Macaron Class with Rebecca Masson

So for my birthday, we decided to have a macaron class. Which is brilliant, friends know I make them, and a few had asked me to demo for them, and few solicited for me to make them for holidays. What would be better than to have the local Rock Star, Rebecca Masson (aka @sugar_fairy) of Fluff Bake Bar and Top Chef Just Dessert Cheftestant to be our teacher?! It's bloody brilliant is what it is.

Oooh, egg whites.

Bless her for taking us on. I'm sure having amateur bakers and not fully knowing how macaron is a bitch is not a fun thing to teach. But let me tell you, she was awesome.

Flavors were: Capt'n Crunch Berry (awesome!), Grapefruit Campari (white chocolate ganache), Beet Goat Cheese Ganache, Chocolate Jameson (whiskey ganache), Milk Chocolate Passionfruit, and Rose Lychee (white chocolate ganache)

She showed us alot of great tips, and while it is a bitch of a cookie to make, her methods have proven results even for novice like us. None of us had flat cookies, and all of ours turned out perfect.

She used the modified Italian method, which means, yes, you do cook the syrup and do the pouring, but also do her modified way to have good macaronnage, and thus baked nicely. Here (photo above): she's showing us to flex our arm muscles to mix in the ingredients. Honestly, my arms had a workout.

Here: she's teaching everyone how to pipe the fillings and put the cookies together. Also, don't forget to have some taste test.
Yes, you see alot of shells, which means there were lots of cookies. Trust me, I had given everyone a decent size box for their goodies, and there were left overs still.
This is her Capt'n Crunchberry. It's brilliant really, she blizzed up the cereal, and swap out some of the dry ingredient. Mix some left overs into the ganache, and viola, you have a nicely sparkled fun cookie! So cool.
You know who else like to use Capt'n Crunch? Fellow Cheftestant, Carlos Enriquez. Him and few of her fellow cast mates will be in town, April 1st, to do a Sweet and Savory dinner, a fundraiser for Lucky Dog Rescue. This is Rebecca's 5th time hosting it, even if you can't make this one, you should try to make the other upcoming ones. Subscribe to Lucky Dog for future events!
After you take a bite, you get your chewy center, and it's just a different taste than you expect. It does bring you back to your childhood with cereals.
Surprisingly, the beet and goat cheese wasn't as scary as it sound. It evens out where the goat cheese chase away the sweetness, and it also brings on a little zest to the cookies.

Overall, what have I learned?

Yes, do aged the eggs

Italian method is not as scary as I thought, but Rebecca's method is much more stable

Friends now appreciate why they charge so much for one cookie

Piping mantra: pipe, break, cut (good luck with that)

Get in dirty for good arm workout and good macaronnage

If someone tells you to brush the side as you cook your syrup, don't do it, it'll only crystalize your batch.

Invest in a digital scale (Got it!)
Invest in a digital thermometer (totally need one)

It was great fun! She was patient with a bunch of novice. We have novice bakers to full time cookie monsters, so needless to say, we don't have the kitchen skills that she has. It was super fun, everyone had a great time and went home with a sugar coma.