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.
I have to say that there was a lot to like about this challenge. I enjoyed the lack of butter, my procrastinatory tendencies were rewarded with such a quick cookie, and the flavor combinations are endless.
My friend Allison and I shared sifting and piping duties on this one. I can't fault either our sifting or our piping, but our macarons didn't rise nearly as high as we might have hoped. In fact, my lemon macarons bore a remarkable visual resemblance to communion wafers. Fortunately, they tasted a lot better. I planned to fill the lemon ones with raspberry jam, but the cookies were great on their own, so I ate them plain.
For the remainder of our macarons, we considered savory options. Ultimately, we were unable to reconcile the 2 cups of powdered sugar with savory flavorings. We added a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder, and some chili powder for a savory kick. These macarons rose a bit higher, and I filled them with a sour cream, dark chocolate frosting. I ate one. My family finished the rest in mere minutes.
