I've always loved eating macarons, but was completely shit-brick terrified of making them. That is until i received a lovely little book called 'I Love Macarons'. I don't know what it was about the book, be it the cute smiling face of the author or the step by step photo instructions that should lead you to making the perfect macaron.
To the untrained professional, macarons are two little shells made from egg whites, sugar and ground almonds with some sort of filling sandwiched between. Yes that's three ingredients to make one of the most 'difficult to perfect' recipes I've ever encountered. I tried my hand at making them myself. But failure after repeat failure proved that no smiling Japanese chef was going to help me through the pages of a book. I then turned to the twitterverse, with season mac aficionados offering help. Great as it was I felt reluctant to crack another egg for fear of failure. As with most insurmountable issue like this I decided to seek the professionals help.
I read that the L' Atelier Des Chef runs (among other courses), a macaron class. Priced at £72 for a two hour "get to know and make macaron masterclass" I thought why not. £72 equates to about forty of the decadent Pierre Hermé macarons. In the long run this could be money well spent. I snapped at the chance to do it. I broke the curse of the brioche with a Boulangerie class at Le Cordon Bleu, This class was hopefully going to crack the mac.
Class was to start at 15:00 hours they advised me to arrive 10 minutes prior. Atelier Des Chefs is conveniently located between Oxford Circus and Bond Street, though closer to Bond Street. I arrived promptly, paid for my course and was asked to go downstairs and wash my hands and deposit my coat. The facility is fresh, airy and full of light. I returned upstairs to sit and scope out the other mac masters in the making sitting around the table with me. There were 12 of us in the class and as the clock stuck 15:00 we were asked to enter the Atelier. On entry we were given plastic aprons and met our chef instructor. He made his introduction and then we were off. He briefly explained the process of making macarons in the most basic of terms. I got a feeling that he was nervous chef or maybe he just hated making eye contact. Who Knows?
We broke off with one group lining the baking trays with paper, the other sieving the almond flour and icing sugar, and the last group to whip the first set of egg whites. Now I did not come to this class to learn origami or the art of sifting so I made a bee line for the whipping stations. The instructor guided us to the correct consistence of the egg whites. He suggests beating them till the peak will hold then fold. I quizzed him on ageing egg whites, which is the process of evaporating moisture from the eggs over a 48 hour period. He neither confirm or denied the benefit, just that some people do and some people don't. At that point I think he clocked the fact that I was not just off the street with my macaron mania.
We then went back to the sifters, (as I affectionately call them) to learn how to fold in the almond into to the egg whites. Deep cutting motions were advised, going from the bottom of the bowl adding the almond bit by bit. The poor guy that volunteered to do the folding was petrified of the process, I think that he was coerced into the course as a day out with his girlfriend. He probably thought macaron masterclass was codeword for a naughty play hour in a central London hotel.
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After the almond flour was incorporated into the egg whites it was time to pipe. The instructor walked us through the motions, piping two himself to show the rest of the group how easy it was done. Once again, everyone who grabbed the bag did it with such terror, as if the world would end if they did it wrong. Finally it was my turn with the piping bag. After my first macaron, the instructor proclaimed 'perfect! At that point I received, as Vicky Pollard so eloquently puts, the evils. They asked If I had done this before,I fessed up by admitting my many unsuccessful attempts.
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At this point it was time to leave the macs to develop the 'skin' and focus on the 4 fillings. Salted Caramel Creme, Honeyed Chocolate Ganache, White Chocolate Olive Oil Ganache and Lime & Ginger butter creme. I was relegated to team lime and ginger and proceeded to cream the butter and icing sugar, while team mates zested lime and grated ginger. The Krupps Mixers we used were probably the worst machines I've even had my hands on quite surprising for such a slick cookery school.
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After the fillings were made it was time to put the macs in the oven. I quickly asked at what point were we supposed to give the sheets a light rap against the table. This step I was led to believe was the key to getting the palm d'ore of macaroon making. The instructor looked a bit embarrassed and said that we should have tapped just after piping. So we all gave a ceremonious tap and the macs went into the oven.
I pulled the instructor aside and enquired if my macs were going to get feet, he sheepishly said 'I hope so'. For the mac making virgins out there, feet are the frilly little edges that appear around the base of the macaron shells. I might have frightened him a bit with my quest for feet. After 10 minutes in a 160c oven. The shells came out, to the luck of my instructor, with feet.
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We proceeded to fill the macs with the variety fillings, packed them into plastic containers, sealed them with a snazzy machine and we were off. 107 minutes of instruction from start to finish to learn how to master the macarons.
So the finished macarons did not look perfect, but they tasted the part. In my research I'm guessing that the batter was too stiff. I can assume that this was down to the fact that they did not receive ample macaroonage, which is the process of beating a bit of the air out of the batter after the incorporation of the flour. I had feet and the rocket fire to try them at home.
Word of warning - You do not receive printed recipes to accompany the course. Rather cleverly they email you the recipes and links to their whole repository of recipes as soon as you finish the class. There is a minor gripe that there are some errors in the recipe vs what was taught, but they are so negligible it's not worth pointing out. There is one bone of contention though, we are given a recipe for a chocolate macaron, but the instructor did not teach us the chocolate variety, stating we were keeping with the simple recipe.
Overall I thought the class was good. I would give it 7 out of 10. if I were a complete novice at macaroons going into the class, I think I would just be able to recreate them at home after a few attempt. The instructor was acceptable, but nothing like the level of instruction delivered at Le Cordon Bleu. Then again my course at Le Cordon Bleu was over two days, and this mac class was just two hours.
So was this course good enough to break my curse of the macarons? Well you will have just to wait to see.......
L'atelier des Chefs
www.atelierdeschefs.co.uk
19 Wigmore Street
London W1U 1PH
020 7499 6580
