Nooblet Macarons Part I (and a half) > Meet Macaron

For the benefit of Schnazzie (yet another nooblet, it would seem) I have decided to add a post that was not originally meant to be. This is the post to introduce to you my friend, and elusive prey, the macaron.

For those of you who do not know, a macaron is an impossibly light, impossibly pretty, and impossibly French confectionery. Some would even call it a cookie. A macaron is made up of several parts, i.e. the shell, the feet, the body (or interior), and the filling (please refer to figure 1.1, below).

Figure 1.1 - the macaron

The actual macaron part (the feet, the shell, and the meringue interior) is a baked wonder consisting of only four base ingredients - almond meal, icing sugar, sugar, and of course, egg whites. It is this 'cookie' that Nooblet strives to achieve.

The filling seems less important. It is fine as long as it's a ganache or butter-cream in a half-decent flavour. Apparently jam works too, and I imagine whipped cream can't be too horrible (although it can't be matured like a proper macaron...).

You eat it by biting into and savouring every little bit (please no popping the entire thing in your mouth). And then you reach for a second. 

Class dismissed.