the equivalent. 
9. Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
10. Cool on a rack before filling. 

 

‘Nutella’ Spread

• 1lb milk chocolate 
• 1lb bittersweet chocolate 
• 2 cups double cream 
• 1 cup hazelnuts (or cobnuts)
• 1 tbsp hazelnut or vegetable oil. 

1. Preheat the oven to 180C or the equivalent. 
2. Place the nuts on a baking tray and toast until they are golden brown (about 12 mins). 
3. Remove from the oven and remove the skins if present. 
4. Transfer the hot nuts to a food processor and blitz to a fine paste, using the pulse function for around 2 mins. 
5. Turn the processor onto steady speed and drizzle in the oil, when all the oil is in stop the machine and scrape down the sides. 
6. Process again for about 15 seconds. 
7. Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in a heat proof bowl. 
8. Bring the cream to the boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. 
9. Once at the boil immediately pour the cream over the chopped chocolate and leave for 2 minutes. 
10. Gently stir the mixture with a spatula until the chocolate is throughly melted. 
11. Fold in the hazelnut mixture and allow to cool slightly before using.

NB The nut spread can be stored in the refrigerator but needs to be brought to room temperature again before attempting to spread as it sets hard.